You’ve probably already guessed from today’s title that this isn’t going to be my usual weekly article. It’s one of those “this-is-how-my-life-is-going-and-I-hope-it-encourages-you” posts.

First, let me lay out a bit of background information for you. While I’m sure there are many writers typing away in their fabulously decorated studies or upscale coffee shops, I am not one of them. Perhaps one day my life will look like that, but today is not that day. 🙂

My writing desk is the kitchen table in my little daycare (Sweet Peas Daycare, to be exact), and I tap out these lines amidst high chairs, sippy cups and bibs.

While my ten little Sweet Peas sleep in the afternoons, I write.

And if my ten little Sweet Peas don’t sleep….well, you know.

Last week one of those weeks. A couple of my kiddos had colds, and when I put them down for naps, they coughed. And coughed. And coughed.

Every day last week went something like this:

They’re all tucked in and the dishes are done. I can write! 

Cough. Cough. Cough. 

Okay, prop them up on a higher pillow. Back to the kitchen. Type a line. 

Cough. Cough. Cough. 

Administer cough medicine. Tuck the blankets back in. Give one more cuddle. Back in the kitchen again. Type a….

Cough. Cough. Cough. 

It’s been a fun time, let me tell you.

I’ve discovered when there are many interruptions—roadblocks, if you will—the result is writer’s block. I’m getting better at writing in short snippets (very, very short snippets!) but it’s still difficult.

Oh, and the socks? I’m glad you asked….

I’ve never had a week when so many children have lost their socks!

HOW can so many socks end up missing in one little daycare? We haven’t been able to go outside for days, so I’ve got no earthly idea where all the socks are going. Perhaps we will find them one day, stuffed into a crevice or cranny somewhere. But until then, the local dollar store is making a killing on children’s socks.

Back to the writer’s block. There was no easy solution. I just kept plodding on.

Sometimes I wrote a paragraph at a time. And when I couldn’t write a paragraph, I wrote a sentence.

And when I couldn’t do that, I wrote a few words.

At the end of the week, I realized something rather amazing. I had written five devotionals, designed the graphics to go along with them, written my weekly email devotional, and mostly kept my sanity. (If you don’t count all the lost socks.)

Sometimes the only way to get past the roadblocks and the setbacks is to just keep going, one small step at a time.  

My friend, I don’t know what kind of roadblocks you are facing today. Perhaps you are a young mom trying to squeeze in a little bit of time with God into your busy day. But the more you try, the more your little people clamor for your attention.

Or maybe you’re a mom working an outside job while trying to take care of your family. Your roadblock may be the fact that your laundry pile rivals Mount Everest.

Perhaps you’ve hit a roadblock at work, in a ministry, or in a personal area of your life.

May I encourage you to just keep going? If you can’t take a series of steps toward your goal, just take one.

You’ll be surprised at how those little steps add up, and one day you’ll look back and see how far you’ve come—and how much you’ve accomplished.

My life verse is Isaiah 40:31, and it encourages me when I’m feeling a bit weary with the roadblocks of life. “But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” 

Sometimes we fly, sometimes we run, sometimes we walk.

But always, God gives strength.

May God bless you today, my friend. (And may you find all your missing socks! 🙂 )