A New Beginning

New beginnings can be hard things. It's scary, launching out into the unknown. Yet, we cannot stay stagnant; we have to keep moving forward. 

I've been writing some form or another of Near Your Altar for about 10 years. It started out as essays written in mass emails, then was on Blogger as Covenant of Peace. The Lord has blessed the reach and scope of Near Your Altar, launching this website that is designed to encourage people on the walk with Jesus Christ in the United States, Russia, China, Zambia, the Ukraine...people have come to know Christ and know Him more deeply through this blog. 

While Jesus Christ will continue to be the focus, Near Your Altar has reached an impasse. As life has changed, so must my blog. I am homeschooling my five year old daughter, working on two books, writing freelance and this blog. The Lord never calls us to be stagnant, but to wait on Him for direction, which I've been praying on for some time now. 

The Lord God provided that direction during the 2 to 1 Conference, held Oct. 16-18 at the Outer Banks. This conference is geared toward bloggers and homeschooling -- two of my passions. God spoke through the speakers at this conference and provided the distinct direction as answers to many prayers. 

In the coming weeks, this blog will grow from just devotional-type essays and posts to posts about sharing Jesus with special needs people (children and adults), homeschooling special needs children, our adventures in homeschooling, living a life centered in Jesus and what that looks like as a family. 

I will be featuring printables on the site -- documents you can print to help your family -- as well as companies that have outstanding products and a passion for Jesus Christ. This site will be an affiliate of these companies, which means I will receive a stipend to publicize the companies. These funds help me pay for this website. Did you know that Russia and China -- countries not known for a warm welcome to Christians -- are the second and third highest readerships of Near Your Altar? This blog is leading people to Christ and discipling them in Jesus' name -- and your monetarily help supports that. Call it mission blogging. You can help with this right now by clicking on the yellow "Donate" button on the right to send an amount of your choosing to my Paypal account. 

Please make sure you go to the Home page and sign up to receive email updates. Every subscriber will start to receive a monthly newsletter and free printable, as well as being entered into quarterly drawings for prizes. 

Finally, thank you. Thank you for reading and supporting this blog. I thank Jesus for every one of you and pray that Near Your Altar blesses each and every one of you. I pray that you will be patient with me as I redesign the site. 

Peace, 
Terrie McKee 

---