Showing posts with label life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label life. Show all posts

Thursday, June 21, 2018

Stealing Time

 If you have followed my blog with any degree of regularity over the past few years, I’m sure you have noticed the ebb and flow of my dedication to it. Some months—or years—I have posted regularly, and kept up with my reading, writing, and linkups, while others I have let it fall to the wayside and have done well to post at all. Mostly, this is because I have been in college (and technically I still am once summer break is over, I have one year left), but it is also because I haven’t been very faithful to use the gifts and talents that God has given me. I have quite a few hobbies, and while it is difficult to devote a decent amount of time to all of them on a regular basis, more lately, I have found myself completely neglecting to devote any time to them at all. The way this blog has gone over the past year or so in particular is an example of this.
 However, God has been tugging at my heart lately, reminding me of all of the things that He has created in me a love to pursue. More importantly, He has been gently nudging me to take a good look at how I choose to spend my time. Actually, He has been instructing me to take stock of my life and how I live it for quite some time now, but I have been a lot slower to listen. Why? Because I’m comfortable. Because I like spending my time however I like. Because I don’t necessarily enjoy being convicted. While all of those statements remain true today, I can’t actually let them govern my life. There is always going to be something I need to work on. And change is never going to be something I really enjoy. Nevertheless, at the end of the day, my life isn’t my own. I know that. Besides, God’s plans always turn out to be even bigger than my dreams (which is a topic I want to cover again, more in depth, on another day), so deep down I know that my best option is always to respond to God’s gentle prodding.

Wednesday, June 13, 2018

New Direction


This morning, I find myself at a crossroads. (And I'm sharing this picture of the beach because that is where I do my best thinking. And I just love it). I love this blog, and I love reviewing books and sharing what I read, but I’m just not sure if I am going to continue with my blog the way that it currently is. Book reviews are great, and I love sharing them, and I will always post my reviews on Goodreads and other bookish sites that I frequent. But do I need a blog only to share my reviews whenever I happen to finish a book? That seems to be giving my blog too small of a purpose. What about actually making this blog into something? That’s also a thought that has crossed my mind a few times. What if I keep the book focus, but make it into something more? I love the idea of that, but do I have the time? I feel like there’s always something going on, between work, school, ministry, relationships, and everything else that clutters up our lives, and I’m just not sure if I would remain devoted to my blog or if it would get pushed too far down on my list of priorities.
So, I guess what I’m trying to say is, this is what I’m praying about right now. I'm praying about whether or not I should take this blog in a new direction, develop the old one, or just let it go. I’m trying to decide what I think the best thing to do is, and if I do decide to move forward with this blog, what exactly I feel like I should write about. And how much of a focus I want to have on books moving forward. Of course, if I do move forward with the blog, I will continue to post my reviews here every time I read something. However, I’m not sure if I want to keep the focus purely on books, or if I want to transition more into a focus on things that are more life-applicable. Like things God has been teaching me. Or things I have learned as I’ve gone through my life. Or just advice.
I have a lot to think about, and I’ve actually been thinking about this for a few weeks now. So, what I think I have decided for now, is to just give being consistent a try for now. I’m going to continue posting reviews—probably one book a week for now—and I’m going to get back into Top Ten Tuesday (on the That Artsy Reader Girl blog), and I think I’ll add one post a week where I just talk about life. That way, I’ll still keep up with my reviews, I’ll still be talking about books, but I’ll also be talking about reality. Because I have a lot to comment on that as well. Oh, and of course, I will still be keeping up my monthly Must-Have posts. Because I absolutely love talking about new releases. And that’s how I keep up with what’s coming out in the months to come.
So, I hope you’ll join me on this journey! I can’t promise that it will be smooth the first couple of weeks, and there will probably be a few bumps when I start back to school, but this is the plan for now, and I’m going to do my best to hold myself to it! Unless I feel like God is calling me to take a different direction of course. But for now, I’ll still be here! And I’d love to hear from you, about anything, whether it’s about books or life or what I’m writing or anything in between!
Happy reading!




To see where I’m linking up, check out my Where I Party page.