Why Blogging Bites

I mentioned to you yesterday the loneliness I've been experiencing lately.

One of the major areas of discontent and loneliness of my life has been through the course of starting the business. I have found blogging and web business enterprises to be very lonely ventures. There is a lot of competition out there. Did you know there are over 250 million websites out there?

I have run into several blogs that seem to have exploded in a short amount of time with thousands of followers and readers and all that other stuff. I go to Target all the time. Business success right in front of me.

I obviously do not run the Idea Room nor do I run Target! And that is lonely.

I have been racking my brain for the last several months - wondering what I'm doing wrong. And also just wondering what I'm doing. Striving to find great ways to encourage the survival of the business and my blogs. So many of those outreaches have just flopped. And that has driven me crazy because I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong. I'm worn out from striving and I want to be done being worn out.

I do pray about almost everything I post and do with the business. But I AM STRIVING. I am not resting in Him to guide me. I am pushing ahead after quick prayers and hopes that things will work out because, hey, why wouldn't they? They all sound like phenomenal ideas to me!

It sounds contradictory, but I am going to make a serious effort to rest in Him. To take longer to pray before making decisions. To take more breaks just to think - or not think. Blogging, I have found, can consume my entire mind for great lengths of time. What to blog about next? How to write it? On and on. It's interesting because when I when I even THINK about hiding in the refuge He offers me and resting in His strength, I feel SO MUCH MORE peaceful. What a beautiful gift He offers me. I want to start accepting it now. And I don't want to go back.

Can you relate?




My Fortress - Jeremy Camp
I can feel it coming over me,
All the weight of what this fear can bring.
I know on my own I can't survive,
And I'm fading fast now.
I'm closing in on what's in store for me,
All the rest in your security.
I'm holding on to the words You speak,
And You're speaking clear now.
I'm running fast to seek Your face,
Head first I dive into Your grace.

Chorus:
You are my fortress,
You are the refuge where I hide.
You are the strength when I can't fight,
You are the only one I rest my life in.
You are the only hope I find,
You are my only peace of mind.
You are the only one I rest my life in.

I'm taking hold of what's in front of me,
A place where I can rest my weary feet.
There's no other place that I can go,
So I'm waiting here now.
I'm letting go what the world will bring,
A sanctuary that will never breathe.
I found my heart in that place before,
But I'll never go back.
I'm running fast to seek your face,
Head first I dive into your grace.

You are my fortress
You are the refuge where I hide.
You are the strength when I can't fight,
You are the only one I rest my life in.
You are the only hope I find,
You are my only peace of mind.
You are the only one I rest my life in.

I get lost within that place,
The place where I'll always wish I stay.
Oh.

Oh, You are my fortress,
You are the refuge.
You are the only hope I find,
You are the only one I rest my life in. Oh, You are my fortress,
You are the refuge.
You are my only peace of mind,
You are the only one I rest my life in.
Oh, You are the only one,
Only one I rest my life in Lord.
You are my hope,
My strength, my life, my peace.
My rock, my joy, my everything now, oh.
You are the refuge where I hide,
You are the only one I rest my life in.

Fabulous Blog Finds - Craft Hope, The Pioneer Woman and Lysa TerKeurst

Craft Hope is a fantastic blog and website designed to give you opportunities to help people and even animals that need it. This blog has only been in existence for a year and a half but has had tremendous success in part because it gives you practical and easy to get involved to help others but because it brings you in with a community of others who want to do the same thing. Each project lasts about a month and a half and they tell you what to do and how to do it. The current project is making washclothes and towels to give to the clean up workers in the Gulf who are helping clean the animals that have literally been coated with oil. In the past they have dresses and bean bags to children in orphanages. They are really doing wonderful things for so many in such a short time. You can check out their blog/website here.

The Pioneer Woman is a very popular blog that you may have heard of already. In case you haven't, you might want to check out Ree's blog. She has quite a conglomerate of features on her blog including fabulous recipes, incredible photography as well as easy and brilliant photographic tips and photography contests, elements on homeschooling and home and gardening. I'm a fan of her dog to tell you the truth! Charlie is always up to something adorable in my opinion. My mother in law would strongly disagree since she is not a fan of basset hounds, but how could you not think this was adorable? Her photography is truly incredible and inspiring. If you're interested in any of these things, check her out here.


Lysa TerKeurst is a fantastic writer and blogger. I have been enjoying her blog for about a month now. I just finished reading her book The Bathtub is Overflowing but I Feel Drained. This book literally sat on my bookshelf for 6 years because I'm not a girlie, mommy kind of person, even though I am a mom and was afraid I'd be so girled out by it that I wouldn't be able to take it. Not so. This book really helped attune me to my children and look at how I'm behaving with them and my husband as well as my Creator. I'm now following her blog. She is genuine, heartfelt and lays it all out on the line. It's a place you can go when you're having a bad "mom day" or just "being alive" day and feel encouraged. You can take a look at her blog here.

Share your favorites here and let me know what you think of these!

Friday Flip Out - Taking Time Off

For the last week, my family and I have been on vacation. I think it took me until Wednesday to start relaxing.

The last six months can only be described as a self propelled rollercoaster in my mind. After prayer, consideration, counsel and affirmation from my husband, I decided to start my own business. It is amazing how much I did not consider or think of when deciding to do that.

It seemed like such a simple concept and the pieces started falling together quickly. But then reality started to set in. A friend of mine told me there are over 250 million websites out there...and I'm in competition with them? Me, an occupational therapist, is attempting to run all aspects of a business and blog with no prior experience except I know how to take pictures, I like to organize and do research and I have dabbled in Quick Books a little. Oh, and I like to shop. That's my experience.

When I was a teenager I worked in a family run petting zoo. I watched my aunt and uncle leave church early, stress out, argue with one another and miss important functions all in the name of their business. After watching them I vowed I would never own my own business.

Guess what? I own my own business. I have learned since becoming a mom that every single thing I said I would never do, I will absolutely do. This is one of them.

I want to talk about the experience of starting a business/blog more here, but for the time being I think it is sufficient to call it a man made rollercoaster of an experience. I decided to do it and now I'm on a rollercoaster.

Terrific ideas, the drive to tell others and develop community and even to help others, yet getting off the ground is not easy at all, nor is it guaranteed. In my small part of the canvas, I'm not sure I have even wobbled off the ground yet. I think many bloggers and small business owners feel that way.

It is a mind and soul consuming process and it's important to take a break. It is nearly impossible for me to take those breaks but intermittently they have happened over the course of the last week. It is indeed something to flip out about. It eases the guilt of the time it takes to develop these things. It refreshes the soul and in my case, my family. It reminds me of the peace that existed before "the business".

When I'm in my "good place" I KNOW that this blog, this business is NOT to be about ME. So much, so much I'm ashamed to say and even admit to myself, is about me in my life. I consider myself first almost always; a great character flaw of mine. I want to and need to remember that this and all I do and all that happens around me is to communicate to others how wonderful God is, to glorify Him, not me. I want to be wonderful. I want other people to think I'm wonderful, but that is a temptation. It is true that I still need to work hard and I need to focus myself to pray that His will would be done and what I do would glorify Him. Ultimately He is in charge of what happens here. That's a fact. When I remember that, I can take a break.

Are you starting your own blog or business? Let's relax together for the moment, taking a deep breath, saying a quick prayer and remembering, it's not about Him.