The Way Out Is Through

::: Excited squeal! :::

Welcome to my first blog post!!!! Seriously, I’m so humbled that you’re here.

It’s a scary and vulnerable thing to put yourself out there the way I feel like God has asked me to do. But to feel this supported by all of you going into it? Man, my heart is so encouraged by each of you. And please know that I take your time very seriously, and I won’t write about anything lightly, flippantly, or without some caution as to how it will be received.

So let me get right to it and share how this all came about!

The first reason I started this blog?? I’m an Enneagram 2w3 and a Meyers-Briggs ESFJ. Which is basically an extroverted, reality-based, detail-oriented helper with a lot of FEELINGS. So that should explain plenty. I could probably stop there, but I’ll keep going.

The main reason this blog was born is because these last 5-6 years have involved more pain and heartache than I ever fathomed I would go through by age 33. It really began when we couldn’t have a baby on our own. Which led to nearly two years of fertility treatments. And then a miscarriage.

As hard as all of that was, my darkest days actually ended up coming shortly after our miracle baby was born. I’ll share more on that in the weeks to come.

But it’s crazy to me how tightly joy and sorrow can weave together because there’s also been SO. MUCH. JOY! Like the I-didn’t-know-it-was-possible-to-be-this-happy kind of joy. It has been the craziest rollercoaster trying to navigate both at the same time.

It was in the dark, dark days that the Lord taught me something incredibly valuable that I know I’m going to continue to use for the rest of my life. And it essentially became the whole reason I’ve decided to start writing.

My God taught me that the way out is THROUGH.

Which sounds simple until you try it. He showed me that the way forward is not around. It’s not avoiding. It’s not staying angry. It’s not putting up walls. And it’s not running away. As much as we may want OUT of the most painful situations in our life, unfortunately we can’t shortcut the hard stuff. The only way is by letting the Lord graciously take our trembling hands and lead us THROUGH what feels too impossible and too painful to accomplish on our own.

He did it for me, and he promises to do it for you too. Our God is too good to just leave us where we are. He wants better things for us than we evan do. And so he makes a WAY for us. There’s always a way. And because of that, there’s always hope.

So now here we are.

Brené Brown summarized my heart for this blog better than anything I’ve heard so far when she said in her Netflix special: “Brave leaders are never silent around hard things. Our job is to excavate the unsaid. What’s the thing that’s not being said? That requires courage and vulnerability.”

And that’s exactly what I believe God began to make clear to me over a year ago. To be an excavator of the unsaid. To talk about the most painful topics. The most shameful and isolating. Please hear me when I say that I do NOT want to be just another voice in your ear telling you how you need to feel or be about something. I want to be a voice that exposes comparison for what it really is rather than cause you to struggle with it. I want to be a voice that helps put words to the overwhelming emotions you didn’t really know how to articulate to your spouse. I want to be a voice of hope that reminds you it’s okay to wave your white flag of surrender and hand it over to Jesus. Actually I want to be a voice that ENCOURAGES you to do that.

So can I ask a few things from you as we navigate this new journey together?

First:  **SUBSCRIBE** I’d love to have your support with each new post. I see all of this as us just being in relationship and doing life together and the more you engage with me, the smaller this little family on here is going to feel. And that’s exactly how I want it to feel.

Second: Like my new facebook page! You can find it here. You can also follow along on my instagram here.

Third: Share with a friend! Especially if you know someone who is struggling. Whether it’s insecurity, motherhood, infertility, marriage, faith, etc. I’m failing to a healthy degree at all of these so I’m happy to be the one to make your friend feel better about herself 😉

And the last thing: PRAY for me and my family. Talking about tough subjects and painful experiences is not easy and it WILL invite spiritual attack. Sometimes this process will be very vulnerable and a bit scary. So prayers are going to be what will carry us in the hard moments.

Alright, I need to wrap this up. And as I do, let me leave you with this beautiful promise from Isaiah 43:19: “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”

You guys, I’m so excited. That is a promise to you and me from the God I got to know when my world fell apart. THAT is exactly what’s waiting for us on the other side when we choose to face our pain with the help of Jesus. The God that makes streams in the wasteland. I’ve seen him move mountains, and I believe I’ll see him do it again.

This isn’t a place where you’ll find a perfect example or all of the answers–this is a place where I will frequently wave my white flag of surrender, and I’ll invite you to link arms and do the same…let’s start walking through this stuff together.

Love,
Karissa