When I started my blog, it felt like the strangest thing in the world I could have done.
If you know me, you know that I hold things very close to the vest. I’m always the one who listens while people share, but rarely the one who shares. I keep my personal thoughts, well, just that…personal. The idea of sharing my hurts, brokenness, or fears left me feeling exposed and uncomfortable, and so, with few exceptions, I didn’t do it.
Until last summer.
Last Summer was tough for me. We’d moved and only been here about six months. The move couldn’t have gone any smoother. The people we met couldn’t have been any kinder. Our neighbors couldn’t have been any more welcoming. But it was still hard. Grandparents could no longer stop by for a quick visit. We couldn’t just pop over to our friend’s pond to go fishing and sit around the bonfire. We could no longer get hugs from the people that had hugged us every single Sunday at church since the moment we stepped inside the doors eight years prior.
It was different. It was change. And change is hard.
I was home with the kiddos every day and felt absolutely blessed to be able to do this. However, I was home with kiddos every day and also felt absolutely exhausted and frustrated with this deflating sense that I was somehow losing myself.
I made breakfast, cleaned up, swept the floor, and played. I made lunch, cleaned up, swept the floor, and played. We tried to mix things up by going to playgrounds and science centers. We took walks and rode bikes. We had fun, the kids and I. We laughed. But I also cried. It was mostly good. But it was also challenging. The further we traveled into the Summer, the more my spirit seemed to shrink. My husband came home from work one day and innocently asked about my day. I felt empty, utterly empty. Teary eyed I responded that I’d swept the kitchen four times. Four! And I felt that I no longer knew who I was.
That was the beginning.
I’ve been through much harder things in my adult life than this move. However, this transition brought me once more to a place of searching and ultimately surrender. I began to pray each morning faithfully, surrendering myself and my plans. Through these prayers, God began to make a way, and things began to shift until one day the most random thought in the world popped into my head. I want to write. It sounded crazy even to myself. I’ve written some through the years but always for myself, things such as journals or letters for my one-day adult children. I’d never written anything for others to read. However, I decided to follow through on this seemingly ridiculous idea.
I decided to begin with a blog about my family. I thought that I would do an online scrapbook of sorts, posting pictures of my children, telling funny stories about our days, and perhaps a bit about our faith.
I created No Mama’s Perfect.
Finally, after a lot of work and several phone calls to a brilliant friend, who unlike myself actually knows something about technology, I posted my first blog in October of 2016. No one read it and certainly no one “liked” it. I remember feeling deflated after I’d sat there churning over the idea of actually pressing PUBLISH for what seemed like hours. Regardless, I tried again and then again. I remember joking with my husband that you could publish your deepest, darkest secrets right in plain site on the internet and no one would see them! It was both a disappointment and a relief. A disappointment because let’s face it, if you write you want someone to read it. A relief because while there’s a part of you that wants it read, there is another part equally terrified that someone will actually read it and not like it.
Brokenness broke the barriers.
Standing in my kitchen one day, I had a piece of pottery that was gifted by a new friend, fall to the floor and break. In a moment of sadness and determination (aka stubbornness) I decided to glue it back together. This broken vessel struck a chord with me about my brokenness, how we are all in need of God’s grace, and I wrote a story about it. I submitted it to an online magazine, Her View From Home, and it was published. This is not the point in my story where I gush about it going viral or being read by thousands. It didn’t, and it wasn’t. But it was read, and what’s more important were the comments I received. People spoke about their brokenness and their struggles, their fears, and their heartaches. It struck a chord.
Why is that? Because the truth is simple. We are all broken. We are all in need of God’s grace.
And so I continue to write. Yes, I write about my children and funny things they’ve done. But I also write about faith. I write about the heartaches that come with mothering, and I write about the struggles that plague us all. I write about hurt and loss and fear and doubt. I write because though we are all broken, we don’t have to be alone in that brokenness. I write because we are all loved by a Holy God, and at times we all need to be reminded of this Great Love. I write because I continue to hear a Still Small Voice urging me to share…
His incredible love for you and me.
I enjoyed reading your post . I usually start reading and read a few lines and stop but you pulled me in 💕
So glad you listened to God’s whisper “write”. He knew you had that talent. I really enjoy your writings.
Mrs. Judy, thank you so much for your continuous support and encouragement!
I am so glad you listened to God and your heart. You truly have a gift dear friend and I feel very blessed to be your friend and be able to read the words that come from your heart. Love you! Keep on writing! Your writing is so special.
Millie, it’s me that is blessed by our friendship. You are such an encourager and that is a gift! Your support means so much to me, and I thank God for our friendship.
I enjoyed reading about the beginning of your writing. The broken vessel looks beautiful put back together. Just like us. It’s hard for me to say a specific thing or two about why I started writing online. The main thing I remember was it seemed like a natural extension of the women’s work I had begun doing in my church and community. Since then, it’s become an important part of my life. Writing has become necessary for me (even though not one of my posts has ever gone viral)!
Traci, I agree, the pottery is just like us…broken but still beautiful. I enjoy your writing so much. It is beautiful and has such depth. Thanks for sharing a bit about your story.
Thanks for writing what so many of us think…no matter the ages of our family members…but do not write. You are blessed with the gift of inspirational writing. Please keep on and on…
Millie, thank you so much for your kind words. I think you’re right…so often we don’t share how we really feel and as a result we each feel alone. I think there is a lot of strength and community that can be found when we are willing to raise our hand and say, “I struggle too!” Thank you again for sharing your thoughts!!
I love Ginger so proud of you, please continue!
I look forward with anticipation to your next writing! Your writing is so honest and inspirational! Please keep writing!
Rita, thank you so much for your encouragement. I’m grateful and humbled to have you join me here.
Just because we are a child of God does not mean we do not struggle, ask who in the world am I, what is my roll and how do I get fixed. I pray God be patient with me. He is putting me back together. 80 years old and still growing and learning.
Mrs. Jane, thank you so much for sharing your thoughts. You are so right…being a child of God does not prevent struggle, but it does give us peace to know we aren’t alone in it. You are beautiful and full of wisdom. Thanks for sharing some of your wisdom here!
Keep writing my friend…. YOU KEEP WRITING!!!!!
Love and Miss You Bunches!
Charlene, thank you for your encouragement and support! I am grateful for your friendship!
So glad you continue to write – I love reading your blog!!!
Crystal, thank you so much for your kindness and encouragement!
I love the way you write. Your complete honesty is gripping. You show that preacher’s wives are human too.
Rev. Smith, Thank you so much for your kind words. I hope that by sharing authentically I can offer encouragement because as you know, we are all broken yet God loves us anyway. Thank you for reading and taking the time to share your thoughts with me.
I really enjoy reading your blog! I am glad I came across it! I hope you all have a happy new year!
Thank you so much! I’m glad you found it too! Thank you for taking the time to message me! I hope you have a happy New Year!
I really love the way you clearly express what many of us moms and wives feel, I knowGod speaks to me and his unconditional love is always there to back me up.Jesus said ” let not your heart be troubled, for I have overcome the world”that scripture helps me when I think to much and try to take care of things myself, I don’t have to cause he has already overcome. Also he has taught me to love my husband unconditional as he loves me no matter what, it is such a good feeling to know that. Keep up the writing it’s so right on thanks
Hi Karen. Thank you so much for reading and for your kind message! I’m so glad you find encouragement here. Thank you for taking the time to leave such a thoughtful message, and I hope more than anything that you are reminded of God’s amazing love for you.