Why I Embrace Femininity and Will Raise My Daughter(s) to do the Same

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Why I Embrace Femininity and Will Raise My Daughter(s) to do the Same

See, it wasn’t until I was in my late teens to mid 20’s that I embraced femininity, before then, I fought it like the plague; as if being a woman was a bad thing!

I hated the idea that men and women were different. I wanted to believe that we were the same and could do the same things and I wanted to prove it.

This showed in the activities I was interested in as a pre-teen/teen. I would avoid any activity that related to “50’s housewife” life, such as cleaning, baking or helping my mom in the kitchen.  If the boys didn’t have to do it, then I shouldn’t have to either—this was my main argument.

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Why We Should All Embrace Femininity

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Why We Should All Embrace Femininity

Not too long ago I saw something in a woman’s Facebook group that really disturbed me. To set the stage--a professional woman in a leadership position was asking advice on things she could do to show her office she appreciated them. She then proceeded to say she was hesitant to make and bring in home-baked goods for fear of setting women back 50 years…

When I read that statement, I struggled to comprehend what she meant. Did she really think that bringing in chocolate chip cookies would degrade her authority in a professional atmosphere?


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When Words Hurt

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When Words Hurt

You were so deeply hurt you feel like throwing up. Your stomach churns those words, those feelings into a clump of pain stuck in your throat.

You seldom know what to do with that pain. You try to pray; You try to imagine the hurt Jesus carried to the cross; You try to put things in perspective by imagining how often and deeply you hurt God. But in reality you’ve been known to rip your shirts and scream into pillows.

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When Bitterness Takes Root

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When Bitterness Takes Root

My heart has become an entangled mess; fiercely fighting the reality that I’ve become bitter. The bitterness is controlling of my logic, my feelings. Who I want to be, how I want to love, my words, my reactions are not what I want them to be. If I were to take my heart out of my body; maybe I wouldn’t even recognize it?

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How a Deployment Taught me to Love my Child Deeper

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How a Deployment Taught me to Love my Child Deeper

I’d heard it before, other army spouses telling me that they were almost grateful for said deployment because it brought them closer to their children. I definitely thought they were a little nuts… at the time.

Now that my battle buddy, my son, and I are nearly done with 9 months of challenge after challenge; I can strongly attest to the fact that this deployment has not only brought me closer to my son but it has taught me to love him deeper.

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God Moments: Stories of How God is Working in the Lives of Women of Faith - Series Introduction

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God Moments: Stories of How God is Working in the Lives of Women of Faith - Series Introduction

What if we were to look at stories around us and find God’s faithfulness in midst of these stories just like we do when we open up the Word? … Looking at our fellow sisters in Christ and hearing their stories may just be the dose of perspective and inspiration we need to live the way we are called to.

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2019 - Done with Perfection

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2019 - Done with Perfection

I am DONE chasing worldly perfect. I am DONE feeling guilty when things don't go as planned. And I am DONE with trying to do all the things to keep up with other bloggers. Instead, this year I am chasing purpose and progress over perfection. We have a purpose in this life, and that's what I will be chasing.

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A New Years Plea

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A New Years Plea

…I have forsaken you. I have fallen shorter and farther away from you than I ever dreamed possible. My humanness has taken over on countless occasions. Moment by moment, I leaned into my feelings over you. I chose momentary pleasure or comfort instead of filling my cup with your goodness. The feelings that could easily be deflated by your word, ruled the roost…

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A Christmas Anthem

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A Christmas Anthem

wrapping, mailing. My schedule becomes event after event. Seldom, do I ask myself “how is this gift (or event) going to help me remember the significance of Christ’s birth?”. Rarely, do I sit and pray before wrapping a gift asking God to bless the person receiving it.

While my heart is to love people well, my thoughts and actions often become too transactional - ok, what’s next on my list? I find myself getting caught up in the action; forgetting the heart.

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A Military Members Perspective: Am I Thankful for my Service?

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A Military Members Perspective: Am I Thankful for my Service?

In my 5 years of service, I have been thanked countless times, and each time I respond with a “thank you for your support”. This last time I was thanked, something different happened... I started to wonder if I, myself, was actually thankful for my service.  Over the last few years, I have started to dream of the day I would leave the military behind and all of the sacrifices that it has required of me.


If I was so excited to leave everything behind, did that mean I was not thankful for my service? That was the question that haunted me.

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Finding Gratefulness in a Season of Hopelessness

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Finding Gratefulness in a Season of Hopelessness

It’s amazing, utterly amazing, how God can take trauma, pain, desperation and give us life. He can restore life, give life, and continue life in the darkest seasons. With the strength, mercy, and grace of our Lord and Savior, we can take one more thing.

We can handle one more awful week.

We can swallow more bad news.

We can live through another exhausting day.

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How One Question Got Me To Go To Church: Tips for Inviting Your Friends

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How One Question Got Me To Go To Church: Tips for Inviting Your Friends

For many people in the Christian community, the church has always been a part of routine, day-to-day life, but for a few individuals, that hasn't always been the case. If the church has been a part of your Sunday routine for as long as you can remember, then it's likely you've forgotten how scary it can be walking into a foreign building, risking being seen by people—truly being seen.

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Finding Joy in Our Children

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Finding Joy in Our Children

Loving our children is almost always an instinctual, easy thing to do. I’d argue that loving your children is life’s most natural form of love. Yet, through countless screaming hours and fussy seasons of my son’s life I’ve learned that while loving him was easy, finding joy in him all the time is not.

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Career & Identity: Part 2 Finding Opportunity in the Gray Zone

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Career & Identity: Part 2 Finding Opportunity in the Gray Zone

I’ve learned that I’m not the only one who’s been titleless for months or years. Maybe some of you aren’t married - maybe you’re still living at home with your parents. These things happen and it’s no secret that society often interprets those times as failures.

I’m going to call this the gray zone. Maybe due to sickness, the loss of a family or friend, mental health, career disposition, or one of the other countless reasons - you’re in the gray zone. There’s no need to set an alarm in the morning and you find yourself wandering through your day.

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Career & Identity: Part 1 “Humble Pie”

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Career & Identity: Part 1 “Humble Pie”

As you can see, I’ve slipped in and out of this major identity crisis over and over again. I found assurance and security in my career. My performance in jobs only egged my ego on. It only built up this false identity. Crossing things off a to-do list was my drug of choice (still is if I’m being totally honest).

God’s Work is Never Done.

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4 Tips For When You Don't Feel Like Loving Your Spouse

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4 Tips For When You Don't Feel Like Loving Your Spouse

Of all the attributes of love, this is by far one of the hardest ones for me.

“... [love] keeps no record of wrongs”

All too often I want to respond in an argument with a list of all the wrongdoings imposed on me, but truth of the matter is, we shouldn’t.

In the heat of the moment, when all you want to do is focus on the past and that record of hurts, pause and rise above those feelings.

Love is a choice you can make despite those feelings because our ultimate Lover, our Father God, loves all of us with all of our sin smeared all over the place. We can love because He first loved us.

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