Pressing On

You may have noticed some changes around here.  Things look a little different, hopefully a little neater (yes, spring cleaning has even hit the blog!).  I'm also hoping to make this more of a lifestyle blog - home stuff (recipes, DIYs, etc.), family stuff, kid stuff, mom stuff, still lots of faith stuff.  And now there is also a new tagline: living. loving. pressing on.  You might remember the tagline once read: trusting the Lord to live and love after loss.  I still like that line, don't get me wrong, but I feel very much like it doesn't define me anymore or what I want this blog to be.  

2013 felt very much defined by my loss.  And I think it was a healthy part of grieving to define it by such.  I needed to say, my name is Sarah and this is what happened to me.  I was the girl who lost a baby.  And I needed to be that.

This year feels different.  It is very true that losing Evie will always be an incredibly defining time in my life, but I don't want it to define my whole life.  I want to do what Paul says,

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Of course, I will never forget what happened in November of 2012.  It is impossible.  In November 2012 I met my sweet daughter, a sweet life, a part of my own heart, an eternal soul that now exists in Heaven, and I will see her again one day.  Not a day goes by that I don't think of her or how life would be so wonderfully different if she were here.  For this mother's heart, there is no forgetting.  And, on another level, I think the Lord had me walk this road so that I could always and forever reach the hearts of hurting mamas everywhere.  And I still feel very privileged and more than ok to do that.  The part of this verse I feel connected to is the pressing on part - taking what the Lord has done in my life and moving forward, changes in tow.  

Truthfully, life after losing Evie isn't as simple as it was before.  I still have moments.  I still struggle through so many things.  It's easier to hide the moments and struggles, and the good days far outnumber the hard days, but there is no denying that I am different inside.  But I feel the Lord gently nudging me to press on.  Press on for the benefit of all three of my children, my husband, and and lives I am meant to touch.  I walked through fire and parts of me are still raw and tender from the burns.  But the view ahead looks promising.  I am pressing on.