Growth and Divine Incarnate

I’m often remembered on sight by people whom I don’t recognize. At all. It’s the wheelchair. People have an advantage over me, because I have a unique and constant look that makes me rather unforgettable.

This kind of unique, easily recognizable, and memorable look is what I’m also hoping to achieve for my “brand.” I hate using that word (and will never use it again), but I do understand the importance of marketing across a social media platform if I want to be a successful blogger and author, getting my message to as many people as I can in my little niche. To that end, I’ve been playing around with the look, title, and domain of my blog. You may or may not have noticed that the header image has been changed 20,000 times (okay, I exaggerate a little) and will probably be changed 20,000 more times (possibly not an exaggeration) before I’m satisfied. I’ve consolidated my website — authorChristinaChase.com — with my blog here so that both can be found together either by that address or the one that I’ve always used for my blog: DivineIncarnate.com. If you’ve been a subscriber and have received my new posts via email, then you may notice that these notification emails will be coming from “Christina Chase” instead of “Divine Incarnate.” The intent, style, and message of my weekly blog will not change.

I’ve also added two new pages to the top menu: an author bio written in the third person and a page of some of my videos from my YouTube channel. Some of the widgets (my fellow WordPress bloggers will understand about the widgets, oh the widgets) have been changed, removed, tweaked, or reordered. What you see now, however, will probably not last, as I continue to take any stray minutes of free time to play. It does feel like playing. Maybe that’s why I’m not quite satisfied with the look yet, because I’m not taking it seriously enough.

How serious do I need to be, however? I did something last week that still makes me feel a little ridiculous — I ordered business cards. Business cards? What am I, a plumber? A plumber is far more practical, useful, and necessary than I am as a writer. A plumber needs to get her name out there so that she can be thought of and contacted whenever the need for her service arises. It’s important for a plumber to come up with a name, look, or slogan for her plumbing business and pass out business cards so that she can be remembered and paid, and thus be able to keep a roof over her loved ones’ heads. But me? A business card? Even telling you about this order makes me feel a little embarrassed.

So why did I tell you?

I’m sharing these details, not only to answer any questions you have about changes you may notice on my blog, but also to express my experience of something very human, very universal: growth. We all grow. Even a baby that sorrowfully dies the very hour that he is born has experienced growth, the amazing exponential growth within the womb. As children grow, they sometimes experience growing pains, literal pain caused by the growth of bones within the body. And yes, sometimes growth can be awkward — as it often is in teenagers. We grow intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually as well, this experience of growth continuing throughout our lives, even though we are supposedly “grown-ups.” Some of us may be hindered or unable to grow much in these ways, while others — many more others — although capable of growth, seem unwilling or afraid. I’m afraid. I was certainly afraid to grow spiritually when I knew that the truth, who is Christ, was calling me to Him. “Do something daring,” a priest said to me like a kid in a schoolyard double-dog-daring me, a shy little girl, to talk to a boy. I was reluctant to become a Christian for some very grown-up reasons, as well as some very childish ones, yet I mustered up my courage and took the leap. The leap of faith.

Here I am, more fully human and more fully alive because of that mystical growth spurt, that difficult but divinely led transition into newness, the ever ancient newness of living as a child of God. And now I find myself experiencing another period of growth, another transition — difficult but divinely led — from blogger to published author, and I’m nervous, a little scared, and somewhat reluctant again. You might say it’s like a dog who chases after a car and becomes bewildered when he catches it. What now!? What am I supposed to do with this?!? There is a major difference however. The dog’s vocation is not to catch that car. My vocation, I have come to truly believe, is to be an author. The author of a blog, yes, but also the author of whatever God inspires me to write.

We all have a vocation, a mission that God is calling us to fulfill. We are successful in our vocations, not by worldly measures counted by numbers, but in the love with which we respond.

I hope and pray that I am responding and growing in love.

As you may or may not know, I have written a book and submitted it for publication. An update on this book will be coming next week.

© 2019 Christina Chase