Dreams, Fears, Miss Mustard Seed, and Me

I am going to shamelessly plug my blog today. I have this weird accountant person hiding somewhere in me and she is a numbers person. I try to keep her medicated with good chocolate but recently, when looking at some stats on the blog, I realized that after two and half years of blogging I have a grand total of 37 precious followers-I picked up a new one this week! I would guess most of you are family, (except my family is not that big). It is my own fault really. I have not added one of those pop-up things on the blog that prompt visitors to sign up partly because I have not taken the time to learn how to do it and partly because I didn't want to bother my readers and partly because I didn't want to feel like a failure for not putting out posts as often as the bloggers I follow. It's pressure!

After meeting Miss Mustard Seed, (oh, yes I did!), a few weeks ago I am rethinking my thinking.

Not the best photo of me but she is just so cute!

At a recent 'meet and greet' a group of women sat around a table asking questions of her and she was so very gracious to share with us, throwing out ideas as she listened to where each of us were in our creative endeavors.

Miss Mustard Seed, Marian Parsons, at Signature Finishes in Grafton, MA. The

 display behind her is Miss Mustard Seed paint.

There was one common thread in each woman's answer, including mine, whenever she asked "Why don't you ________?" That blank was whatever would seem the next step in marketing our creativeness.  The answers: "I'm scared.", "that scares me", "I am afraid", "I'm worried", "It terrifies me". Every woman that answered said basically the same thing! So what are we afraid of? Failure...is that what we are afraid of?

Marian Parsons, aka Miss Mustard Seed, did not point that out but spoke about her parents' encouragement during her childhood. If she failed at something or found out she didn't like something or wasn't good at it -she just did something else. As I listened it started sounding like bells pealing in my ears. I was convicted.

II Timothy 1:7 "for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control." and Romans 8:31 "If God is for us, who can be against us?" 

Now, don't misunderstand me, I know that these passages of Scripture are not talking about my desire to do something I love while making money at it. I am afraid I may fail, so much so that I have procrastinated on even trying to figure out what direction to move in. One thing is certain; if I do nothing I will have failed-100%. If I step out, I may fail but then I can just try something else. Right? I have a lot of different interests...I can't stink at all of them, right? And, maybe I will find the ones I really want to spend time improving upon. I am blessed with a husband that will support me and provides me the resources to pursue my wacky thoughts.

There will be some changes on the blog. Maybe you will notice them and maybe not. It will be a slow go as change for me is always a hard thing. (I know, you would never know it by looking at my home.) Big things, though....a different story for me. I still feel scared. Even writing this post to you is giving me a little case of butterflies. Accountability! Will you be reading this blog in a year saying to yourself "I thought she was going to make some changes, she failed." Maybe. 

There is one thing I do not want change.  I do not want to ever do anything with this blog that will keep me from speaking truthfully about my faith when the occasion arises or the moods hits me. It is the biggest part of who I am and why I am. Anything creative in me is only because I have been made in the image of the Creator, my heavenly Father, and the ways I am allowed to display that creativity are a gift.

So, all that to say this: if you have not signed up to follow the blog pleeaase consider doing so using the box under the "About Me" section to the right of this post. An email will be sent to you when there is a new post on the blog! You can also follow my on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and Instagram and Pinterest accounts. I am not nearly as savvy as I would like to be on any of those social media sites but I am learning. 

Thanks for stopping by, taking to time to listen and thank you, in advance, for signing up!

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