Branding

Can I just be really honest here right off the bat?  I don’t want to write a blog.  I’ve actually debated the idea for years and decided it’s really not for me.  It makes me nervous just being on Instagram.  Heck, most of the time, I wish I wasn’t even on Facebook.  I don’t like online communication because I get irritated with people spouting off opinions and judgments they would never say to people face to face. I don’t like the inhumanity that surfaces when we are face to screen.

And most of all, I don’t want to give people the opportunity to judge me.  Or judge my brand. 

Okay, hold up.  What the heck does that even mean?  I am not Walmart and you certainly aren’t going to get a Great Value here.  So, the word brand when describing a person just sounds gross. 

Also, we rate brands.  We give them stars.  Or don’t.  We tell whether or not the brand did what we expected it to do for us.  If we like it, we may tell others.  But if we hated it, we most definitely tell the world.  Facebook must know if it didn’t meet our expectations.  So why on God’s green earth would I want to open myself up to that.  Why would I want to risk having a following of trolls?

Well, you see, I did something exceptionally stupid that is already going to expose me to all of that anyway.  I wrote a book.  So, ready or not, Chronic Blessings is going to be released and to top it off, it isn’t a neat and tidy book about something distant and sterile like how to keep your closets organized in five easy steps.  It’s about my personal struggles with chronic illness, how I’ve dealt with it and how God has used it to change me. 

So, I’ve been encouraged by many powers that be—who know what they are talking about—to start a blog.  “It really helps people to find your book.  This is an important step as you become a public figure.”

Public figure?  Who said anything about becoming a public figure?  Can I just insert a bunch of grimacing and barfing emoticons and be done with it?  I mean, all I did was write a book.  I didn’t become the next Cindy Crawford.  (Yeah, totally dating myself.  I’m sure there has been another super model since Cindy, but I wouldn’t recognize her if she stood right next to me. Besides, the way things are going she is probably half Cindy’s size so she’d be hard to see anyway.)

I know what you’re thinking.  If Cristy doesn’t like publicity then why did she write a book?  That is a ridiculously long story so I’ll give you the super short version. 

God made me do it.

That isn’t a cop out like when you ask your daughter why she painted the dining room wall with ketchup and she says her brother made her do it.  I’m totally, 100% serious about this.  I didn’t want to do it, but I do want to honor God.  I trust He has a plan in this and He will work everything out.  I realize that doesn’t mean there won’t be very difficult aspects, such as people who don’t like me or my “brand”.  (Dry heave.)  There will likely be trolls who cause discouragement and I do not look forward to all of that.  I mean, it seriously terrifies me.

However, I consider it all worth it if I can bring honor to God.  After all, He gave up absolutely everything for me.  A life of perfection in heaven, His very breath, He became human—one with the fallen.  He suffered agony I can not begin to understand. 

I know if I focus on that, the trolls will fall into their rightful place.

What “trolls” are crying out to you today?  Telling you that you are doing things wrong, you aren’t good enough, pretty enough, thin enough, productive enough? 

Focus on the cross.  The cross tells you your value.  Not the mirror.  Not the scale.  Not your children’s grades, the size of your paycheck or how many items you can cross off your to-do list. 

The cross alone tells you your worth.

And the cross alone will silence the trolls.