Trusting in His Guidance

My Boat is in the Water

I have always had a passion for writing. I feel like I speak two languages and am only fluent in one. I cannot speak the thoughts that I am able to write down.

The person who I really am is the one hidden behind the words that are stirring around in my heart and mind. These words are not capable of expressing themselves verbally. They are only expressed when they flow from my mind to my fingers.

Words help me sort through the sting of life and realize the truth of God in their midst. I cannot escape them. They swirl around in my mind, bidding me to write them down before they escape me.

Ten years ago, I went to a Christian Writers Seminar. The classes were filled with writers wanting to be discovered. I felt lost in the crowd.

As a new mom, the process of submitting my work seemed insurmountable. At the time, I wasn’t sure why my desire to write led to dead ends. I remember a speaker at the conference said some writers were meant to write just for themselves. And so I continued my own therapeutic writing.

Recently, I had been thinking about writing and starting a blog. One night, I had a dream. One of my favorite authors put her hand on my shoulder and said, “Are you ready? God can use you. But it’s going to be hard work. Are you ready to take the risk?”  I woke up and couldn’t believe that I had such an incredible dream.

God, is that you telling me to start a blog?

It was an exciting but scary feeling.

The hard stuff of life brought me to a place where I sought some help from a Christian Counselor. I gave her a piece of my writing since it was the best way for her to get to know me and express myself. During my first session, she told me that she loved my writing. She told me that I had a gift and that I had to use it, I couldn’t keep it to myself. I felt humbled and honored that God gave me confirmation.

And so I decided to take a leap of faith. Maybe God had been preparing me all along and now he wanted me to take a different path, put aside my fear and take a risk.

I found posts all over Pinterest about how easy it is to start a blog in just 15 minutes. However, I spent weeks reading every single article about How to Start a Blog in order to understand what I was doing. I couldn’t have done it without this step by step guide.

Starting a blog is easy, but setting up your blog and preparing it to launch is HARD WORK.

I don’t know my way around the computer that well. I have been a stay at home mom for 11 years now.  But through this process, God increased my faith.

I tackled problems head-on and stretched myself to figure out how things worked.

I learned how to buy a domain (website), find a hosting company and upload my elegant themes design to WordPress. I spent weeks figuring out how to use WordPress and customize my theme, upload images, insert code and set up email and add social networks to my site.

At times, I felt like I would never be able to figure out how to do it. But with God’s help, I was able to work through every obstacle that came my way.

Ironically, God was also showing me that if I could break through these obstacles I could also have breakthroughs in other areas of my life. This included overcoming fear.

Starting a blog is risky. It’s vulnerable. It’s one of the biggest steps of faith I have ever taken. It’s my hope and prayer that God will use my words to bring glory to Himself and comfort to others.

It’s easy to get lost in the overwhelming feeling that your small voice will be drowned or is not needed among the many ships on the vast ocean of the blogging world.

If God is setting your boat on the ocean, then trust Him to lead the direction of the boat. Click To Tweet

You just have to take the risk and take your boat off of the dock and put it in the water. Then you have to trust God to lead you where he wants you to go.

Is God calling you to put your boat out on the water of faith so he can direct your path? Let’s trust him and see where he takes us.

My heart’s desire for this blog is to offer hope to others and declare the glory of God in my life through everything I write.

Psalm 71:16-19 is my mission:

I will go in the strength of the Lord God; I will make mention of Your righteousness, of Yours only. O God, You have taught me from my youth; And to this day I declare Your wondrous works. Now also when I am old and gray-headed, O God, do not forsake me, Until I declare Your strength to this generation, Your power to everyone who is to come. Also Your righteousness, O God is very high, You who have done great things; O God, Who is like You?

 

 

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