As October opens, our house brims with the promise of evenings by the fireside. Lucy will be on the lookout for friends coming to dinner; Little Jo is about to discover the wonder of crunching leaves under her toddler shoes. We’re preparing to celebrate Autumn and her King this year, in all kinds of gatherings and solitary spots, no matter what she brings.
And on each of the 31 mornings of the month, I’ll post a story from my perch at this desk.
31 stories of loving God as an introvert.
These are stories of learning to follow Christ, with and without the inward ways that come naturally to me. They are about books and babies and songs; about beloved literary characters, the one time I heard God audibly, and identities packed up in moving boxes.
By and large, they’re about birthing courage and trusting with abandon. But together they trace the unexpected discovery of freedom: a freedom so rich and three-dimensional that all my laughter and tears ring differently from yesteryear, and my gratitude sometimes verges on heartache. I don’t think I’ll ever grow tired of watching how God stoops to work in and through the quiet, tender, ill-fitting, broken parts of a soul.
I think you might also be someone who recharges best in still spaces if you’ve come to this page? Whether you are, or whether you brighten around crowds the way my best friend and firstborn do, I hope that here you’ll find new refreshment in His faithfulness, and room to share a story or two of your own.
And no matter how short or long your visit, I hope that October for you might be a place to restore your soul, the better to travel wintry valleys of shadow and homeward paths beyond.
Day 1: Babies in a Retirement Home
Day 2: The Introduction of an Introvert
Day 3: The Navel-Gazer Looks Up
Day 4: “Christ Blessing Little Children”
Day 5: God May Get You Alone to Meet You
Day 6: When You Are Afraid You’ve Broken Everything
Day 7: When All You Want Is a Quiet Corner Where You Can Create
Day 8: Hearing the Voice of God
Day 9: “I Hear the Savior Say…” {Two Words}
Day 10: We Danced in the Kitchen
Day 11: Dandelions and Spiders’ Webs
Day 12: Gas Station Dates
Day 13: Crumpled Prayers (What I Believe)
Day 14: Loving God with the Imagination
Day 15: How to Climb Out of a Weary Mind
Day 16: The Best of Marriage, and the Mercy of Its End
Day 17: A Jaunt to a Bookshop
Day 18: “Aloof” (Rossetti)
Day 19: The Story of a Monday Morning
Day 20: Why I Had to Join the Church
Day 21: When You’re Tempted to Walk Away from Family in Christ
Day 22: The Scribbling Cap Is On
Day 23: Point the Way Home
Day 24: Wordless Songs
Day 25: From Marmee
Day 26: Old Found Journals
Day 27: An Invitation for You, from a Letter Writer
Day 28: The Terrible Awkwardness of Grief
Day 29: Prayer Is the Battle
Day 30: Learning to Dance with Abandon
Day 31: October Favorites and November News
This series is part of the Write 31 Days community for 2015.
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