This feels like a big step, y’all.

So here it is. Post number 1. I am starting a blog.

I have been encouraged to do so by people I know, people I’ve shared life with. I enjoy writing, and I don’t mind posting things from time to time on my Facebook page. Funny things that the kids say, sweet things my husband has done for me, how God is growing me in grace. Sharing the hard things about my life is, well, kinda hard. But, when I let go, share the pain, share the beauty that came through the pain that inspires me to write these things down, I find that God uses me.

I have felt the prodding of the Lord to blog, to write, to share.

I have resisted, in part because of my fear of being trite, commonplace, stereotypical. Because of my lack of confidence in my own writing. For a year and a half, I have resisted.

But, by God’s leading, I am going forth. Stepping out. In faith. In obedience. With trust, that God can use me, and a little insignificant blog, for His glory.

My friend Erin tells me to think of it as sharing my stories. That helped me get over the mental hangup that I have in the word *blog*. After all, sharing, that’s Biblical. We are called to share the great things that God has done for us. To share our testimony.

*”Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will tell what he has done for my soul.”*

And *Oh.* What He has done for me. What He IS doing for me.

That’s what I want to share. That’s why I want to share. To encourage you, to point you to Jesus. To glorify *Him*, not me.

So, before you all, I prayerfully commit this platform of sharing, this venue, this opportunity, this blog to you, God. I don’t want this to be a space to complain. I don’t want to sugarcoat my life, but I want to tell of the grace that exists in negativity. Of the ultimate hope in Christ that colors my world, even when things hurt and feel wrong.

So shared story #1, great thing #1: an interesting thing has happened since I made the decision to be more intentional about writing. I am looking for God, in the big, in the small, in the sweet, in the pain. Looking for evidence of God’s hand and grace and mercy and love in my life. In the crazy that is my life.

Because, y’all. My life can feel pretty crazy.

But that grace, that reassurance. It’s there! It’s always there. And the *looking* has showed me more about the ways of God. Has highlighted His glory and grace. I’m learning to be aware of Him, to see the humor in the chaos of it all, to hold fast to that reassurance when I really feel like I should just be committed, to trust even when it feels so difficult. To praise Him for the puckered lip kisses, for the baby dimples, for the man who cooks and does laundry, for the automatic brew feature on the coffee maker, for new views on old pain.

So I will write. As an encouragement to someone. As a reminder to myself to seek, to look, to crave that grace.

That the grace is there, always, in the crazy.

#gracecrazy