Becoming Brittney Nicole

This past Thursday, I turned 18. The big one-eight. The year when life changes in a lot of ways. I have grown a lot in the last few years, learning things about the world and about myself. I've read and listened and studied. There have been so many people that have shown me how to live a life of purpose and how to honor God in all that I do. From teachers to parents, books to movies, friends to bloggers, to the things from God and the example of Jesus, I have and am still learning so much. So, I know that 18 years are not that many, but I thought I would share some of the lessons that are shaping who I am.  You don't have to please everyone. In the recent hit movie, The Greatest Showman , one of the characters tells P. T. Barnum, "You don't need everyone to love you, just a few good people." I think we tend to want to impress everyone and feel like failures when we don't. But we can't please everyone. As Christians, the world may even h...

Hope. I've never deliberately chosen a word for a new year before. I have heard of a few people doing so. In this first week of 2018, I wondered if I would and, if I did, what it would be. Hope. It might be a cliche for someone to choose hope. Why not choose a bigger, more intelligent sounding word like perseverance or efficiency? Both are good words, insinuating awesome goals, but for me, I choose Hope. The Oxford Dictionary defines hope as "a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen". It's an expectancy. I can sense it as 2018 has started. Hope that this year will be better than last, that goals will be met and good things will happen. Hope that we will be better people, better workers, and stewards of our time, better sons and daughters, men and women. Hope that we will heal and laugh and be kind to each other. Hope that winter will turn to spring, that darkness will lessen and light will return. Hope. I have a lot coming up ...