Back in high school I spent countless hours writing papers. When an assignment was given, the most common follow up questions were: How many pages do we have to write? What size do the margins have to be? Can we use size 48 font? I admit, I asked these questions too. Why? Because writing papers wasn’t fun. In college, the writing assignments grew, but so did my faith. I had prayed that God would surround me with Christian friends who were passionate about their faith. God answered those prayers. I experienced the joy of living in honest community with other believers. I learned the difference between religion and having a personal relationship with God. As my faith became stronger, something strange began to happen. I began to enjoy writing – not writing papers (because that would be crazy), but journaling and writing poetry in my free time. It became very therapeutic. It helped me to express on paper what I couldn’t verbalize out loud. It helped me to process difficult things that were hard to talk about with others. God spoke truth to me through words. Over the next several years I would experience many joys and trials, but I kept writing. I never thought about sharing any of my writings. The thought of that terrified me. Fast forward to 2015. The Motherless Daughters Ministry was starting a blog, and I felt a nudge to be a guest blogger. This scared me, which is why I knew the nudge was from God. Reading blogs is one thing, but sharing something so personal is another thing. I shared anyways. With each blog I wrote, I was encouraged to share more. I began to realize that sometimes God gives us words that are meant to be shared. We may think they are only for us, but He can use those same words to speak love and encouragement into someone else’s life too. I loved being a guest blogger, but the thought of starting my own blog kept popping into my mind. Back in October 2015, I was praying and asking God what my “next steps” should be. A few days later, this blog from “To Write Love On Her Arms” came across my news feed: “You Should Write” I honestly laughed out loud and told God I wish He was that clear when answering all of my questions. And with that, I moved forward and starting learning about the wonderful world of blogging. What “next step” is God leading you to take? If you don’t know, ask Him. He’ll tell you when the time is right. He might even answer you through someone’s blog. :)
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Welcome to 2016! For many, this means New Years Resolutions. For me, I’ve never been a fan of them. If you don’t make them, you can’t break them, right? Last New Years Eve, I gathered with a group of friends. My friend, April, mentioned how she heard on the radio that instead of making New Years Resolutions, people were encouraged to focus on just one word. As we went around the room to share our one word, I knew what word I wanted to focus on for 2015. It was a word that had been on my mind quite a bit: OBEY Here’s what I wrote in my journal about that night: “I want to obey God’s promptings in the small things and the big things. I want to step out in faith to what He calls me to do, knowing that somehow, someway, His glory will be revealed in the end. I want faith to be stronger than fear. Ultimately, I want to obey out of love so that others can also experience His love. If God wants to use me to be a part of His great love story then I’m all in. “ During 2015, I focused on obeying God’s promptings. Some were easy to follow, but most of them were challenging. Each time that I obeyed, though, I was encouraged to take the next step. The toughest steps were also the ones which eventually led me to experience more peace and healing. I started thinking about what I wanted my one word to be for 2016. This year, my one word is: SHARE. Being an introvert this doesn’t always come easy, but I hope to use this blog to SHARE:
What word will you pick to focus on for 2016? P.S. There’s actually a whole One Word movement you can join: http://oneword365.com/ I have always loved a great story. I’m the type of person who can sit and read for hours. The best stories take time. Great writers spend months, and sometimes years pouring their hearts and souls into their stories. They craft each page and character with purpose. They create characters that their readers can connect with. When you care about the characters, you are more likely to keep turning the pages to find out what happens next in the story. Sometimes there’s a twist for the reader, but the writer knew the ending all along. Our lives are no different. We were created for a purpose. That purpose is to point people back to the author and creator of life. Our stories are part of a much bigger story - We are a part of God’s great love story. When we share our stories, we begin to see how each page and chapter connects. We begin to see that the author has a plan bigger than what we can see on our single page. We begin to see that events and other characters have been written into the story for a purpose. Looking back, it is evident that God’s love is written across the pages of my life, but it didn’t always seem like that…. My hope is that by sharing some of the pages of my life (through this blog) that you will be encouraged to share how God’s love and goodness are evident on your pages too. When we realize that the words on our pages were penned with love, it gives us hope to keep living out the story. |
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