When I first started keeping a blog, it was the year 2000 and blog was still called weblog and only .01% of the population knew what that was. My page was white and green (some things never change), and was called Like One Angel from a song by Burlap to Cashmere. A song I still love (even though the music is cheesy as heck now...). It's about being in the mess of life together, and my life was nothing if not a mess at that point. It's ironic looking back because there has never been a time I felt more alone in my life. That page was a bit like a message in a bottle for me, sending words out into the world, not knowing if they'd ever be read or ever come back to me or if they'd sink to the depths and I would too. 

The lyrics went like this: 

You have one wing, I have another
Seeking shelter like sister and brother
Through the winter and through the summer
Like one angel we'll fly far away

Hold my hand and we'll make it all right
From this hell that we live in
Cross the road until the light
Comes inside and lives within

It's a long and lonesome ride
When your friends have all gone home
But the roses in your eyes
They pull me in so I don't feel alone

You have one wing, I have another
Seeking shelter like sister and brother
Through the winter and through the summer
Like one angel we'll fly far away

Goodness, it makes me get weepy now, reading the words again, seventeen years later, seeing what God has done in me, ways he's grown me, surrounded me with his Church, and also what a gift you have been to me, my brothers and sisters. God has become my shelter, but in many ways so has writing and so has being read. 

I've been walking with a young writer recently, meeting weekly to challenge, encourage, love, and disciple her in some ways (It's a two way street, though, she's been helping the behind-the-scenes of Sayable run!). I told her yesterday that Sayable has been, in many ways, the working out of my salvation in public view. Nothing here is ever finished or perfect or fully sanctified. It's just I with one wing, you with another, and all of us seeking shelter under the Most High through every season. That's it. This is a partnership, and I hope you know how important you are to making this partnership work. Sayable would not be what it is today without you. 

My husband and I still feel it is right and good to continue on as we have been doing, with me seeking and being offered various writing jobs, and a few speaking engagements a year. As well as continuing to have the freedom of meeting with various women throughout the week, speaking with pastors and leaders around the country about how to serve their women and singles, and caring for the needs of our busy home. Last night, when we had fifteen minutes alone, I mentioned how exhausted I was of the constant activity and he said, as he always does, "This is us being faithful with the gift of the lack. We are called to lay down our lives to be with and serve others in the absence of children of our own. So, if we're tired, it's a good tired." It was such a good reminder to me. I have been asked by God to do this work today. 

I have never asked for anything from my readers in seventeen years of writing, but beginning today I wanted to ask, from you, my partners in this flight, if you read Sayable regularly, are encouraged by anything I've said, or simply want to support the continuation of this work and these thoughts, would you consider becoming a patron of Sayable and her overflow? It's easy, quick, and would bless the socks off the Wilbert family as this—and all it entails—is my full-time work.

Thank you for reading, period. Thank you doubly for giving, but thank you period for reading. It means the world to me. I am who I am because God, in his grace, has used you. I read Romans 1:8-12 this morning and thought of all of you: 

First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world. For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I mention you always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God's will I may now at last succeed in coming to you. For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you—that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine.

I love that. You have encouraged me and I hope I have encouraged you. 

Become a patron by clicking on the button below.