let’s introduce ourselves.

Hello new friend, and welcome to my blog! I hope you’re in a comfortable spot, with a nice little drink in a mug that fits your hands perfectly. I’d like to call myself a “practical dreamer” who loves honest talks and big dreams grounded in the reality that literally anything is possible with God. So, in honor of dreams and new things, I’ll introduce myself and cast a vision for why I’m starting this blog.

I have always enjoyed writing. It has served as a way for me to not just express myself, but to process my emotions and to encourage myself. Which explains the title of the blog. I know, I know: how original! My journal has always been a safe place for me, from childhood to now, where I could be fully myself and share my honest thoughts without reservation or fear of judgement. As I’ve grown, writing still has a therapeutic element to it for me, but I’ve found that God has used it as a source of encouragement, for myself and for others. Encouragement takes many forms. Sometimes it’s a pep talk, being corrected, edifying words, or just to be told we’re loved. I’ve come to realize that the areas where we need encouragement the most, the cracks in our “otherwise perfect walks” (thanks for the wording, Jonathan McReynolds), are often the very places God wants to shine His light through us to others. That can be incredibly uncomfortable at times. But if we’re willing to be brave enough to share, to tell someone else that they’re not alone, to break shame by voicing the things we’ve overcome and even the lessons we’re learning while we’re overcoming… well, we become unbeatable. God turns the discomfort into something so beautiful and purposeful.

It was 1 Samuel 30 that convinced me I had to create this blog. David and his men arrived at Ziklag to the earth- shattering realization that the Amalekites had raided their homes and destroyed everything, even taking their families as captives. Distraught is not even the word. (1 Samuel 30:4) These warriors wept, moved to bitterness, considering venting the full weight of their anger through stoning the one person they could find to pin the tragedy on: David. In a moment of deep grief, facing possible death, David encourages himself in the Lord. He doesn’t run or withdraw from the discomfort. He doesn’t make excuses or point the finger. David ”drew strength” from God. The English word encourage is used repeatedly in the Bible, but its meaning is sometimes lost in translation. It means different things at different points in scripture. For David at Ziklag it meant to “bind up”, to essentially change his spiritual posture from one of grief and mourning to one of resoluteness and strength. He went from hunched over to standing upright on his feet, spine ramrod straight. With a backbone of steel, he was going after what was his! What a picture at a moment like that. In the New Testament, it often refers to the encouragement of the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete. The Greek word parakaleō refers to coming alongside, just as the indwelling Holy Spirit does for us. He exhorts, teaches, comforts, counsels, pulls up beside you, giving you what you need to live an overcoming life in all circumstances. This empowerment by the Spirit is meant to be shared. He enables us to operate in this gift of encouragement toward others! Where we have been encouraged, we can encourage others.

And that’s why we’re here. Me, writing. You, reading. In these posts, I might address you, I might address God, I may even address myself, like a good hard look in the mirror and a ”note- to- self” that helps me stand tall. But the purpose remains the same: to be encouraged in every sense of the word. To draw strength from Truth when storms are raging, and to let it change our perspective when we can’t see which way is up. To find when we are feeling lonely that we are all a little less alone than we thought. To recognize that sometimes we’re only as alone as we choose to be.

I pray that throughout these posts, sporadic as they may sometimes be because true, uncontrived Spirit inspiration comes when it comes, that you are encouraged and built up by the power of the Holy Spirit that wants to fill us and work in all of us. To give us “the power and the desire to do what pleases Him.” (Philippians 2:13) If only we will embrace our neediness and be vulnerable enough to let Him in.

I pray you are strengthened, encouraged, challenged while supported, edified, and absolutely filled with hope as you read.