Last week, Adeline, my 20-month old baby girl, was resting against my chest. It was dark in her room and I was trying to rock her body and mind to sleep. As I watched her eyes slowly losing the fight to stay awake, I began whispering in her ear, "You are strong, sweet girl. You are brave. And you are smart. You are good. You are safe. You are loved. You are powerful…" For several minutes I just whispered in her ear what I believe is true. I do that from time to time: I look into her dark brown eyes and I tell who and what she is. The only word she likely understands is "you." Right now, I honestly think I do it more for me than for her, to remind myself that my little baby girl needs to hear, from somebody who loves her deeply, who and what she is. And she needs to hear those words over and over again.
In 2005, when I started blogging, Christian Publishers didn't have a clue how to interact with bloggers. They didn't understand blogging. Some seemed to think of it as a passing phase or a narcissistic fetish that would soon, like many online trends, cease to exist. But then they're non-Christian counterparts started taking bloggers seriously. Popular bloggers got book deals. Online influencers started helping publishers promote their new books.
