raising a blessing

We’ve been on a “Cherished & Challenged” roll for two years, so why stop now, right? I love you, ladies, from the bottom of my heart. And I love your heart and passion for Jesus. It’s truly beautiful and so awe inspiring. But, (yes, there’s a but in today’s post…) some of you girls be throwing stones like you’re a modern-day David waging war against Goliath. You see or hear something that you don’t agree with and your righteous anger roars. You are practically begging God to call you into battle. Bless Goliath’s heart, you got this. You’re ready to tell this person exactly what needs to be done and…

Honest question that I’ve been asking myself lately: Do I allow God to make me uncomfortable? Let’s REAL TALK here and unpack this for a minute (or so). 🤣 What if… Some of the things we’ve always “known” to be true (or untrue) were actually just by-products (fruit) of an automatic response to (rejection of) anything that makes us feel unsafe or uncomfortable? What if these automatic (often subconscious) response patterns are actually creating false narratives in our minds and hearts that are holding us back from jumping all-in with a God that seeks to invite us into His MORE, today? Let’s break this down – So often, what we’ve…

I had a powerful dream a few weeks back. It was so beautiful that I felt it on my heart to share here, but hesitated for a reason that I don’t truly know. It has sat on my computer, written, but not published, for weeks now as I have fully marinated in the message and cried in revisiting the dream many times over. This dream was, and is, very special to me. I believe wholeheartedly that it was part divine visit, part prophetic message, and part God kiss for the treasuring. And even though I know I cannot fully comprehend the whole of its parts right now, what I DO…

I say this with nothing but love, as a girl that has been there: Beautiful friend, you don’t realize the true weight of unforgiveness until you heal from it; until you let it go. If you battle with unforgiveness, please read to the end. It’s a long one, but a powerful revelation. God can heal what we are powerless to heal ourselves. God can pour peace into your pain and you can be set free. It’s not what we can do, but what He can do within us when we partner with Him in the journey. There was a season in my life, not too long ago, that I didn’t…

The Bible tells us over and over again that when the Holy Spirit corrects and/or redirects our choices, actions, words, or steps, it’s evidence of God’s immense love for us.* However, although we know this to be true in our hearts, that sometimes does not keep our heads from jumping to other conclusions and creating false narratives that can, in fact, stunt the very growth that God is offering in that moment. The truth is, some of us (me, included!) fall into old habits rather easily when we come face-to-face with God’s redirection. We can trip over ourselves, overthink the situation to death, crawl back inside our shells, fall headfirst…

Find Me. When you revisit the painful memories of seasons in the past, find Me. When you sit in a space of reflection and there’s still an ache, a sorrow, in the healing, find Me. When you still struggle at times, wrestling with the rise and fall of forgiveness, grace, love, hope, and peace, find Me. I’m always there. And I always will be. … Over the summer, I sat right here at this beautiful waterfall. The pictures would make it seem magical, an incredible destination and adventure. But for me, it was a place that brought back more memories than I cared to revisit. But you see, that’s not…

Here are some questions that I’d like to take a moment to reflect upon with you today, friends – What keeps us from believing that we are truly hearing His voice? What filter have we placed between His voice and our hearts and how can we remove it so that we FULLY experience the flow of His outpouring? Exploring these questions is such an important part of the journey, but sometimes, it can be quite challenging to unwrap the answers. I’d like to propose some possible scenarios that we can work through below, but I also want to encourage your heart to explore this question more deeply over the next…

Dear Friends, this blog post is part of our NEW! Challenged & (Always) Cherished series! I hope you enjoy it and I pray that it speaks to you and blesses you immensely! If you’d like to learn more about our Challenged & (Always) Cherished series, see the video at the end of this post. … I am not Catholic, but my family recently participated in the local Good Friday Pilgrimage (and LOVED it!). I wanted to take a few moments and jot down my thoughts and share with you where God has been growing me. And if you hang with me until the end of this post, I truly believe…

“But hope means that we must trust and wait for what is still unseen. For why would we need to hope for something we already have? So because our hope is set on what is yet to be seen, we patiently keep waiting for its fulfillment.” Romans 8:24-25 TPT I feel like I have to giggle just a bit at this title. The truth is that when I picture a waiting room, I envision myself in a sterile and cold doctor’s office with a big note in huge, bold letters placed on the door listing out all of the do’s and don’ts of waiting room etiquette. I imagine a stern…

Just write. Sometimes those are the words that I have to begin with. So here it goes… The other day I felt led to respond to a Facebook group discussion about whether or not “beliefs” belong in a medical setting. The author of the discussion was simply asking for recommendations for a Christian therapist for her child, but the post had taken another turn, as they so often do. A woman representing herself as a medical provider responded to this mother’s request with the following: “Religion does not make a practitioner more competent… I’m a medical provider and it would make me very uncomfortable to discuss my beliefs with a…

Shame thrives in the dark corners. It isolates. It tells us that we do not belong at the table, that we are not worthy. Shame tells us that if we allow people to get too close, they will see who we really are; that all of our flaws, our mistakes, our deep and painful “ugly” will be exposed and in that moment… when we are seen for the person that we truly are… rejection will inevitably follow. Pain will inevitably follow. More shame piled upon shame. Shame warns us to stay hidden. Stay behind the veil. Stay behind the wall. Stay alone. And my friend, if you feel these words…

Yesterday on our Facebook page, I invited you to share a piece of your story with us and tell us what God’s been doing in your life lately. Today, I wanted to share a small piece of mine in hopes that it will bring your heart some encouragement if you’re sitting in the wait… You see, after traveling through a very difficult season, God began to gently press on my heart to share my story. And as you’ll gather from this excerpt, I was immediately filled with reluctance and doubt. But following through on His nudge, His gentle press, has blessed me more than I could have ever imagined. He…

Picture it… Talking about Jesus in the mayonnaise aisle at the grocery store as others come and go around you… If we’re being honest, what feelings does it stir up in your heart? Discomfort? Anxiety? Fear? Not too long ago, I would find myself awkwardly uncomfortable – to the point of shutting down – if any conversation, public or private, ventured into the topics of God, Jesus, or the Bible, but especially in group or public settings. I could give you a whole list of reasons why, but it primarily came down to two (well one, really): Fear and Insecurity.  I feared either total rejection (even by strangers) or that…

“Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes with the morning.” (Psalm 30:5 NLT) But God, what if it doesn’t? What if the morning comes and I’m still curled up in the fetal position, overwhelmed with depression, anxiety, and confusion? What if I’m angry… so angry… because it’s all just so unfair. It’s unfair, God. I’ve done everything I know to do and these unrelenting waves are beating the life out of me! One after another after another. I come up for air and just as I think maybe there’s a reprieve in this storm, I’m thrown under the water again, gasping for my next breath and struggling to…

Friends, if I may be a little vulnerable with you today… 2020 was a year that brought me to my knees, quite literally. It was hard… so very hard. There were times that I wasn’t sure how to breathe, much less how to put one foot in front of the other. And by the start of 2021, I had only one prayer on my lips; one resolution that I could even wholeheartedly commit to chasing. Simply put, More Jesus. Over the course of the year that followed, I dedicated myself to speaking life into His promises, over and over, even when I could not see a way through the emotional…

Friends, if you need a little reminder about how much you are loved and how valuable and irreplaceable you are in His eyes, I encourage you to read through these eight truths and allow them to deeply take root in your heart today! Make these declarations over your life and allow them to bring you hope, encouragement, and strength. Blessings, friends! He is with us. 1. I am deeply loved by a Heavenly Father that knows me by name. He delights in me today, right now, in this very moment, just as I am. Even in the moments when I fall short or fail, He picks me up, dusts me…

Sometimes I work out a message from God in my writing. I wanted to invite you to join me today… The answer seemed obvious…faith, of course. If you have faith, especially through the storms, you’ll be rewarded, right?! That’s what I reasoned out when God challenged me with that question earlier this week. But, as soon as the answer settled into my thoughts, something about it just didn’t sit right. I’d like to set the scene for you on how this conversation with my Heavenly Father began. A while back, I wrote the following: Ever feel like your circumstances do not look like His promises? Like your storm is swirling,…

God has been teaching me something really BIG lately and the message has such life-changing power flowing through it that I just find myself wanting to shout it from the rooftops… My friends, we cannot truly minister to each other’s hearts from behind the veil of perfection. Our hearts are tender right now, easily recoiled back into our safe space when we feel that we don’t line up with what the world has told us we should be. We are resisting hiding, but the truth is that on the inside, we are feeling a slight tremble. “I’m strong, but please don’t test my strength. Please don’t see my vulnerabilities or…

Some stories are just too good to not share. This was one of those stories. During a recent visit to the grocery store, our son asked if I would buy him a pack of bathtub markers. I tried my best to redirect his attention to the wide selection of bubble bath options, but he just absolutely had his heart set on these markers. So, I consented. When we brought them home, he couldn’t wait to eat his dinner and jump right into the bath! For the next hour, he excitedly called us into the bathroom over and over to show off his newest masterpiece. Evidently they were a good find…

I know the feeling all too well. My body was warm, but my soul felt cold. It had been so long since I had heard God’s voice that I began to question if it was all just a manifestation of my needs and desires. And if God was real, had He decided that I was simply not enough, underqualified, a failure, and a disappointment? Either way, it was Easter Sunday, but I was still in the cold, dark tomb. I was still dead. And this day was just another reminder that Jesus didn’t love me anymore. I had failed Him. But hold on… as you read those words, you heard…

Life is full of humbling moments, but the most painful ones usually involve a gross exposure of our cracks, flaws and imperfections to the world.  Society, as a whole, tells us that the most important thing during these times is to immediately shift into damage control. The message is clear, “hide your imperfections and cover up the pain with lies.” Wear a smile.  Act like nothing is wrong.  Act like you’re winning.  Don’t let them see your vulnerability.  Don’t let them see you crack.  If they see it, it gives them power over you. We are so busy trying to control the damage and save face that we have forgotten…

Everyone I know is hurting right now.  The world has changed so much in the last few weeks and we are all trying to navigate through this new norm together.  The future holds so many uncertainties and, in so many ways, we have no control over tomorrow.   It’s unfamiliar, stressful, exhausting, and scary. During such a difficult time, it’s especially important to be mindful of the seeds that we choose to plant and water in our heart. Don’t let the enemy use this difficult season as an opportunity.  I am reminded of one of my most painful regrets (and biggest lessons) during our infertility journey a few years back:  To give…

I was having a casual conversation with my dad the other day and somehow the topic of God’s peace came up. Not the every day peace that we feel when we follow Him, but those moments when God steps in and gives us peace that is beyond human understanding. The first time that I experienced this kind of peace was in college. I had a rough first year in college. I was a very quiet and reserved small-town girl seeking acceptance in all of the wrong places and those crowds can quickly leave you feeling empty and rejected, not to mention spiritually dirty. I was lost and I felt very…