In the beginning...

Because this is my first official post, I thought it would be most appropriate to give you a little background into the “why” or the origination of this blog.

For those of you that don’t know me, I’m a proud 27-year-old wife and mother of 2, that has recently solidified my foundation of faith in Jesus. I feel like I‘ve always known Jesus - believed in and prayed to Him, but it wasn’t until recently that my faith and love for Him really took off. My family and I attend a local non-denominational church that has quite literally changed my family and I’s lives for the better. I have always been one to enjoy reading and writing, however as a momma of 2 young kiddos, finding free time to do anything that doesn’t directly keep our house afloat is tough in this current season. I had been toying with the idea of starting a blog and brought the idea to my husband, Jason, for the first time a few months ago. I was still hesitant at the time and unsure of what it all would entail. I felt my first real prompting as I was reading a book called Present Over Perfect by Shauna Niequist before bed (actually just a couple of evenings ago). I felt the need to bring it up, again, to my husband. Like all my crazy ideas, he jumped right on board, signed up as my number one fan, started helping me through all the logistics, and handing me all the tools that I needed to get started. As I sat in church this morning, listening to our Pastor speak, I felt, once again, validated in my crazy idea. The last 6 weeks, we’ve been exploring stories in both the Old and New Testaments about the lives of various individuals and the cultivating character traits that they possess. Throughout the teaching series, we had been encouraged to say the following prayer:

”Lord-

Expand my vision,

Ignite my passion

Cultivate _____ in me.”

As the weeks played on, it seemed all the characteristics were ones that I could work on - being patient, sacrifice, fortitude, influence, courage, etc. After all, I’m certainly not perfect. It wasn’t until today that we were encouraged to pick just one that I, again, felt a little prompting. “Influence”. In Nehemiah 6:3, Nehemiah‘s enemy is encouraging him to stop building a wall to protect his townspeople. Instead of following this advice, Nehemiah is quoted saying, “I‘m doing a great work; I can‘t come down.”

What “work” is it that God wants me to pursue ? What is he trying to cultivate in me ? “Influence.” “Wow. Influence... through my blog....?” That is exactly what I needed to hear, in that exact moment (crazy how God’s timing always seems to be so perfect).

And so, here I am. I’m not sure what the future holds for this blog or what it’s complete purpose will be, but I will tell you that I’m super excited to have the opportunity to commune and connect with other mommies (believers and non-believers alike). That’s the beauty of being able to call myself a Christian - there isn’t anyone that isn’t included or isn’t “welcome”; we have been taught to ”love thy neighbor”, so through this journey, I hope you’ll allow me to do just that and come along with me on this exciting new venture. I look forward to this blog being everything and anything you need it to be. Until next time....

Your,

(Encouraged) Christian Momma