Happy 3rd Birthday to The Faith Journals !!!

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When I started writing The Faith Journals it was a beginning to an end . I was preparing to leave Chattanooga and return to my home town . I needed an outlet for all that was rushing around in my mind . I had no real plan for the blog/myself and didn't really know if I'd even be able to keep up with it . I had friends that blogged , but this was my first foray into it . Over the last three years I have grown more and more grateful for this little outlet that is the blogging community . It has truly been a safe space to share ideas , worries , concerns , and simply a document of my faith as I walk through this unexpected time in life . When I left Chatt I had no idea how the Lord would move and how He would be still . I could've never predicted it . Not one day of it . I have , in some rather rough ways had to come to realizations in my life of harsher truths . Things that will never be , like Dancing With the Stars , which wasn't an idea of mine by the way .  To more real , painful truths and the idea that sometimes painful truths lead to good things . I have clung to the thought that not all who wander are lost so , while I am still wandering , I am not lost .



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I wouldn't trade the last three years . It has been a wonderful time spent with  family and friends . I have had time to rest . Though there are some days when still I wake up just as exhausted as I did that first day after everything was finished in Chatt . I have been able to help out loved ones with varied things , visit friends , work here and there but most of all see how very much God is in control of my life . He is so swift to remind me of how little say I have in His timing . I think it has made me more appreciative in some ways . None of us grow up easy . That is simply the truth and when we are in that process of growth we have all these ideas that someone else has it better or easier . SO . FALSE . Everyone is fighting a battle . That thought makes me appreciative for this outlet of blogging . We have the ability to reach other "soldiers" all over making sure each knows they are not alone in the fight . I am also appreciative of time . Time that I've been allowed to go to school , work , go to countries I'd only read about , and to rest . I am appreciative of everyone in my life . Even the people that have made it a little harder . With out them I'd have no idea how tough I really am.....or how clever . (said with a wink and a smile)

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I am appreciative of all I have learned about myself .The ability we all have to fall into the dark part of ourselves . The ability we have to come out of that , even if it is little pieces at a time . I am appreciative for companionship . As foolish as it can sound to some people , having Jack Davis around is a true God send . My list could go on and on , but don't be deceived . I am still a giant work in progress . Perhaps that is the thing I am most appreciative to realize . We are never done . As defeating as that can possibly sound it has the possibility to be just as encouraging . However rough it is today , however horrible I am today , whatever , wherever..... I am still in progress and there is hope in that progress that (I) it will get better . If it isn't already .

I'd love to say that The Faith Journals will behaving a huge 3rd birthday that involves a ball pit and bounce castle ,  but we are not . Though you are more than welcome to celebrate that way....or any way actually . LOL !!! I just wanted to take a minute to acknowledge the work that has been done in the last three years . Not by any writer . Not by any particular post . But by the Lord . He has met my expectations in blogging and furthered them more than I had considered . Here is an excerpt from my very first blog post "To Blog or Not to Blog " .

" The idea that what God has for my life just might not be for only myself, but more for others pushed me into the blogasphere. So, here we go, The Faith Journals. My desire is to share about the journey the Lord is leading me on and has lead me on in my life. To share what He has done and is doing so that perhaps there is one less out there wondering if they are the only one. If they are the first to take that step of faith, to ask that question, to say to God, "I know you are there with my mind, but today I don't  always feel you there with my heart". And to know He has reached out to someone, somewhere and reassured them that indeed He is there. Giving a hope that He will reach out to someone else, somewhere else reassuring them that indeed He is there. And here we go misspelled words, in proper punctuation, and a English teacher or editors worst nightmare..... "

My desire remains the same and that is comforting to me . The purpose of The Faith Journals is to share a persons step(s) of faith with hope that it would help someone else who is debating a step(s) of faith . To help someone somewhere to not feel alone in their triumphs or their trials . Whether that is through a gut wrenching post on a new job that is killing me one toe at a time , a post that lights your creative fire when it comes to coupons and care packages or even a post or several about Jack Davis the best dog a gal can have . The topics , life stories and writers will vary , as does life . But at the beginning and end I hope that one thing remains for us both . For us all . It's all about faith . Sometimes it takes a step of faith and sometimes that step is for more than just ourselves . So , I shall continue to share until lead otherwise . Thank you all for your continued friendship and for following The Faith Journals so very faithfully !!

 Faith - [feyth]  noun

1. confidence or trust in a person or thing: faith in another's ability. 

2. belief that is not based on proof: He had faith that the hypothesis would be substantiated by fact. 

3. belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion: the firm faith of the Pilgrims. 

4. belief in anything, as a code of ethics, standards of merit, etc.: to be of the same faith with someone concerning honesty. 

5. a system of religious belief: the Christian faith; the Jewish faith. dictionary.com

Journal - [jur-nl]   noun

1. a daily record, as of occurrences, experiences, or observations: She kept a journal during her European trip. 

2. a newspaper, especially a daily one.

3. a periodical or magazine, especially one published for a special group, learned society, or profession: the October issue of  The English Journal.

4. a record, usually daily, of the proceedings and transactions of a legislative body, an organization, etc.

5. Bookkeeping.

a. a daybook.

b. (in the double-entry method) a book into which all transactions are entered from the daybook or blotter to facilitate posting into the ledger.

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