Blog Overhaul

From Dittmer Daily Times to Transparently Worthy...

My last post on my personal blog, The Dittmer Daily Times, was in 2011 to announce my becoming a resident author for the decor and gardening section of a faith based blog.  Somewhere along the way, I found myself frustrated by the need to have a post ready at the the same time each week, scrambling to get it done, and no longer even decorating, just talking about it.  Needless to say that trickled over to my lack of sharing about the happenings of our family on my personal blog.  Lately I have found myself inspired to write about my Zambian adventures to not only share my experiences but also as a thank you to all of the people who have supported me in various ways to make the trips happen.  It became abundantly clear that I had no real great way to share what I was writing.  Long e-mails that show up in an inbox that was slated to be cleaned out last March and posts that take up your whole Facebook feed were not ideal.  A friend suggested I create a blog.  I thought been there, done that, past that fad.  No offense to all of the amazing blog authors out there.  I just was not really ready to jump back on the bandwagon.  Besides what to I really have to say and who really wants to listen?  Yet, the more I thought about it the more it made sense and the next topic in a series of topics I wanted to share only really made sense to share through a blog layout.  So that "post" halted and I began pondering what the so called overhauled blog would be entitled, what I wanted it to be about, even breath.  It needed to be something that could allow me to share about my family because now more than ever as we live many miles away from most of our loved ones a venue to do that seems reasonable, but it needed to be more than that.  It should be a place where I could share all things Africa, but it should be more than that.  Faith, parenting, transparency, transition, fear, grace, hope, love...yes, yes, and yes, it would encompass all of these things.


So here it is Transparently Worthy?

Every part of me is permeated by my faith in God and His son, Jesus, my savior.  I slowly grow and am pruned, my faith is not static.  Yet it envelops me, infuses every part and piece of me, and therefore flows from me in my thoughts and actions.  Authenticity, what you see is what you get.  It may get disheveled in my head for a minute, but I always come back to it. Along the way some beautiful, joy-filled women have shown me there is really no other way. One particularly wise individual in this category has allowed me to see for my own eyes time after time, that He truly does overcome by the blood of His son and the word of our testimonies (Rev 12:11).  Across oceans, skin pigments, cultural divides, and much, much more, He overcomes.  My name is of course Amanda, which is Latin meaning "having to be loved," "deserving to be loved," or, simply, "worthy of love."  The word worthy tripped me up for a minute.  Where is the humility in calling yourself worthy?  Yet I know God and who He is as well as who He says that I am in my head.  Sometimes I know it better in my head than in my heart.  I am worthy.  So are you!  I mean I give my life to inspiring hope, living grace, and loving fearlessly all because I believe you are worthy, God believes you are worthy, and I want YOU to believe.  So with that, I am worthy too and our stories are worth being told.  In that vain I begin this blog and invite you into my crazy, messy, broken, but beautiful journey.  No promises on how often, how long or short, but promising to lay it out there authentically praying that it inevitably brings Him glory.

Disclaimers
1) I am really not that great of a writer and will likely have many grammatical errors and typos along the way!  Yet, I feel inspired to write and who knows from time to time someone might be interested in reading what I share.
2) My sweet friend, Melanie Spring, came up with my blog title.  She is gifted and just darn amazing like that, both personally and professionally.  Check her out here http://www.runninggrace.com/home and here http://www.melaniespring.com/.  She also coined and "owns the rights" to inspire hope and live grace. You will find the copyrights written beautifully on her body.  Still, as two women on a pilgrimage of faith both uniquely different, but beautifully similar, God has taught us through our various circumstances and these words symbolize seasons weathered and bits of clarity.  In addition, these are words that we try with every part of our beings to live by.