I've always had my religious beliefs, but I've never really been one to go to church. My grandma and I went some when I was little, but we never found one that we both enjoyed going to.

But as my 2019 resolution, I decided that I wanted to start saying a prayer every single day.

No, I'm not a perfect Christian nor am I even close to the best one because I don't go to church every Sunday. And I'm not highly involved in a church. But I am a believer in God and I am thankful for the presence He has in my life.

So I decided that I wanted to start acknowledging that daily.

So, every night, I said a little prayer. It typically went the same...thanking Him for keeping me, my family, and my friends safe, asking Him to guide me when I was struggling with something, and for Him to bring good things to me and my loved ones.

Of course, I couldn't tell a difference at first. Things seemed to be going the same as they always had.

But as the months went on, I realized my life was being positively impacted.

The toxic relationships I had began to dwindle out. Of course it was difficult to lose some friends, but it was also great that these "friends" weren't around causing drama anymore.

Instead, I was brought new friendships. I became close with people who didn't make me feel like I was back in high school dealing with a bunch of pointless drama. I was making friends who were encouraging me and making me happy to go to work or to class.

I found a great relationship. Someone who cares. Someone who wants to spend all his time with me. Someone who wants to meet my friends and family. Someone who wants me to meet his friends and family. Someone who just has a lot of love in their heart for other people.

Ever since I transferred to a four year university, I've made at least one B each semester. There's nothing wrong with Bs, and I was still excelling in college, but I did lose my 4.0 GPA I maintained for my first two years. But Spring semester and this Fall semester, I made 4.0 GPAs for the terms.

I'm not saying my life was bad before this, because it wasn't.

There was nothing wrong with how things were going before. I was still a happy and thankful girl. But now, I'm choosing to acknowledge the source of the good things in my life and thank Him for it. I'm even choosing to mention the bad things because bad things do happen, but I believe they are part of a bigger plan. And I want to acknowledge that.

And by doing this, I feel like my life has become even better than before.