2019: Confidence

What with all the holiday travels and celebrations (Sam & Kevin are engaged! Alison reached 87% of her support today!), I haven't had time to process through this last year and think in-depth about 2019.

Let's start with a quick recap of 2018: 

-I read a copious amount of books and tried my hand at making key lime pie, pavlova, & panna cotta. I definitely recommend making Alison Roman's key lime pie. The cup of freshly squeezed lime juice is worth all the hand cramps and more.

-Visited Cali in Philly, road-tripped to Antelope Canyon, spent Thanksgiving with Alison's family in Wisconsin & ran the turkey trot in the most frigid of weather conditions, had a mini family reunion in San Francisco and got to hang out with Eunice and her husband Toby. 

-Attended three conferences: The Gospel and Our Cities Conference, CCDA, GMHC.

-Went to 4 weddings (one in North Dakota, one in Wisconsin, two in Illinois).

-Got free residential tickets to Riot Fest and saw Beck. 

-Visited a missionary family in Medellin, Colombia for 10 days.

-Grew more in love with my community and God. Attended most of the weekly Tuesday prayer meetings at Chicago Tabernacle. 

Blessings: 

-Alison and Grace moving in last year.

-The ways in which God opened doors and allowed me to go to Colombia and then reaffirmed the calling on my life at GMHC.

-The ways in which God protected my relationship with my mom and sister, even during tension-filled moments. 

Moving into 2019: 

I am inspired by Kevin's approach towards the new year: choose a theme word and somehow incorporate it in different ways throughout the year. I believe his word for 2019 is discipline and that each month, he will try to practice a different form of discipline. One word immediately popped into my head for this year: confidence.

Confidence in the Lord.
Confidence in my identity as a beloved child of God.
Allowing that confidence to manifest itself in different ways, whether it be consistent tithing, pursuing friends and family with Christlike love, trusting in the Lord and acting not out of fear but trust. 

LEZ GO.