Goodbye 2017 and Hello 2018

I am writing this on the last day of 2017 and I am looking forward to 2018. This post is going to be the same as last year and I am going to lay out my hopes for the coming year.

Before I tell y'all my hopes, I am going to tell y'all my words for 2018. Each of these words is going to be things that I am going to focus on the coming year. 

1) Focus- This coming year is going to be focused on myself and God. This past year, I neglected myself and God several times. And I need to just focus on those two items. 

2) Trust- This past year, I didn't trust God as much as I needed to. I doubted everything that he told me. My trust was also tested with people. People said and did two different things and that made my trust for them to decrease. This coming year is going to be trusting God and his plans for me. 

3) Faith- My faith in God was not as great as I wanted it to be this year. I spent time away from him when I needed time with him. This year is going to be about strengthening my faith in him. 

And now to my hopes for 2018:

My first hope: I hope to grow more in my faith. I want to be so on fire for God this coming year. 

My second hope: Read the bible in a year. 

My third hope: Focus on myself and my singleness. I want to grow more content in my singleness and not looking for guys that will hurt me. 

My fourth hope: Read 15 books before the year is over with.

My fifth hope: Get healthy and lose weight.

My sixth hope: Chase my dreams.

My seventh and final hope: No more temporary people. 

So this is my last post for 2017. I hope you all have had a great 2017 and that you will have an amazing 2018! I can't wait to see what this coming year is going to bring. 

My 2017

2017 has been a whirlwind of emotions. This year has been a split between my best and worst year. But the one thing that has stayed the same is God. He was always there for me through everything even if I didn't realize it. Even when I turned way away from Him. He was there.

This post is to reflect on my 2017. The good and bad memories that happened. The memories that have changed my life. I am not the same person I was when this year started. I have grown up a lot this year for several reasons.

So I hope you all enjoy a trip down memory lane.

January

The start of 2017. During this month, exciting things happened. I got into the Education Program at the college I attend. This is something I worked for in 2016 and it was nice to see my efforts become into something. 

My family also welcomed a puppy into our family at the end of this month. This puppy has brought so much joy to my family and we love him so much.

I also started teaching Preschool kids during Sunday School. This has brought so much joy in my life. I love these kids and they allow me to incorporate my two passions. Kids and Jesus.

February

February was National Human Trafficking Month. I celebrated by wearing a red "X" on my hand to raise awareness.

March 

On the 24th of this month, I went out with an amazing guy that I started talking to last year but I have known him since 2014. He cooked me supper and then we sat there and talked for 4 hours. It was so much fun and I really enjoyed it.

April

During this month, I decided to do fully online classes and start substituting full time. This was the best decision of my life. I found my true purpose in life is to teach kids.

May

The guy that I was talking to in March quit talking to me. He left my texts unanswered. Snapchats were seen but unanswered. We were doing okay and then the next thing, no contact. This really broke me because he was the first guy that I fully allowed myself to tell everything to.

June

I attended a church camp in Panama City. The same one that I had been attending for 4 years. The week I was there was amazing. I had so much fun with the girls and guys. I also learned more about God and strengthened my relationship with him.

July

This month was Vacation Bible School. I didn't really participate this year. I helped in the kitchen but I didn't lead a class. I did get the opportunity to take pictures later on in the week. Another exciting thing was that I got to participate on a night in the play.

August

I started back to school. I did night and online classes. This month, I fully dove in with substituting. I was subbing every day and enjoyed it.

I also grew closer to this guy that I have known since 2014 and found out that he liked me but he attends a college further north. He is one of my best friends and I am so glad that he is in my life. I can tell him anything and not worry about him judging me.

September

Nothing really exciting happened during this month except that my school, Troy University, defeated LSU during their Homecoming.

October

This month started getting busy. I was completing my classes and starting new ones.

Geneva's Homecoming was also this month. I helped one of my teachers from when I was in high school with her door while I was subbing.

My church had their fall festival.

The guy that cut contact with me starting talking to me and wanting to be my friend again.

And lastly, a lady that I cared for so much died. Her death was a surprise and it really hurt me. She was like a grandmother to all of us and cared for us when she didn't have to.

November

I turned 22.

Thanksgiving happened.

December

This month has been the split between the best and worst month.

I took finals and ended classes.

Christmas came and went.

My puppy turned a year old.

I met this guy at the beginning of December and really clicked with him. I lied to my parents and met him at his house. We talked and then made-out. The next day, he ignored me. He's still married and has a son.

I met another guy and hit it off with him. He ignored me.

I got the opportunity to babysit this little boy that I have in the nursery.

These are some of  the exciting things that happened to me during this year. I am looking forward to 2018 and what it brings for me. 

Did my hopes for 2017 work out?

I was looking through my blog post from last year and saw that I did a post with my hopes for 2017. While I was reading, I realized that a lot of the hopes that I had for my life didn't come true. That's okay. I know that I have had an awesome year that has been full of lessons. Listed below are the hopes that I had for this year and what came of them. 

My 1st hope for 2017: is that I focus on myself this year. My happiness will be placed first. If it doesn't make me happy or help myself grow, I am not going to focus on it.

 This first hope did not exactly work out. At the beginning of the year, I was focused on myself then I got hurt and started placing other things in front of myself.

My 2nd hope for 2017: grow more into God's word. I will spend more time praying and reading God's word more. I will be spending more time with Him and just grow more in my faith.

This hope kinda came true. I did grow into God's word this year. There was a point in this year where I did blame him and didn't trust him but during that time was when I needed him the most. 

My 3rd hope for 2017: lose weight and get healthier. I hope that by the end of this year, I am healthier and I lose weight. It isn't going to be easy but I am determined.

This did not happen but it will in 2018. This is my main goal the next year. 

My 4th hope for 2017: no more temporary people. Don't be afraid of cutting people off that aren't good for you. I will not focus on people that are going to be temporary. And if I have people in my life that become toxic, I will cut them off.

 Yep. This one did not work out. I had a lot of temporary people come into my life. Either for good or bad. I got hurt a lot by these temporary people.

My 5th hope for 2017: chase your dreams, cause if you never try you never know. I will chase my dream as far as I can. I will try things that I have never tried before. I may fail but it is worth trying.

This one did come true. I chased my dreams this year. I tried new things that I never had done before. I became a better and different person from last year. This is the hope that I hoped would have happened.

These are some more hopes that I had for 2017:

• fresh opportunities
• new experiences 
• amazing friendships
• peace and relaxation
• revival
• unbelievable growth
• me closer to God and able to share His love with other people

These last hopes did come true mostly. Looking back to the beginning of the year, I have had some amazing opportunities and experiences. I look forward to sharing them in my post that is scheduled for the 31st of this month. 

I hope you all have had a Merry Christmas and I look forward to talking to y'all in my next blog post.