2018 Here We Come!

Isaiah 43:18-19 Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.

Happy New Year!!!
Thank you thank you to all of you awesome people for bearing with me as I went MIA for such long stretches! :D What an amazing year 2017 has been. Looking in the archives on this post, where I looked back on 2016, and this one, where I set new goals for 2017, it is such a blessing to see all the ways God has worked. 

I want to quickly go through my goals from this past year, since a lot of you helped keep me accountable for them! ;) 

1. Learn Something New
Well, I definitely accomplished this one! I switched jobs, from the library (which I'd done for three years and knew well), to a Sew and Vac store, which is extremely different from anything I've ever done before. Every day I am finding new things I'm still ignorant about at work! ;P Also, I picked up watercolor painting as a hobby. I'm still at a super beginner level, but I love doing it! New mediums for hand lettering are always nice. ;)

2. Read through God's Word at least twice.
I sort of did this...I went through the whole Bible in 90 days, and I went through the New Testament at least 3 times, and the Psalms many times. So while I didn't get the whole Bible done twice, I definitely kept busy on it, which is always worthwhile. :)

3. Save money when I can.
I did ok with this one, but the missions trip made a large dent in my savings. ;) Which was absolutely 100% worth every cent, so I have no regrets. 

4. Maintain my weight.  
This stayed pretty consistent through the year, and I kept very active, so yay! :)

5. Pick up a new instrument. 
I didn't get around to this one, sadly. :( I couldn't find the right instrument for the right price. I still want to do this soon!

6. Build up my hope chest as I'm able.
This did not happen at all. :/

7. Pray much more. 
While I have SO far to go in this area, I definitely did grow in prayer this last year, with The Lord's help.

8. Write out my songs. 
This didn't happen either!! :'( Ugh...

9. Witness verbally more.
This went up and down...I did better sometimes, and other times I failed completely. Still working on it!

10. Start each day out with gratitude.
I didn't keep the gratitude jars going, but I kept on doing my daily journal of my favorite part of the day. :) God is so good!


This year I was able to fly across the globe to Fiji and Samoa, meeting so many precious friends through the miles. I also grew older relationships...Abby Geist and I spent the entire three weeks of the trip in each other's company 24/7--and didn't hate each other afterwards. ;D My awesome friend Kimberly left to live in Taiwan for 6 months, meaning that our communication was slowed considerably. :( That turned out with one happy consequence...Janan, a dear friend of Kimberly's that I hadn't gotten very close to yet, was able to talk with me a lot more, since neither of us could chat with K as much as normal! ;P As a result, our friendship grew greatly, and I am so very blessed by her. :) I was able to go to Jenny's graduation, which was awesome, as well as spend a day with her family at a lovely cabin in the woods, just before Christmas! I am deeply grateful to God for all of my sweet friends, too numerous to mention here, who love me for my weird crazy self, and don't judge me TOO harshly. ;D

Like I said above, I swapped jobs, which was a bit of a scary decision. I don't sew, and all I know about vacuums is that they suck. (Sorry, bad pun there. ;) However, I have some awesome coworkers who are so gracious to put up with me and teach me all the things I am confused on. Which is a lot. I'm enjoying learning a new line of work, though. :)

One exciting thing that has happened this year is that we have set up a plan for teaching a Bible institute in Jamaica! My dad is heading down there today, actually, and every other month someone from Bible Baptist will be heading down for a week to teach another seminar. We are thrilled that God has opened this opportunity! Jamaica is steeped in doctrinal confusion, and the churches there are in desperate need of good Biblical training. Please pray for these efforts!

My goals for the upcoming year overlap a bit with last year's goals, so I won't expound too much on them, but simply list them out as I wrote them on a slip of paper in the early morning on New Year's Day. :)

• Read God's Word at least 3 times.
• Memorize 12 chapters of Scripture-one per month, perhaps?
• Be very careful about saving money.
• Pray for at least 30 minutes per day, growing that throughout the year. If I don't set specific goals on this, it tends to slip, sadly. :'(
• Write for at least 20 minutes a day.
• Learn a new skill (trying again with the instrument idea, but it might end up being a language or something. ;)
• Spend less time on my phone.
• Cook on a much more regular basis. I bake ALL the time, but I don't make "actual food" as much as I should. ;P

I am praying that God will grow me throughout this year, prepare me for whatever comes next in my life, and teach me to live to the fullest every day that He gifts me with. Praise The Lord that He gives second (and third and fourth and fiftieth) chances, because I am so flawed! I know I'm going to mess up and miss some of these goals, but God willing I will strive towards them! :) 

What are some of your goals for this year? Do you like setting goals at all? Let me know in the comments, and as always...THANK YOU for taking the time to read my humble little blog!! :) You all mean so much to me. God bless you!

Mykaela

My 2017 Goals

Lamentations 3:22-24 It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.

I always love the feeling of a new year beginning. It is a fresh start, a time to reevaluate priorities, and to set new ones. It's a time to begin different "traditions", so to speak, or new daily habits and routines. 

I personally don't like using the term "New Year's Resolution" at all, however...simply because it brings up negative thoughts to me. ;) I think of that term, and it means a temporary commitment that people make, and fizzle out on by the time February 1st or so rolls around. 

For me, as I start this new year, I do have goals that I'd like to strive towards, but they are just that--goals. Targets. I know that I'm going to miss the targets sometimes, and that's ok. I'll start again in the morning. :) That's how The Lord works in His mercies to us...they are new every morning! And that's how I hope to be as well. On January 1st, I spent an hour or so alone in my room, just thinking and praying about what I would like to accomplish this year, both spiritually and generally. Since I now have an answer on the full time work I applied for, (I didn't get it), I still have a very flexible job. And I don't want to squander the opportunities that creates. God is so good to give clear direction on stuff like that! Without further ado, here are some of my "targets" for 2017. (Not in any particular order.)

• Learn something new. Be it a skill, like rock climbing, (something I really want to learn), or an area of knowledge I haven't previously studied out...I want to keep learning new things, even though I'm not in school anymore!
• Read through God's Word at least twice. After doing it in 30 days, 6 months is nothing! ;)
• Save money when I can. I do plan on having some bigger output this year as far as missions giving, travel expenses, etc., but I want to be careful of how often I get a piece of clothing I don't really need, or grab a breve at the coffee shop. ;)
• Maintain my weight. While it's been a bit difficult lately due to the holidays, and some health issues I've had, I do want to continue to be mindful about this. By the middle of this past year, I was able to reach my goal weight, and while I have gained some since then, I really would love to stay close to that point by thinking about what I eat and staying active. (Both great things to do anyway, weight management or not! ;)
• Pick up a new instrument. I haven't learned a new instrument for several years now. I miss it. :) I want to watch Craigslist and see what treasure I can get. Nothing fancy, I'd just like to learn something new in the way of music! (See first point.)
• Build up my hope chest as I am able.
•  Pray. A lot. As in, about 10 times the amount I'm doing now. I need to make it a constant, daily habit!
• Work on holding my tongue. I just need to shut up for more of the time! ;P
• Write out my songs. I have a hard time staying motivated and on top of this...it's one thing I really tend to procrastinate on. However, I do need to get at least lead sheets done. 
• Witness verbally more. I have already started working on this in the past couple of weeks!
• Start each day with gratitude. I'm writing out a little paper each morning with just one thing I am thanking God for. I'm putting them in a jar, so I can look back on them whenever I want to. :) Today's was "cozy clothes". Not life changing, but when there are 11 inches of snow outside, I am thankful for soft sweaters and fuzzy socks!!

A couple things I would like to do this year, but they are not goals, more like dreams....

• See a new country. Possible, since I may be going on a survey trip to the Pacific Islands with some church members...
• Go to a concert of Dan Forrest's music. Jubilate Deo in particular!!! 
• See some of my faraway friends and family. Grandma McDowell, Kimberly, cousins... :)
• Record an album. Certain people keep breathing down my neck about this. :/ ;P

There you have it! I know some of them are kind of ambitious, some would maybe say unattainable. But hey! Again, I'm just working on them! I don't expect to achieve every single thing on the list, I just want to reach for each one of them in some way this year. :) 

Today I went sledding and probably messed myself up internally (I literally got like 2 feet of air. On a disc sled. On a hill packed into a sheet of ice. That impact can't be good for my spine. :'D). But what does that matter when you're having a great time with your family, right?? ;) How is your winter going? Do you make goals at New Year's? I'd love to hear from you in the comments! :) Have a wonderful week,

Mykaela