12 blogging resolutions (and announcing changes to Imperfect Prose on Thursdays)

as a blogger, who is also a believer, a mother, a wife and an artist, i vow, in the year 2013, to:

1. never let the Nativity stop being born in my words, but more importantly, in my life, and if it does the latter, then i will refrain from the former until my personal life is put right with Christ.

2. never stop sharing music through my blog (although i am now providing it as a playlist in the right-hand column which you can manually control.)

3. always uplift and protect my family, my friends, my husband and my God.

4. never write just for the sake of writing, even if this means taking a week off, or two.

5. never not write out of fear of not having anything to say, but trust God will provide the words even as i sit down and type.

6. never comment on another person's blog simply in the hopes of having them read mine, but do it out of the sincere desire to encourage and engage. and if i don't have time to comment, or if it means jeopardizing my number one ministry (my family), i won't.


7. never use my blog as a means for boasting about my accomplishments, while humbly sharing about the gifts God has given me.

8. continue to keep the comments section open, as a way to spark conversation, in spite of the chance of receiving negative or critical words, or not receiving any words at all, or receiving far more than i can ever respond to.

9. keep Jesus as my number one audience and if that should falter, if my focus should waver, then my posts will only resume once my eyes have been re-fixed.

10. never use my posts as a means for admonishing, correcting, or preaching, but simply as offerings from the heart of what God is teaching this humble sinner.

11. be honest and transparent even with the painful stuff, but never using my blog as a diary or a personal pity-party.

12. always write about subjects that are God-centered such as truth, justice, and mercy, but never feel pressured to tack "God" onto a post simply to make it appeal to readers.

thank you, readers, for being so faithful to me. for keeping me alive in Christ and for praying over my family in 2012. 

we had a hard year, with fostering joey and jin, with the flooding of our basement, with family members getting cancer (and me cutting my beloved dreadlocks), but we also had a good year, with reuniting joey and jin with their mother, with renovating our basement, with watching our loved ones beat cancer. 

and writing-wise, this year has wowed me, God giving me three book contracts (along with four little boys) and his faithfulness in it all.


i look forward to continuing with you, and hope you find this space to be unique, fresh, and compassionate.

ANNOUNCEMENTS about imperfect prose on thursdays:

1. it will be resuming NEXT week, on wednesday, january 9th, but INSTEAD of posting in the mornings of wednesday, i will be posting in the EVENINGS and then letting the link-up run all day thursday.
2. we have a few more team members joining, and a couple leaving. those joining us will be: kelli woodford, holly grantham, shelly miller, brenna d'ambrosio and elizabeth marshall. our dear suzannah is leaving, due to other time commitments. those sticking with us are nancy franson, brandee shafer, elizabeth stewart and tara pohlkotte. these ladies will be helping me to comment, and to post. i lean hard on them.
3. finally, we will be adding PROMPTS to the weekly link-ups. i will do my best to announce the prompt on facebook and twitter a day before the link-up... if you aren't my fb friend, find me HERE, and on twitter, HERE.

cheers, and a joyous new year!