My walk in faith has been quite a journey of provision and tests. My guess is most can say the same. I am discovering that life isn’t all about our faith in Him, but His faith in us. And for that I am deeply humbled and convicted to the realization of His Purpose, as His Light flickers behind every turn and bump and hill in my life.
I decided to take a break from blogging. It wasn’t an easy decision, and I agonized about letting go of my readers and my connections I have worked tirelessly to make over the past few years. It may sound extreme to think that a few weeks off would have such an impact, but if you are a blogger- you know that a day missed is equal to that of a multitude of connections and posts to be found. I knew I needed to do this though, as the weeks of traveling and family visits would squeeze all the time to blog right out of my life. It was a difficult choice I had to make, because I had to let go of a piece of my life that is significant and worthy of my time. Us writers get that. I am more alive than ever when I write and receive responses to my words and my message. For those who blog, it’s a deeply imbedded part of us… and to let it go for any length of time, is well- scary in many ways.
So I prayed about where God wants me to go with it all, as I always do. And as I relinquished my blog to Him for the weeks ahead, I placed my faith in Him, that He would carry it and care for it while I was away. It was His to begin with, and it will always be His.
I started blogging with my sights on sharing my goofy, often crazy tactics of motherhood, but His plan was different. He began to steer my path in His direction and I slowly tuned in to His leading. It has been such an amazing and fulfilling journey! A faithful one. And I am honored to share my faith in my own sometimes raw, sometimes ridiculous way. I truly hope that His Light can be seen in it all. I realize that God is placing His Faith in me, to share His Love.
Little ol’ me.
Wow.
So as I wrote my “Time Out” post, I laid it all before Him and trusted that whatever happened during my break was in His Hands.
And I let go…and gave it all to HIM.
Over the past two and a half weeks, I was incredibly blessed and surprised to find His Provisions in keeping my blog’s presence in the blogosphere.
I promised myself that I wouldn’t open a single blog post to read over the break, and I made it to my mom’s after a long ten hour drive-leaving behind a house full of family that had come in town to Columbus to visit as well. In my frazzled state, late after my mom retired to bed, I turned on my laptop to delete the multitudes of emails to keep myself sane. If I let that go for too long, I believe my inbox would explode! It was agonizing having to delete all the amazing words I could be reading… posts from gifted writers I have come to know and love. But it had to be done.
However, when I came upon Hilary’s post from My Life Is Fascinating, I felt the urgency to open it and read it- breaking my rule “just this once” to make sure she was doing okay. Would ya know that one and only post I allowed myself to read, was this.
Wow. So grateful. So humbled. So surprised. So blessed.
In addition to that amazing experience, I received a beautiful email from the Dose Girls, who asked to feature me on their site. And as I left for my next trip to Indiana, I was unbelievably blessed to have my dear loyal friends Ashley and Lisa, share one of my posts and send their dedicated readers over to my site.
Wow. So grateful. So humbled. So surprised. So blessed.
This last week started off with a special tweet from Michelle from Dish of Daily Life, that led me to her site to break my rule yet again! Amazingly, she had nominated seven bloggers for the “Very Inspiring Blogger Award”, and I was one of them! Her kind words about my blog touched my heart so deeply, and I was so honored she included me in this cast of incredible women.
Wow. So grateful. So humbled. So surprised. So blessed.
After each one of these instances, I immediately thanked God for His Caring Hand on my blog. I am in awe of His Response to my surrendering trust. And as much as I know He truly cares for my heart in this blog I have worked tirelessly to create, His Plan and Purpose prevail.
Faithfulness isn’t just about placing your faith in God in order to pursue your plan.
It’s also about God placing His Trust in you, in order to pursue His Plan.
And although I rip layers of pride off my heart every day, because I want more readers, more traffic, more numbers, more responses, more comments, more more more. I must have faithfulness in His Plan and realize every piece and part of it is in His Hands according to His Purpose. Not mine.
Romans 8:28
New International Version (NIV)
28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
I believe I have been called according to His Purpose, in my own crazy, honest, flawed and unique way. I will try to honor His Faith in me.
There are so many areas in my life that I need to just let go and place in His Mighty Hands. It can be so difficult to surrender and trust that His Purpose is best… It can sometimes be terrifying to truly relinquish a critical piece of our heart and our lives, and have faith that He will care for it.
But…
If we do, His Provisions will be plenty. And although we may not see them or sometimes notice the immediate blessings in our sweet surrender…
He wants nothing more than to honor your faith in Him and place His Faith in us.
Oh, sweet friends… I pray you truly believe that truth.
How cool is it that you took a break but your blog didn’t? That just goes to show how far your reach is and how powerful your words are and how much this world needs your message. And it’s a message that you are living because you have the faith that you’re encouraging others to have. Love this.
And how I absolutely LOVE your amazing encouragement dear friend! I just love love love this comment. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart. Oh, I am so grateful for you!
What a great reminder that sometimes we just need to have faith that His plan is the better one for us. Sometimes we just need to take that leap that everything will work out. Thanks for sharing this – I needed to hear it.
Oh Leah, thank you so much for your beautiful comment! It can be so very hard to let it all go… and trust that He will provide. His plan is truly perfect, even when we don’t see the evidence of His Presence. It is there. Oh, yes my friend- He is in all of it. 🙂
I love that you are SO prepared, nay, eager, to share your testimony with us.
Here’s today’s line
_______________________________________________
(Be careful what you wish for)
I am still LOVING your “lines” dear friend!!! They are a constant reminder to pace myself, and for that I am so grateful for your sweet encouragement!
I love that you are so willing to read and share in my testimony. It means the WORLD to me.
Your message is being heard, my friend. You are always an inspiration to me. Happy to have you back, though I’m now leaving for the week! Seems like forever in the blogging world, but I’m excited to be off the grid for a bit. I have some ideas in my head that can only be formulized with some time away.
You are such an encouragement to me Jen!! I am so grateful for all your precious support, dear friend. Truly.
I have been thinking about you SO much and hoping you are having an “UNPLUGGED” BLAST with your family, in the woods, with nothing but the wilderness…oh dear. I’m itching just thinking about it! LOL
Can’t WAIT to have you back!!!! 🙂
I love the first comment you have from llene “How cool is it that you took a break but your blog didn’t?” That is amazing, really, what happened while you took an important break. A good reminder too that we plan, God laughs. Not at us but more from amusement, I think, because He knows His ways are so much higher than we can even imagine. And that is evidenced in what took place while you took a break. Cool story. Now I must click over to check out the blog you read!
Welcome back!
I love that Laurie! I so agree that like a parent with their children, I can see God chuckling at how hard we try when really- He knows exactly where we are to go and what we need. His ways are SO much higher indeed… if we only knew.
I was so blessed by these amazing opportunities. It’s not often I can feel a sense of worth in this big blogging world, and yet- this was clearly His Way of telling me there is a place for Him here… through me.
Great post Chris! Thank you for your honest and poignant tellings. Truly amazing (like you!)
Thanks so much Marcia!! You are a DEAR to make the time to stop in, as I KNOW all too well that you are quite busy. Your encouragement and support make a difference in my life… I am always grateful for you. Always.
Wow, how timely is this, as I’m reading Romans 8 this morning and Paul reminds us to follow the Spirit and not the flesh! At the end if the day we want God to say: well done you good and faithful servant!
God bless you Chris as you follow God’s lead and further His kingdom to ultimately give Him the glory!
Oh thank you SO much Caroline!! Your words resonate so deeply in me…
“God bless you Chris as you follow God’s lead and further His kingdom to ultimately give Him the glory!”
Oh, how I love this. Thank you so much for your very precious encouragement!
LOVE that you allowed yourself to take a break and let the universe take care of you. Sometimes giving it over to God is the best thing we can do for ourselves. We were HONORED to share you with our readers, as we adore you.-The Dose Girls
You don’t know how much that meant to me… truly! I am so so grateful for your amazing friendship, support and loyalty. You are always ALWAYS such a beautiful presence in this big ol’ blogosphere. I am so grateful that I get to call you girls friends.
Your timing was ‘perfect’ girls. Just perfect.
🙂
Oh Chris – I love your honesty. I truly understand how hard it was for you to let go for two weeks. But isn’t it amazing what happens when we “let go and let God”? But it’s sooooo hard to let go.
I so get you when you say you have to relinquish your hold on wanting more, more, more. I so get it. It’s so hard not to obsess over it, but when you let go of the obsession and worry as to why there aren’t more visits or comments or whatever, a weight is lifted and I’m able to do what I do best.
Keep up the good work sister.
Thank you SO much Stephanie!! I know you get it. And you are so right. We need to let go of wanting more, and stay focused on giving of ourselves in the light of who we are.
In the end, it will unfold as it should. Amen? 🙂
I am so glad we are in this thing together!! And I am so grateful to call you “friend”.
How in the world did I miss the Dose’s shout out to your post? Was it when I was away? You know how I feel about your blog and your voice. I think there is absolutely a reason you are writing and blogging and connecting. You are making a difference in people’s lives. 🙂
And oh how you know that I adore you and every inch of your heart!! It’s amazing how close you can feel to someone you never met, isn’t it?
Our friendship goes beyond this blog gig, and it’s because we are genuine people that are who we are- and love each other exactly where we are at. The only way I see us getting any closer, is if we could share some chocolate and wine together, oh and definitely a big long gushy rocking squeezing hug would seal the deal! lol 😉
Oh and by the way, your encouragement and support seriously have helped me in ways I can’t even put into words dear friend. Thank you for giving me light when I needed it. SO grateful.
You are blessed with an amazing ability to articulate your heart. It’s no wonder that although you surrendered blogging for a few weeks that God was still able to use it for His purpose. His faith in you is a manifestation of your faith in Him. He trusts you, because you trusted Him. I absolutely love this post Chris!
I want to read your comment over and over again, Hope. Wow. I am so humbled and honored reading your words. Truly.
Maybe I will copy it and put it in a frame. Yep. Gonna do that! 🙂
SO grateful for you!
Hi Chris,
Good!
Cool Too!
We all need a break.
No doubt it will be
a difficult choice!
But…..
Anyways… keep going!!
Come back soon with a bang!!!
Our prayers too.
Have a wonderful and blessed time ahead.
Thanks for sharing
Phil
Thanks so much for stopping by and commenting Phil! I absolutely appreciate it and your prayers…
It’s amazing what can happen when we let God be in control!
I know I KNOW! If only we would let go more often. 🙂
THAT is the hard part…
I wrote my comment about God’s faith in us on your post in “Mothering From Scratch”…so I won’t repeat it here, lol! But WOW Chris, this post is beautiful! God’s faithfulness is absolutely mind blowing isn’t it Chris?! And why am I not surprised that you had ALL that blogging love while you were gone! The Word is true my friend…”you will REAP what you SOW”! For as long as I’ve known you lady, you have been nothing but supportive, encouraging and just down right sweet as syrup! Lol! But seriously Chris, I truly treasure your friendship and am thankful we crossed paths in this HUMONGOUS bloggershere! So excited about where God is taking you and your blog my friend…enjoy the ride! 😀 Thanks so much for linking up…have an absolutely awesome rest of your week!xoxo
Holding back the tears as I re-read your words again, Michell. Do you know how much your encouragement means to me? Oh more than you know, my dear sweet friend!
I too, am SO grateful we have crossed paths and that I know was in His Plan! Isn’t it amazing?
YOU are a light and a love. I am honored to call you friend. XOXO
Awwwwwwww…now you’ve got me tearing up girlie! 🙂 I do cherish your friendship and am honored to call you friend as well! Can’t wait to some day meet you face to face! 😀 xoxoxo
Well, you’re just amazing. First off, I apologize for not stopping by sooner. I seriously didn’t know you were the author here. I’m an idiot. Secondly, what a beautiful post. Beautifully written, wonderfully true. Our God is so amazing. And faith is so precious. It seems like He has given you great wisdom. I know the Lord has a purpose for my writing, and every day I waste writing about trivial things is time I’ve wasted not pleasing Him or using the gifts He gave me. I’m so glad I finally got some sense and found you, my friend!!
Oh Susannah!!! (Oh don’t you cry for me!!) I swear I sing that song in my head EVERY stinkin’ time I write or say your name! See what your blog has done to me?!
I don’t know how much wisdom He has given me, honestly- I am feeling like I am just kicking around shallow waters as the deep end is waves away… perhaps in time. We’ll see. I just keep writing where I’m at, ya know? I never ever want to be an exclusive “Christian blogger”- as I try to honor so many of my readers that are not Christians, and yet they still stick around when I share Christian posts. I just love that somehow my words (His Words)resonate with them. THAT I believe is my purpose and calling. Splashing a bit of my shallow water on hearts all around. Make sense?
YOU- have a light in you that shines so bright my friend. You have a gift, and in your cute charming way- you reach people. God uses everyone differently… only you know where He is leading you. And in His Perfect time, you will (and probably are now!) live out His Purpose.
Oh, how excited I am to call you FRIEND!!! Seriously. I adore you. 🙂
Look at God showing off on you, Chris! He’s good like that: handling your business for you while you have some down time. I love to see Him giving His children the shine that they deserve. Hugs, Ali
Oh Alison that is SO SO ADORABLE!!! I just love that so much! “God showing off on you”- I am SO gonna remember that line. And use it on many for encouragement. Thank you so much my friend. I am so grateful you stopped by to read and share your precious words… XO