A New Season

Hey friend,

I feel like it’s only appropriate to start with how I finally ended up here, writing this out for you to read and (hopefully) enjoy and be encouraged by. Truthfully, I’ve tried to start this first blog post probably twenty different times. Over the summer of last year (2022), I felt God putting it on my heart to use my passion for writing to share His love and truth with others. I simply said “okay,” but I didn’t know what that was going to look like. Like, do I just start writing letters to people? Should I post cute little writeups on Facebook? Am I supposed to write a book or something?

For some reason, blogging just kept coming up over and over again. When I noticed it for the third or so time, I thought “maybe this is it.” I’ve always been told to pay attention when God seems to be repeating Himself. So, I looked into it, found a site for beginners, and I started creating a website. It was a daunting thought to start writing for other people, but I knew God was calling me to it. What I didn’t realize at the time was that although I had the calling, I didn’t have the equipping.

I finished all the fun little details on the website except for one majorly important part: the actual blog! The summer was coming to an end for me, so I figured that I’d write a few blog posts to get me started and just add to it throughout the next semester of school. But every time I tried to write a post, I struggled…more than I ever have writing before. My excitement turned to frustration. I thought, “What’s wrong with me?”

After writing three posts, I read back over them and just knew that it was not what God wanted me to put out there. It felt so forced, unnatural…something I was just trying to push through. I love connecting with people through writing, and I knew that this was not going to connect to people. So, I laid it back down.

I wasn’t sure if a blog was the wrong idea altogether or if God was just telling me, “wait.” I began the semester and ended up in an unexpected season. For school, I tried my best to make a schedule that would allow me to stay home, or at least have a few days off. Yet, I found myself having to make a three hour round trip every day of the week to attend classes. An hour-twenty to school and an hour-twenty back, with nothing else to do but drive.

Somehow, I found myself really enjoying this new form of “quiet time” every morning and afternoon. My drive allowed me and forced me to do nothing else but be still with God. I literally couldn’t do anything else. So, I worshipped. I sang. I prayed. I listened.

Looking back on this past season, I can now see what God was doing. It was very much a season of listening…a season of understanding…a season of being still. But it was not a season of sharing. I would get so excited about something that God revealed to me, but every time I tried to write about it, I felt paused. Every time I felt that pause, I would think to myself, “I don’t know what You’re doing, but okay God.” So, I’d lay my pen back down. I kept listening. I kept seeking Him. I kept sitting still.

This semester, God opened the door for me to be home. Although I was excited for that, I also worried about what my beloved quiet time would look like now that I wasn’t going to be driving back and forth for three hours of my day. But I felt God assuring me that He’d be with me. Now, I have different opportunities to worship Him in ways I couldn't this past season, like writing, and I think that’s awesome!

It's been a while in the making, but God’s timing is always so much better than mine. I can now see that God is opening doors for me to pursue this calling to write in this new season, and I can look back on this past season and see so evidently how the Lord was equipping me to do just that.

So,

Here I am, Lord.

P.S. Here we go!