JoyDrops…

6/11/22

I started a blog…

For as long as I can remember I have always loved writing. It’s a way to sort out my feelings, work out my frustrations and find encouragement from Jesus. It took me a long time to actually share what I wrote with others. Once I got comfortable sharing with people close to me, so many encouraged me and said what I was writing should be shared with more people.  

It’s been about 17 years of encouragement.

and today… 

…I did a thing. 

well…I guess I kind of started this back in 2014 but it never went farther than the set up.

today, I actually posted a joy drop blog post!

I had a secret diary that my gram bought me and I started writing in that around 4th grade I think, but I didn’t realize I loved writing until I was in 7th grade. I had a Language Arts teacher that encouraged me to write what I felt. At some point that year we got to enter one of our pieces in a writing contest. I don’t remember the specifics, or exactly what I wrote, but I know I spent a lot of time working on it and it expressed some pretty deep feelings. I was really proud of it as was my Language Arts teacher. When the pieces were returned to us they came with comments from the judges. There was a hesitancy in my teacher’s voice when she handed me mine.  She said, “Laura, I want you to know I disagree with these comments. I know you wrote this. You’re a really great writer, let’s talk this over at lunch.” The judge disqualified my piece and said that there is no way a 7th grader wrote this, he said that the emotion and depth of expression in the writing was too intense and mature for a 7th grader. It must have been plagiarized. I was devastated. I stopped all journaling and questioned myself as having any talent as a writer. It literally froze my pen for a couple years. 

Looking back now I know that those comments should have been an encouragement, but they weren’t. It wasn’t until I got in High School and had two amazing English teachers that my pen started to flow and my confidence returned. (yes, Gawaine Perkins and Mary Infanger I am talking about you! Thank you!) 

Flash forward more years than I care to admit…

About two years ago I “finished up” counseling with an incredible counselor and mentor. One of the challenges he left me with was to share my “gift” as he put it, he said he felt God was wanting to use me to reach people… Well Steve…I did a thing…

A few months ago I was doing some writing on a pretty emotionally rough day. I was asking God to give me a hint of the joy I knew He had for me. I told Him I was tired of the tear drops and needed to replace them with joy drops. That day I started sharing my “joy drops” writing on my FaceBook page and unexpectedly received some very  encouraging comments from those posts. If you’re interested you could find them here: ( https://www.facebook.com/laura.ettema ). God has taken back my pen and is showing me the joy drops. There are still a lot of days with tear drops, but He has been faithful to show me even the tiniest joy drop to get the pen in my hand, and then He takes over! I’ll be moving those posts over here as I feel led and will share them with you and will share a link on my FB page when I write a new one here. 

so…here I go on a new”ish” journey into the world of writing for more than just my family and close friends. I’m warning you now that I’m pretty emotional and sometimes pretty deep, and most often Jesus takes my hand and does the writing for me and on those days there’s no telling what He has planned! So, if you’re up for that, come join me on this journey! I’d love to have you and hear your thoughts! 

wishing you joy drops today…

Laura

PS. I may even include some of my photographs…

photo cred: me…my gram’s rose bush that has traveled with us the last 20 years! It didn’t bloom for YEARS and last summer it began blooming! This year it’s heavy with gorgeous blooms! a definite JOY DROP today!