Also with the lute I will praise You—

And Your faithfulness, O my God!

To You I will sing with the harp,

O Holy One of Israel.

My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing to You,

And my soul, which You have redeemed.

—Psalm 71:22–23

In typical fashion, I completely overlooked the fact that last Friday, August 7, 2026, was the one-year anniversary of my first Word Steward blog post. But better a belated celebration is better than none, right?

As I mentioned in that first post, my initial attempt at blogging was about two decades ago. Brand-spankin’ new MFA in hand, I was ready to leverage all of my energy and momentum to share my words with the world on a weekly basis. I was also ready to prove to myself that I could be consistent with writing a weekly blog. Even though I was a notorious procrastinator at the time, I was full of youthful confidence, sprinkled with a dash of magical thinking.

Not long after I set out on that journey, I started juggling multiple adjunct teaching jobs at a couple of colleges, volunteering at our church, and trying to figure out how to be a wife and manage a household.

I became increasingly overwhelmed, and the weekly blog post became an every-other-week post. Which then became a monthly post. Which then became… yet another abandoned project.

I was frustrated and annoyed with myself. What was wrong with me? If I loved writing so much, why couldn’t I seem to craft one measly blog post once in a while? How could I ever hope to write a book one day, if I couldn’t even dash off a few hundred words per week?

That was all before I was diagnosed with ADHD (combined type—something I didn’t even know existed) and underwent cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and trauma therapy. That was before I understood why my brain worked the way it did and learned that my typical drill-sergeant method of dealing with my internal resistance exacerbated the problem.

Although my inner drill sergeant had enabled me to survive up to that point, therapy helped me recognize that it was time to thank Sarge for her service and inform her that I was safe now—and that I needed grace infused into my life. The grace that I received because of Jesus Christ’s sacrifice on the cross needed to be daily replenished in my mind, heart, body, and spirit, reminding me that there is no condemnation for those who are in Him (Romans 8:1).

Over the past two decades, a hard lesson I’ve repeatedly learned is that if I don’t make my writing a priority, it will continually get pushed to the back burner. Writing a weekly blog has become a way for me to invest in my own writing career, whether I’m bursting with an idea and the words fly from my fingers, or I end up posting late because my week goes off the rails or I lose track of time.

Every week over the past year, I’ve shown up for myself and my writing—and most importantly, for you, dear reader! <3 All of your support and encouragement inspires and motivates me, and I give thanks and praise to God upon every remembrance of you (Philippians 1:3).

I have no idea what the next year of blogging will bring, but I do know this: it is a joy to write, and I pray that I never take this blessing for granted.

With love in Christ,

Amanda

xoxo

Scripture taken from the New King James Version^®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.