By the numbers - Post 355

My wife Julie posted on my Facebook Timeline - "TEN more blogs!"

About this time last year I felt moved by the Holy Spirit to face a new challenge for the upcoming New Year 2013...

Write a blog every day about where you see God at work in the lives of everyday people.

It has been a tremendous honor and privilege to face this challenge head on. With "spiritual antennas" on "high" each day of 2013, it has been simply and profoundly amazing to see God at work in so many ways. I have written on 354 ways I have seen God at work. Believe me when I say, I could have written 354,000 ways I have seen God at work.

Today is Post 355...

To date here are the numbers...

Number of posts - 354
Number of bloggers - 1 (me!)
Number of page views (number of times the blog was viewed) to date - 61,485
Highest month of page views - October with 8,120
Lowest month of page views - February with 3,949
Highest viewed post - October 22nd - "She's My Daughter" - 961
Average number of page views per day - 61,485 divided by 354 = 174

As of December 21, 2013...
That's iWitness by the numbers...

My iWitness...

Quick question...

In what, who or where do you find your value and/or your worth?

We all know the "right" answer!

But what is "your" answer?

I find this to be one of the toughest confessions to share.
Too many days in 2013 I found my worth and value "by the numbers."

Every day in the year 2013 I have spent one to two hours a day writing.
Each day I have been tempted to place a value on my self worth by the number of "page views" that each blog records.
When a blog post has over 200 page views the temptation is to feel really good about myself.
When a blog post has under 100 page views the temptation is to feel not so good about myself.
On top of the number of "page views" there is the added pressure of paying attention to the number of "Likes" and/or "Comments" on my Facebook page. The higher the number of likes and/or comments the better I feel and vice versa.

I like to think of myself as faithful, strong, confident, unfettered by the opinions of the populace.
Some days I am.
Some days... not so much.

I have "TEN more blogs."

Perhaps in the next ten days I will finally learn that my value doesn't come from "page views" but rather from the One who spends 24 hours a day, every day, every month, every year for the past 50 years, 9 months and 16 days writing on the pages of my heart these simple words...

"I dare you to trust that I love you just as you are and not as you should be, because you're never going to be as you should be...I love you David!"

And that's my iWitness...
Laugh often and Fear not!
David!

For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. (Psalm 139. 13-16)