It's difficult to imagine in the midst of sorrow and tears that anything good can ever be waiting around the corner. When the tears run raw and hot and salty, and the sobs reach deep. It's hard to imagine a smile will ever part our lips again. But it does. When the grief twists and squeezes our heart and our breath can't find its steady rhythm between the pain. It's hard to fathom that laughter will find its place in our world again. But it does. I lost a dear friend this week. Her life wasn't nearly long enough and my heart aches at the cruelty and timing of death and how there's no easy way to say goodbye. And I wince at the shattering left behind, of the lives held together by this one. How death delivers such a blow, and the heart longs to wish it away. To sleep and awake to Continue Reading
How to Become a Curator of Good Things and Reach Your Goals
Investing the time for dreaming and visualizing our future is one of the good gifts we can give ourselves. Every year, I spend the entire month of January doing just that. Dreaming and brainstorming how I want to change and grow helps me anticipate, hope and birth more faith. Usually, it involves a vision board filled with pictures, quotes, scripture, and tangible items that draw my attention to the goals and changes I want to make. I know I won't accomplish everything on my board. I also know the things I do accomplish won't go exactly how or when I planned. That's not the point. The point is to intentionally move forward in my purpose. To grow. To change. To create space for God to work. Most importantly, for me, it's a tangible record of how I taste and see that the Lord Continue Reading
Embracing New Beginnings and Beginning Again
There’s something to be said for new beginnings and beginning again. I’ve had my share of both as I’m sure you have also. Some of new beginnings may not be exactly what we want or feel that we needs, but even this can be fuel enough to put things in motion. Likewise, when beginning again and again doesn't work, sometimes it's time to close the door and embrace a fresh, new beginning. Beginnings can be a bit scary, rejuvenating and even bittersweet. Both hold the anticipation of something better - something more. Each bubble with gentle grace, filled with moments of tender blossoming and sweet redemption. Leaving behind all we’ve come to sink comfortably within and braving our way toward a hope-filled tomorrow isn't easy. Loosening our grip on what we think we must have to make way Continue Reading
Create Your Legacy Mission Statement
Every life makes a statement. And every life has a mission. For some it's simply to survive, and for others it's to thrive. But regardless of where we all fall on the spectrum, our life speaks volumes of how we have lived from here to there. It's been almost 20 years since I wrote my legacy mission statement. I was struggling to overcome a past that was threatening to swallow me whole and steal any hope of a healthy future. I knew I wanted a different life for my children than I had but I didn't know how to get there. I knew I didn't want to be a mother who repeated the pain I bore as a child, but I couldn't fully grasp what that place looked like and what the journey would entail. I knew in 20 years I didn't want the be the same person I was then. The one thing that was clear Continue Reading