a note from the author ☻ 9.7.25

A piece of paper taped to my closet wall since 2018

Dear reader,

Perhaps in the beginning, I faltered with writing with the purest intention, but it is not the case now. Now, every time I post, I do so because I feel obligated to…that it is in God’s will for me to do so.

I believe the Lord compels me and inspires me through writing, and sometimes He encourages me to share with others, such as through this blog.

Why would He do such a thing? Anything, including this, God does for His glory. Therefore, I’m not going to gatekeep. (lol)

I have reasoned that God tells me such things in order to encourage others to pursue God. My prayer is (1) that I only write what the Lord would have me write and (2) that anyone reading this would listen to whatever the Holy Spirit intends to say to them.

With that being said, I am not perfect, and I’m still growing. I’m just doing my best to do what God desires me to do, and I know this pleases God.

For the different kinds of readers

For anyone who does not understand “Christian” terms, there is no shame in not understanding. You can ask your Christian friends, Christian teachers, or pastor. I know there are people who would not mind taking the time to explain. If they do not have an answer, you can also ask me or use a trusted resource (don’t trust everything you find online). In fact, if you want to know what is the truth and what is not, go straight to the source of truth: God. God has given us His own words written in the Bible.

For anyone who has visited my blog before, I have a prayer request. Know that my audience has changed. As you read this, pray for those whom God desires to call to Himself and have yet to surrender their pride. Pray they will not ignore the Holy Spirit’s convicting them to trust in their Heavenly Father. Pray God would bless me with the ability to clearly write to both Christians and non-Christians who may not understand “Christian” terms.

For my brothers and sisters in Christ, I hope I can encourage you in your walk with the Lord. Perhaps, this could be some small part in your process of growing closer to and more like Jesus Christ our Savior (aka discipleship).

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A little on God’s Will

I have not always been this confident of doing what God wants me to do. I’m still not always 100% confident I’m doing exactly what God wants me to do in every moment. The thing is – God doesn’t expect us to be perfect. If you are feeling like you are lacking by not knowing God’s will for your life, then you are under a false presumption. I say this because I’ve been there.

I know what I want to do. I just don’t know how I’m going to. LORD, I PRAY FOR YOUR HELP.

I wrote these words on May 15, 2018. I was inspired by Paul’s writing in the new testament (Romans 7). This day, I had finally summed up all of my worries in this statement. I had been wrestling with this concept of God’s will for my life. I felt guilty for not knowing what to do, and I was afraid to make a mistake. I feared disobeying God and the resulting consequences. 

At this point in my life, I was searching for answers that I could not find. I knew the purpose for life was designated by God, but what did that really mean on a daily basis? Though I was pursuing the Lord as much as I knew how, I was struggling. I was running into walls. The only thing I could figure out was that I needed to give it to God and trust Him. I could write pages on this topic… and I just might (and I’ve already written some).

I’m proud to say that I can look back and say that I’ve grown since that day. To be clear, I did not do this on my own. God has graciously and faithfully preserved my life, as He said He would. I know more than I did before. I trust God more than I did before. I can discern God’s voice better than I did before. I love better than I did before. 

These things were not just handed to me by God. My life has not been super easy, yet I live to tell the tale. As much as we tend to cling to comfort, we cannot grow without God pruning us (John 15).

With that being said, I most definitely can testify of how God has personally touched and transformed my life. In keeping this blog or anything else I do in life, I will testify to the lovingkindness of my God… in any action (1 Corinthians 10:31; Colossians 3:17).

However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace. Acts 20:24

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Little Life Update

Actually, not so little… I do have something big to share. Pieces came together after my recent Prague mission trip. I’ve been trying to figure out how to write or tell this new part of my story for a few months now. As far as I know, I believe God does want me to share on here at least some parts of it. Please pray for me in this. As I said in the start of this blog, I will not write any of my own words, especially about this matter. God most definitely has shown me a deeper side to my life story that is a powerful asset for His Kingdom. I only hope to be a faithful vessel.

In the meantime, I will post other content that probably won’t turn out so deep because I have so many ideas for more content…and still need to share about Prague. I’m actually in a pretty stressful season right now: I’m not sure if it is the devil trying to distract me or God giving me a break from these deep thoughts. I think it is the latter, but I am on alert for the former! Again, I am making every effort to devote every second for God’s glory. I don’t have time to waste on distractions because God has given all His children a mission on earth to teach others about His love!

☻ Hope Joy Owens