I surely do wish that I could tell you that all my beginnings begin with God, but that, my friend, has always been my downfall. Many of my beginnings often begin with "once upon a time", but when they start out like that, they usually don't end with "happily ever after". But I digress. "Once upon a time", right before I retired, I started another blog and kept it up faithfully for a couple of weeks. And of course that blog went by the wayside, like almost all my other new starts that began with "once upon a time". BUT . . .
This time was a little different. For several months I just had this almost nagging feeling/thought/impression that I just needed to write. I couldn't let it go; couldn't get away from it. But what in the world do I really have to say? My life has been almost painfully ordinary, and who in the world would want to read about that? But my momma, in all her grace and wisdom, always stressed the importance of prayer for every aspect of my life. (But I tend to do everything that I can on my own, and THEN ask God to bail me out of my do-it-myself messes.) So I took my momma's advice from so many years ago and began to pray about this nagging feeling of wanting to write. (Side note: If you have a praying momma, you are so incredibly blessed! My own precious momma has been in Heaven for lots of years, but I like to think that now she just pulls up a comfy chair and has a face to face conversation with Jesus about her daughter who tends to do things the hard way.)
And as the "nagging" worsened, so did my protests. "Just give me a sign, a real sign this time, 'cause I just don't have much talent, and certainly not much self-confidence." Now mind you, I am just not in the habit of asking God for a sign. That seems to be pushing the envelope just a bit, doesn't it? After all, aren't we supposed to step out in faith? But God, in His infinite love and mercy, and because He wants to give us the desires of our hearts, and even through His interest in Facebook, He sent me my "sign" in less than a week after I had prayed that prayer. As I scrolled through Facebook, right there jumping off the page was a Christian (imagine that) advertisement that began with this phrase "HAVE YOU BEEN STIRRED IN YOUR HEART TO WRITE?". And it went on to describe every other thought and feeling that I've had for the last few months; it also reinforced all the reasons WHY it's important to publish writings from a Christian perspective. And so it begins. A God--in--the--beginning blog which "we" have entitled "A Merry Heart".
So, my friend, that is why I'm here. This time, I truly am trying to put God in this beginning. I've got a few things to tell you about, and if you know me at all, you know most of my life experiences have a borderline Lucy/Ethel spin. I love that God has a sense of humor (I really think He does!), and I hope to pass some of that along in my feeble attempt at a blog. "A merry heart doeth good like a medicine." Haveth thou hadst thy daily dose?
"He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh." Psalm 2:4
(Yes, this is taken just a little out of context.)
And