As of yesterday, I have officially been blogging for six months.
It feels like a significant milestone to me…probably because I’m the equivalent of a blogging pre-teen, and I still think that half-birthdays count.
Liam was barely four months old, our whole family in the throws of a late-summer cold. I’d recently broken my permanent retainer bar trying to open bottle of olive oil with my teeth, and it was still flapping around in my mouth because the baby was teething and the toddler was insane and I could not, for the life of me, figure out a time to schedule an orthodontist appointment.
And of course, that’s when things like this happen. At the worst possible time.
An email from my agent: We really think you need to start a blog. There was all this talk of platform, that ugly word that sends introverted writers the world over spiraling into McDonalds/chick-flick comas. Or at least that’s what happened to this writer.
I remember thinking, When on earth am I going to carve out time to write a blog? What in the world am I even going to write about?
Here is an evangelical phrase for you: God works all things for the good. It is a paraphrase of a Bible verse (Romans 8:28), and it’s one of those mildly irritating things people say when you’re going through something crappy or frustrating. It’s meant to give a little perspective and hope, but it often feels reductive and trite.
But I think about this blog and I think about this verse, this cliché, and I think that maybe all we’re really trying to say is this: you are given the thing that you never asked for, never wanted, and it changes you in ways you could never have imagined.
There had been, of course, the book, and writing it had turned out to be important in processing my fiery, evangelical past and the subsequent loneliness and depression. This is one of those gifts of memoir: you spin and spin and spin your life until it’s no longer straw but art, and the creating brings a kind of wholeness.
But the book was done, and I’d been floundering. I was tentative toward faith, a little afraid to approach it, distrustful of the methods and language I’d used in the past.
And then here it was: this list of terms, clichés, metaphors, catch-phrases, and certainly they’re not all bad or obsolete. It’s just that, for me, re-imagining them has been like chipping away at some nameless thing that had calcified over my faith and made God inaccessible.
It’s slow, long work. But every once in a while, something falls away, and for a moment I can see straight to the wild, beating heart of it all.
I didn’t expect this. I didn’t think I’d be changed in the writing.
I never imagined that the internet itself would be full of love and friendship, all these little grace pockets, ready and waiting for me. And you. I never imagined you.
I have been buoyed by your honesty, changed by your insight, encouraged by your experiences, so similar to my own. And I’m thankful because with every month of blogging, I am finding myself a little less lonely, a little less cynical, a little less afraid.
So anyway, this is all my long-winded way of saying that it’s my six month blogoversary, and I am grateful and I’m tired and I’m happy.
Here’s to another six months. And then another. And then another.
Congrats! Hope you have many years to come.
Happy Anniversary! What a gift to the blogosphere you have been.
I love the way you describe finding healing through writing. I don’t know what the phrasing of this would be, but it makes me think of a Christian cliche about Bible study. That if you teach the Bible, you have to not only prepare your teaching, but do a separate study on something else. It is important that you are also learning. But so much learning, so much, happens in the process of teaching or writing. There is a gift of the Holy Spirit that happens not just in those who hear but in those who speak. The words are often for ourselves as much as for others.
I’m glad you are finding healing and sharing that healing with us.
Stephanie, I’ve often felt that pressure too…that there are certain things you should always be doing in addition…and a specific way you were supposed to do them. (a.k.a. that separate Bible study). I love how you said it: “So much learning happens in the process.”
Killer as always. I cannot BELIEVE you’ve only been doing this for six months. Your readership is impressive, and you always do well connecting the strange dots that can be found on the face of cultural evangelicalism, making small occasions for scrutiny into redeemable soundbytes of meaning. Keep it up. I continue to be thrilled to find people like you on the web!
Your blog’s so huge, in fact, that I have decided I am going to swipe your readership: I’m going to change my name to Chaddie, don a wig, and create a blog called “Me Speakz Evangelicalz.”
It’ll be enormous. Like a pachyderm on steroids. 
Chaddie, now we’re on to your devious plan. You crack me up.
Excellent.
I loved the phrase “you are given the thing that you never asked for, never wanted, and it changes you in ways you could never have imagined.” It fully describes so much of what I have walked through in my life!
I am thankful for you and your writing! I love that you share your heart, the good and the broken.
I love you!
The thing I was given is nothing like the one you were given, but I continue to be encouraged and inspired by your strength and grace as you’ve walked through it. I love you too, Trace!
Thanks for the blogging, Addie! Your words and writing are truly a gift.
Happy 6 months! So glad I’ve met you and your blog, Addie. You’ve put words to the tensions and questions that have been stirring around in my head for a while now. Thank you.
So glad you’re here. Happy 6
Addie, I had no idea you’ve only been blogging for 6 months! I am so impressed. I’m glad your agent nudged you to do this. Your words have been a gift and I cannot wait to read your book!
Love this. Thank you for writing. For being faithful to the art.
Congratulations on what is indeed a milestone! Thank you for writing and sharing your struggles with faith.
Congratulations, Addie. Wishing you many more 6-month blogoversaries.
Oh, happy six months! And hooray for half-birthdays while we’re at it. So thankful for your voice in this community and the perspective your bring to it, and mostly for the honesty.
Happy six monthiversary!
Congrats! Blogging is and writing is my best “me time!” So I’m totally with you in the being changed through it.
I’m right behind you! And I, too, have enjoyed finding the pockets of grace.
Many blessings!
Thank you all so much for your kind comments! I am so grateful for you all.
Hi Addie,
I doubt you remember me, but I sure remember you. I was your babysitter for the first 5 or 6 years of your life, maybe more, it escapes me now, but it was back in my North Sub days. I don’t even remember how I found your blog – maybe a link on your dad’s or Uncle Lee’s Facebook pages – but I have been reading and enjoying it through these six months. You are an excellent writer and I am happy to have found a reconnection with that little girl I connected with so many years ago. You have a gift and it’s nice to see it in this blog!
Pam (now in Gresham, OR)
Hi Pam! Thanks so much for the note. I do remember you (though, admittedly, it’s all a little fuzzy and vague before second grade). So fun to connect! Hope you are doing well.
I’m kinda late to the game on this, but Happy Halfiversarry! Love you and your words. I’ve been so blessed by both.
See what Don Miller says on his March 29 entry at http://donmilleris.com/ It is related to some of what you say above.
Congrats! Has it really only been six months?!
“This is one of those gifts of memoir: you spin and spin and spin your life until it’s no longer straw but art, and the creating brings a kind of wholeness.”
Yes. Your memoir did it really well. Your blog does it in a different format, equally well. Your writing is a real blessing to me, and it challenges me every time, so I’m glad there’s something in it for you, too. : )
Happy half birthday! Here’s to many more!
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I’ve been following your blog for a few months Addie. You never fail to encourage me and give me hope as I wander and seek a place in the post-evangelical wasteland. Thank you for committing to the blog- it is important and I am thankful that God has gifted your soul to write and share with the world. -Lori
Thanks so much for reading, Lori, and for the kind words. So glad that you’re here!