My word for 2018 was Flourish, the word Flourish means ‘to grow or change as result of a favorable environment.’

I didn’t blog at all last year, that was intentional on my part. 2017 ended really weird, and heading into 2018 I really felt a break and pause was needed in certain areas of my life. Blogging was one of them. I realized that there were a few areas in my life where I’d made choices that weren’t allowing me to flourish. I wasn’t growing. I was letting fear and perfection cripple me, and keep me where I was. Fear can be a really easy thing to hide behind. If we stay in a place of fear, it keeps us from moving forward into the very things God has for us sometimes.

So 2018, was a year of recognizing where I was fearful. Writing it down, praying through it. And asking God to make me brave in the face of fear. Surrendering that fear, and self-doubt and letting go of a lot of it.

Am I still fearful at times? Heck, yes. But because of the lessons I’ve learned and mostly how to recognize it I now deal with it differently. And I think that is key, at least for me. There was no way I was going to flourish in 2018 if I didn’t start to recognize where I was, and where I wanted to be and reconcile the two. It took a lot of vulnerability and honesty with myself. It can be hard sometimes to really take a look at behaviors and patterns in your life and realize some of what you’re doing is unhealthy and not serving you well. That’s where I was, but I’m so thankful for this journey that 2018 brought me on.

As I head into 2019,

I feel brave
I feel ready
I feel sure of exactly who God has made me and what He’s called me to do
I know where my faults lie and I know how to surrender them
I feel confident

2019, I’m ready for you. Let’s do this.

Andrea Worley