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I love stories. True stories and fiction alike, nothing refreshes my mind like reading a good story. Even though life with a seven-month-old is busy, I make time every day to read a story of some sort, just for my personal enjoyment. In fact, reading stories refreshes me even more than taking a nap does. However, it’s not just reading stories that I love; I love telling stories as well. That’s what brings me back to the blogging world.
I wrote my last blog post almost four years ago. That seems hard to believe, but time flies when your life is busy. In our American culture, we glorify busyness, but I would argue that the busyness of my life hasn’t always been for the best. A lot of that busyness has been social media consumption (I could write several posts on this topic; perhaps I will at some point). But life has been busy in more meaningful ways as well.
Being a ministry wife has kept me busy in ways I couldn’t have even imagined. And motherhood has brought a whole new set of challenges! But perhaps you and I are in a similar situation now; we’re suddenly not quite so busy anymore.
If you’re reading this years from now, I will mention for your sake that we are in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. Schools and businesses are closed. Even churches have closed their doors, navigating a new frontier of online services. And life has slowed down in a way that has made a lot of people very uncomfortable. Stillness can be uncomfortable, but from the very start of this time, it has been my goal to make the most of it and learn what God has for me.
I have barely left the house in three weeks. My husband is home a lot more, which means I have an extra set of hands to take care of the baby. Because of this, I’ve had time to do quite a few things that I always “mean to do” or think I “should do” but never seem to have the time. This week’s tasks have included mending clothes, updating my online shop, and sorting through coupons. Simple tasks. But one thing that kept burning in the back of my mind that I “should do” was restart my blog.
I love telling stories. But sometimes storytelling is uncomfortable. It requires me to offer something of myself for others to read freely. It’s much easier to keep my thoughts to myself in a journal. But I can’t help but believe that God gave me a passion for storytelling so that I can use that passion for His glory. So that’s what I’m setting out to do, all over again.
I want to share my thoughts as I meditate on God’s truths in hopes that those things will be an encouragement to you. But I also want to use this as a place to share family updates and other little fun things along the way. Through it all, I pray that God will be glorified, and that you will see the abundant life that He wants each one of us to have through it all.
For today, I would simply challenge you to consider what He might have you to do during this time of stillness. Your life is a story in itself that God desires to use to bring glory to Himself.