Apr 16 Happy birthday, Mystery32!

With all the travel and difficult events of last week, I neglected to celebrate a very exciting milestone for Mystery32! I figured it was worth taking a Marriage Monday to do so. On April 4th, I hit my 1 year “blogiversary”! That is, I have been blogging Marriage Monday’s since April 4th, 2011! In some ways I can’t believe it has been one year already. In others, it feels like I have been doing this for decades. I’m amazed at how God has used the blog, how He has grown it, and the plans that He seems to have for it going forward.

In case you did’t know, I wanted to give you the full story of my journey with Mystery32. It is a complete testament of how God can use His people, and I hope it will be as encouraging to you as it has been to me!

My bachelor’s degree is in psychology. I chose the degree because I knew I wanted to help people and learn more about them. I knew I wanted to pursue counseling, but more than that, I wanted to go into ministry. Specifically, marriage ministry. Marriage has been on my heart since middle school. It sounds crazy, but God made relationships my passion from early on and it was always an area I wanted to spend my life improving. After graduating from my undergraduate studies, I took a crazy pill and went on to graduate school. After what felt like an eternity, I made it to the end of my counseling program. During that time, one of my professors encouraged my class to write down what we know. He told us we should keep all of our  reports and papers, and continue writing about what we love. He said that when the time came to seek a job and those interviewing us asked what we knew about a topic, we could quickly refer to our collection of papers and writings to hand over to them. I took this to heart and always wondered what it would look like for me.

One day, while spending time with my friend and fellow blogger, Rene, I was talking about this and the personal blog that I had. I told her how I loved to blog, and how I thought I wanted to write about marriage. She was the one that suggested I start “Marriage Mondays” and that is where it all began. I wrote my first post one year ago on my previous blog, hoping that maybe a few people would read it. I thought that if I could keep it up, write what I know, and could get a few hundred views

in a year then I would call it a success.  Little did I know that God had bigger plans. After using my personal blog for a few months and receiving a few more views than I had anticipated, Matt and I realized quickly that Marriage Monday’s were going to need their own space. This is when Mystery32.com was born (You can read about the name here). I am very blessed to have a a ridiculously smart and talented husband who makes websites for a living (lucky me, huh?), so Matt threw together this website that you see here. I’ll talk about the future of the site later. We launched this site in June, and have been blessed with thousands of views ever since. I am really in shock when I think about the process. It wasn’t easy. I took a break for a month as I really faced some hard decisions in my life as well as what I believe to be some spiritual warfare concerning my efforts with this blog. There were other times I missed a week here or there and really felt like I had failed. I have celebrated some great times on this blog, like my graduation, passing of the National Counselor Exam, and our last anniversary. And I have also shared with you some of the more difficult aspects of life, like our recent miscarriage. Through it all, I have been beyond blessed with the feedback, encouragement, and prayers I have received though the entire process. And, I can only pray and hope, that God has used me to reach and bless marriages as well.

In the past year I have been blessed to be nominated as a top ten marriage blog for 2011 (didn’t make it last year… maybe this year??) and have been accepted as a member of the Christian Marriage Blogger Association. I have connected with new people through Twitter and Facebook, including some AMAZING other marriage bloggers (most are on the CMBA website!). I have also been able to write for more than just my readers on blogs like Covenant Eyes (For those click here and here) and overall, have really just learned a whole heck of a lot.

So what’s next? My small group leader asked me what my plans were for the blog a few months ago and my answer was “good question!”. But as I’ve gone forward and prayed more, I’m beginning to see a theme of God’s plans. I still don’t know His ultimate direction, but I know what He is calling me to right now…

• First, a new site. Like I said, Matt is a website designer/developer, and a talented one at that. While he had to throw this site together and use a pre-made template, we have been talking for months about what my new site will look like. His crazy busy work schedule the last few months has not helped this process get along any faster, so we cannot give a specific date, but look forward to a new improved site to come. I hope it will make your experience on my blog better and easier!
• More posts. Duh, right? But it is something I am committing to. This blog is my heart and my passion. I love praying through it all week long and seeing what God brings about through it. I’m praying about posting more than just Mondays, and have even been tossing around “Wedding Wednesdays”. I’d love your feedback on this. I don’t want to stray away from being a marriage blog, but do love weddings and the fact that they start marriages! No matter what, though, Marriage Mondays will prevail!
• More from YOU! I would love more interaction and more of your wisdom on this blog. As you saw in the post last Friday, I’m looking for guest bloggers. I want wisdom from you all on how to do marriage. Please e-mail me if you are interested: erin[at]mystery32.com! And feel free to e-mail or comment on this blog with any questions, suggestions or feedback that you may have! I’d love to hear from you!
• More readers. I know that probably sounds and comes across weird. Like a church, I don’t want to count numbers, but I do want to reach lives. I write in hopes that marriages will be changed for the better, and that includes every marriage that can fathomably be reached. I thank each and every one of you that have been reading, whether this is your first time (oh, hey!) or if you have read every post since April 4th of last year. The support, prayers, and views have been nothing short of a miracle and act of God to me and I am beyond blessed by each. If you like this site, please pass it along! I want God to work however He would in the lives that belong to each pair of eyes that looks at this page. To Him be the glory!
• Christ. We all need a little more Jesus in our lives, do we not? I can’t do this without Him, and I will continue to seek Him as I go. I’m going to mess up along the way (and already have) but as long as I seek Him more and more, I know that He will reap great things through it no matter what.

I’m excited for this new year. I’m excited for all the things God wants to say about marriage. I’m excited for all the lives He will touch and I’m excited that He has chosen me as His vessel. I’m excited for the things He has planned for my personal life as well as yours. I’m excited to see a radical change in our marriages. Our God is great, and He has great plans for us. Thank you again for reading, for supporting, and for praying. I am so thankful that you would choose to spend your time reading these words. God bless you!