Kris Mares

I was talking with someone a few weeks ago about this blog.  At one point in the conversation he asked me “Why do you write the blog?”  It’s a good question and one I haven’t really put much thought into.  I suppose before I started this endeavor, I should’ve put more thought into it.  It’s been a year now that I’ve written – or not as was the case over the summer.  So I wonder, why do I write this blog?

There is something, for me at least, about putting my thoughts, struggles and successes on “paper.”  I am admittedly a word nerd and when I see something in print, it becomes somehow more solid, more real.  Somehow the words on the page make more sense than the sounds in the air.  So when I write, I feel like I make more sense and that my struggles and joys are no longer prisoners in my heart.  They have been released to receive healing and give glory to God.

I’m also learning that I have to be more open and authentic about my heart.  I am an opinionated, sometimes bossy woman.  As I told some friends Monday, if you hear me get on my many soap boxes, sometimes I just sound like a dog barking.  What most people don’t see is the heart that is breaking behind the barking.  If I allow people to get to know my heart, they then begin to understand the reasons behind the words.  I never, NEVER want people to think that I am somehow above them or better than them.  I realize, however, that when I don’t allow my heart to be known, that I can be perceived as those things that I don’t want to be seen as.  I suppose this blog is one way I am allowing people to get to know my heart. 

This blog is also a way for me to tell my stories to those who care to hear them.  There is an old hymn, “Tell me the Stories of Jesus.”  Jesus is working so beautifully in my life and I want to tell those stories.  It may not always seem that there is a direct link to God’s Grace, but for me, these posts work together like disjointed chapters in a book.  Chapters that don’t always seem to make sense on their own, but when looked at as a whole, there is a beautiful story of God’s mercy, grace, provision and love.

Finally, I belive that one of the talents that God has given me is writing.  You may disagree, but too many others have affirmed me for me to ignore this talent.  Deep down, I’ve always felt like I was supposed to write something someday that others would read.  I don’t know what that will be, when it will be, or how it will happen.  I just know that it will.  I suppose this blog is practice.  We are supposed to use our gifts for the glory of God and that is what I’m trying to do here. 

So, that’s why I blog I guess.  I don’t know where this will go, who really reads it, nor where it will take me.  I read other “famous bloggers” who just happened upon blogging and God used it and has given them an incredible platform to share their faith and provide for their family.  Only God knows what He has in store for “Call me Kris…”  Please help me pray that I always hear His direction for this site and my life.