new seasons

When I started this blog early last summer, I thought it would be a good place to keep up my love for communicating by way of the written word. A few months prior, I had stepped away from a well-guided women's writing team. Instagram was our primary platform and I partnered with the team in developing and sharing themed devotionals each month. It was such a good experience and helped me grow in my writing and ministry life.

I decided a blog would probably be the next best choice for me. Had I continued with that previous writing team, I probably wouldn't have started this blog. So, for beginners, I started with blogger.com as it's both free and easy to use. My goals were simple: just write for six months, then move on to a year if it's still going well. But then cancer hit around month TWO and I dove headlong into sharing about that. Traffic to my posts skyrocketed, and I thought humorously, oh, of course, my husband gets all the attention as usual. I'm pretty sure I voiced it to him as well. 

My readers were largely friends and family on social media, so it made sense that they wanted to hear what was going on with Brian and how our family was managing. I'm so thankful I had a quiet place to share outside of the cluttery walls of Facebook and Instagram. It just helped my mind knowing whoever came here, came here to stop and read with intention. There is also no "like" button for each submitted post. 

Then cancer drifted back into our rearview mirror and it left me wondering what to write about next. Cancer's heightened drama blew over, much to our delight. While it has deeply impacted our lives, its all-consuming strength is much like the falling autumn leaves: slowly and gently releasing, making room for new stories and seasons free of disease (by God's grace). 

One new season we are in collectively, perhaps from a distance, has to do with what is happening on the world stage. We have seen and heard of the enormous devastation and loss of life in the holy land. How does one wrap their mind around that level of atrocity? Keep praying, friends! Under the current of trumpeting news broadcasts and assertive podcasts, there is a God in heaven who is working and moving as his people pray. He doesn't have a short or weak hand, pulling away when media decides to move on to other news. This is no idle time in history and we get to be a part of it. What a season! A time to mourn, yes, but also a time to rejoice. What are we doing with the hours and minutes we have been given at such a time as this? Questions to ponder with me: Am I taking hold of the grace and mercy the Father extends through Jesus every single day? Am I utilizing it for greater purposes beyond myself? 

Just some thoughts. Thankful for a lot right now.