“For it is God who is working in you, enabling you both to desire and to work out His good purpose.” (Phil 2:13 HCSB)

Hi and welcome to my introductory blog post! Phew… the last year or so has been tricky, but I’m so happy to finally be here. And for the next few minutes I want to bring to life what led me here and what you can expect from me.

So, what do you want to be when you grow up? … that question plagued me for years. I knew I wanted to help people, but could never fully visualize what that looked like.

I often found myself helping others in the jobs I worked throughout my life, but I never felt that I had found my true calling in life. When we had our son, I was blessed to be a stay-at-home-mom and I wouldn’t trade it for the world. But as our son got older, I found myself asking, God what is Your purpose for me? Yes I’m a mom, and not that, that’s not enough, but I feel like there is something else You want me to do in my walk with You. A something I just couldn’t put my finger on quite yet. So I decided to get serious and simply ask Him.

Have you ever heard someone say to you, Be careful what you pray for?

Well if you haven’t, I’m saying it to you today… Be careful what you pray for! Should the statement scare you? No. But there is some truth behind it. Because you need to be ready for what God has in store for you when you pray and ask Him for something.

I remember standing in my living room while no one else was home. Closing my eyes, I lifted my head, stretched out both arms with my palms up and prayed this very simple, yet powerful prayer,

Here I am Lord. I am Your servant. What is it that You want me to do for You in my life?

My answer wasn’t instant and I wrestled with God for a bit in my “Gideon moments” as I like to call them (that’s a whole separate blog post someday) to make sure I was hearing Him correctly when I felt His call for me to write.

And I’Il be honest. Four years ago, when God began nudging me to become a writer, I NEVER intended to start a devotional blog. I was perfectly content journaling my thoughts into small devotions. (This is the be careful what you pray for part)

But God has this incredible knack of moving His people to do the very things they… 

Those beginning days emerged into four fast years, as God continuously spoke into my depths through His Word, my daily devotion, my past, my trials, and my joys. I found myself writing at every chance imaginable.

And that’s when God laid blogging and you on my heart. I felt God say,

Share your writings with other women because your stories are ultimately My stories and they are meant to be shared.

So this, I-don’t-want-to-be-a-blogger quickly became the how-in-the-world-do-I-become-a-blogger???

Writing wasn’t an issue, but the technological side of building a blog froze me in my tracks and brought on several days of hot, messy tears.

Then seeds of doubt began to sprinkle across my mind. And in my efforts to launch my blog perfectly, I found myself allowing Satan to rob me of the purpose God gave me. It was during this time of frustration that I felt God say,

I’ve called you to a purpose and there are hearts patiently waiting for your obedience.

See, asking God in prayer is simple. Hearing His answer is a little harder, but striving for obedience is often the biggest challenge.

But it’s in our obedience where we get to shine the light upon God.

Because when I share my stories of joy and pain and how God’s walked me through those places in my life, I illuminate Him. And when I hear other people share their unique stories of how God has worked in their life, they illuminate Him.

These are the stories where He is cultivating our spiritual growth in a cycle worthy to be shared; worthy to shine His great name.

So I shut down the enemy’s disqualification tactics and trudged hard through the ins and outs of blogging with the help of God, my husband and especially my techie son. And boom…here I am, living out my obedience.

Here I am passionately wanting to help you find the abundant life Jesus came to give.

Here I am excited to walk with you in your search for your God-given purpose. (If you don’t already know it)

Here I am anxiously awaiting to hear the sound of you breaking free from the enemy’s chains so you can live in the freedom of Christ.

And here I am looking forward to rooting, growing, and blooming together in Him.

So I hope you find my online home a space where you can share some of your stories, comment on my posts and personally connect with me through my email and social media.

We are a Sisterhood in Christ and sweet sister… I hope you join me in this journey… I’m so excited!