I’m Manda. Well, I guess if this is our very first introduction - then to you, dear reader - I am Amanda. Then whenever you feel like you know me well enough, you can switch that over to Manda. Everyone else does.
I am a wife, mother, photographer, friend, and a million other things to myself or others, I’m sure. But the biggest, most significant thing that I am first and foremost, is a daughter of God.
Of course, that holds a much larger meaning than I’m capable of understanding. What I do know is that I am here, and my existence means something. I was born into this world with purpose. This mind and body, my heart and soul are here for a reason.
And now after 30 something years, my life up until this point has brought me here to this moment. All the choices I’ve made, big and small, every turn, every yes or no… everything has led me down this road that I’ve been on for a while now.
Don’t get me wrong - it’s not the worst road. In so many ways, I am so happy. I had a childhood where I felt loved and safe. I am married to my best friend, and we have a bunch of kids who totally drive us nuts in the best way. This life we’ve made has been full, and I am truly grateful for the road so far… if you caught that Supernatural reference - then we are officially best friends.
Still.. being here in this place, I feel a strong sense of lacking.. not with what God has given me, but with what I have (or haven’t) done with what I have been given.
I feel a stagnation within myself. I’m alive, but I’m not really living. It’s become incredibly obvious to me that I’m not living up to my potential. Whatever God created me to be here for — I am not living up to it. There are so many things I should be doing differently. There are so many opportunities to make better choices.
Of course, the right choice is almost always the harder choice.
Growth comes from choosing the hard things. Change comes from pushing yourself more than you did the day before.
God created each of us to be awesome. Why am I simmering in what I’ve done for years instead of reaching for something better?
Lately I’ve felt a strong pull to change things in my life. I want to see what my world would look like if every time I made a decision, I considered God first. I want to try and meet that potential.
I know that when I am pushing myself to pray more, to get to Mass more, to give more, to act in a way that is pleasing to God, that my daily life is vastly different. I’m not sure if you could tell by looking in from the outside, but I, for sure, am different.
So I’m going to commit to documenting one year of active and positive changes in my life. Follow along here, on youtube for weekly updates and on Instagram daily for life updates.