N𝕖𝕨 Y𝕖𝕒𝕣𝕤 R𝕖𝕤𝕠𝕝𝕦𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟𝕤

It seems like yesterday I was celebrating 2018. Here we are 12 months later and I can happily say God has blessed my life with so many different people and experiences. I am so excited to embark on this year's journey, and the best part is that I get to do it with each of you. I have enjoyed the last couple of months starting this blog and learning more about this part of social media. Although I am nowhere near the blogging goals I have, I am so happy to have such a great support team helping me along the way. This year is all about my career and goals for success. I want to make this blog one that is fun and exciting and helps me connect more with each of you. One of my goals Is connecting with each reader more and expanding my social media audience.

One of the things I have run into while blogging is connecting on social media with followers. A lot of the bloggers I follow constantly post on IGTV (Instagram Tv). But I am not a big fan of drowning my followers in videos that they most likely don't care about. I also don't live a life that most of these bloggers do. I am just a college girl trying to follow her dreams. Because of this, I am starting to learn what kind of blogger I want to be and what I like and don't like. This is a journey and I have enjoyed all of the feedback I have received for each of you. I thank you for continuing to read each of my blogs and the support I have felt from each of you. I have truly enjoyed experiencing this new journey with some of my best and closest friends. I really encourage you to leave me messages and feedback on things you would like me to talk about, or things you think I could do better.

One goal I would like to invite each of you to join me on is getting back into an intentional lifestyle. For me this means intentional quiet times with the Lord, intentionally reach out to people you normally don't interact with, intentionally giving grace when you don't want to, and last but not least intentionally loving others as Jesus loves us. I believe as the world continues down a dark and scary path there is no better time than now to be intentional. Something I was saying earlier about connecting on social media, I think that can be a HUGE problem in our everyday life. We can be so intentional with a post we like, whose profiles we see, whose photos we comment on or videos we watch. But why can't we be that intentional with our words, thoughts, and actions? Why is it easier to tell XYZ her outfit is cute but in person we just smile and give that look that secretly says "I want that outfit." Another big thing is posting in the moment about good deeds or services we do, instead of living in the moments and then later being reflective. I am not innocent of this, it is so easier to get caught up in wanting others to see how "Godly" you are, or jealous of the place you are in where you are supposed to be missioning.

One thing I loved about being in Belize last May was there was absolutely no wifi, I had to get to know each of the college kids serving with me and we were forced to be intentional. Sometimes I wish technology was not what It is today, but yet here I am writing this blog post on a 2018 MacBook Pro with my iPhone 8Plus next to me. So, off of that goal I invite you to join me in adding a screen time to your phone. This new update limits your amount of screen time you get in a day. The best part is you can choose what you want a timer on. For me, I've chosen ALL social media. It is so easy for me to want to go back to pre-technology time but then turn around and check my phone or get on Instagram. But thanks to screen time I have a goal of changing just that.

Let's start and end 2019 being intentional and unplugged. Social media and technology can wait but our relationship with God and relationship with others can't. Be intentional with each relationship you are in including those with strangers, co-workers, the retail girls you always see, the mailman, UPS guy, or the person who always checks you out at the grocery store. 2019 is a year of growth and change, let's take the opportunities we are given and use them to our max ability. I wish you a very successful 2019!

xoxo,

Liv