blogging
A New Blogging Endeaver
What do you write on a blog that’s titled Start Marriage Right when you’ve only been married for a hot second? This is what I’ve been asking myself as I embark into this new endeavor. Starting this week I’ll begin contributing on a monthly basis to the blog on www.StartMarriageRight.com and perhaps more as time goes on.
If there is anything I learned in the journey leading to marriage it was probably more what NOT to do than what to do. In fact, when the prospect of writing in this space came my way my husband and I joked that we could probably fill the pages of a book with what not to do, but a book about what to do might be quite a different story.
You see we met as young, naïve and faithless 22-year olds. I had just graduated from college and he had one more semester left. But when we met we didn’t even know that much about each other, we just each thought the other was quite attractive. It was Memorial Day weekend and he had come down to Indianapolis to visit a mutual friend of ours and we were ready to party with whoever walked in the door.
At the end of the weekend he left to go back to Chicago. I left for my parents’ home in Connecticut. Neither of us thought we would see the other again.
By the time I was 22 I had known the Lord briefly in high school but after a year at Indiana University I began to subscribe to the universal god theory. My husband had been raised in a religious home but had never explored his faith as his own and pretty much knew the routine without a relationship.
In the 10 years that followed our first encounter I moved to the Windy City, we began dating and after two and a half years we broke-up. God ravaged our hearts while apart and we got back together and got engaged. At the time, that was not God’s plan. We broke off our engagement, experienced the worst heartbreak we had ever known and swore off the other. But God had a plan and even we could not thwart it. As only the One true redeeming God could do, He restored what we destroyed, redeemed a boy and a girl and He brought us back together in His perfect timing to make a covenant with Him and each other for the rest of our lives.
We had no idea when we met that weekend in May 2002 that our God would take us on the most incredible journey that would culminate with welcoming our first child into the world 10 years later to the month.
So, it is with the knowledge of my redeeming God, who He is and what He has done for us that I write in this new space. And by His grace I pray He can use what I’ve learned to help others begin their marriage well. I’m just an imperfect girl whose prayer is that the God of all grace and redemption can use the little bit I’ve learned of Him and our beautifully flawed story to bring glory to His name and prevent others from having to “learn the hard way.”
His word says that He will use the foolish things of this world to shame the wise {1 Corinthians 1:27} and so I trust that He can use this broken yet redeemed vessel.
I hope you’ll stop by Start Marriage Right sometime and find something helpful in your journey.
Read MoreBoots walking
I’ve had such a love-hate relationship with social media, but lately it’s been more about love than hate as I learn to filter through blogs and twitter profiles that are edifying versus the ones that are simply distracting. Today a friend posted the above image on her Facebook profile and I had to share it here. One of my friends has nicknamed me “boot-straps” as when a difficult situation rears its ugly head my way I tend to stare it in the face, take it for what it is and continue to walk forward knowing that in Christ I’ll conquer it.
Well, I think this image pretty much says what I could never put into words. By no means do I live in this every day, but I certainly would love to be this woman as often as I can be.
Are you living this way? Are you living like you are a woman made in the image of her Creator God? To quote a pretty incredible pastor I know, “BIG God, little devil.” Let’s live like it!
1 Corinthians 16:13-14: Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong. 14 Do everything in love.
PS. I promise to be back here more consistently soon. I miss this space a lot!
Read Morea looong explanation
**warning, you may want to stand-up while reading this post so you don’t nod off in the middle of it as it breaks the “blogging rule” of short, sweet and succint pretty stinkin’ well**
The other day I read a blog post on a friend’s blog titled why blog if no one reads it and thought to myself when I finished reading, well said—rather, well written. I may have secretly envied her way with words but that’s between the Lord and me ;-)
I often ask myself why do I blog and I can’t EVER seem to articulate it properly. But I think that’s because sometimes I struggle with it myself. I wrestle with am I really blogging for the glory of the Lord in everyday life or just so I can say what’s on my mind?
Do I really care about who reads it?
Do I care too much about who reads it?
Do I really have anything of importance or significance to say?
Do I really want to grow as a writer or am I just hoping to “casually” write and one day I’ll be pricked with unimaginable creativity and suddenly I’ll be another blogger who becomes an author? Highly unlikely.
I hope to grow as a writer (and when I say grow I mean by leaps and bounds, I’m quite aware of my 5th grade writing level, which is ironic since I work in public relations…I digress) but let’s be honest; I’m fascinated with the stories of bloggers turned authors. Most of the time the blogger has simply written about her life in such a way that people engage and relate to her as if she’s sitting on the couch in their own living room talking to them directly.
There’s a part of me that wishes my life was that cool that someone would want to eavesdrop on it. Secretly I like to think it is. But frankly, I know it’s not. Not. At. All. For example, it is 9:45 on a Thursday night and what have I done?
Stayed at work late for no good reason really.
Ate a mismatched dinner of cucumber rolls and left over spinach & artichoke dip.*
Made mashed potatoes for tomorrow night’s dinner (by the way, while peeling the potatoes I remembered why I loathe making this dish).
And am deliberately “practicing” writing (I read today to become a better writer I need to write, write and write more) so I don’t have to put the clean laundry away that is neatly hanging over the end of our bed so it doesn’t get wrinkled. Who cares that it’s been hanging there since SUNDAY. I’m practicing writing.
Exciting stuff. Yes. I know.
Clearly my thrilling everyday life is not the reason I blog. Shortly after I read my friend’s post I took a jaunt down blogging memory lane and it was on the journey I discovered why I blog.
Check this out:
it’s a funny thing when you look back how even when you aren’t asking for it, God manages to order each and every step. in college i fell in love with the city upon first glance. i called home and said, “i’m going to live in chicago when i graduate!” it was tough finding a job but, after “tactfully stalking” the CEO of my former agency, i landed an internship and eventually was hired on full-time. thankfully i have very supportive parents who let me pack up my car and drive from connecticut to an unknown city for a less than guaranteed opportunity. when i got here i lived in a one bedroom apartment with a very gracious sorority sister of mine. little did we know, that was the beginning of an unbelievable friendship and a roommate adventure that spanned over four years! the Lord opened many doors and opportunities that just kept telling me this is where i was supposed to be. i don’t know what the next four years will bring but i do know that if when i didn’t even acknowledge my God He was taking care of me, how much more will He now- praise the Lord! 2006 was a year of amazing growth, good and tough- none of which was documented. this is my blog- a place to document my 2007.
That’s the “about” section of my very first blog the Joy is in the Journey.
And THIS is why I blog. In the last four years since I began documenting this life, my thoughts, challenges, joys, loves, hurts and such, A LOT has happened. AND I remember almost ALL of it. Even the times when I didn’t post an entry or went for periods of no posting, the absence even reminds me of what was going on—which yes, can be scary at times. I think that if I didn’t have the faith and trust in God that I do it might overwhelm me but that’s the beautiful thing about it… having it all documented never allows me to forget how He has showed-up in mighty and magnificent ways. And Lord willing, when others see/read Him working in my life it will encourage them too! Check it out, over the past four years here are some of the major highlights either documented or left out:
I got engaged
I experienced the worst heartbreak of my life to date, we ended our engagement
I worked through deep profound sadness (this took a looong time)
My best friend/roommate got married and I stood in her wedding
I lived alone for the first time in my life
I learned to climb resulting in my first alpine climb and attempted summit of Mt. Rainier where I believed for the first time there was a plan for my life
I bought a car for the first time
I fell in love with my Savior
I discovered Beth Moore (life-changing!)
I ran a half marathon or two
I visited Europe, Mexico, Costa Rica, Colorado
I began studying the Bible and leading Bible studies
Experienced first-hand crisis communications at its best
Got engaged again :-)
Planned a wedding in three months
Got married!
Whew! And that’s just a small list. I forgot to mention the break-ins and the roomy I gained before Mr. Z came around who turned into the very best friend I could have asked for.
So that’s why I blog. To remember what God has done, show His goodness and His faithfulness and to get all those wild and crazy thoughts of mine out of my head and into something somewhat constructive—although I guess the constructive part is somewhat debatable.
If you made it to the end of this post, you deserve a medal! In the weeks to come I plan to practice my writing, which means, Lord willing there will be many more posts to come. Thanks for bearing with me, reading all this stuff and joining me on the journey!
*Disclaimer: Mr. Z is in the middle of tax season so I’m back to cooking for one and really, I HATE cooking for one. So more often than not I don’t cook and end up eating weird combination of food.
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