Hey friend.

I haven’t written for almost a year.

Somewhere along the way, I stopped caring about the stories and started caring about the numbers.

For a long time, I kept asking God what my purpose was.
People at church would say, “God has a plan for your life,” and while I believed that, I kept wondering what that plan actually looked like for me.

Then one day during a sermon, a question came to mind: “When was the last time I shared my testimony?”
I couldn’t remember.

Then an idea to create a blog where people can share their testimonies, came to mind.
A blog would eliminate the discomfort of verbally telling your story. As I imagined the success of the blog, I got giddy!

That’s how Tales of Grace was born. A space where I could share my story in hopes that it would prompt others to share theirs too — a community where people could be reminded of God’s grace.

The excitement was palpable as I shared my dream with my close friends.
They shared in my excitement too. As I shared my testimony in my blog, I had hoped that at least my friends would offer to share theirs too.
But only one friend did.

Even though I was grateful to my one friend, the disappointment of the unshared stories lingered.

For several weeks, I posted parts of my testimony. People engaged in the comments.
Some even shared the blog to their communities. And that… boosted my confidence.

Months later, I ran out of personal stories to share. So, I shared bible stories instead.
Engagement slowly declined,and with it, my confidence. I began to wonder whether I had missed God and I was doing my own thing and inserting His name there.

But I continued to write.

While doing the Redefining Healing series, I got an idea to create a guided journal called Loved Beyond Measure.

The journal was birthed out of the conversation I had with a friend – how she was struggling to believe that God loves her.
I was reminded of the times in my life when I had struggled with the same lies.

So I hoped that the journal would help people struggling with the lies to confront them and replace them with God’s truth.
I finished creating the journal and printed 20 copies. The journals sold out in a day. People loved them.

After the journals sold out, my focus slowly shifted to selling the journal through TikTok.
Writing blog posts began to feel slow and unseen, while TikTok promised reach, growth, and quicker results.

But even as videos gained views, sales barely came. The disappointment followed me there too. So, I took time off and I stopped posting at all.

The time off was nice and comfortable. I didn’t have to rack my brain, thinking about what to post.
But the unsold journals in my book shelf were like proof that I had failed, again.

Then I had a chat with my brother about how hard it was for me to make sales.
My brother said “Your journals reached the ceiling because you abandoned the blog. They were not meant to be the main thing.”

And it dawned on me: I had wandered far from why I started Tales of Grace in the first place.

Without realizing it, I stopped nurturing the very thing God had first placed on my heart.
Because I wasn’t receiving the applause I hoped for, I started treating numbers like a stamp of approval.

They shouldn’t have mattered so much — but they did.

But lately, the Lord has been leading me home, to the reason why He placed Tales of Grace on my heart. His rod of discipline has been both hard and comforting.

Comforting because I know He disciplines those He loves.

Maybe coming back home starts with remembering why you began.