But love is not selfish...

2011 was filled with highs and lows. I found out I will be in school a little longer than I was hoping. I got married. I said things out of emotion and reap the consequences of that. I accomplished things I was afraid to try.

We are only 3 days into 2012 but it has started out pretty good. Daniel and I made a few resolutions individually and as a couple. One of mine was I want to ignore my many fears and give myself more of an opportunity to succeed at things. A couple of the ones we vowed together include saving more, being less aware of we want individually and more aware of what our spouse needs.
We started reading this book together called The Love Dare. Every day it has a short passage about an aspect of love and then a dare for the day. For example the first day talked about LOVE BEING PATIENT. The dare was to say nothing negative about your spouse for the day. (Harder than it sounds) The second day was LOVE IS KIND. It divided kindness up into 4 parts: Gentleness, Helpfulness, Willingness, and Initiative. The dare for the day was to do something kind for your spouse without being provoked. Todays passage is LOVE IS NOT SELFISH. We are supposed to buy something for our spouse that they need.
Each passage is really small and the dares are not difficult or time consuming but they are meaningful. It feels so good to stop focusing on myself and take time out to specifically show love to the Mr. He deserves it.

It is so weird to think abut where I am now and where I was a year ago.  I am being completely honest when I say I love being married. I love sharing life with Daniel. We are growing together and learning more about ourselves, as individuals and as a couple, than I could have ever imagined. I am also being honest when I say I didn't expect other aspects of my life to be how they are. Other than my relationship with Daniel my life feels a little chaotic and off. I am missing a lot of the friendships I had and I think it has left me a little empty. But I am confident the Lord has me here for a reason.

I look forward to coming back to this post in a year and hopefully seeing growth. My goal is that I find myself less afraid of failing, more in love with Jesus than ever, and making huge strides towards being the woman the Lord calls me to be.