This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

• Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
• Because it will help you focus you own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

• Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
• What topics do you think you’ll write about?
• Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
• If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.

Are you walking through a difficult time and wondering whether you will get through it or not? The answer is always yes when God is involved. The enemy may seek to tell you that you will not, but you will. In times of great difficulty, people often wonder how they will be able to continue. The pain may seem too great for them to handle or the sorrow to deep. They often asks, “Will anything good come out of this tragedy?” When God is involved, the answer is always yes!

However, it may take time, in some cases, years, before you realize that God’s providential hand is always at work in your life. When you do, you also will come to know that you were never alone, forgotten, or abandoned. At every turn, Jesus was beside you. God has not forgotten you. In fact, He acknowledges the fact that your name is written on the very palm of His hand. (Isa.49:16). With this truth in mind, why would you ever worry? If we trust God we will never know defeat. We may suffer at times, be disappointed at times, and even face discouragement, but we will never lack anything. God is faithful, and He will provide exactly what we need, when we need it.

There is only one way to face adversity, and that is by faith in Jesus Christ. Far too often, we want to see miles beyond where we are standing. The reason living life for Christ is a walk of faith is because this is what we are called to do. Trust Him for today and tomorrow and all the days that will follow. We are trained by life’s adversity to either trust God or ourselves. Either you struggle with life’s difficulties, or you turn them over to the Lord and ask Him to give you the wisdom and strength that you need to handle each one. When you commit your life to Him, He will take care of all that concerns you. That is His promise.

God is our comforter in times of trial and sorrow. He is our refuge and strength when we feel we cannot face another trying day. He is our protection when problems grow too large for us to handle, and He is our shield and deliverer. There is no reason for us to be fearful because He is with us at every moment and at every turn. He is sovereign. This means that He has full knowledge of the problem or sorrow we are facing, and He is all-powerful. Nothing is beyond His ability to heal or restore.

God is concerned over every area of your life. He never sees your problem as insignificant. He knows small issues can quickly develop into large problems. Therefore, no matter how large or small a difficulty may appear, make a habit of praying about it. Through the difficulties of life, God is training you to come to Him in times of trouble and in times of joy and gladness. He never wants you to view your time in prayer as just a place to dump your worries. He has a greater purpose in mind. God’s first desire is for us to draw near to Him in order to enjoy His presence and fellowship. He wants you to develop a desire to know Him intimately. Instead of going to God in prayer with a list of things you think you need, spend time with Him in worship. Praise Him and tell Him that you only want to live your life for Him. Rest in His presence, and you will find that He knows what you need even though it was never mentioned.

If you are not sure about the direction you are about to take, pray as Moses prayed, “If your presence does not go with me, then do not lead me up from there. Block my path, and guide me so that I will be in the center of your will” (Ex.33:15). Each day, you make hundreds of decisions. Your circumstances feel urgent. And for the believer who wants to walk in the power of the Holy Spirit, they are. Every decision is important to God. He wants to give you direction and guidance so you will not get off track or make a mistake. This prayer based on Jeremiah 29:11 is essential to gaining His strength in times of adversity: Lord, show me how to pray that I may know your will for my life and situation. Give me the ability to see my situation from Your perspective. Help me to understand that You have a future planned for me, and it is one full of hope and promise.

In Psalm 32:8, the Lord says, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way in which you should go, I will counsel you with My eye upon you.” This is a clear promise of the Lord that He will give you direction for your life. In Proverbs, He tells us, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight” (3:5-6). These verses provide specific promises telling us that God will guide and protect us.

We may not fully understand the problems we face, but God does perfectly. He knows the right words to speak to our hearts so that we are encouraged, lifted up, and sense His covering of protection falling down around us. However, we must be still enough in our spirits to hear Him when He speaks. Are you listening? Or are you still talking nonstop to Him about the circumstances of your life? In times of crisis, He wants you to be still and know that He is God (Psa. 46:10). You may feel as if your life is in a vortex of trouble, but if you ask Him to show you how to be still before Him, He will, and in the calm of His presence, you will hear Him speak words of hope and encouragement. There are three ways God speaks to us today. Through His Word, through His Holy Spirit who lives within the life of a believer, and through a trusted Christian friend of pastor. However, before you can hear his voice, you must be still enough to listen.

So often, problems that arise in our lives come as a result of our not obeying God. We may be focused only on our desires, but He coaches us to turn to another direction. Still, we ignore His voice, and we suffer the consequences of our disobedience. The nation of Israel spent forty years wandering in the wilderness as a result of not listening to God. He led the people to the very door of the promised land, but they refused to go in and claim He had given them. Through out the years that followed this moment of disobedience, God remained committed to the nation of Israel. No matter how many wrong turns they took, He was determined to teach them how to hear His voice and to do what He had given them to do, which was to enter a land of goodness and blessings. God is long-suffering. He will never give up on you. He sees all that lies behind you and knows what is all ahead. He is omniscient and committed to your success because He knows that when you succeed, you will bring honor and glory to Him.

No one can escape adversity. Either we are passing through a dark valley or we see one approaching. Life is full of trials. However, it is brimming with victory too. Just as there are consequences to sin, there are consequences to obedience. When you focus your heart on doing exactly what God wants you to do, you will experience one victory after another. Your life will be framed in peace and a deep sense of joy. You will also have hope for the future, hope for the present, and hope in all that you do. Believe, pray and know that when adversity touches your life, God is at work, and He will bring you through this season of adversity victoriously. Claim the victory, because regardless of the outcome, God has promised to work all things together for our good and His glory (Romans 8:28).

We are never alone in our heartache. God is with us. At times, it may feel as though He is not listening or watching, but He is. He understands when we feel forgotten, weary, and overwhelmed. In times of crisis, our goal should be to discover His will for our lives concerning the problem. Then we should ask him to show us how we can faithfully obey Him.

Adversity teaches us the importance of obeying God. Obedience is the foundation to every area of our christian life. Obey God, and He will guide you through the stormy times to a place of great blessing. This may or may not mean material blessing. The true blessings of God can rarely be counted because He places them within our hearts. There is no eternal value that we can assign to the eternal love of God, the overflowing goodness of His mercy and grace, and His compassion that holds us and keeps us secure whenever the winds of adversity blow hard against us. Obey God, and you will know what it means to walk in the light of His eternal love and grace.

Many times, when trouble comes, we think, I’ve got to do something. An opportunity presents itself, and we jumped at it. People sink deeper into trouble because they refuse to be still and listen for God’s word of guidance. They jump ahead of the Lord and wonder why their lives are so troubled. God’s timing is perfect. He knows when to motivate us to move forward and when to hold us back. Waiting is an active step of faith and obedience. Until He tells you to move, you can rest in His presence knowing that the Prince of Peace is at work in you life.

God uses adversity to shape and mold us so we become men and women of faith. People that reflect His love and mercy to others. Jesus knew the disciples could not minister to others until their lives have been broken by adversity. Each time the Savior allowed some hardships to come their way, He was preparing them for the future and for their ministry. When you see someone who is hurting, ask God to give you the wisdom you need to respond with compassion and understanding.

After a sudden death of his wife, a middle-aged man announced to his friends that he could not be alone. He needed a wife. Therefore, he remarried and quickly risked bypassing God’s best to meet a need in his life. Loneliness is something that comes from not being at peace with God’s presence and not being satisfied in what He has provided. Let patience complete its work in your life so that you will mature, wanting nothing other than what God in His grace and mercy freely gives to you. A sign of genuine maturity is to be patient with the Lord. God has your need within His sight, and He will meet it according to His timetable. Remember, timing is everything to God.

Never allow loneliness to drive you to do something that you will regret later. God knows the frustrations of your heart, the feeling of rejection that threatens to overwhelm you with sadness, and the burdens you bear that seek to crush every notion of hope within you. We may not have the strength to trust God, but Christ within us will give us this ability. The same strength that Paul talked about Philippians 4:13 when he wrote, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

Honestly, I don’t know what to say or where to begin. I feel like a ball of tennis that’s been smashed on a table and is being pulled apart in thousands of different directions. Some parts of me are being molded in awesome and good ways that I love, while others are pulling me in directions I don’t want to go or ways I don’t’ feel prepared for. Some just drop me off in a complete desert where I feel completely lost and ask God what to do. But in the midst of chaos, beauty is there and is arriving more and more tangibly.

To summarize, I feel that God has really been working in me in terms of revealing to me the suffering and pain of this world. So much is wrong and so messed up- definitely far from the way God intended things to be. I grew up in a sheltered, nice home and never really experienced these things til now, and the stories/circumstances are ripping my heart apart. I really think God is “breaking my heart for what breaks His” and it sucks, but at the same time is strangely awesome.

Recently, there’s been some big changes in the Youth Ministry that I’m a part of. It’s hard to deal with it and in some ways I’m not ready for it. It does kinda suck because there’s just been so much going on in the people around me and in my own life and now this whole ordeal has been added onto it. But I’ve never really felt the Lord’s presence so strong in me as I have felt this week. And because of that, there’s a strange sense of peace and trust through these uncertain times, and THAT is what I want to share about.

Paraphrasing and shaping James 1:2-4 into the context of my circumstance, this is what I feel God is telling me, “Consider it pure joy, my son, when crazy things happen to you; things you don’t want, expect, or see the good out of. Things that blow your mind, things that seem counter-productive to my ultimate plan of glory and salvation, things that just seem backwards. But know this: these trials, these testings, they are all for your benefit and for my ultimate glory. I am working in the midst of this chaos and in this storm, and I will come out glorified and praised. If you remain in Me, you will emerge from this with a stronger faith and a life that is so intimately intertwined with Me that you have nowhere else to go yet nowhere else would be as satisfying nor would it give you any true answers. I am putting you through my fiery forge so that through these difficult times, you will be molded and strengthened into the servant I desire- a man that lives and breathes my Word, a man hungry and thirsty for Me, a man that goes about with My aroma that people cannot help but notice something is different. These times, though far from easy or comfortable, are necessary so that you can become the complete man I desire You to be- My mature, faith-grounded daughter.” That’s what I feel like God’s saying to me.

And then there’s this to. Building off of John 15:4, which says, “I am the vine and you are the branches. If any man remains in me and me in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” I feel like God has just been adding to that, teaching me to remain in Him through prayer and thinking about Him constantly. He’s been helping me focus on Him more and to turn my mind thoughts from talking to myself to constantly engaging Him in conversation. He’s teaching me to rely on His strength and for my first response to be “I’ll pray about it.” He’s teaching me to lean on Him and to know that He’s got it all planned out. He’s reinforced in me that I am nothing apart from Him and I need Him to even get through this life.

And lastly,1 Corinthians 15:58. “Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” This is what God has been telling me :
Lourlin, know that I am working. I’m God and you’re a man. You can’t understand my ways nor will you ever come close to it. But look back at my promises, both in your life and in My Word. I am faithful to what I say, and I will work something out of whatever You do for me. Though you may not see the fruits of your efforts, though you may not comprehend how I can possible be doing something with a situation where you think nothing good can happen, though you don’t think other people deserve the chance, know that I am God and that your work is not for waste. Simply have faith and trust me; I’ve got it covered. Don’t feel worried, troubled, dismayed, or frustrated over what’s going on. That’s my job. You just remain in me and keep your eyes focused on me. Then you will see in My timing the things you need to see and you’ll turn around and praise me.

I love you, I treasure you, I watch over your coming and going each day. I will be here forever and as long as you let me in, I will walk with you forever.

Love, God

So there’s little to say after that. But if you want a short recap: To God be the glory. All glory, honor, and praise. This life isn’t about me or my desires, because I’m worth nothing more than the dust I tread upon. My life is about His glory and His love being spread throughout the world. So God, here I am, all of me. Whatever trials, whatever circumstances, whatever hardships are ahead of me, I’m ready for them. Or rather, I am not ready, but You are in me and You will make me ready. Like our father said, You don’t call the equipped; you equip the called. So God, equip me with whatever tools I need. I’m ready for you to work in me.