23; New Me!

I turned the lovely age of 23 on March 1st, 2017. And for some odd reason, I was honestly super excited! Why do you ask? It may have to do with the fact that I feel like this year will be one of favor and promise, it may have to do with the fact that it’s my first birthday in Straya’, or it may just be… I’m believing that the best really is yet to come. Which sounds a lot like having a New Year’s Resolution list, but for me, I think 23 will be a new me, because I don’t want to keep looking back at who I was in a different season, I want to know and discover who I am now for such a time as this.Here’s a few things that I’ve decided I am going to do, because I love bucket lists, I love growing from inspiration, and I love not limiting God to place new visions and dreams in my heart on just one day of one month once a year.

Still Saturdays -to have 3 straight hours of being still in God’s presence — no music, no writing, no tasks, just Jesus and pondering His Words.
Laugh more, pray more, expect more, and be more crazy! Because life is meant to be enjoyed… inside God’s boundaries of course. ❤
Write more beautifully by pen – because I need to be able to read my journals 50 years from now.

But yet there’s still so much more to the why behind the what. I want to do [Still Saturdays] because I am and will always be completely dependent on God. Every dream He’s placed in my heart and every promise He’s spoken are but a bit of His love for me. If I don’t take the time to listen to what He has to say to me, what He wants me to pray for, what He wants me to step out and do, then… I wouldn’t really be living a relationship with Him? A relationship requires talking and listening, giving and receiving, promise and sacrifice on both sides. Apart from Him I am nothing, and being still reminds me of that. I need Him as much as I want Him, and both are satisfied at His feet.Then there’s laughing more and being a bit more crazy. You may wonder how that is spiritual at all, but… laughter is medicine to the soul as Proverbs puts it. I love being deep, and I love being creative. But sometimes, I need a day where I can be normal, as in sit and watch a movie without shaping it into this masterpiece of an analogy of a sermon in my head (which still happens basically every time). But it’s the normal things of life that I actually love, like laughter! I love laughing! I love funny facial expressions, and I love dry humor. Sarcasm makes me happy, and when others and me can relate on a joke, it’s a whole new level of me that most people have never known. But that’s me – and Jesus loves that part of me as much as the deep part – so I am going to choose to invest in both.Writing more beautifully by pen is actually one of my new favorite things. Have YOU ever written someone a letter and seen their eyes light up with love and joy because you took the time to write down encouragement for them? Let me tell you. I’ve never felt my heart soar more than when someone’s day, or even week, is completely changed because of a letter I spent thirty minutes writing to place in their hand. But then again, I also want to be able to reread the journeys God has taken me on 10 to 20 to 50+ years from now when I have weaker vision and not the same mind to understand my tiny scribbles. I’ve learned that there’s nothing more humbling than reading back and seeing the faithfulness of God over every promise and dream He has spoken and you trustingly wrote down. I’ve seen it time and time again, and it actually never gets old, and I’m only 23. Can you imagine how much more of His faithfulness I will see when I’m 78? Or 103? (because goals)But here’s the important thing about new – it’s not you without the old. New isn’t none of your old self, it’s transformed into a better self. It’s new, but it’s still real. The reality of my life is that I don’t desire a relationship with a guy right now, but I do desire my best friends more than anything – and eventually “my boo-thang” will be apart of that (& no, I won’t ever call him that seriously). But until then, my best friends are enough for me. My life before Australia was amazing. I had an amazing friend group who are still my best friends and family, I was plugged into an incredible church, I was thriving in my relationship with Jesus, and I was technically living a portion of my desires. But, the thing is, it was just a portion that was leading me to where I am here and now. {That portion wasn’t meant to fix my eyes on the greatness of what was left behind, but to direct my eyes forward to the One who has greater portions for me ahead.} Jeremiah 6:16 says, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.'” Standing at the crossroads and asking for the ancient paths doesn’t discredit the path you’re on, it almost makes you appreciate more the ever-increasing glory of the path you’re now walking. It wasn’t like you just so happened to have run into this perfect path that’s conveniently before you – the paths behind you actually led you to exactly where you are, and there’s a very real part of your heart. Those ancient paths have unforgettable experiences of life, joy, and love on it’s journey, but they also have moments of pain, disappointment, and discouragement that were interweaved in there as well. But the beauty about the journey of the ancient paths to look back upon are to see the moments that shaped you into the warrior you are standing as here and today. And you, oh mighty warrior, did not let defeat… or victory… hold you back from the more God has before you.So this new me… she’s the old me, but an ever-increasing better version, and she is real, and she is human. She still experiences loneliness, she still experiences disappointments, – a lot more than what you know- and fears… who would’ve thought those are REAL too! (I don’t know why people cling to the best image of you before the real version) but the real version is actually more beautiful to walk the new paths with. Don’t forget who you are in being shaped into who you are meant to be, for you can’t be transformed as a fake you. Don’t forget that God is with you in every step of the path, for He won’t forsake you. And don’t forget that He loves the old you as much as the new you, but no matter what, He loves the real you most. And with every step, know it may not just be a different chapter in your life, it may be an entirely new book, but what’s behind you is connected as a trilogy or series to what’s before you. Your life is a series of moments that is interweaved behind and before with every moment from every chapter with every person – and that’s what makes what is before you so much more beautiful and worth adding new inspirations to. The truth is, there is more ahead; the truth is there is more within you, and the truth is in believing the best is yet to come, you will see the best ahead.

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