Beginning is Always the Hardest Part.

I’ve felt God’s leading on starting this blog for a couple months now but resisted Him until just a few weeks ago. It’s human nature I suppose but doesn’t make it any less wrong. My reasons for staying away included: Well, I don’t want to be on the Internet, it can’t be safe! What do I have to share with the world? What will people around me say? And then when I finally did get it all set up and all that, I got this notion that it had to look just right, perfect colors, perfect wording, perfect menus, etc. But its not about that.

His calling wasn’t, and isn’t, about looking or being perfect, He wants me to write encouragement to fellow Daughters of the King who want to live in victory, peace, and personal commitment to the Kingdom. If you were to ask me why, I really wouldn’t have an answer for you, except I know that this is a calling He has given me. I’m an imperfect human. And I probably won’t be getting all the “things” right according to the world’s standards, but that’s ok, because I’m not looking for the world’s approval. I’ve also been trying and trying to come up with an About page but for some reason I simply can’t find the right words. Maybe later something will come together, but for right now, I’m just beginning and wherever that beginning leads is in God’s hands.

I do want to share some verses in Galatians that seem to explain the purpose behind Blessed Pleasance.

 1 For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not be subject again to the yoke of slavery…  ⁵ For through the Spirit, by faith, we wait expectantly for the hope of righteousness. ⁶ For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision carries any weight—the only thing that matters is faith working through love.⁷ You were running well; who prevented you from obeying the truth?…¹³ For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity to indulge your flesh, but through love serve one another.¹⁴ For the whole law can be summed up in a single commandment, namely, “You must love your neighbor as yourself.”… ¹⁶ But I say, live by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh.¹⁷ For the flesh has desires that are opposed to the Spirit, and the Spirit has desires that are opposed to the flesh, for these are in opposition to each other, so that you cannot do what you want. ¹⁸ But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law…²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. ²⁴ Now those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. ²⁵ If we live by the Spirit, let us also behave in accordance with the Spirit. Galatians 5:1, 5-7, 13-14, 16-18, 22-25

I highly recommend reading the whole of Galatians 5, or even better, the entire book. I picked out these verses because they explain the purpose of Blessed Pleasance, and also because it can be easy to just gloss over an entire passage of Scripture and miss the important parts an author might be trying to point out. Maybe I’m the only one, but those are the reasons.

I guess I should probably give you an idea of the type of content I’ll be posting on here, so you sort of know what to expect. There will be book reviews, recipes, short essays/expositions, as well as a focus on natural, simply living. I hope that Blessed Pleasance is uplifting and encouraging and that you’ll stick around as this beginning begins a journey.

Shalom, LIZ.