I started blogging four months after Andrew passed away.
Initially I began writing thinking that I would publish a book one day about
losing a child. A few chapters in, I realized that I may never publish a book,
and a blog would be a great way to let me family know how I was doing during
that difficult season of grief. They were grieving and walking alongside of us,
and it was so helpful to have this way of communicating with them. In a way it
allowed us to grieve together although we were physically far away.
After Jack was born, and the season of empty arms was over,
I slowly began to stop writing. But soon after my friend Amber started blogging
and encouraged me to blog about the good times. The everyday blessings in life.
I joined her in Multitude Mondays (Writing a thousand things to be thankful
for) and Journey of Faith Fridays (Times when we had experienced God closely in
our lives). It was a fun season to blog about- the season of being new
parents.
But since having Palmer blogging hasn’t been as consistent since it’s so
much more difficult to find the time with two little ones to care for.
There have been countless times when I have wanted to stop
blogging. And every single time, it has been Steve that has convinced me
otherwise. He has been my biggest cheerleader when it comes to blogging and
today I am thankful for his encouragement. As it turns out, despite all the ups
and downs along the way, I really do enjoy blogging and hope to do it for a
long time.
Many of my posts are very personal, and I have often
wondered why I would share such personal details in a blog for others to
read. Why I would invest the time writing when it might not make a difference
to a single person. But I when I do, it is always with the hope that it will
bring encouragement to someone out there and point them back to a closer
relationship with God. That my life, our life, the life I write about here,
would reflect God’s grace and redemption from the most broken of circumstances.
I like blogging because it gives me the opportunity to be genuine and transparent. I like facebook and love instagram, but when it
comes down to it I am never going to share a picture of me with a bad hair
day, or when my child brings home a bad report card, or whatever else negative.
There I will post cute pictures, with my cute kiddos, and cute puppies (Ok, so I
don’t have any puppies, but you get the picture). I am not in any means against fb, instagram, or pinterest- they have been a blessing to me many times in different
ways.
I am thankful for the times when I get a note from a
friend like the one below. My friend Mandie Mass sent me this in January of
this year, and even now several months later, I often look back at this email when I question whether I should keep on blogging. It is a reminder that
I will never fully know how God can use my story to reach someone else that I
will never meet or even know about.
January 14, 2013:
By the way, Andrew’s story keeps on bringing God glory and
encouraging others, as I myself have shared it with more than one unbeliever
and struggling or straying Christian. I actually just shared it on my plane
ride home yesterday with a woman who grew up in church but hasn’t stepped foot
in one in years. She told me she had seen the most beautiful rainbow at the
beach that day. It prompted me to tell her how about Andrew and how rainbows
are special to you because of that, like God is reassuring you through seeing
them.
On a coincidental note, last night as I was working on this post, Mandie was also working on a blog post. She wrote a beautiful entry here, totally worth reading.
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On another note- We had our first foster placement this last week and it has been very challenging but rewarding. I'm still processing it all and working through what to share and not share. I hope to share more about it soon.
This post has been closed for comments but if you'd like to share something please email me at carolinabriggs@gmail.com.
