. . . And then, one day about a month ago it just hit me like a brick: “This is now the time for God to bring you into the prophetic part of your baptismal vocation.”  The prophets speak, and they speak in the Spirit of God–in love, admonition, and hope.  The prophet is given the words to speak, and the prophet utters them.   

     It has been so, so long that I have been silent.  I have been painfully, painfully silent.
     Amy Beth gave a HUGE gift to me when she coached me on Christmas Eve on how to do this blog. She brought it up, asked me to blog, and I gave her a dozen reasons why I can’t do it.  She understood them, but untangled the issues and resolved my quagmire.  

    So on Christmas Day, I turned over a new leaf.  These are my real opinions and real experiences.  It occurred to me a few days later: I had Leigh on Christmas Day several years before.  This was like a new child–my voice.  

     But God’s direction of me into this “prophetic” role goes beyond the blog.  It is all of our calling, as I understand it, to exercise this aspect of our baptismal grace when the time is right.  And so now begins the time that my incubation period is coming to a close (a period that has lasted a decade).  I now have more to say.  More is crystalized of what I am called to say: about my story, about my vision, about family and motherhood, and about the love of God.  I am happy to move past fear and emotion deregulation, and into a place of “speaking the truth in love,” (Eph. 4:15).  

     I feel like Moses at the burning bush: 40 years of exile has come to a close (in my case, 10).  I am tired and ragged and unkempt.  Now it is time to speak with love, come what may.  (As I recall, Moses didn’t fare so well most of the time!)  

     This is not glamorous or even enjoyable, but it is a step forward in becoming who God desires me to be.  It makes me happy!