A Gentle Reminder

Someone asked me the other day if I always knew I wanted to be a writer, and I wasn't sure how to answer. I like the creative process, starting something only to see it take on a life of its own. Some days I have felt like I would burst if I couldn't get my thoughts out, and some days feel like I've entered a season of drought. That's kind of where I'm at now. Not that I don't have a desire to write what God puts on my heart; I just can't seem to make it happen. Ever have days like that? Anyway, in an effort to relight the fire, I read some of my old blogs tonight. I think I saw a little smoke curling upwards in the distance as I read this one...

Stories To Tell (January 2011)

I'll be honest, I am really excited by the thought of new readers stopping by my blog. It is like having company over...I feel like I should be proofing, tweaking, and dusting all my previous posts so you'll want to come back. I want you to like me. Why do I feel like I just stepped back into a high school hallway as a freshman, hoping to find a friendly face, or at least not have my books knocked to the floor?

If you are here in my little cyber house, picture yourself sitting at my dining room table. It's big...used to be my grandma's. My kids have almost wrecked it already, and my dog has a taste for the knobby wood feet. We're sipping some tea, hot if you live in Wisconsin like me, sweet if you're visiting from the South, just chatting it up a little and getting to know each other. There's banana bread on the counter and if you don't eat any, I will probably finish off the loaf by myself this afternoon.

Anyway.

The conversation circles around to why I write, especially why I write the things I do. I have a story to tell, and so do you. God has done amazing things in our lives, with our lives, and it just wouldn't do to keep keep it to ourselves. My heart breaks for the woman who thinks God only wants her if she is perfect, following a set of rules that someone else made up. I want the whole world to know that Jesus saves, that He heals, that He transforms, and that He is the only one who can make that happen. I love the saying that God has called us to be His witness, not His reporters. The only way we can be a witness is to share what He has done in our lives, in our own messy places.

As we visit through my blog, I wonder if I'm sharing too much. I can be a bit of a Tigger sometimes. But then I remember, be His witness. My life has not always been pretty...some of it has been downright ugly, but it is this life that God has chosen to work through, to shine His light in some of the darkest places, and if I don't share His Truth, then the lies continue to live.

May I encourage you, no...too soft a word...challenge you, to let the world know how God has changed your life since you met Him? I know it's scary, to let others who know you now see where you have come from, but we are the walking, talking, living, breathing evidence of a god who transforms lives, one day at a time, from brokeness to wholeness.

Shine that light, girl. Shine that light.

Just an afterthought, if you are not a writer, but want to tell your story of how God has worked in your life, it would be my privilege to post it on my blog.

That was from last January, but the offer still stands. Have a story to tell?