Over 11 months of writing almost every day…I’m sure some themes have been repetitive but sometimes those are the reminders I’ve needed. I have tried to be honest and real, and raw. I haven’t said everything…because somethings are private for a reason. I have prayed about each and every post, and waited to push post until I have prayed for those about to read it. For the next 15 days I have vowed to write everyday.  It’s been hard to make the time the past couple months, but God has continued to show me a lot. In fact way more than I expected.

Some days when I write this is what I’m pretty sure is read… 


So here’s what I know today…

Sometimes we write to be right. 

Sometimes we write to be heard.

Sometimes we write to remember. 

And I wrote this to be real. 

I grew tired of the cruel and divisive one sidedness that too much technology and lack of compassion has given us today. And I know I won’t change anyone’s opinion…not really, but I figured if someone is anti- faith, anti-law enforcement, anti-me…maybe I could show a different side. A real human side. 

I don’t know if people have heard me, but I hope that you feel heard in your own life. That you have a voice that can speak up for you, and your needs. That the filters can come off, and you can feel and hurt, love and laugh. You deserve to be heard. Everyone does…

I wrote to remember, but I also wrote to live. To give permission to find joy in the midst of sorrow, and to remember what counts. We spend so much time on what doesn’t count. On what isn’t important. On what we don’t have. On what we remember happened, and how we think it should have been. Instead…life is what it is. Sometimes that doesn’t feel like enough, but there are times when we need to be willing to wait to out. Until it is.
I wrote to be real, because I needed to grow. Broaden beyond the stagnate places I’d become comfortable with. I wrote to become a better person. A better friend. I wrote because God told me to, and this year he has asked for my Yes.  

Because… It’s okay to cry when we’re hurt, find joy in the blessings, and admit we’re tired when our eyes are red and our child is wrapped so tightly around us we can’t sleep…but what I’ve learned the most about real is that it frees up those pockets we’ve grown so accustomed to pretending we have to be stuck in. Expectations we can never live up to…life lived in fear and resentment. Life lived through a screen…or a filter…instead of right there. 

Right here. 

We’re not stuck. 

Not really.

We can live. 

We can be real.