What a great, and important question that Melinda is asking us all through this moment as we move from one year to the next:

What kind of woman do you want to be?

Because the truth is that we get to choose. We didn’t really get to choose the circumstances of our girlhood years and how they shaped us, and we don’t have full control over health struggles, loss, and trials. But what we can decide is what kind of woman we want to be.

The Good Word Verse for this New Years is 2 Timothy 2:22, “Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.”

I love that. As we move from our youth and girlhood into mature women following after Jesus, there are some clear markers of the Good Life. So this year, I’d like to offer you the woman that I want to be, in hopes that it might inspire you to make your own list:

  1. I want to be the kind of woman that leans in. That says YES to the friendship, the adventure, or the hard conversation.
  2. I want to be the kind of woman who knows that vulnerability is the key to real connection, and be brave to share my true self with others.
  3. I want to be the kind of woman that dogs approach with a trusting wag, and kids are happy to hear is coming over to see their house.
  4. I want to be the kind of woman that tries new things even if I may fall off or fall in or fall in love.
  5. I want to be the kind of woman that has a go-to recipe for when people are struggling and need a meal brought over in plastic containers..
  6. I want to be the kind of woman who does more than the women in generations in my family that preceded me, simply because of all the opportunity, freedom, and shoulders I stand on.
  7. I want to be the kind of woman that prays for the needs of others when I make coffee, and when I’m in the shower, and when I walk the dog, and when I say I will.
  8. I want to be the kind of woman who doesn’t miss the most important things because I’m too busy with the urgent things.
  9. I want to be the kind of woman that laughs freely, thinks deeply, and loves unconditionally.
  10. I want to be the kind of woman that in the end, will see Jesus face to face.

Happy New Year 2023, dear women of God. May you let Him make you all you are designed to be this year, and always.