He used it for Good

Oh, what a struggle Dave and I have had the last year and a half as we tried to keep our comment section open. Open to all, including anonymous so that anyone could share with us what was on their hearts. We didn't want it to be difficult for those without accounts to drop us a word when it was laid on their hearts. We endured several scolding comments from people who just didn't understand the place we were in. Many of them I ignored, a few of them I defended when they attacked our family, a couple of them hurt my heart so much I thought about ending her story, and this last one caused us to finally close the openness of our comment section.

The amazing thing that has happened this week is that God has taken what someone had tried to harm me with and has used it for HIS good. Kind of like Joseph. What was meant to hurt has only brought an abundance of blessing and I LOVE THAT!

Let me share what has happened. Our comments are now in a mode that allows us to "preview" them. They are not published publicly and we have decided to never publish them publicly. So those of you who have requested that I not share what you have written may rest assured that once we decided to do this we decided to really do this. I will not allow them to be made public. Even though a few have shared how disappointed they are that they can no longer read the encouraging words shared by everyone, we feel this is now the best way to conduct our blog. Now let me share what God is doing with this decision. So many of you have come "out of the woodwork" so to speak and are now freely commenting. You have allowed yourselves to be made known to us. You are leaving long, uplifting, encouraging messages, you are sharing parts of your own stories, sharing your prayer requests, and letting me get to know you. What a blessing you have been to me this week. Dave was so afraid the comments would stop, thus breaking my connection to the "outside" world, but instead the comments have increased. We have had over 600 comments just this week! God is so good! So many that Dave doesn't have enough time in his day to keep up, but let me tell you that I do. I sit and read, glean wisdom, encouragement, and strength from you. I pray over your requests and your stories. What a blessing you have been to me this week. So from the bottom of my heart allow me to thank you for making this change with us. Thank you for continuing to share with me. Thank you for praying for Ashley Kate. Thank you for understanding what we felt was necessary.

One thing I have learned along this journey is that this is a big world we share and that many, many of us are struggling through different types of circumstances. As we struggle along we do not have to do it alone. God has provided a body of believers to lift us up and carry us when we can no longer go it alone. Allow yourselves to be open to those you know are sincere and allow them to minister to you as continue to seek His will and His purpose for you, your family, and your friends throughout your journey. Without your support Dave and I would have crumbled from our brokenness many, many, months ago. God is good. He does care. Not only for our sweet Ashley Kate, but also for you and yours.

P.S. Allie's team lost this morning, but she did a great job anyway. The Tarheels won their first game this morning 14 to 3. Blake pitched the entire game with a 6 pitch first inning and a total of 56 at the end of it. Our Tarheels looked good is what I hear. Oh, how I wish Ash and I were there with them. They play again at 3 this afternoon.