Highlights & Answered Prayers in 2021
My Top Nine Most Liked Instagram Posts in 2021. You can follow me on IG here!
2021 was a year of changing seasons and answered prayers for me. My word for the year was “open,” but little did I know what that would bring, because within these twelve months, I went on my first real date, got engaged, got married, moved to a new state, started attending a new church, turned 30, published my first print book, and got pregnant (including going through the first and second trimesters before the holidays!).
After years of feeling like everything was standing still for me while everyone else’s lives were moving on, it seems like it all changed at once. So, when they say it could all be different a year from now, friend, it is so, so true.
Before I share the highlights of the last year, I want to preface it with this: amongst all the joy and answered prayers, there were also moments of anxiety and fear as I navigated all the changes. These emotions are probably inevitable when you have this much life change in a short amount of time, but I think we often forget this when we witness just the highlight reel of someone celebrating big life milestones.
So, here are the answered prayer highlights of 2021 for me, many of which I had prayed and waited for a really long time:
January
I went on my first real date on January 2 with the man that is now my husband (Daniel). We had lunch at a local Greek place and then went to a local coffee shop. We talked for nine hours until the coffee shop closed and after he walked me back to my car in the snow, and asked my thoughts on making it official because he could see a future for us together. That started the sweetest season of dating. Our second date was a friend’s wedding in Ohio. There were a lot of FaceTime calls, handwritten letters, and flower deliveries (we dated long distance). The man pursued me boldly and intentionally, something that I had prayed about for so many years!
We had our first board meeting as Tirzah Magazine became an official nonprofit under the name Tirzah Ministries. This was a dream and prayer of mine for years!
February & March
I got a roommate; Daniel met my family officially; and my family gained a niece, a nephew and a great-niece!
On February 26, we got engaged and we finally got to share the news of our relationship with everyone (at that point, only our close family and friends knew we were dating!). We started looking at wedding venues, set a wedding date in May, and started planning our wedding.
In March, I went wedding dress shopping, hosted our engagement party, and got our engagement photos done. After going to so many dress shopping appointments, bridal showers and engagement parties for my friends and family, it was surreal to finally be the bride. At times, I thought God maybe forgot about me, but turns out He had so much good in store for me in His time!
I hosted our church teens group every Wednesday for Bible study and prayer time. Each week, my living room filled up more and more with those beautiful souls and it brought me so much joy to open my home to my teens. Working with the teens at my church was a highlight of my single season for me.
April & May
My sisters, sisters in law and mom surprised me with a weekend lake getaway as sort of a bridal shower / bachelorette weekend.
April and May flew by with wedding planning, teens ministry, work, and preparing to move.
Our wedding day on May 16 was perfect and a culmination of a thousand prayers during the course of a decade (I got married at 29!). We honeymooned in Cape Cod and it was the perfect week.
June & July
As we settled into married life, in early June, we found out we were pregnant, but after about two weeks, all the first trimester pregnancy symptoms hit me hard. Most of June and July was filled with fatigue, nausea, and throwing up. In this season, I mostly just prayed to get through each day. On one Saturday, we ventured out to visit a local sunflower farm and the brief outing was amazing, but what the photos don’t capture is running home before the car even stopped in the driveway to throw up. :/
August & September
Second trimester brought some relief from the pregnancy nausea and fatigue, so in August, we finally left the house to do a birthday getaway to Holland, Michigan to celebrate both of our birthdays.
We started to remodel our house little by little, and announced that we were expecting.
I launched this new blog under my married name and stepped away from running Tirzah Magazine.
October, November & December
I published my first print book, something I had worked on for almost three years, and we got most of the big remodeling projects done in our house.
I launched the Corporate Manager newsletter, a dream I’ve had for a long time!
We traveled a lot for work and to visit our families in Missouri, including celebrating Thanksgiving with my family.
We started to nest and prepare for the baby as we entered the third trimester.
What were some of the highlights and answered prayers of 2021 for you?
Up next tomorrow: the books I read and loved in 2021!
A note for my single friends - watching others celebrate big life milestones and the holidays in general can be hard when you’re single, especially if you’re surrounded by married siblings and friends with their own families. Oh, and all those family Christmas photos being posted online and mailed right now - for some reason, that always hit me hard!
Don’t give up hope. Don’t settle. Don’t stop praying for your future husband and marriage (or whatever milestone or season you’re waiting on and praying for!). Enjoy this season. This too is good. Because this time next year, you could be in an entirely new season and reaping all the things you’re praying for now. ❤️