A Story of Facing My Fears and Going Scared

Are you at a point in life you are dancing around the direction God is calling you to? You delay acting on it, because you’re too afraid, or too busy, you feel call is not clear enough, or too [fill in the blank]. When we choose to run away from God, he always has a way of bringing us back around.

When we choose to run away from God, he always has a way of bringing us back around.  – Jessica H.

It makes me think of the story of Jonah in the Bible. Jonah decides that he wants to avoid what God has called him to do, because, from his perspective, it’s safer. Can you relate? It’s some of the process I went through up to starting this blog. You see, my curiosity with blogging started when I was 15 years old. I mustered up the courage to dabble in starting a website and I wrote one post. Fear got the best of me and blog sat, collecting dust, until now.  Using the words God has placed inside of me, to help others, has been a journey of healing, growing, learning, and a willingness to walk with God past my fears. 

Starting at the beginning, my writing story started when I was eight years old. It was a cold Christmas day and the anticipation to go over to Grandma & Grandpa’s house was bursting out of my two younger sisters and I. It’s always been a festive place of friends, family, Christmas candies, stockings so big we could fit inside of them, and gifts tied up with bows. With a glowing grin, I pulled my first journal out of my stocking. Little did my Grandparent’s know, that gift was the beginning of my life enthused with words. 

Hundreds of journal pages have been filled with my thoughts. Writing was an outlet for communicating my thoughts and feelings. Even an introvert can have words bursting out, needing to be let out of their cage. Sharing any part of who I am, being transparent, was a huge challenge, whether it was written or spoken. I was afraid I would be rejected. If the church people or my family saw I was broken too, I would be seen as a failure. So, I kept my thoughts locked up inside, only to be seen by the pages of my journal and my heavenly Father.

Upon entering college, my confidence and motivation for storytelling grew…especially since my grades depended on it. Being self-motivated in my studies, I gave it all I had. This growing confidence transferred to other areas of my life. Friends started asking to hear my story. I entertained their request, but still used caution for how much I would share.

God is continuing to work in me, giving me the courage to share my writing story with you here.  My story is not finished. It’s a work in progress. My motivation for writing has shifted from fear of sharing what I’ve been through to a desire to walk with others on their journey. Everyone has a unique purpose and story – a beautiful masterpiece that God is creating with your life. We were never meant to go it alone. You could be the encouragement that some needs.

Everyone has a unique purpose and story – a beautiful masterpiece that God is creating with your life. – Jessica H.

Three Lime Pines combines three elements that came to light when I look back to my eight-year-old self: Writing, organizing, and my place of origin here in the Northwest. Surprisingly enough, I had fun organizing and re-arranging my room from the time I was about four feet tall.  Being homeschooled and self-motivated, I would power through my school work in three hours, just so I could spend the rest of the day sketching and re-designing my room. Starting at this young age, I’ve had a lot of time to experiment and try various techniques – first with my childhood room and then with many different apartments . 

My skills were further refined in design school over the course of getting my Bachleor’s degree in Interior Design and continuing to gain experience working in the design field every day. Organizing still didn’t always come easily, but I have fun learning and trying new things. If it doesn’t work, I try something else. The more you do it, the more you develop a brain full of ideas to implement and try.

This blog is intended to give you resources and encouragement for your own organizing journey. Organization not a one time activity, it’s a life long adventure. It’s not all about goals, planners, and organizing containers. Those things certainly help, but they are only tools. Three Lime Pines is a community empowering you to organize your life around what really matters to you. 

Three Lime Pines is a community empowering you to organize your life around what really matters to you. – Jessica H.

Questions: I’d enjoy hearing about your journey and where you’d like to be. What is one goal you have for this year? What are the fears you need to overcome to reach your goal?

Share at in the comments below.