There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens…
Ecclesiastes 3:1 NIV

Have I ever told you how I stumbled across (in)courage? I’ve been part of this community for nearly 15 years, and since today is the final article at incourage.me, it feels like a good time to share.

It all started for me in 2010, not long after (in)courage launched in 2009. My husband and I had accepted two positions at a Bible camp on the prairies of North Dakota. We felt a pull from the Lord, and away we went.

We loved our little house. We adored the dog we adopted. We enjoyed working with students and retreat guests at camp, and traveling to constituent churches for visits, and leading worship around the campfire together.

What we did not love was being incredibly lonely.

I didn’t have any friends. Going “to town” meant driving fifteen minutes to the small town of 1200, or driving the 90-minutes to the closest big city that had Target and Starbucks. My family was all at least ten hours away, for the first time in my life. And my beloved husband and I worked weeks and weekends, respectively, so even our own intentional time together was limited.

I was so, so deeply lonely.

So, I did the only thing I could do. I started a blog and a Twitter account, pouring out my heart on the internet. And it was during this time that I found (in)courage.

I started reading the daily blog posts, leaving comments and connecting with other readers in the comments. I followed them on Facebook and Twitter (the pre-Instagram days!) and engaged with the wonderful people behind those accounts. I started to feel plugged in to this beautiful, online space.

One night at camp, I walked out of our little camp house with a cup of tea. I crossed the dirt road and stepped into the office. I turned on the computer and sat in front of a glowing screen, logged in, and attended my first ever Twitter party (anyone else remember those?!) hosted by (in)courage. I sat there for an hour, laughing and tearing up, typing fast and meeting all kinds of new friends.

It felt like a home for my heart.

Soon we left the camp and settled back into the suburbs of Minnesota, and while everything else in our lives had changed, my internet friendships had only grown and deepened.

I started attending blogging conferences, and that’s where I met (in)courage and DaySpring staff members for the first time. I began volunteering – manning their table at conferences, reviewing products, and eventually stepped onto staff as a social media coordinator.

And that opened the door.

Over the last 14+ years, I have served and worked in many areas at (in)courage. Social media, leading (in)couragers community groups, marketing, hosting inRL events, overseeing email and the podcast, editing, writing so very many words in print and online, creating and curating content, using a thousand spreadsheets, filming video, working with our published titles, creating planners, maintaining websites, and more. I went from a very part-time contractor to a full-time employee. I’ve travelled more than I ever thought possible, to dozens of states and two countries, resorts and conferences, a movie set and event arenas, beachside hotels and mountainside cabins. I met coworkers who were gifts, inspiring and mentoring and leading the way, and the writers became the friends who lower you on a mat through the roof to get to Jesus.

(in)courage literally changed my life.

This virtual living room, this online beach house, this home for the hearts of women, has held us.

Whether you’re an OG beach house girlie, a fan from the “woot woot squee” era, found us from video Bible studies or the podcast or one of the dozens of books we’ve written, participated in a Summer (in) the Psalms or a book launch group, written a piece for our devotional Bible, received one of our 92 monthly email newsletters, joined or led an (in)couragers community group, attended an inRL meetup, donated to the (in)Mercy campaign, decorated your home with (in)courage products or used one of our planners, attended a Christmas movie party online, had a guest submission published, left comments on one of the thousands of blog posts we’ve published, followed us on social media, or quietly been inspired by the writers for years… you are what brings this community to life.

We know that as Ecclesiastes says, there is a time for everything, that God authors a timeline for everything based on His alone.

And so, we step into a new era of storytelling with you.

As we close the doors to (in)courage tomorrow, we fling them open wide in the new home of the DaySpring Writing Community. We’ll be there, sitting around our virtual table with full mugs of coffee and full hearts, sharing stories of God’s faithfulness in our very real lives so you can see Him more clearly in yours.

We’ll just have a new address.

I hope you’ll come along into this new chapter. And I hope you’ll join me in giving thanks for the many years of joy, connection, courage, and hope that (in)courage has brought to millions of women.

Leave your favorite (in)courage story in the comments! I can’t wait to read them.

And thank you for letting me share mine. I can’t wait to see what God does with this next season.

Friends, after more than 25 years as part of Hallmark, DaySpring is moving to Hallmark.com… and (in)courage is moving with them. You will soon find encouraging devotions published weekly at the NEW DaySpring Writing Community at Hallmark’s Ideas & Inspiration blog!

Today will be the final devotion at incourage.me. Starting tomorrow (February 24^th), you’ll find new articles every week at the DaySpring Writing Community on Hallmark’s Ideas & Inspiration blog at https://ideas.hallmark.com/dayspring-ideas/.

While the (in)courage website will close, the stories of faith will continue. The DaySpring writers will keep sharing the ways God is showing up in their real everyday lives, so you can see Him more clearly in yours.

We can’t wait for you to visit the new home of the DaySpring Writing Community at Hallmark.com, opening tomorrow at 11am CST!

Thank you for being part of this wonderful community.

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