Why I'm Here

I love to write. Since I was little, I've scribbled all over nearly every kind of paper writing short stories, poems, essays, or just long notes to my middle school friends. Writing has been a part of me since I was very young, and that is ultimately why my mom and I decided I should major in journalism at Freed-Hardeman University.

While at Freed, I learned a lot about writing all different kinds of things, such as press releases, news stories, term papers, and everything in between. I wrote my first full-length novel there and also started my first blog (and chronicled my four years there with immaculate detail). Through all of my lessons and writing classes I learned the ins and outs of punctuation, sentence structure, and word choice (though I have by no means retained it all). While all of those things were (and still are!) fascinating to me, they weren't the lessons I really needed to learn.

During my junior year I studied abroad in Italy for three months. They were the most magnificent, life-changing months of my entire life thus far. Sitting on a bench overlooking the Tuscan countryside, I was privileged to take creative writing classes taught by one of my now dear friends, Jenny Towns. I learned so much from her in those three months, but perhaps the greatest lesson I learned came when class was dismissed.

Multiple times throughout the week, a few girls would go running down the hill that our ancient little city was nestled upon. During those mile-long journeys, we spoke candidly of our lives back home and our relationships with God. During one such run, I remember talking about certain problems I was facing, and Jenny told me that God had a plan for my life. She told me that I could only try and choose what was right and best for me in the moment, but ultimately I needed to leave it up to God.

The problem I was facing doesn't matter anymore, but Jenny's answer echoes to me even still. God has known me and had a plan for me since before I was born (Jeremiah 1:5, Psalm 139). All this time, I've been so focused on writing all of my own stories that I never stopped to realize that God had been writing it all along.

That brings me to today. While I love writing and piecing together thoughts, I am not the author at all. God is the Author, and His story is the most beautiful that has ever been told. I am simply a tool, one of many, that God uses to spread the message of His love. That is why I am here.

I don't have an agenda for this blog. Instead, I only want to be a tool in telling the story that God penned so long before I came into existence: the story of love and redemption for man.

I love to tell the story. Twill be my theme in glory. To tell the old, old story of Jesus and His love.