In Closing.....A Few Thoughts
/I’m sitting here, fingers on the keyboards, trying to think of a title for the new year, new decade post I’m trying to write, and nothing inspiring is coming to mind. All I can hear is Barbara Walters voice saying “This is 20/20”! Maybe it will come to me as I write….let's jump in!
Jumping on the “time flies’ bandwagon, I cannot believe not only is 2019 nearly over, but that we are about to usher in a new decade! My Gram was born in the Roaring 20’s, now a century later, here we are bringing in 2020. It feels nostalgic, even if it really isn't.
With every new moment, every new day, every new year, there is the opportunity for change, to improve or stay the same, to grow, or grow stagnant. It is the time of year we set goals, make resolutions and draw lines in the sand vowing to never go back. I have moved away from resolutions and lines in the sand because #life and making such resolute statements with no knowledge of the future almost always fails. We set goals often in our home, for the day, for the week, for Akin Academy, for fitness, for finances…so setting annual goals is definitely something we do each new year. The last couple years I’ve also done a ‘word of the year’. I can’t even remember what it was two years ago because I didn’t give it much thought and it held no meaning. For 2019, my word was ‘Serve’. I prayed long and hard and this is the word that kept coming to mind, so I clung to it. For the first three months of the year, ‘serving’ dominated my life as I tended to my ailing grandmother’s needs. It was an honor to care for her in these days and I counted it pure joy that she was with us the last decade until her final hour. Maybe I would have anyway, but knowing that word was laid on my heart reminded me daily that it was my call for that season. Everything else could wait. I was to serve her, and I hope I did it well. The word continued to speak to my heart through the year with my family, with inviting friends into our home, and at church in the children’s ministry. It was a good word for me in 2019. I am still praying and waiting on my new word for 2020 and will share that when it is revealed to me!
For now, for this moment, I want to share a few thoughts, a few favorites, a few recommendations….things I’ve learned or grown from, and things I’m excited to tackle in the new year.
Favorite books of 2019 that I would emphatically recommend to anyone pursuing a deeper relationship with God (the Bible is a given for this), or looking for ‘get off the couch and out of your own head’ kind of motivation:
Discerning the Voice of God by Priscilla Shirer
The Circle Maker by Mark Batterson
Grace, not Perfection by Emily Ley
Uninvited by Lysa TerKeurst
Restless by Jeannie Allen
Some books I can’t wait to dig in to in 2020 are:
When Less Becomes More by Emily Ley
Anxious for Nothing by Max Lucado
Perfectly Unique by Annie F. Downs
My favorite jeans that I discovered this year are Kut from the Kloth! I LOVE these jeans more than any other I ever have. I got mine at Evereve, which is also another favorite for casual, stylish ‘mom’ clothes. My advice on this one….Ladies, girls, please don’t go back down the 80’s road with the mom jeans! I beg you. It was not a good look then, and is certainly not much better now. Just trust me on this one. If you need a higher waist jean that doesn’t take you back to the 80’s…..Kut from the Kloth. You’ll thank me!
2019 is the year I discovered essential oils, and I can’t imagine going back to candles or melted wax. Lavender is a favorite along with Valor for the school days. I LOVE the oily life and would love to set you up if you’ve been considering it and never made the leap!
Amazon link below….
The hardest part of the year was without question, saying goodbye to Gram and learning to live life, and live in her space, without her. She is still so very missed, but also we celebrate because we know where her eternity lies and can’t wait to see her again one day.
The two best parts of the year were adopting our fifth child, Logan, and also that I wrote a book….well, I wrote it over the last several years, BUT….I published a book this year!! Wha!!!!! I am still blown away every time someone says they read it, and even more when they say how much they loved it! What an incredibly fun and humbling experience that has been for the last several months.
People ask if I will write another book, mostly the part II to Making Me Mommy….the part where we adopt Logan. I definitely plan to, but haven’t quite figured out how to make a whole book of it….that’s in the works. However, I do have a children’s book in the process of completing illustration then being sent to the publisher, a devotional I have been working on that I hope to have ready to release by November for 2021, and another title that has weighed heavy on my heart for some time that I think will begin to fill the pages this year.
Finding time to write again has been a challenge, but it’s as if the flood gates have been opened and I can’t wait to let the words flow through my fingertips each day. I no longer fear that what God has given me to say isn’t relevant or that I’m not worthy to be the one who says them. I’m just here for what He has for me and want to dive in head first, knowing He has prepared the way, and will do with it what He will.
This has been a year of growth in so many areas and so many ways. I am so thankful for the Lord’s pursuit of my heart during this. He is faithful and so worthy of our everything. I can’t wait to show up for 2020!
Happy New Year, friends!
~Jules