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. 

 

Blogmas

Hey everyone!

I know that I haven't been posting a lot these past couples of months because life has been busy but I am excited to announce that I am doing blogmas this year! This is my first year doing blogmas so I am really excited.

If you don't know what blogmas is, it means that everyday during December until Christmas I will be posting. Right now, I will be posting at 4 pm central time. This could change as December goes on.

I am really excited and I have some great post planned to share with y'all!

I hope y'all have a great day and I look forward to hearing what y'all think about my posts!

Much love,
Katlyn

February Favorites

I haven't done one of these in awhile so I am going to start them up again. In this post is going to be all of my favorites for the month of February. There is going to be items from every single category.

Favorite books:

The Chase by Kyle and Kelsey Kupecky
My journaling bible
The Comeback by Louie Giglio
Salting Roses by Lorelle Marinello

Favorite TV shows:

The Series of Unfortunate Events on Netflix
Crown on Netflix
This Is Us

Favorite Foods:

Egg rolls
Mexican

Favorite drinks:

I got a new coffee machine that takes the Keurig cups in it. So I have been addicted to coffee and hot chocolate recently.

Random Favorites:

Good Mythical Morning on Youtube
Boots
Cardigans
Red lipstick

Love

It's that time of the year again. February is here and everyone knows what that means. Valentine's Day and being single. 

In this post, I am gonna get real transparent with y'all. Because it is on my heart to do so.

I have never had a Valentine during this month. And it used to bother me but it doesn't anymore. In high school and middle school, all of my friends used to get gifts and I didn't. It used to upset me. I would see them post cute photos with their bae's and I didn't have one.

This year I thought it would be different. In August, there was a guy that was interested in me and I was interested in him back but I guess things didn't work out. We tried to make it work. We really did but we both were so busy with everything. And then he decided that he didn't want a relationship and then I didn't want one and then he wanted one and then I wanted one and then he didn't want one.

You see, I really liked him and I thought it was gonna work and we were gonna be great together but God and life had different plans. I have known him for 3 years and we were really good friends. We worked really well together. And I don't hate him for anything. I was mad but I can never really hate him or not be his friend.

Then there was this other guy. We both liked each other but I didn't know it until recently. And it sucks because he lives 3-4 hours away. I have known him for 3 years too. We met at the same place as the other guy. Our friends thought that we were and should be in a relationship. My friendship is different with this guy. Our friendship is based on fighting. We met and started talking while fighting. We fought every time we were together but we didn't mean it. It was our way of flirting. We did have deep conversations too.

So again this year, I am not gonna have a Valentine. And I am okay with that. I do have someone that loves me though and that is never gonna change. God loves me and I love him. He can be my Valentine.

I am going to cherish these single Valentine's Days and they will be extra special when I get married. When I get married, I will have a forever Valentine.

This year, I am going to do something that I saw on Twitter. I am going to go to the store and buy a tie for my future husband. I am going to hang it next to my bed where I can see it and I am going to pray over it. I am going to pray for my future husband and for God to keep him safe. This tie will be given to him on our wedding. I will also give him letters that I have wrote to him throughout the years. Before and after I have met him.

God will never leave us. He is always there for us.

John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only begotten Son so whosoever believes in Him shall not parish but have everlasting life."

God loved us so much that He gave His son to die on the cross for our sins. Isn't that amazing? Do you love someone enough to do that for them? I know that I don't really.

We are told that there are 4 different types of love in the bible. They are Stroge, Eros, Philos, and Agape.

Before I start talking about the different types of love, let me ask you a question. What is love?

Love is according to Wikipedia,

A a variety of different feelings, states, and attitudes that ranges from interpersonal affection to pleasure. It can refer to an emotion of a strong attraction and personal attachment.

Storge love is familiar or affectionate love. This is the love that families have for each other.
Eros love is romantic love. This is the love that people in relationships have for each other.
Philos love is friendship love. This is the love that friends have for each other.
Agape love is spiritual love. This is the love that God has for us.

Agape love is never failing. And it is amazing love. This is the most important love that we should have. This love should come first.

Love is talked about throughout the bible. Love is not a bad thing except when it is the wrong type of love. We are called to love each other with respect. I know that I have a hard time loving people. And when I do, I turn to the bible.

God's love is everlasting. It never changes. No matter how far away we get. We can leave Him for earthly pleasures and He will never quit loving us. People's love will fail us. They will leave us and make us heartbroken but God will never. God is always there for us.

We should run to him with our broken hearts. Because His love will help us.

Below is one of my favorite verses in the bible that talks about love. It is 1 Corinthians 13: 4-8; 13

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. 

And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.  

I'm amazed by God's love for us. I don't really deserve it. Even if nobody else loves me, I know that He does. He will always love me.

So this year for Valentine's Day, I am gonna spend it with my family and Netflix. I am also going to spend it with my FOF family.

Dear God, I know that you are saving me for someone special and it is hard. But I want to thank you for your love. You love me even if I don't love myself and when I am not loveable and that is often. Your love is amazing and reaches to the end of the earth. You sent your son to die on the cross for our sins knowing that we may not accept you. If that is not love, then I don't know what is. God I just want to thank you for my life and the people in it. I want to thank you for my FOF family. I don't know what I would do withouth them. God, I know that you placed them in my life for a reason. I may not know it yet, but I know that it is to glorify you. God, I want to thank you for the experiences I had with those two guys. I may not have dated them but you placed them in my life and I am so thankful for that. God I pray for my future husband. I pray that he gets to know you and your love for hi, I know that you will show him to me in your right timing. God I love you so much. And I thank you for my life. I know that you have me single during this season for a reason. I don't know what it is but you will show me. Amen.  

I hope that you all have a wonderful Valentine's Day and remember that God loves you and will never forsake you.

To end this blog post I just want to post this song called "Amazing Love" by Chris Tomlin

Here is another video by Guy Penrod that is really good. 

Legacy

What kind of legacy do you want to leave everyone when you die?

This was just suddenly on my mind tonight. A local weatherman that everyone knew of died a week or two from a heart attack. He had been in and out of the hospital for the past year but he had just got out of the hospital the day before his heart attack. He had the heart attack during this huge storm that we had over that weekend. It was so fitting for him.

But he was loved and respected by not just people around the wiregrass but people in Northern Alabama and Texas. Everyone knew of him. And everyone knew of his sense of humor and love of Jesus Christ.

The local news dedicated the news to him the next night. Like they shared videos of him and stories. He was known and loved by a lot of people. Everyone had such nice things to say about him. I also went on his Facebook and read what people were posting. They were such nice words and everyone was talking about his love for the Lord.

I want to leave a legacy like that. I want to be known as the girl that was so on fire for God. That God's love shined through her. That she didn't let anyone stop her from worshipping God.

I don't want to be known for being beautiful or having a pretty smile. Don't get me wrong. Those are nice to be remembered for but not the only thing.

We should want to be remembered for our love of God. That we were on fire for Him. That people got to know Him through us.

That is the legacy that I hope to leave. That is the legacy that God wants us to leave.

What legacy are you leaving? Do you want to be known for loving God with all of your heart and being on fire for Him? I know that I do and you should too.