She must learn again to speak
starting with I
starting with We
starting as the infant does
with her own true hunger
and pleasure
and rage.

-- Marge Piercy

The Next Chapter

I love my life.

That’s my big announcement. Since Liz’s hint earlier this week that I was no longer going to be blogging on Faith Squared, several of you have expressed curiosity/excitement/concern about the reason.

No major, dramatic reveal—just a slow dawning clarity over the past year that the blogosphere is simply not my habitat.

The stories that want to be told through me need more room. And for more than a little while now, I have felt a deep, stirring need to remove myself from the noise and chaos of the Internet, and stay true to my old-school ways of “putting myself out there.”

I am so blessed to be in the remarkable, hard-earned place of honoring what feels so right in my life, and going only where my heart is truly asking me to go...being a living example of partnering with God to create an extraordinary life.

By spending every precious moment I possibly can with the love of my life, my incomparably heroic husband Mark. Laughing myself hoarse with my kids. Guiding, sometimes pushing, always cheering my amazing clients toward God, and consequently, their truest selves. Diving deeper and deeper into my own faith, and finding out that prayer is ever more delicious, and God is even cooler, and more brilliant, and more fun to hang out with then I had previously experienced. Hanging with my sister-of-the-heart, Alizabeth, doing All Things Girl and exploring all the magic to be found in words, pictures, and possibilities. And by trusting that if something doesn't feelright for me, that's God, trying to tell me it isn't.

It’s time for Faith Squared to expand. The roster of writers and contributors that Liz has assembled is absolutely golden…I can’t wait to see what they bring to these pages. And I’ll not be far away. Liz and I will still collaborate on F2 projects (‘bout time for a playlist, I’m a-thinkin’), and I’ll poke my head in every once in awhile and say hey.

I will still be available in cyber space via my website, or on my Facebook Fan Page for Monday Mantras and Friday pics of the Nearly Official Cutest Dog in the Whole World, Gracie Lou.

Anything else is still up God’s sleeve for the time being…and I love it that way. Turns out, He's a much better writer than me.

Thank you so much for making Faith Squared come alive this past year, and for helping both Liz and I discover our true expression. Stick around…the next chapter is about to begin.

Prayers For Alizabeth

Eyes of the Heart: An Interview With Christine Valters Paintner