Why {A Ready Listener}?

Today I am linking up with other life-giving writers for Five Minute Friday over at Lisa Jo Baker's blog. Today the prompt is "writer". We write for five minutes straight. Not worrying about perfection or backtracking. Writing for the sheer pleasure it brings! Come on over and see what others are writing, or join in!

I started two other blogs before this one. And failed. 

The first one was called Annie's Pathways. I took so long in picking the perfect name. Then, after all that, I didn’t have anything to write, or so I thought. I couldn’t seem to eek out more than one post. I think I was too bound up. Too worried of not saying things right that I was stopped in my writing tracks.

I tried. I sat at the screen and sat and sat and the words would just not form. Out of fear! Fear about what others would think. Fear of sharing my thoughts and my heart and my opinions and having them trampled.

Well, the second blog took a different direction. I called it The Happy Junker. See, I love to decorate and redo furniture and “things” into something usable for me. I love to thrift and do DIY. 

But, I put before and after photos of one project of a chair I recovered. Cool project no doubt, but this didn’t last either because I was not sharing what was most important to me. What sat deepest within me.

The second and third posts didn’t come, even though I’ve done other successful projects over the past several years. I didn’t think this is what my online presence should be.

Then came 2012. And, another go around at finding a name to express what my blog would be. You see, I really wanted to be a writer. I really wanted to express my passions, my heart. 

I really wanted to encourage others who happened to stop by.

I want to be a ready listener to what God says to me. And I so desire to pass that along in the form of encouraging and life giving words. So, this is what The Ready Listener is all about. 

"Understand {this}, my beloved brethren. Let every man be quick to hear {a ready listener}, slow to speak, slow to take offense and to get angry..."

James 1:19 {Amplified}

The Lord God has given Me the tongue of a disciple and of one who is taught, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him who is weary. He wakens Me morning by morning. He wakens My ear to hear as a disciple {as one who is taught}. 

Isaiah 50:4 {Amplified}

Thanks for stopping by today!

And Blessings to you,