Why and How I'm Writing Lately

The words I write here are different than a lot of my writings. Sometimes I write to de-clutter my mind. Often this is the way God helps me to find His rest in my life.

Sometimes I write for the sake of beauty. I want to write poetry to express the beauty I see around me. I want to draw and paint to show the beauty I see in the nature of this world and in the nature of God.

Other times I write words of prophecy or words of wisdom, because I have a hard time speaking cohesively. I think sometimes I have trouble because most people think in words. I do not think in words but in images, like film clips in my mind, thoughts come to me. And turning the pictures into words takes time so God allows me to write down what He wants me to tell others, whether for the body or individually.

More and more lately my writing has been an offering to God. Just before I sit down to write I begin in prayer asking God to make my heart like His heart and then to write my heart on the page.

The words that follow are truth and life to me. They are words or more often images that I turn into words that He gives me for my own life.

So I have wondered why I ought to put them here on this page. And though I write a great deal, I wonder what God would have me place here and why. I have learned over the years and have been reminded recently that God does not reveal his truths to us for us to hoard them for ourselves.

So in part, that is why I write these things here, for the benefit of others. Not that I have answers, often rather, I have questions. But questions can pull us out of our darkness.

God has begun to show me that He wants me to share my life, transparently before others. So this is me, raw and at least mostly unfiltered.

Sometimes it's scary to write down the words, knowing that others may read them. But unlike a journal which hold the private thoughts of the heart, these words are also for you. So I hope that my writing will be a blessing and a help to you also in your journey closer toward or deeper into the kingdom of heaven.

You may find my honesty difficult to read at times. Know that it is even more difficult to write. Not that I want to lie, but being vulnerable before others is a dangerous place to be.

Writing here is a sort of vulnerability that I am not comfortable with. But it is a step in a process that God is working out in me. A process of giving Him control of my life.

I've been writing about the dichotomy of control lately and will likely share when I have assembled my thoughts more clearly. I've also written some about being vulnerable before God. In giving control and being vulnerable there is some overlap of ideas. I guess that is to be expected at times when you write.

God has been asking our little family to become more vulnerable before Him and others lately. And it has been both a frightening and rewarding journey so far.

He has also been speaking to our family about giving Him our yes in life. It is such a simple act to say yes to God. And such an out on the limb experience to live.

God has been so faithful to us over the last six months to prove Himself again and again to us as we have chosen to tenderly step out onto His path for our lives, instead of following our own path.

I think every Christian goes through a time of sifting or refining which can be painful. Our lives have been a matter of walking around in the wilderness for a while now. Like the Israelite people who wandered for 40 years, we've been wandering for 8.

God has pulled us from our wandering and has begun to allow us to possess some freedom and understanding that our family has not previously understood. So I want to share that with others... but I want to do so in such a way that my words would be like a drink offering to the Lord.

I hope that in the weeks and months that follow you see this in my words... but more so I strive to please God with my words, however incomplete they may be.