Today I celebrate my 200th word in 200 days! A perfect moment to stop, celebrate and reflect on my journey.  On January 1 of this year, I started my blog, Dailybite.  Each day, I ask God for a word to research and use to exemplify “His Goodness” on social media.  My blog posts are visual expressions of what I have heard along with short text.  A lot of times I use a bible verse because God’s words are life-giving and multi-dimensional.  Who can compete with that? 

 

As I reflect on my journey, here are a handful of things I’ve learned in the last 200 days.

 

The biggest struggle I have on this journey is with myself.  This is probably true for every area of my life, lol.  In this case, on some of these 200 days, I have struggled with distractions, health issues, demands on my time, a heavy dose of “I don’t want to”, or I have found myself in the middle of a big life event or crisis.  Whatever the circumstance surrounding me, it has taken a lot of intentionality and discipline to stop, listen and then express what I believe I have heard.  My feelings do not derail God speaking to me, but they do create a barrier for me to break through so that I can hear.

 

God is faithful.  I have heard a word from God each day.  Some days I have the word on my mind as I wake.  Some days he meets me in my bible reading.  Some days he meets me in my quiet moments, as I sit still and listen.  Some days the words come through discussions with my husband or friends.  Some days a word just follows me around, until I catch on.  There isn’t just one way to hear from God, the better we tune our ears to him, the more ways we will hear.

 

Social media is a jungle.  It takes some skill, caution and good navigation to keep upright on social media.  I have made a lot of new connections and friends in the last 200 days.  I have also been approached for money, for personal information, sent pornand links to porn and been the target of spam, scams and slams.  I believe social media needs more positive messages to help dilute some of the garbage out there and it takes wisdom, vigilance and patience to make it all happen.  

 

God’s love for us is real and more comprehensive than our imaginations can capture.  I heard someone say once that “God loves you because he loves you”.  I think this is a pretty good way to describe what I have been experiencing.  It’s not about what I have done, how I look, how smart I am or what I have accomplished.  It’s all about God and how he loves.  And he loves you.  Just because he does.

 

God wants us to be careful.  I have sensed this theme in many words he has given me.  Be careful with each other.  Be careful what ideas we entertain.  Be careful where we go for help.  Be careful what we believe.  Be careful of false teachers.  Be careful with the words we say..  He wants to be the one to inform us, help us, teach us and lead us.  

 

I look forward to what I will hear tomorrow and the next 165 days of this journey.

 

Thank you for joining me!

 

Robin Balck