Why a Blog? Im sure some of you are asking yourselves this question. It’s definitely out of character for us, right? Well, at least it is for me. I’m a pretty quiet person. I don’t like to share too much about my personal life. I’m not much of a writer either (I think my spelling is around the level of a 5th grader). What can I say that would make people want to listen to me? Who do I think I am to suggest that people listen to what I have to say? What can I offer them? 

These were just a few of the things I struggled with when I first felt the Lord speak to me about starting a blog a couple of years ago. I’ll never forget that day. Lindsey had been spending a lot of time in prayer and learning how to just sit in silence and wait for God to speak to her. I thought I should give this a try too and when I did, without a doubt, clear as day, I heard a voice tell me to start a blog. I knew God was speaking to me, but starting a blog seemed daunting. Not only did I feel inadequate about my writing, but writing a blog was also the opposite of what I wanted to do with my life. I wanted to move away and build a small house in the mountains or in the woods and live a life off the grid (preferably somewhere only accessible by bush plane).

I didn’t want to start a blog and put my life out there for the world to see…I didn’t want to get MORE on the grid! But, we gave it a shot. Our first attempt didn’t go so well (we never even officially launched it). We had a hard time coming up with content. We struggled with a blog name and logo and things just didn’t seem to fit together as it should. We couldn’t fully grasp our WHAT or WHY. Over time, we lost focus and we soon gave up and moved on with our lives.

Fast-forward to September of 2019. I had brain surgery to have a tumor removed and was told I had cancer. After my diagnosis, I really began to spend a lot of my time in God’s Word and in prayer (as did Lindsey). I was searching for God’s will for my life. I was longing to know what my purpose was. That’s when He began to reveal it to Lindsey and me and it all began to make sense. God was calling us to tell our story and He was just asking us to have a little faith and to follow him, but we gave up too quickly…so we decided this time around would be different.

So here we are giving this blog thing another try, and this time around has been different. Starting a blog this time has gone so smoothly. We haven’t experienced any of the problems we ran into the first time around. In fact, this time around was weirdly perfect. We both came up with the same name for our blog (separately). Odds of it actually being available seemed slim, but sure enough it was perfectly available! First time around, I struggled to create a logo we both loved. This time around it came so naturally and we had so many great designs it was hard to choose. The site was launched without a hitch and we had readers (people were actually interested in what we had to say, wow). Maybe we gave up too early the first time around, or maybe God was preparing us for right now. God’s timing is always perfect. Perhaps our first attempt wasn’t supposed to work out…

I learned through this experience that we all have a calling, a reason or a purpose for our lives. Sometimes we feel as though we are unworthy or inadequate. But we can’t let that stop us, because God uses our weaknesses to show His strength (2 Corinthians 12:10). He will equip us with all the skills we need to complete His task, we just need to be obedient (Hebrews 13:21).

Let us not forget that God used Moses, a timid man with a speech difficulty to lead the Israelite’s out of slavery. Or David, the small shepherd boy to defeat the giant Goliath. What about Gideon or Joshua? God has a way of using us and our weaknesses to display His power and strength.

I know there are a lot of people who go through life without ever finding their true purpose (I know I was guilty of this). They never fully align their life with God’s will for them. A lot of us make our decisions in life based off of the standards of the world, or what makes the most sense in our own minds.  We graduate from high school, go to college, get a job, start a family and then somewhere down the road we still feel empty or lost. Did we make any of our most important decisions in life based on the will of the Lord?

Does this sound like you? If you don’t have that close relationship with God, one where you are in constant communication and where you listen and hear His voice, I encourage you to dive into His Word and pray that He speaks to your heart (remember that God gave us the Holy Spirit to guide us and His Word to instruct us). And, when you find your purpose I pray you have the faith the live it out! Remember that we all have a story to share. We all have a testimony. We all have a purpose. I pray that you find yours and that you get to live it out, and receive all the blessings that will follow.

Be strong and courageous,
Brad