Where Do You Want to Go This Year?

Let's try this again. Four blog posts in and I was still managing to make spelling errors from carelessness. Not cool, sorry folks! I must be getting lazy from my use of having Siri type my texts for me as I talk into my phone. 

My last post was a summary and self-reflection of my past year. So after looking back on my past year, it helped me to reflect on what I want to continue accomplishing this upcoming year. New Year's resolutions have always been kind of "whatever" to me because some people take it waaaay too seriously. For instance, some people will decide on their resolution of choice weeks before January 1st and wait those next few weeks to change anything in their life when they're already fully aware of what they should be working on. With that being said, it's still great to improve your mindset and focus on goals that propel you forward in life. 

My goal's this upcoming year fall on a broad spectrum, from my relationship with Jesus to where I want to travel. Besides chugging an extra glass of water each day, I want to continually deepen my relationship with God. I have been actively studying the Bible the past 6 months but keep finding myself really confused. I'm not sure where to start and have been heavily relying on devotional plans or Bible study groups to guide me. Which is all fine and dandy, but I've been dancing around what I should be and have been wanting to do... read the Bible. Start to finish. I had been dancing with this idea but the real reason that I've held off is that it's been intimidating me. Ironically, last week's sermon touched base on this and encouraged me to dive in. Well it is the "most read" book in the entire world, so I guess I should be getting with the program. Not like the skimming I had done in my religion classes growing up. If you love something so fully and completely, you want to know more and more about it. So why isn't that our intention? We should want to know God's word inside and out. You don't need to read the entire Bible the next few months, but you could dedicate 20 minutes a day to this and you would be surprised at how much you'll see a shift in your relationship with God. My next 2019 goal is to make sure that I'm doing 15 minutes of distraction-free prayer time. The year just got started and, wowzers, it is sure hard to not pick up your phone and give your undivided attention to Jesus. I feel terrible for saying that. He obviously deserves waaaay more than that, but it's a work in progress. Don't judge me. (*Insert that emoji with the nervous laughing smile with the sweat droplet on the forehead).

Outside of daily goals to accomplish, I have a few super exciting travel goals that I'm thrilled to get the ball rolling on! I'm planning on training the next few months to be able to comfortably hike Patagonia on both the Argentinian and Chilean side. I've never been nervous for solo travel in the past, but as much as I really love the outdoors and camping, I'm not sure how Steve-Irwin-saavy I am. (Yes, I'm fully aware that he was mainly known for his Australian adventures with crocs, but that's the best reference I've got for ya.)

Last, but not least (and I will probably add more as the year goes on), I've started to save for the Holy Land pilgrimage to Israel. Boy oh boy, it is a pricey trip so I will probably be going later on in the year. Imagine thoroughly reading the Bible start to finish and then going to the places that you read about. I can't even imagine the awe I will be in - I'll keep ya posted.

Well, that's all folks! (*Insert Bugs Bunny imitation*) These are just a few fun suggestions for resolutions and goals for this year. Hopefully you can pick something, no matter how small, that helps you to pursue your relationship with God. I hope that you are able to take this past year's lessons, both good and bad, to continue to grow and fulfill our ultimate purpose of carrying out God's will. I have a bajillion travel trips, and although I haven't been to Patagonia or the Holy Land yet, feel free to email me with any questions on my contact form! Let's see where you'll go this year - mentally, physically and spiritually :)