2016 is over…what?
I started the year getting on an airplane, and coincidentally, am about to begin 2017 doing the exact same. The only difference is the destination. Maybe this year was made for adventure. Last year I set goals for health and found wholeness, authenticity and found it, and intention and have seen it happen. I set goals to lean into worship and the Father and feel closer to him than ever. I ran a newspaper, worked a lot more, fundraised $11,000, registered to vote, swam with elephants, baptized a new sister, rebranded some relationships (lol), slept in a tent, left the country, stuck it to the corporate man, and read a ton of books. The biggest lesson I learned this year, however, is that life is process and destination is mostly boring. Our walk with the Father ends in Eternity which illustrates my point really well. Our destination is also a journey.
This year:
I’M MOST PROUD OF leaving home and actually doing this thing called The World Race that I’ve been talking about for years and years. I also memorized four consecutive bible verses which never happens cause I have the attention span of a small child.
I’VE LET GO of my idea of an ideal life. That I don’t really care if I’m cool or have the job people want to talk about or if I know all the latest songs and trends. I didn’t even have a Twitter or Snapchat until this year, but beyond those things, the doing the life part is about people. Always has been. I don’t even care if not caring makes me cool? Like. What. haha I want to be passionate about the things that matter.
I STILL NEED TO WORK ON my people skills and being myself even when I’m in a pressure cooker. The World Race does things to people where they either pretend to be or shut down completely. Its all new environments and new people and new family and you either learn to embrace it or not. I’m of the shut-down-completely variety and am learning to be vulnerable when it counts and let people in.
I FELT SUPER ACCOMPLISHED WHEN I made the Dean’s List for my last semester (or so I thought) of my Associate’s Degree.
THE SUPPORT OF my best friends, sister and my mentor have been crucial in my 20th year of whatevenisthisthingcalledlife. There’s been a ton of pain, heaps of tears, and loads and loads of love coming from my constants.
A GOAL I HAVE FOR 2017 is to be more present. As an ENFP my brain is always in a million places at once and if I’m not careful, I often miss what’s in front of me. I have to metaphorically slap myself in the face and say, “WAKE UP TIFFANY. GET WITH IT.”
IM SUPER EXCITED ABOUT Africa? Jesus?!?
I’M GOING TO MAKE TIME FOR being interrupted. The Lord tends to do this to me often. Kids do it too. Sometimes we just put our focus on the wrong things, if ya know what I mean. We need to create space to be interrupted. This thing is about people, remember?
NEXT YEAR I WILL try new things. Meet new people. And strive to draw the best things out of people when I’m with them. I want to be intentional about conversation and learn from people more than I try to teach. (Word for word from last year because its still true for me.)
I want to meet God in his glory. Bill Johnson said in a podcast I listened to yesterday that we should always associate God’s glory with His goodness, and man, do I love that He is good. All these dudes in the Bible just wanted to be close to Him, and the Race so far for me has been a journey of extravagant pursuit. I just get to respond.
HOW ABOUT YOU?!? Let’s get back to the basics. To knowing God. To doing things the best we can do them. To figuring things out and having enough grace for ourselves to say we’ve missed it when we’ve missed it. Do something that scares you! Take a few risks.
Adventure isn’t just for people like me who get on a plane, it’s for those willing to say yes to what the Lord is speaking. So, this year, say yes a lot. And when you get tired, say yes to rest and then say yes some more. You’ll be so happy you did.
2016 was good to me. It was surgery, but not like 2015 was, and I’m so ready for what is ahead.
-Tipp <3
Also. In case you were wondering, if I find 8 monthly donors willing to donate $50 for the last 6 months of the race, I’m fully funded! Let me know if you are able to support me on the last leg of this thing!
