For the past few weeks, Google has continually sent me reports that my blog...well...basically stinks. For the life of me I could not figure out why my ratings PLUMMETED. I mean, I know I don't write often enough nor do I feel I write about things that would interest a wide audience. But you see, as I've re-discovered in the past week...that's not the reason I started this blog.
I actually started posting stories because of the encouragement of others and if you read last week's post about getting over myself, you can imagine...I was getting excited to share again. But then this morning happened. I got another report from Google.
Yikes. It was really bad.
Yikes. It was really bad.
However, this time I actually opened up the site and looked over the numbers...again...and again...and again. Every report looked worse than the last and I started to feel down again...just like the declining red arrow I was staring at on the screen. Down...down...down...
I kept thinking to myself, "Great. You've lost everyone and nobody cares about you at all. Get over yourself and stop writing completely. You suck." Ew. If you know me, you know that is not the mindset I keep. You know...cause I'm a WARRIOR PRINCESS!
So I did what any self respecting Warrior Princess would do and walked away from being uncomfortably hot...and irritable...and HOT. After all, I can't let anybody see me sweat and my nails are much too pretty to fight with the keyboard right now!
Breath in.
Breath out.
An entire day went by.
Breath in.
Breath out.
Yes. I did walk away but I knew I really needed to figure out why I was feeling hurt. So instead of "not caring what everybody else thinks" and blowing it off...I thought about it. And just like any princess, I went to Daddy. But instead of conversational prayer, I was lead to making dinner because...well, it was dinner time. Then it seemed like that was when the mystical and mysterious way our Father works started to seep into my thought processes. The kids were off playing, husband at work, phone calls done...silence. Just me...and my heavenly Daddy in the kitchen.
Nothing was happening other than I noticed I was beginning to relax and I mean REALLY relax. I started making breakfast for dinner. Odd. I hadn't planned on it but I knew the kids wouldn't mind. So I continued. I mean, I had chicken. I was going to cook the chicken. Why breakfast?!
Oh well. I made a full breakfast with bacon and eggs and toast and marmalade and milk and yum, yum, yum! The kids were so grateful and in such a good mood all day. I sat there feeling warm and loved and thankful too. Just at that moment, we decided to read a second devotional while they finished up.
Have I ever mentioned the perfection of God's timing? Because it truly is perfect. Earlier in the day we read a devotional and the children learned about God's provision and how important it is to care for others. Then just an hour later I had a conversation with a good friend of mine about a ministry she is involved in (Hi Jodi!).
And here I was, sitting at the kitchen table having breakfast for dinner AND reading a second devotional. It's almost like it was symbolic way of showing me the day can start fresh...at any point.
Now, I am going to cut the story here because you already know where this is going.
After dinner, devotional, and dessert, the children went off to play again. I cleaned up a little and opted to sit back down to look at the reports of doom and gloom. I started to notice a slight pattern I didn't see before.
WAIT A MINUTE!
Breath in.
Breath out.
An entire day went by.
Breath in.
Breath out.
Yes. I did walk away but I knew I really needed to figure out why I was feeling hurt. So instead of "not caring what everybody else thinks" and blowing it off...I thought about it. And just like any princess, I went to Daddy. But instead of conversational prayer, I was lead to making dinner because...well, it was dinner time. Then it seemed like that was when the mystical and mysterious way our Father works started to seep into my thought processes. The kids were off playing, husband at work, phone calls done...silence. Just me...and my heavenly Daddy in the kitchen.
Nothing was happening other than I noticed I was beginning to relax and I mean REALLY relax. I started making breakfast for dinner. Odd. I hadn't planned on it but I knew the kids wouldn't mind. So I continued. I mean, I had chicken. I was going to cook the chicken. Why breakfast?!
Oh well. I made a full breakfast with bacon and eggs and toast and marmalade and milk and yum, yum, yum! The kids were so grateful and in such a good mood all day. I sat there feeling warm and loved and thankful too. Just at that moment, we decided to read a second devotional while they finished up.
Have I ever mentioned the perfection of God's timing? Because it truly is perfect. Earlier in the day we read a devotional and the children learned about God's provision and how important it is to care for others. Then just an hour later I had a conversation with a good friend of mine about a ministry she is involved in (Hi Jodi!).
And here I was, sitting at the kitchen table having breakfast for dinner AND reading a second devotional. It's almost like it was symbolic way of showing me the day can start fresh...at any point.
Now, I am going to cut the story here because you already know where this is going.
After dinner, devotional, and dessert, the children went off to play again. I cleaned up a little and opted to sit back down to look at the reports of doom and gloom. I started to notice a slight pattern I didn't see before.
WAIT A MINUTE!
Everything had gone south when I changed the layout of the blog!
Could it be?
Might be!
I opened my template in HTML and started scouring code (yes, I am a true nerd).
IT IS!!!
The new template I switched to in Blogger did not properly read the code to...errrckk.
Oh nevermind, if I want to keep some of my readership I need to stick with English. The point is, I found the problem and fixed it. It wasn't that nobody was reading my blog, it was that Google didn't know anybody was reading it and they kept telling me yucky things.
I felt victorious and lifted again! I won! I beat the Google beast by throwing God's net of starting fresh over something that was simply muddying the waters. Daddy took His princess to a place of relaxation and confidence where she could trust in the talent and mind HE had given her...JUST SO SHE COULD SEE that nothing...not even muddy water...is a reason to feel defeated.
Want to know the verse in the evening's devotional?
"...You act like a lion roaming the earth; but you are nothing more than a crocodile in a river, churning up muddy water with your feet.
King of Egypt, listen to me. I, the LORD God, will catch you in my net and let a crowd of foreigners drag you to shore." (EZ 32:1-3)
Isn't that GREAT! It was actually a devotional about remembering to stay humble. But for me, I saw the need to be reminded that God is ready to give victory to anyone who looks to Him. Life is filled with goodness but it is full of disappointment and obstacles and scarey things but there is never a need to feel useless just because you can't "see" something clearly and assume the worst.
I know, I know. This is one small victory but it is still a WIN...and I got to dance with my King this evening. All is well that ends with G.R.A.C.E.
Blessings for your day,
