Sometimes the difficult truth of self-acceptance is best learned from the heart of a child. She was about 6 years old with thick, brown ringlets draped across her pillow as she lay with folded hands to begin her nightly prayers. Her prayers were nothing grand. She spoke plain and simply to the God she knew very little of but trusted that He was as real as her best friend sleeping in the trundle next to her. This was her time to thank God for the largest and smallest joys of her day, and nothing was left to chance. Thank you, God, for my friend, for my grilled cheese sandwich, for my bubble bath, and for my new polka-dot socks. Thank you for mommy and daddy, my bubbies, memaw and pappy, and for all of my pets - turtles, beta fish, hamsters, rabbits, and dogs; the order never changed Continue Reading
Back-to-School Identity Series
Many of us will be sending our kids off to school in the next couple of weeks. We'll spend plenty of money, time and creativity to make sure everything is in place to set them up for a great school year. And after all the supplies have been purchased, organized, and labeled, we'll start slaying the fear dragons and calming the anxiety butterflies that come with the first day. We'll reassure them of how far they've come and where they're going. Each scribbled lunchbox reminder will encourage them to step out and believe in themselves, to make a friend, and trust that awkwardness will pass quickly. Through it all, we'll go above and beyond to make sure they know they are seen, understood, and known. Because that's what we do as parents. And we'll believe all the words we plant in Continue Reading
Who God Says You Are!
This week on Fresh Market Friday, I'm celebrating YOU! It's been a wonderful week, with 57 people joining the link-up, and I'm so happy to see the community is growing. As much as I want to inspire you in this space, it is you who inspire me each and every week. Each week, you show up here and share your stories. Little pieces of your journey through this life. You weave beautiful lessons through the lines of joy and heartbreak. With every word, your heart reaches out to make the journey of one more a little bit easier. Because no one should walk through this life alone. So today, let me simply say Thank You! Thank you for showing up here each week. For filling this space with compassion and encouragement. For stepping into each other's life and spending a few minutes Continue Reading
When Illness Threatens Our Identity : Made for Brave Sisterhood
Our identity is a fragile thing, easily pliable, manipulated and wrongly defined by the challenges and difficult circumstances of life, including illness. Learning to lean into the truth of who God says we are is a choice to step into brave. It's a choice to reclaim and protect our identity. I've invited Lois McKiernan to share her Made for Brave story and how she battles the identity lies lurking behind the very thing we have no control over - chronic illness. I'm sure you'll find encouragement and hope in her journey of brave faith. Different. Pathetic. Useless. Just a few of the labels that have been flung at me throughout my life. Labels that stuck, that wrapped themselves around my heart without me even realizing. Every single one of them a lie straight Continue Reading