Three years ago, I took a step of faith by creating this website. I bought the domain, figured out some web design, and started writing. Why?

Because I’m a writer. I can’t not write.

For years I barely even wrote in my journal because of college homework and then pregnancy brain. But it didn’t work. I almost lost myself and now that I’m back to journaling, taking notes, sending letters, and all that good stuff…it’s time to begin really writing again.

Four and a half months ago, our family moved from Iowa to Kentucky for my husband to take on a new student minister position, and I left behind my role as children’s ministry director in our church. God had streamlined my life by allowing sickness that caused me to say no to many things, including working as a writer. But in those two years of focused church ministry, I grew in crazy ways and have searched for answers to a lot of aching soul questions.

I’m writing again. Journaling could be my full time job with all the ideas and stories and truths swirling inside me. But instead of just my cloth-bound notebook, I’m writing here. To share with others. Because that’s what we’re here for – to share our lives and help lift each other’s burdens.

I’m writing for people who want to be free. When I talked about that with God recently, he reminded me: that’s because he has set me free.

Twenty years ago, a girl on my basketball team gave me a note that said “Life doesn’t have to be easy to be beautiful.” Those words sparked life in me. In my teenaged eyes, life wasn’t easy. But I so desperately wanted it to acknowledge its beauty.

Life is hard. And life is also beautiful. I haven’t really come to grips with how those two truths can live together in harmony, but I’m working on it. Every single day.

So I write to practice holding them both together. There are so many ways to find the beauty, even on the days that find me sobbing in the bathroom or dragging myself to the kitchen sink to wash dishes. Again. I write to discover the truth. I’ve always been a verbal processor. God created me to write. To communicate.

So, I’m showing up, here, in this space to write. I plan to post an article weekly. I also have lots of fun ideas in the works…some live videos on social media, some special perks for those of you who are on my email list, and I’m getting ready to self-publish an ebook Bible study.

I was created to write. What were you created to do? Do you know? Have you ever wrestled through that with God? Is that something you’d like to talk about here in this space? Tell me about your gifts in the comments, or by hitting reply if you’re getting this in your email inbox. I love hearing how God made you to come alive.