I love this online writing world but even more, I love connecting with other writers and finding out their passion, the thing compelling their words. I got to meet a whole bunch of them this weekend at Allume, a conference for Christian women bloggers and writers.
Four hundred and fifty of us gathered in beautiful Greenville SC for three nights and two full days of learning, connecting, worshipping and building community. I finally had the chance to put faces to online avatars and interact with ones who’d already touched my heart with their words.
We all write differently about different things but we all have this in common: We write out of a passion for Jesus and a desire to make His name known. And the big take-away for me this weekend? Just this:
We are not all the same but we are all one.
Some of us are super crafty and have awesome Etsy shops, others write about motherhood and mayhem. One precious mama from across the hall came to our room and we devoured chocolate cookies. She shared about her husband’s journey with traumatic brain injury and the words on her blog give hope to those weary in the battle. Some of us write about food and faith and how hospitality knits the two together. Some are home schooling bloggers, DIY bloggers, faith ponderers and story tellers. Some talk about marriage or motherhood, missions and social justice.
Some are brand new to this world while others have been penning words for 10 years or more. But it doesn’t really matter because there’s a place for each of us. And we each have a unique voice with our own sphere of influence. Each of us in our own way is pushing the darkness back.
The internet has grown into an overwhelmingly sinister place, a seductive trap with hugely negative consequences. It can be frightening and filthy, full of dark danger lurking just beyond one click of the mouse. It can be huge time waster and it’s easy to be lured and trapped by goods and services promising a better, more perfect life. It’s a murky sea with few bright spots but thank God light is shining in the midst of the darkness. These diverse writers provide secure havens of love and acceptance, places where it’s safe to be honest and broken and know it’s going to be ok because others there are honest and broken too.
Because even though we aren’t all the same, we are all one. We share deep love for a savior who’s called us out of darkness into His marvelous light and our common goal is to make His name known. We are simply signposts showing the way, inviting our readers, our unique communities of women, to taste grace, to taste and see that He is good, in the cooking and the cleaning, the crafting and connecting, and the everyday moments.
We’re a company of ordinary women made extraordinary by His lavish gift. Ours? Writing, creating, dreaming, sharing. We are in His grip with this one goal: to go and tell. To be epistles written and read by men. We write about a myriad of things and we are not all the same. But we are, because of grace, all one.
The Lord gave the word. Great was the company of women that heralded it. Psalm 68:11
Banana Nut Muffins with Streusel & Sour Cream