Blogs

A blog post that puts me in tears.  Words like poetry on a page that speak straight to an ache I didn't even know was there.

A comment from a stranger that makes me feel slightly less alone.

Orange silicone bands that become an excuse to start a friendship with a woman who is one of my best friends.

Women from all over the country reaching to connect with me, to be my friends, to erase the remnants of the girl who believed the liars who told me I didn't deserve to be loved.

Words on a blog that make me laugh until I cry after a long, hard day.

A text from a girl who read my post the night before and just wanted to tell me my shortcoming doesn't make me a bad person and to remind me that God will take care of it.  Texts on my phone screen that make me smile when I'm stressed or scared.

This blog, it's changed my life.  It gave me an outlet when I was at my lowest and worst, a way to release every emotion I didn't know how else I could let out.

People who aren't a part of it tend to not really understand it.  They don't understand how you can be real friends with people you only know through words on a screen.  But you can.  I know I have friends when something good happens, and I want to go tell people I met through this blog because I know they'll care.  I know I have friends when the people I go to for advice are a 30-something woman in Canada and a college girl in Pennsylvania.  These friendships are just as real and just as valuable to me as my friendships with Matt or Ryann or Taylor.

This blog has a record of all of my greatest achievements.  My high school graduation.   The day I got my acceptance letter to TFAS.  My baptism.  Reminders of all of the good days help keep me fighting to get through the bad ones.  This blog IS the record of God transforming me a little bit every single day, every single post.

Blogs have been conviction, connection, friendship, full of lessons, heartwarming, heartbreaking, and everything in between.

That's a lot to be grateful for in my book.