SHIFTING MY FOCUS (IV)

I remember the day I decided to start this blog like it was yesterday. 😊
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Before that, I'd been running another blog with two of my friends for a while. However, after some time we realized that we were each interested in a different field of writing, and decided to go our separate ways - so to speak - and each focus on our individual fields.
It took a while after that for the 'Debz Meets World' concept to form in my head and become what it is today; in fact, it was only about a month before I launched my website that I decided on a name for it... 

     ​I'd been praying about it for some time, and then one night it suddenly came to me. I'd already been using @debzmeetsworld as my Instagram name, and it fit right in with the season of life that I was in at the time.. So it only made sense for me to use it as the name of my website as well!
With each day came a new revelation as to what the website would be about, and with each revelation, I got more and more excited!😀

I finally launched the blog in the 3rd week of January, 2016,  and two days later I put up my first post. 😊 I'd assumed that the blog was going to be a tool God would use to teach, inspire and encourage others through my story(ies) ; so you can imagine my surprise when I ended up being the one to learn the most from it! Week after week, God exposed to me things in my own life that I needed to face and deal with - some of which I didn't even know were there. It was tough taking so much correction, and many a time I wondered whether I was in any position to help others when I clearly needed a lot of help myself.
Looking back, however, I am grateful for everything that God brought to light in the last twelve months. Not only did it help me grow, but it also helped me relate to the people I was trying to help. Each and every post on this blog is based on one of my own personal experiences. I've always loved learning life lessons from other people's experiences, and with this platform I'm able to give other people that opportunity as well - the opportunity to learn from my experiences and avoid making the same mistakes I've made.

As Christians, we have gotten used to asking God to use us, without really knowing exactly what that means. I'll be the first to admit that I wasn't fully aware of what God using me would entail. It has required a lot of dying to self, humility, and persistence - especially when I felt like giving up; it's also required me to leave my comfort zone more often than I ever thought I'd have to, as well as to be more vulnerable than I have ever felt comfortable being. I constantly surprise myself by how much of my former self I'm willing to let go of in order to make room for God to work in and through me so as to reach others.
It has been both frightening and exciting at the same time - quite similar to a roller-coaster ride, actually 😄 - but I'd do it all over again if I had the chance. And I hope that God will give me many more years to continue sharing what He's teaching me with others.

Despite the initial discomfort of putting myself out there, there are a couple of wonderful things that I have gained from blogging:
1. I now feel less like an amateur blogger who is out of her league and more like someone who is ready to take on the world.
2. I've gone from not wanting to put my creative work out there to sometimes having to restrain myself from putting out too much at a time. Lol.
3. I've realized that it's not just about passing on knowledge to others, but that sometimes I need to learn a thing or two myself.
4. I have also learnt to balance being there for others with allowing others to be there for me when I need them.
5. Lastly, as much as I started off by doing this for other women, I've realized that I'm mostly doing it for myself; for blogging brings me indescribable peace and joy that I, quite frankly, haven't found doing anything else.😊

Never have I been more grateful for purpose than I am now, and I thank all those who have walked with me thus far. ❤️​
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So long 2016! 2017, we're coming for you!😉

- ✗O✗O.