Last week, I started something I have wanted to start for what seems like forever.
I never knew what I really wanted it to look like, how to brand it, what to name it…
The same excuses I used to not start writing for Mr. & Mrs. With a K again, were hindering me from starting this online community.
I want to share with you all my heart for The b. Dare. To let you in on where it came from and hope that in some way this encourages you to pursue a long awaited passion of your own.
About 4 years ago, I began writing for a good friends blog.
Many of you followed, and have continued following, that journey. From writing articles geared towards young married girls, to what is now an online magazine empowering Christian woman through whatever season they may be in, that journey sparked the writers flame in me.
After having Ben, in 2014, I was a hot mess and struggling much more than what I led onto. Looking back, I can tell you with confidence, I was dealing with postpartum depression, the insecurities of being a new mom, and learning how to care for and bond with our high needs baby internally. While maintaining a home, marriage, and not losing sight of my own identity, were their own set of struggles happening all around me.
We had moved miles away from everything we had known, Jakob was putting in long days at work, and I spent a lot of time alone. My thoughts were scattered, my heart was hurting and I felt as though I had lost sight of who God created me to be. I would question Him, His purpose for my life, and what the heck I was doing, constantly.
Through it all, God spoke the words “be still” over my heart. I knew I needed to pause encouraging other girls, and figure my own life out for a bit.
Even so, I found myself having a strong desire to continue writing. It had become an outlet that helped me remember who I was as an individual.
I wanted to allow people into our homes, through an online community, being transparent in our struggles and our accomplishments.
That was when I started “Mr. & Mrs. With a K”.
Now I have to back track a little, so don’t get mad or too confused…
I graduated from Cottonwood Leadership College in 2013. For our final assignment, we were to write and preach a sermon. My sermon was on the words God speaks over our lives through scripture. After I finished my sermon, I knew it affected me more than anyone else in the room. I knew that God was doing something in me, through the words I spoke to the students sitting in front of me.
And that is when the symbol “b.” was put on my heart. I was not sure what it was to look like, but I knew I needed to do something about it.
My level of confidence in it was subpar, and because I was already writing for a blog, I did not want to take away from that. I decided to start an “anonymous” Instagram page called “b words”. I knew nothing of branding, or creating a social media community, but I wanted to do something so bad with that, so I did. I had a decent following for a week or two, but with my lack of self-discipline, mixed with some “I have no idea what I really want this to look like”, I just stopped doing it altogether.
Alright, so now we are back to “present” times, and if you are still reading this, God bless you, I promise it is almost over 
Mr. & Mrs. With a K had a way bigger following than I ever anticipated.
I was thrilled that so many people liked “joining us” in our home and seemed to be encouraged by our transparent articles. And then boom, it happened again; I got discouraged and distracted and hit the pause button on that.
(You can read more on that on the article “Dealing with Disappointments”)
Within the past month, God has spoken “be intentional” over my life.
This “b.” kept tapping on my shoulder as if to say, “so what are you going to do about it?”
So… I did something about it. Not in a scatter brained, “what about this” kind of way, but in an intentional, this is what this is meant to look like and be, or b., if you catch my drift.
I sat down and prayed a similar prayer to that over many areas of our lives;
“God, if you want this to happen, I am here and ready to be used. You make it happen how you would see it done”.
And the ideas started flowing. My excitement started growing for this online community that had not even existed yet. I saw it, as if it was there all along, just waiting to be let out.
The b. Dare may encourage others to be the best versions of themselves, but in reality, it is my way of pushing myself to be the person I want to be remembered for.
The most important person to keep accountable, is yourself.
So, now that I may, or may not have bored you for several minutes, please check out The b. Dare.
The Instagram page is @thebdare while the Facebook page is The b. Dare and also @thebdare.
My heart is for people to share how they were encouraged, to encourage others, and to really see the power our words have over our lives.
I want this to be a community of people who all share our lives with each other, in hopes that we all can encourage one another.
So with that, check out the pages, and please participate by using the hashtag #thebdare to share how the word of the day encouraged you 
The b. Dare 