A New Birth…
In December 2019, I began looking ahead to the coming year, and as I always do, think about goals, dreams, and how to go about achieving those. Some years back, I came across the idea of choosing one word to focus on for the year.
A single word has become a spiritual practice of mine and helped simplify my life. It has been both rewarding and surprising as the months go by, and you begin to see the word unfolding in your life. For example, words from past years have been 'joy, voice, focus, and hope.' Simultaneously, I choose a scripture that includes or embodies the word and allows the Bible to bring further spiritual meaning. I'm always amazed at how a year unfolds—lessons learned and directions changing. And more often than not, it isn’t even the result you first set out seeking.
2020 began with hope and promise in the word ‘birth.' I'd prayed and waited for several weeks, and this is the only word that kept coming back to my heart and mind. Now, those who know me would lovingly tease me—yes, I want grandchildren—so this was a natural word. But somewhere deep in my heart, I knew this word would embody more in the months to come.
As you undoubtedly are aware, as 2020 dawned and moved forward, our world was hit with the Coronavirus pandemic. Everything changed, and it would never be the same. Birth was certainly not at the forefront of my mind. Illness, fear, and death seemed to grip our world. I began to think peace would have been a better word for the year. But as I continued to pray and settle into the peace God had for us during this time, something began to, yes, birth, in my heart.
I’ve been working on a book of my husband, Jim’s story—his reconciliation with his father. In the back of my mind, the thought this book could finally be birthed in 2020. (I've been in labor with this thing for a few years, and I'm so ready to give birth!). As we went into quarantine with this virus, and ten weeks of being house-bound, you would think with all the time available, the writing would have come easy. I struggled each day I tried to write. It wasn't bringing life. There were days of boredom. Something was amiss, and I needed to find out what it was.
As we entered into our second month of quarantine and I was out on a much-needed walk, I had an epiphany—I wanted to write and tell the story. It was all about the story—our stories. It wasn’t about a book. It wasn’t about making publishers happy or what the book needed to look like to sell. It was about telling the story! It could and probably will still mean a book in the hopefully near future, but our heart was to move forward with our stories.
As our world 'stayed home,' the internet became overloaded with Zoom meetings, podcasts, work-from-home, school, and church-on-line. It became evident that the way we teach and share would soon be more on-line than hands-on. Of course, we will gradually move back into the face-to-face—albeit six feet apart—our world will never entirely be the same.
God began to put a new idea into my mind. I was to blog the stories. Get the message of our life stories out there to a far greater audience than a book would do at this point. I had blogged quite a bit in the mid-2000s, but it had never gone far. Now, here in the middle of a pandemic, God was birthing something new, fresh, and alive in my heart!
And so, this blog is born. We have stories to tell. We hope in sharing them; you will draw closer to the God who loves you deeply and unconditionally. We all have stories to tell, and perhaps you will be challenged to share your own. Yes, there are many blogs out there and lots of voices—this is ours, and we invite you to join in with us on our journey of faith and adventure. More stories are out there just waiting to be told.
“Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.”