On Living With Purpose (+ really exciting announcement)

 

Today’s the day! The day that the fabulous Hannah and I reveal a surprise that we’ve been working on.

 

And…the news is…

We have started a link-up! I’m super excited for this, because I’ve wanted to start a link-up for a while, and co-hosting with another blogger is such fun. We’re calling it Purposeful Pages.

 

What’s a link-up, you ask? It’s where we post questions once a month, and you give answers. It’s a form of connecting with bloggers from pretty much everywhere. So let’s share some exciting information! (Side note: you can find all this information on one of the new pages on my blog, on the menu bar. Click here to see the information in its entirety.)

 

What Exactly is Purposeful Pages? 

Purposeful pages is a monthly link-up designed to unite bloggers on answering questions about life, blogging, the Bible, writing, and books.

 

When is It?

Purposeful Pages is live on the first Saturday of every month (starting July 2nd, 2016) for you to jump in whenever you want, until the next set of questions is up. Anyone can join at any time.

 

Can I Submit Questions for Purposeful Pages? 

Yes. You can submit them to Scattered Journal Pages or Furious Ever Afters via the contact forms on scatteredjournalpages.com (Amanda’s blog) and/or furiouseverafters.blogspot.com (Hannah’s blog).

 

How Can I Participate?

Link back to Hannah and Amanda’s blogs at the beginning of your post, and insert the Purposeful Pages header image (meme).

Copy and paste the description of Purposeful Pages above, under “What Exactly is Purposeful Pages?”

Answer the questions; if you don’t feel comfortable answering a question or it doesn’t apply to you, feel free to go on to the next one instead.

Comment on one of the girls’ blogs with the link to your post so they can check it out.

 

Why Do We Call it Purposeful Pages?

We call it Purposeful Pages because we believe that life should be purposeful in every way. In what we read, what we write, and how we live, we believe that purpose is important. Additionally, every blogger is a writer in their own way, and blogging is a way to share “pages” of our lives with others.

 

What Can I Do To Spread The Word?

We’re glad you asked! Share about Purposeful Pages on social media, put the button on your blog’s sidebar, tell your friends and blogging buddies, and have fun with it!

(More on this in a minute.)

 

 

All that information is officially out in the open now, which is really exciting. But instead of simply copying and pasting that page, I want to talk a little more about purpose, and where the name Purposeful Pages originated.

I believe in purpose. I believe that we were all put on this earth with a plan for our lives designated by God, and in order to find out what that is, we must live with purpose.

What does that look like? As a Christian, I believe it’s in seeking wisdom in God’s Word. Praying continually. Living a life of intention – not just letting time slip by, but “making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” – Ephesians 5:16-17

This means saying no to a lot of good things so that you can give a yes to great things when the time allows. It means following God’s leading, and not just “whatever your heart says.” It means having faith rule superior to feelings. It means letting God take control of our lives in order to let us live the most fulfilling life.

 

Understanding our purpose, alongside living intentionally, is imperative in living a life of joy. Why is this? Because true joy is something we get from God alone – not from culture, media, or temporary pleasures. True joy is found when we see our worth and our purpose and we make a conscious choice to live that out.

 

As for the pages part, I love to think of our lives as books, made up of many pages. Pages come and go quickly. They often flip abruptly. But the best part of this analogy? Every page is important in piecing together the whole story.

 

Have you ever gotten your hands on a defaced book? One with tattered pages, some segments ripped out, written in, binding split in two? The book might look wonderful, yet to truly understand and appreciate it as a whole, we must read it with every page intact.

 

Becuase no matter how tough some page is to read, every page is instrumental in bringing the story together.

And that’s how I view life.

 

Life is beautiful, even with the difficult pages. Even in the midst of pain, hardships, and trials, every page is important in telling the whole story. And with the diversity of pages, good and bad, easy and hard, our story-lives are all the more powerful.

Because in our weakness — God’s power is made perfect. His grace is sufficient. (2 Corinthians 12:9) And life, no matter how rocky, is made all the more beautiful.

 

I know, friends, those are some pretty deep thoughts. And if you read all that and tracked with me, then you’re awesome. Have some chocolate.

 

Needless to say, Hannah and I have put a lot of thought and work into the creation of this link-up, and we hope you’ll join us on our journies. If you believe in the message of Purposeful Pages, and you’re a blogger (seriously, those are the only requirements), please, spread the word! Tweet about it! Facebook-blab to your friends about it! Take a selfie of you at your computer, blogging, and link back to our blogs! (Starting to run out of ideas here, I apologize.) Pin the image on Pinterest! Put it on the sidebar of your blog with an image link to one of our blogs.

AND…don’t forget to participate, with questions live on July 4th, 2016!

(Sense any enthusiasm here, folks?)

 

June is the month to get the word out to your blogging friends about PP. We’re really looking forward to seeing where this goes. Thank you, everyone, for your fantastic, kind support, and thank you for being such awesome readers and writers. Seriously. I couldn’t ask for better friends.

Talk to me! Are you looking forward to Purposeful Pages as much as I am? What do you think it looks like to live with purpose? Do you like the “pages-of-a-book” analogy? Do you have any creative ideas for spreading the word? I can’t wait to hear from you in the comments.