I am not a Homeschooling, Mormon, Mommy Blogger

So, a few weeks I started a post that I've been thinking about for quite some time. I had it all set to post and then at the last minute felt it wasn't quite right and took it down. That very same day my blogging buddy, Lisa over at That's What She Said posted this post about being a Mormon mommy blogger.

When I saw the post I about fell out of my chair because the post I pulled down for that day started out very similar to hers. It was if we were on the same wave length. Now, just for the record, Lisa and I only know each other through our blogs so the fact that we were having kindred feelings is pretty amazing.

Make sure to visit Lisa's blog and read her post. She and I are both just bloggers talking about our little corner of the world. This is the post I wrote that day...


Confession time. I’m not a homeschooling, Mormon, mommy blogger. I like a good craft every so often, but I don’t think up amazing crafts that people will pay for. I’m a writer, but not an expert who can teach you how to publish a book in 10 easy steps. I’m not a single mom making a difference in the lives of children in foreign countries and I’m not adopting sweet Ethiopian children.

I’m just a common girl making my way in life while learning to see God’s grace in the nooks and crannies of my world. It’s been said that life is a journey and for the last 14 years I have walked in the shadow of an amazing creator who loves me unconditionally and shelters me through the storms. He fills my life with an abundance that is immeasurable by the world’s standards.

Years ago I read the book Hinds Feet on High Places by Hannah Hurnard. This allegorical story follows the crippled Much-Afraid as she leaves her village to journey to the mountaintops to live with her Shepherd. As she starts out she is joined by two traveling companions. Suffering and Sorrow are definitely not the ones she would have picked to travel with her, but they are the ones the Shepherd has appointed.

The path is not easy and sometimes dangerous but Much-Afraid soldiers on toward the mountaintop home of her Shepherd. She finds that the Shepherd is only a call away. Through the high points that seem to be the summit and the valleys that threaten to overwhelm Much-Afraid, Suffering and Sorrow have to push her to keep going. However, at the end of the journey Much-Afraid finds that she and her companions have been changed by their trek. They reach their destination and find themselves renewed. It is the journey that has marked them and shaped them.

I like this story because it echoes my own. Once I thought that someday I would arrive at my destination and life would be perfect. I suffered the journey simply to make it to my mountaintop which I mistakenly thought existed this side of heaven. I kept waiting, hoping, dreaming. But I was missing out on life because of my waiting. I’ve figured out that life happens in the valleys as well as the summits. Over these last years I have been trying to make the most of my trip through this place called earth. It isn’t always easy, but my Shepherd is always near. He has filled my life with grace in the most uncommon places. I miss those uncommon places if I’m not careful.

The women in the first paragraph are all incredible women. They are living out their own path and finding grace in their uncommon places while on their own journeys. They blog about their lives and I am blessed, inspired, encouraged by their words. This is what I want for my readers, I want them to be blessed, encouraged, inspired in some little way when they visit my little mountain.

As a blogger I sometimes find myself wanting to be something that I’m not. It’s easy to look at other blogs and try to emulate them. In doing so I’m doing a disservice to you, my reader, and to myself. God hasn’t called me to be any of the things He’s called others to be.

He’s called me to be me. He’s given me a life that at times has seemed to me to be common and boring. But He’s nudging me to see the grace and glory right here amidst my own journey through the valleys and the summits.

I’ve been thinking a lot about this blog and what I am trying to do with it; what the take-away value is for you, my reader, who comes to visit. I chose the name Rocky Mountain Writer because of my love for the mountains and my love for writing. In the last months as I have prayed through my life and my writing career I’ve come to see Rocky Mountain Writer as something more.

Micah 4:2 says. “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.” My goal in life is to continue going up to the mountain of the Lord and letting him teach me His ways. My goal for this blog is to share that journey and the lessons I’ve learned right here in my common life that is filled with uncommon grace. I pray that you are blessed by your visit and that you feel comfortable to share bits of your journey with me.