My Blog-iversary

Hello friends! So, I know you guys weren't expecting a blog from me today, but today is my blog-iversary. On this day last year, I built my blog website on WIX. At the time, I thought that I might keep up with it for a few months and then probably grow tired of it. Little did I know that through this blog I would grow spiritually and that I would love the art of blogging.

I could make a list of all the good things that happen when I write and I will. You guys know much I love a good list:

• Writing has given me the initiative to be still and listen for God and because of this I can hear Him more clearly.

• Writing has given me that accountability to really dig into God's word each and every day.

• When I read the Bible in the past, I could read a sentence and move on to the next without fully grasping the sentence beforehand, but when I write I have to make more of an effort to fully understand what I'm reading. This helps me really feel the impact of each word.

• Writing has given me an excuse to take time to worship and pray; which I do before I put fingers to keyboard.

But wait, there's more good that has come from this blogging business! Blogging has revealed, what I think to be, my calling and my spiritual gifting: writing. Blogging has also uncovered a secret talent of mine: photography. A talent I didn't even know I possessed.

In one of my very first blogs, I mentioned that if I could bring even a little bit of joy back into this world through my blog, that I will have considered it worth it. And guess what, I have. All year long, I've been receiving messages about what has sparked joy in peoples lives and what made them smile. Some of which included reading my blog.

You may be asking if I'm considering it a job well done then and moving on to something else. No. Sure I have met my goal with this blog, but I am not done yet. My new mindset is this: if not a single soul read my blog, I would still write it. Why? As mentioned above in my list, I can hear God when I write, in a way that I couldn't before. This will always make taking the time to write worth it because I'm spending that time with my Creator, my Father, my everything...

Writing makes me smile and I consider myself an advocate for joy. I challenge you to find something today that makes you smile too.

Hopefully I will still be writing this time next year, but we will see God's will come forth. But maybe, just maybe, I will blink my eyes again and it will be August 18th, 2022 and I will be writing to you again about my blog-iversary.