Life Lessons & Stories ~ PRELUDE

Prelude

Prelude seems like an appropriate title for a beginning. It is, after all, according to the online dictionary, “an action or event serving as an introduction to something more important.” However, it is also in keeping with the theme of music that seems to form a framework for the picture of my life. This post is a prelude for what is to come in future blogs.

I was recently challenged by a very close friend that I wasn’t doing one of the things God had told me to do ~ write. She’s right! I gave it a great deal of thought over the next day or two and realized that every time I’ve thought to write, I’ve been hit with “I don’t know what to write about” and “I don’t know where to begin.” I prayed and asked God, “What do I write?” “Where do I begin?” In my heart I already knew the answer, but He gently reminded me, “Your journals.”

Now, I’ve been writing since I was 12 years old. Of course, back then, I wrote about each day of my life in my diary! Somehow, I don’t think people would want to read those simple few sentences written at the end of a day telling about what that day held.

I began to journal seriously in January of 1985. For Christmas the month before, my husband, Rich, had placed in my Christmas stocking a small promise book. Each page contained a Scripture from the Bible followed by blank lines. On those lines, you were to write a prayer about what that verse meant to you. Rich had no idea that the little booklet he gave me would become the beginning of something God would use to save my life!

At that point, I was at the bottom of a downhill slide in my life that was bringing me into a deep depression that threatened to cause me to decide to take my life. The verses were the beginning of what I call I-V drips into my life ~ life-saving spiritual nutrition that slowly began to rebuild all I needed in order to fully “live” again!

I used the promise book until it was full; then bought a pink and white fabric covered blank book in which to journal. Thus began a shelf filled with blank books that are no longer blank!

As my friend and I talked again a few days later, I told her that while I have a great platform for sharing my thoughts and stories through my website blog and even though I know what resource I am to use for writing, it seems a daunting task to read all those journals, categorize them, and choose what I should write about. She quickly shooed away that idea saying it would only keep me from writing as God told me to. She suggested that I simply begin to read the journals from the beginning and little by little impart my stories and thoughts on my blog. She’s a wise woman!

I opened the first fabric blank book journal to read what I had written long ago. The date caught my eye! The first entry was on August 15, 1985. Today, it’s August 20, 2016 ~ just over 31 years later. I think it’s time to begin to share some of what I’ve discovered and experienced over the span of those 31 years!

My desire is that others may glean encouragement from this blog that will inspire them in their own life journey, and that above all, God would receive honor and glory!

I would love to read your responses and experiences. I welcome you to send along your comments. I’m sure I can learn and grow from what you share. Thanks for reading.