2014 was filled with a plethora of growth opportunities. Some I grabbed a hold of while some I missed out on. I just wanted to quickly share some really cool moments from 2014.
In the beginning of the year, I started things off right by attending our first annual Elevate Conference at my church. Incredible stuff. I have always been enthralled with the idea of freedom in worship and not being nervous about what others think of your worship (even if I haven't always been the best at it). However, this conference helped me to let go and be free to worship. It was wonderful.
February rolled around and I became content with singleness (which was a hard thing for me to do.. especially in the month of Love). I found my worth in being the King's daughter and read up on some awesome books about dating (for the future).
March was hectic. I scrambled getting together my vocal pieces for my audition at the conservatory of the university I had been accepted to. A week later, I began taking piano lessons and realized that I was made to play this instrument. Anxiety set in as I waited for my letter from the conservatory. I had to give it to God no matter what the letter said. The day of the WLAK concert that we held at our church, I had to stop by our house to get my camera. I walked in and saw some mail on the floor. I grabbed the couple of letters addressed to me and went on my way. Needless to say, I spent a good amount of time crying that day. I had worked for almost over a year to get my pieces together because I had just begun taking music lessons even though my heart for music dated back to childhood. While it still hurt me deeply, I know there were reasons God kept me from attending and being accepted into the program. I grew from that and made up my mind to be happy with what comes my way.
I don't remember much of April or May, except that I spent quite a bit of time finishing up novels for my AP English and Literature class. Which was crazy awesome.
June holds one of my favorite memories. My graduation day. It did not go perfectly. It was not the best day of my whole life. And I graduated with 500+ students that I had never met. #OnlineSchoolProblems. However, the feeling I felt that day was a feeling to last me 100 years. I felt accomplished. Not just the Yay-I-Graduated-High-School kind of accomplished, but the This-Was-Once-Doubted-But-Now-I've-Achieved-It accomplished. Quick insight: I was told that I would never graduate high school from some close people to me and my sophomore year of HS began to solidify that doubt within me. A major change happened in my life after my sophomore year and I transferred to online school in another state. With a support team, a new school, a different environment, and a renewed hunger for education, I not only graduated, but also with better grades that I had started HS with!
July was a month of break and heat and students and fun. Lots of fun.
In August, I got my license. I also grew the most I had probably all year. Lots of tough things I had to overcome, but lots of growth because of it. I also started college this month. Wow, let me tell you what a change it was to go from two years of online HS to a community college with loads of new people. My inner WOO (Gallup Strength) went crazy!
September must have been relatively short in my memory because I don't remember much. Or maybe I just slept through it all. That was a slight Green Day reference if anyone caught that. No? Okay, lol.
October! October, October, October. I met some amazing people that I had friended on a Facebook group for everyone who was accepted to a university I was looking to go to. It was great. Following that, I gave my testimony at a women's retreat with 200+ women and my heart exploded as I was embraced with so much love and compassion by these women. Chains were broken and a new song was placed upon my heart. I revamped my blog that weekend.
November was quick. Not much to say.
December was a wonderful call to my heart. It told me to refocus and use my Futuristic (Gallup Strength) to press on and look forward to all that God will do the following year. What a year it will be.
Now that I've quickly recapped 2014, let me tell you a bit about what 2015 looks like. Whether or not my plan will come to pass this year, I know that God has big adventures planned.
2015: The Year of Adventurous Bravery
What is Adventurous Bravery? This is where you must decide if you will step out on the waters; go past the safety borders; open your heart and mind to bigger wonders; OR if you will stay; if you will watch as others soar with the Lord into all that He has for them and be comfortable in your walk. I've often heard that God is not concerned with our comfortability as much as he is concerned with out character. I want to grow into all that God has for me and be surprised when I look at who I was right now to who I will become by the end of the year.
God is going to take me on many adventures (big + small), but will I be ready to embrace them?
My sister is such a sweetheart. Yesterday, I was talking to her about this year's theme and sharing with her my fears and also my excitements. She told me that she thinks that I am brave because of some of the things that I've done without the fear of failure. How sweet it was to hear that and how greatly I needed it. It reminded me that I don't always see my own growth. Not only that, but I also was reminded that each step onto the water is a step towards being brave. I might fail at first, but it's the willingness to fail and get back up that can set you on a path to becoming adventurously brave.
So this year, I'm praying for new adventures. For adventures that I have no other choice but to be Brave or give up. And for the ability to always say no the latter when God is calling me.
"Worry and worship cannot exist in the same space. One always displaces the other. Choose worship." - Louie Giglio
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