It is hard to believe that I have been blogging since November 2011. Wow. I wanted to share some recent thoughts I have had about blogging. If you are a blogger perhaps you can relate and if not maybe it will give you a behind the scene glimpse into the blogosphere. I have had my content stolen by other bloggers, mine and my children’s images used without permission, and most recently my entire blog was hacked. If you visited here last week and were redirected due to the hack I would like to apologize. I never thought this would happen to my blog. I am so happy to be back up and running thanks to Ryan and the amazing team at Southern Web. If you need any help with your website or blog I highly recommend them!
When I first started blogging I overshared. I cringe when I look back at some of my posts. Most of which have been removed from being public at this point. And the area that I overshared the most was discussing my children. Thankfully I felt convicted on this more and more over the years. Last year Josh and I made the decision that we would not be posting photos of the kids on our social media accounts and I would not share photos on the blog. As a mother I am choosing to make their security a priority and limit their digital footprint.
About 5 years ago my husband was at the mall with our son who was 18 months old at the time (yep you can tell this story is old because people still shopped at the mall instead of on Amazon). Two women came up to Josh that he had never met before. They were saying hello to him and our son by name, saying how cute our son was, and that they read my blog and really loved our family.
While I think the intention of those ladies at the mall was harmless, I also couldn’t stop thinking about how that scenario would play out as my son grew older. Would he one day resent me for sharing his images and stories on the internet without his permission? Would I regret the amount of information I had shared, knowing that I had helped build his online presence and history from a young age?
As a grappled with those questions a few months later our daughter was born. Though I continued to share photo’s and information on this blog and my social media channels a nagging feeling was lingering underneath my writing. I wondered should I really be doing this? I didn’t want to stop blogging but maybe I needed a course correction.
At this time my life felt like it was spiraling out of control. I had postpartum depression and anxiety after our daughter was born and I felt overwhelmed. Overwhelmed with figuring out how to take care of two kids under the age of two, overwhelmed with what direction I should be blogging and honestly just overwhelmed with life in general. At this lowest point I realized I could no longer just say that God was fully in control of my mind and heart. I would actually need to surrender control over to him. The course correction I was seeking wasn’t only for what direction I should be blogging. Ultimately I was trying to figure out who I was living for and who I was trying to glorify in the process.
The ugliness and brokenness inside me wasn’t something I wanted to glorify. Instead of seeking out what the world was offering me through mind numbing reality television, social media feeds, and the latest headlines of breaking news I started to pursue Jesus. And my soul started to rest.
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Matthew 11:28 – 30
I would love to say this was easy but it wasn’t. It was hard and painful. But the more I kept pursuing Jesus the more I started to find peace that I hadn’t felt in years. Through this refining process I let go of areas in my life that didn’t honor the Lord, like teaching yoga. In letting areas of my life die, God in his goodness, breathed new life into me by leading me into pursuing foster care.
It has been really amazing to see the transformation of my writing style and content over the last 7 years. This blog started out as a way to document my health and wellness journey. It has provided our family with additional income and allowed me to connect and build relationships with more people.
The biggest and most unexpected blessing blogging has provided me is the ability to witness and revisit the greatest transformation happening in my life. I am being made new in Christ.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
2 Corinthians 5:17
I am thankful for the ability to freely write about any topic I wish and to encourage others in the process. Thank you so much for reading! I appreciate all of you who take the time to visit The Workout Mama.
