step.

When I was a little girl, I wanted to work at Michigan's Adventures. That was my dream. It is funny what we decide we want to do as little children - until we grow a bit older and are faced with the actuality of taking steps towards those dreams and goals. (I certainly did NOT want to work at Michigan's Adventures anymore)

We are pushed at such a young age to decide what we want to be or do when we grow up, and I really think is unfair. I am in my upper thirties, and I am just NOW grasping this understanding that it really isn't about what we want to be. It is about what God already pre-created us to be, and us stepping into the fullness of it.

Some of us don't grow up dreaming, we grow up pressured - and that pressure leads us to places that we were never really intended to end up. Pressure places us in a place or season that is a filler - a time consumer - a thing that fills a void for a certain period for a paycheck but doesn't fill our soul - for it isn't our actual purpose. 

At some point our souls feel out of place and just not right and deep within we know that where pressure placed us for a paycheck, doesn't align with our hearts.

Right now, I am writing this from a laptop - in a valley of Tennessee. I am over 600 miles from home, traveling solo. I drove 9 hours to reach my destination. I visited a very special person/persons and now comes the part that has my heart smiling -

I opened my laptop to do what I love - write. 

Not just write, but travel and write. 

I took a step - even when I could not see all that is ahead or where this step will take me. But all big things start as small things, and this is a small thing.

A small step. That I know is the right direction for it brings my soul peace.

What small step could you take today away from where pressure placed you? What small step could you take today towards what God desires for you? What has been on your heart since you were a little child, and you have not pursued it because you lack the belief that the Lord will meet you ahead in your steps? 

What if He is waiting for you take a step? Even a small one - 

What if you take a step and you wind up in a life that you once imagined? How could you even know whether it will happen or not, unless you first take the step. 

To be a traveling writer has been on my heart for a very long time. Out of fear and basically every excuse I could ever dream up, I wasn't going to take any steps forward toward what has been on my heart -

But I know that we can do hard things, scary things, things that might not even make sense to other people.

We cannot ignore what has been within us for so long and expect to feel joy. These things on our hearts are not just there for us to avoid and consume the world instead. They stay on our hearts and minds, until we take the step. 

Every step is teaching us something.

Every step is building us up and encouraging our faith in some way.

Today I encourage you to simply take one step. 

​With Love, ah