At the beginning of the year, I was searching for a word. One that I would try to understand and carry out to better enhance my life. I was praying and meditating on what events had led me up to this point and time, and at some point the word just came to me: intentional. This word holds a lot of weight to it, especially when you apply it to living, but I was up for the challenge. I knew that if I was intentional about being intentional in every aspect of my life, God would do amazing things through it.

God loves when we are intentional, people love when other people are intentional. It shows others a certain amount of care, and makes living all the more worth while. You're not just saying or doing something because you had to or felt the obligation to. When you're more intentional the outcome of whatever you are doing is ten times better than when you're just doing to fulfill someone else's wishes.

That being said, learning to be intentional isn't as easy as you would think. It means there is a certain level of pre-thought that happens when you do something. Now, this doesn't mean you need to intensely think about everything you do before you do it, that would just be ridiculous in many cases, but it does mean that you go into it with the intention of putting your best foot forward. Thinking intentionally is thinking with the mindset of trying. Which seems to be too much to ask for nowadays. Anyways, with bigger and more important matters, yes, more thought and process should happen, but please just try and put a little more purpose into your daily acts of life. After all we are creatures created by an intentional God for a great purpose: to take care of His creation and to draw more people to Him. So friends, if you're not living with a purpose for God, how do you expect others who don't believe to do the same?

Now comes the application. After deciding upon my word, I started filtering through different aspects in my life I would like to become more intentional about. That list included: my relationship with God, my relationship with my mom, friendships, school work, speaking up about anxiety, and future relationships. I knew going in that this was a tall order. So, I did the only thing I could think of, I prayed and asked God for his guidance and support. It is important to remember that we can't do anything on our own volition we need God to guide us through it. So, since the start of the year, I have been working through all these aspects of my life, and it has all been so rewarding. Living intentionally and with a purpose is a beautiful reminder that you were created for a purpose. It it is my encouragement to you that you think about the aspects in your life, and whether or not you are living them out with intention, an end goal in mind. Once you've figured that out, start applying intentional living to your life. I promise you won't regret it.