A New Blog

A very unexpected thing for me ... starting up this blog. Gary and I have a website already, and I enjoy writing on the two blogs that we have there. Our lives are full, and I have not been looking for something else to take up my time and focus. So why am I starting up another blog? Let me share the thoughts that have led me to this.

I love to journal. It seems that whenever something of significance happens in my life and in the life of my family I have an urgency to record it, either with photos or with words, and most often, with both. I also have a need to record the things that God teaches me each day from His Word and from life's experiences. I have many filled journals in our home. Writing is my way of processing my thoughts as I learn important lessons, and then making them a part of my life. Not for my own purposes, but for God to use for His purposes.

And God has mysterious ways of working out His purposes. About two months ago I was given the privilege of being the main writer for a CaringBridge website for the Bayer family, close friends of ours, whose 18 year-old son, Paul, was in a tragic accident and received a severe head injury. As we are close friends with the family, and also as my husband has a close discipling and mentoring relationship with Paul through our Student Venture ministry, we were very heavily involved in supporting the family through this huge trial.

Our hearts were broken as we watched this family struggle with the possible loss of their son, and we were able to be the link, through updating their website, between the family and a vast community of people who were praying for them. We all witnessed a miracle as we saw God restore Paul to health, even to his being able to walk across the stage of the school gym to receive his high school diploma just five weeks after his accident.

Since then, several women in our community have expressed a desire that there would be a place where we could build on what God did in our lives through those weeks when we were drawn together to pray for a miracle. They have also encouraged me in what they have called my "gift of writing".

These are some of the things that have brought me to this point of starting up another blog. I am thanking God for this privilege of having a place where I can share from my heart about the things that God is teaching me through His Word and through the things learned from life.

It is my hope and prayer that those who come to this site will be encouraged and will come to know God more intimately. I would love to hear from you ... feel free to leave a comment on any of the posts here, or send me an email (see my profile). I'd love to hear about your journey to know God, and also would love to be praying for you.

"All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ." (Ephesians 1:3)