My journey of writing began a long time ago.  As a teenager, I had a hard time expressing how I felt so that others would understand.  So, I resorted to poetry.  Most of it was dark (I didn’t know the Lord then), and sad.  I regret that I did not save anything I wrote back in those early years.  I would have loved to redeem words laden with hopelessness.

Writing was a way for me to work through my feelings, even though I rarely shared what I wrote with anyone.  I kept it to myself, just me and the words, filled with heartache yet laced with hopes and dreams for a better future.  Back then, I was free to write what  I wanted, whenever the urge hit.  I was alone with my words, and I liked it that way.  I actually had a fear that someone would find my writing journal and hate what I wrote.

Fast forward to today.  The writing has been hard, nearly non-existent at times, yet I know that I am called to write.  Instead of hiding my words from the eyes and hearts of others, I release them, fully to God first, and to others next in the hopes that they would breathe life and hope, and encourage others along in their journey.

My words are no longer meant for me alone.  They are meant to be shared.  They are meant to offer hope, that perhaps I’ve walked where you’ve walked, or struggled through the same long, hard season.  When I conquer a mountain, it offers hope that you too can rise above it.

As I’ve offered my words freely in every season of life, the Lord has given back to me thousands of words that have brought hope and healing to my own heart, filled me with life when I felt low, and restored my joy.  I want to thank you for being brave, for writing when you lacked passion or desire, for saying yes to allowing God to use your journey to help me to realize that I am not alone.

I come here to offer words of encouragement.  And in return I find your words, in abundance, offering strength for my own journey.  I may not have walked in your shoes. You may not have fought the same battles as me.  But our stories are meant to intertwine on paths crossed as we allow God to breathe hope and life, one to another.

We’re better together.

Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.
(1 Thessalonians 5:11)

Linking up with Kaitlyn as we share stories of encouragement, as well as my dear friend Beth for Three Word Wednesday.

*photo credit