Day One

Happy 2016!!!!

Here we are, embarking on a beautiful, shiny, new year.  Welcome to Louder Than the Voices. Hopefully, this will become a stopping point for a weekly cup of inspiration, encouragement, and remembering what God is trying to tell us. I am so very excited about starting this venture as it has been rumbling through my head for years, and most recently, I have been very focused on this date for months.

Hello, my name is Mindy (and if you just heard a Matthew West song tumble through your mind, you are one of my kind! ;-) )  I am setting off on a year long journey of bringing devotionals to my friends and family through the use of the ever popular blogspot.  If you are one of my friends who has faithfully followed my personal blog, you had a little foresight that this was coming. If you are a first time visitor and/or was invited by one of my friends (that IS a hint, thanks in advance!), let me fill you in on the background.

I actually posted this on my personal blog on Tuesday:

See, I have felt the calling to write for years, seriously, years. I have used that in little bits and pieces. When I had the Jr. High and High School AWANA kids, I would right short devotionals based around their lives and things going on in the world. Usually having them read a verse a day to get them in their Bibles at least a minute each day. I have also written some random devotionals here and there and sometimes even here on this blog. I have been feeling a stronger pull lately though, it seriously started with the night we went to see Matthew West.

Robert got us tickets for this concert and I have to tell you I was thrilled to death. Matthew West is my absolute favorite singer/songwriter/performer. I love the fact that he writes his music based on people's lives. When he wrote the song, Do Something, it reminded me so much of why I go to work everyday. However, at that concert, we got to visit with Matthew before the main event. He had asked me what my favorite song was (after I asked what his was, and he never did answer). He told me this song came back to haunt him though because he would get to feeling like he really didn't do enough. THAT was when it started.

So, I know I get to do an awesome job that helps people and truly changes lives. I try to make sure Jesus shows in me with every person I come into contact with ( and yes, I fail at this :-( but I do try).  But, I also know I bring home a paycheck for this work too. I have heard the Lord tell me I need to do more for Him out of the shear "want" to do more for Him.

It was not three days later, that a friend of mine (and the wife of one of our past pastors) posted something to my timeline about How to Write for the Lord. It was a series by Lysa TerKeurst (author of Made to Crave-one of my favorites). This made the bells go off even louder, how did she know to do that? Well, duh.....

So, I have been following what I can of that, most of that followed into how to be published, and I'm not sure I even want to go there right now, I am more concerned about getting some devotionals out there to help my friends, and their friends, and probably, truth-be-told, more than anyone else, it will help me.

A few days after that another friends had ran 16 miles (I think), getting ready for a marathon. As many of us encouraged her on through facebook, she made some statement about that little voice in her head that told her she couldn't do this. I made the statement to let us be louder than the voices. That phrase stuck in my head. God can be louder than the voices (who I sometimes just downright claim is the Devil talking), WE can be louder than the voices for each other too and that is what I am hoping to accomplish.

Because of our crazy busy lives, I am only committing myself to one post a week, on Saturday mornings, when hopefully, you have a little time to sit and unwind, and gear up for another week.
 
So as you can tell by this, the first "official" devo will be posted tomorrow, January 2nd. See you then!