I don't know what's up with me this week?

A blank screen overwhelms me.

Words evade me.

My thoughts are jumbled, bouncing from North Korea's threats to Olivia's after-school schedule to what's going on with all of our boys to what I need to get accomplished at work today......

I look at the screen and begin thinking of specific people I wish I could help and wonder what I could possibly say to encourage them today as they are looking for jobs, fighting serious health problems, living without a confident belief that God is with them, and on and on.

For some reason, writer's block has become a great friend.

And I've read enough about writing to know that the best thing to do when you cannot think of anything to write is to simply write anyway.

I can remember telling my students,

"Just write.  It doesn't matter what you put on the piece of paper.  Just get sentences out of your head.  Talk with your pencil."

And suddenly, students were creating beautiful pieces of work accidentally.

They were digging into their own little world of thoughts and discovering that underneath all the noise of their teenage worlds they really did have something worth saying.

So, today, I am writing anyway.

I'm talking with my pencil even though I'm at a loss for words.

And as I continue clicking away I glance back and realize that sentences are forming.

Thoughts are coming together.

God is somehow taking my writer's block and allowing even it to send a message.

And I'm realizing that the message is something I needed to hear today too.

It's something that speaks to the very core of what my quiet time was about today.

Here it is:

In life, we often find ourselves up against a wall.

A hurdle.

A challenge.

A call that seems to big.

And the human reaction is to turn the other way.

Give up.

Move on.

Even stop.

Life is filled with all sorts of things that cause different kinds of "writer's blocks."

It's not the blocks, the hurdles, or the challenges that determine who we are or what we can be.

It's how we respond to them that ultimately determines our destiny.

Today and yesterday and maybe tomorrow, I am fighting writer's block.

Maybe you are fighting some other kind of "block."

Maybe you're feeling useless, empty, purposelessness.

I challenge you today to "do life anyway."

Fill your screen.

Keep writing or practicing or serving even when you feel like stopping looks more attractive.

God often called people in the Bible to be faithful in small things before He moved them on to greater things.

What small things can you do today to make a difference in His Kingdom?

Look around today for opportunities to be Him to a hurting a world.

Push through your feelings of inadequacy.

"Write through your block."

Before you know it, your screen will be full.

Your life will have meaning.

Your joy will overflow as you realize you have been faithful even when you didn't think you had a thing to offer.

I love God so much.

He is my screen filler, my joy giver, my hope sustainer, my hurdle jumper, my everything.

Let Him be your everything today too and just watch what He can do through you!

I love you all so much!