i miss you

Oh my dear beautiful readers. 
Can I get something off my chest? K thanks. I miss you. This little internet space of mine has become one of the sweetest blessings of my life so far, because of the dear ones I've met through it - you. The connections made, emails exchanged, friends hugged at meet-ups, and prayers prayed. I've been blessed like woah through this thing called blogging and for that I am forever grateful. And so, I am sorry for being a bit MIA in the past months. I know I have been, and I wish it wasn't true. You're still here, and for that I'm thankful. Yet, I know full well that sharing friends and advertising business posts have outnumbered my real, raw, heart to heart writing posts. Honestly, it has partly been due to busy-ness, partly due to fear and partly because life in 2013 was brutal. Or rather, brutiful. And some of the things that touched my life were not things I could share openly here.... because, this is the Internet. And because some things are not my story to tell. Not mine to share. A few months ago, I also experienced some online hating from almost-anonymous sources. It's bound to happen, I get that. And we've all been touched by it in some way or form (sadly). I know that with any kind of online platform, bullies can come and try to tear down good things we strive to accomplish. Try as I might, though - it affected me and made me pull back a bit from sharing so much, so openly. My default is to wear my heart on my sleeve, anyway, so my online journal which I call this blog is just a natural extension of that. It is hard sometimes to be honest but it's also good. Being real is beautiful. Boundaries are important, too. There is power in real-ness, in sharing our messy, our story, our hearts like open books, through writing or music or art or in one on one coffee chats or on our blogs. I've found healing and hope countless times through perusing or diving deep into a blogger's writing, their story, their heart. And I know you have, too. That is why we love this little community. It's sweet. 

All of that to say (and cheers to you if you're still tracking after that stream of consciousness above), it is a new season. A new year. A new time. A new chapter and a new leaf turned. And I am back. 

I miss writing and sharing real stories and real life. And I miss reading your beautiful stories and beautiful lives on your blogs too. 

So, dear friends, I'm comin' back. I'm thankful for new seasons, healing, and His loving grace. You are all so so dear to my heart. And I'm thankful for the ebb and flow off life, the ups and the downs, too. For the good and the bad? They're all brushstrokes in the masterpiece He is painting called our lives. And it's good. 

Love. To you and you and you..

XO

Me.