Almost two months ago, I broke my kind-of-accidental break from filling this place with my words, to share with you all that I was going through a really interesting season and that I realized I needed to have a serious heart check. Since April I only posted a handful of times, taking entire months off during that time. I began to feel really defeated, lost, and torn on what to do and finally felt at peace with God telling me I needed to step away from my dreams of this site. I’m not going to go back into everything now, but if you’d like to get caught up, I’d love for you to do that here.
After stepping away, I wasn’t sure if I would ever come back to A Beautiful Exchange and although I missed what I do here almost every day, I was content with where God had me at that specific time. In my time away I truly focused on hearing what God wanted to teach me right where I was and focused on helping my husband with his ministry and loving on my kids to the best of my ability. After a few weeks, I really felt like God was giving me clear direction, and while it included continuing to write and grow the community here, He was telling me that it was time to get back to why I even started doing this in the first place–to bring Him glory.
So, as I started to think through what it would look like to continue blogging without taking my sights off of Him, I felt my heart being pulled once again towards the direction of helping women lead intentional lives for the Lord. I have spent the past few months meeting weekly with a group of amazing teenage girls that have taught me so much and blessed me with their willingness to learn, their discipline, and their accountability. We have been working through books of the Bible together, getting back to the basics of understanding God’s word for ourselves–going right to the source! It has filled my heart to do this with them and I’ve been so amazed at how God has worked through the daily study of His word.
Then, I sat one morning on the couch sipping my coffee with my Bible and journal in my lap, the morning sun coming in the front windows, and cartoons playing lightly in the background. I was thinking through the fact that God has a plan for my life that was “prepared beforehand” and the fact that all of my talents, passions, and strengths are gifts for fulfilling that plan. Immediately I flashed back to a little pipe dream I had a few years ago (that I only shared with my little sister) of writing reading plans for women of all ages to use, and I just knew. I knew the direction God was telling me to go, how to go about it, and best of all, I still felt that peace. He had given me peace about stepping away and as I thought through this new direction I felt peace all the same.
So what is this new direction, anyway?!
For the most part, this new direction isn’t going to be all that different. I’m getting back to some of my main goals for this blog, so although there will still be thoughts on motherhood, marriage, and a little fashion here and there, everything is going to run through the vein of encouraging women to live intentional lives for the Lord and use their talents for His glory!
One of the newest ways I’ll be doing this is through a newsletter that will go out twice a month! There will be encouraging words, updates from the blog, and something I’m SO excited about…downloadable Bible reading guides once a month!! You can read more about the Bible reading plans here, but they are a full-on, easy-to-follow tool that will help you be more disciplined about spending time with God and encourage you to go right to the source and understand His word for yourself! The very first guide will be released in the first newsletter of October (the 3rd to be exact), so go ahead and SIGN UP NOW so you don’t miss a thing!
As far as posting goes, there will be regular posts on Tuesdays and Thursdays and I’m really excited about the things I’ll be sharing with you over the next few weeks! Starting next Thursday there will be a four part series that leads up to the release of the reading plans where we will talk all about our purpose through His ultimate plan, reminding us that knowing Him is what allows us to be content and sure how we should use our gifts and passions!
I’m so excited for the months to come and so thankful to all of you for your continued support and encouragement!
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