The Month in Review

It’s been a whirlwind, crazy busy kind of month, but honestly, it was also kind of wonderful.  I feel like this month, even though there were late nights and days when I was completely exhausted, the work held more joy and excitement than it had for a long time.

I’m going to get a little more personal than I usually do, which makes me uncomfortable, but here goes anyway…  The day after the night I cried my eyes out writing last month’s review, I started writing a short story.  It was like a compulsive thing I had to do.  Over the next few days, when I wasn’t working on it, I wanted to be working on it because the flow was there, and I just had to get it out on paper.  Now, I don’t really write short stories.  I did as a teen.  They were never any good.  I wrote a couple in college.  One of them I don’t think I ever even typed, and I know I didn’t let anyone read it, but I sort of think it saved my life or at least my sanity.  I’ve maybe written a couple of others since then.  But, as much as I would like for it to be, as much as I long for the free time to give it a fair chance, fiction isn’t really my thing, unless you count church skits.  That’s why it’s kind of odd that God used a short story to make me really passionate about writing again, but I’m so grateful He did–grateful and maybe even a touch hopeful.  

Moving on, the first part of the month included printing a couple of orders, which always makes my heart happy.  The writing is my favorite part, but it can’t touch hearts if it’s never in the hands of others, so orders are always a blessing to me.

This month was also the first month for some new things in honor of 10 years of For the Journey.  That included Monday morning verses, which were taken from some of the key verses of adult Sunday School lessons from a study on James.  (Have I mentioned James is one of my favorites?  But, I have a lot of favorites.)  I also did a monthly trivia question; however, I was informed that it was a little hard.  I do find it slightly ironic that the person who told me it was difficult was also the slave driver about homework, grades, and my GPA growing up, but I’ll try to make it a little easier next month.  Maybe…  (Love you, Mom!  I just also love to harass you.)  And, I highlighted my very first 30-Day Devotional “Do You Believe?” by sharing a little about writing it and one of the devotionals.  Keep scrolling after reading this post if you missed it.

Also (and this is huge), around the middle of the month, thanks largely to a weekend dog-sitting Abby for my sister and brother-in-law, for the first time in longer than I can remember, I was caught up on typing lessons!  There was no stack of hand-written lessons hanging over my head that I needed to make time to type.  Not a single one.  It was so exciting.  (It lasted for all of 24 hours, but we’re not going to dwell on that…)  Even more exciting was the fact that wading through the pile inspired my favorite short devotional post to the For the Journey Facebook page and Instagram this month, which was titled “Some Kind of Faith.”  It challenged and convicted me in the best of ways, and I really think it would be worth your time to go find it if you missed it.

Other than that, there was another short devotional post on the Facebook page titled “Unchanged by Forgiveness” early in the month and, of course, Sunday School lessons.  I’m really excited about the new adult study I’m working on currently from the parables of Jesus.

At the end of the month, I devoted some time to children’s lit crafts and illustrations. 

Fun fact:  That was attempt #5 or 6 on the ram.  Regarding the other attempts, think less little-kid-cute and more terrifying to small children, which is why they were promptly crumpled and tossed.  Sometimes my artistic abilities are a little lacking…

So, that was December.  It was fun.  It was exciting.  And, especially considering the fact that it’s like the busiest month of the year because of Christmas and all the Christmas-related activities and events, I would say it was pretty productive.  It was nice to end the year on a positive note, and I can’t wait to see what 2025 will hold.