100 Articles Later: What God Has Taught Me About Growth, Writing, and Faith

It has been a little over a year since I started my Christian blogging journey, and I’m now more than 100 articles in. Honestly, I can hardly believe it! Reaching 100 articles feels significant because getting here hasn’t been easy. The funny thing is, I love writing. Writing itself isn’t the hard part. I have been writing, journaling, and making little Christian devotionals for as long as I can remember. The hard part is overcoming yourself.

The Burden I Couldn’t Ignore

From the time I first felt a burden for this website to the time I finally committed to it, nearly eight years passed. I was SO scared, completely outside of my comfort zone, and I didn’t want to fail (if I’m honest, those fears still exist a year later).

I convinced myself that if I never started, I could never fail. For years, I suppressed the urge to start. Whenever the flame would blaze inside me, I would say, “When life calms down again, I will begin,” but guess what? Life never settled down.

Thankfully, the burden God placed on my heart was too strong to ignore. Eventually, I reached the point where I knew I had to either obey or spend the rest of my life wondering what could have been. By the grace of God, I took the first step, and by that same grace, I have now persisted through more than 100 articles!!

Dreaming Is Easy. Faithfulness Is Hard.

One thing that trips me up over and over again is that I’m a dreamer. Being a dreamer isn’t a bad thing. Dreamers imagine possibilities, cast vision, and see what could be before it becomes reality. But dreaming comes with its own challenges.

I have a tendency to fix my eyes on the destination before I’ve even taken the first few steps. In my mind, I can already see the finished product: the thriving blog, the completed project, the magazine cover, the transformed lives. What I often fail to consider is the long, ordinary work required to get there, and the problem is that progress happens much more slowly in reality than it does in my head.

In my mind, I can leap from idea to outcome in a matter of minutes, but in real life, growth takes months, years, repetition, overcoming setbacks, and faithfulness in the small things. When reality doesn’t move as quickly as my vision, I easily become discouraged and drained.

What God has been teaching me is that dreams are built through thousands of small acts of obedience every single day. The vision may inspire us, but it is the daily work that moves us forward.

Learning to Depend on God

This lesson has caused me to lean into God more than I ever expected. There have been many moments when I lost momentum after a setback, became distracted, or simply felt tired. I have prayed countless times for fresh motivation, renewed purpose, and the strength to keep going.

And God has been so faithful.

I cannot count how many times I have prayed for help and then woken up the next day with a renewed desire to continue. Not because the circumstances changed, but because God met me where I was. When God shows up like that, it reminds you that He is with you.

Holding My Dreams With Open Hands

Another thing I’ve learned through this journey is that God will accomplish His will.

I have many dreams for Harder Knocks. I have ideas, plans, goals, and visions for what it could become, but this blog is ultimately my offering to God. My dreams are secondary to following wherever He leads.

Maybe every vision I have for this website will come to pass, or maybe none of them will. God may direct this ministry in ways I never anticipated, and if He does, I want to be willing to follow Him rather than cling to my own plans.

That has required me to hold my dreams with open hands. I don’t want my ideas to ever become idols.

This blog is ultimately for God and for the women who read it. While I know He is using this process to humble, refine, and shape me, my desire is to faithfully serve others and point them toward Christ. If God tells me to change direction tomorrow, I want to be willing to obey.

God Equips Us in the Process

I’ve often heard people say, “God equips those He calls,” and I believe that is true.

I think this is also the answer to what many people call imposter syndrome. So many of us feel unqualified, incapable, or like we have no business doing the thing God has put in front of us. If I’m honest, I have felt that way countless times while building this website, but maybe that feeling isn’t always a bad thing.

Maybe deep down, we recognize something that is actually true: we are not sufficient in ourselves. We do need help. We aren’t capable of accomplishing God’s purposes by our own strength, wisdom, or abilities. Perhaps we should always remain humble enough to know that.

One thing I’ve discovered is that God doesn’t usually bypass the learning curve. Every day still feels like a day where I have to pray, “Lord, equip me, because I don’t know what I’m doing.”

In many ways, that is exactly how He equips us. He teaches us in the middle of the hard things. He strengthens us while we are doing what feels uncomfortable. He develops wisdom through mistakes, perseverance through setbacks, and faith through uncertainty.

The Myth of Feeling Equipped

I think we should talk about that more, because there seems to be an unspoken expectation that if we don’t feel equipped before we begin, maybe we aren’t really called. But that isn’t what I see in Scripture or in real life.

God didn’t wait until Joshua felt fearless before telling him to lead Israel into the Promised Land. He repeatedly told him, “Be strong and courageous.”

Moses didn’t feel qualified to stand before Pharaoh. He argued with God, pointing out all the reasons he wasn’t the right person for the job. God didn’t remove every obstacle or suddenly make Moses feel confident. Instead, He promised to be with him and even gave him Aaron to help him.

Again and again, God calls ordinary people into situations that are bigger than they are, and He gives them what they need one step at a time as they walk in obedience.

If God Is Calling You, Start

So if you feel God is calling you to do something but you’re scared, unqualified, or unsure of yourself, here is my encouragement: Just start. I know that sounds way easier than it actually is. Trust me, I know! But let me tell you, answering the call has brought far more peace than avoiding it ever did.

The fears are still there. The challenges are still there. But I have found that God meets us at the starting line and walks with us every step of the way.

What 100 Articles Have Really Built

As I look back on these first 100 articles, I’m grateful for far more than the number itself.

I have grown as a writer, I have refined my mission, improved my processes, and learned countless practical lessons. But more importantly, I have grown in my dependence on God. I have prayed more, trusted more, wrestled more, and learned more about His character and nature. I have thought more deeply about how to serve others and how to faithfully speak into the lives of women in my culture.

One hundred articles later, I’m realizing that the greatest thing God has built through this website isn’t the website at all.

It’s me, and hopefully it’s you, too.

And for that, I am deeply grateful.