Deployment Diaries Part 3: Coming Home Reintegration From a Service Members Perspective

Deployment Diaries Part 3: Coming Home Reintegration From a Service Members Perspective

For someone who has her masters in Military Resilience, you would think reintegration would be a breeze, right? I studied all about the effects of deployment, and what redeployment would be like. I knew it wouldn’t be easy.

I expected to get irritated with my spouse, but even with all of the expectations, I wasn’t prepared. Not really anyway.

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Deployment Diaries Part 2: There Are Good Days, and Then There Are Bad Days

Deployment Diaries Part 2: There Are Good Days, and Then There Are Bad Days

… Then, there are bad days.

These are the days when you wake up feeling "off."  You can't help the feeling, a bad omen that today is not going to go well. You wake up exhausted as if you had a restless night with little REM. Your body aches like you've slept on a hardwood floor with a flat pillow between your head and arm.

Your soul struggles to understand the emotions that flow through your veins.

Today will be a bad day.

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Deployment Diaries Part 1: Our Children are on Loan From God

Deployment Diaries Part 1: Our Children are on Loan From God

Very seldom do you hear or see mommas leaving their cubs behind to go “fight a war” (using this term loosely).  Yet, here I was.

Whether a military mom, a missionary, an author on tour, a singer, executive, etc., many women are called to leave their babies in someone else’s care as they follow His plan, fighting back all the guilt and pain associated with leaving a part of you behind.  

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Top 4 Lessons in 4 Years of Marriage

Top 4 Lessons in 4 Years of Marriage

Let me start this out by saying I am no expert in marriage. Trust me. 4 years does not make anyone an expert. But you don't have to be married 20+ years to have learned a few lessons here and there. Truth be told, you should be learning something new every day!

As David and I celebrated 4 years of marriage (and by celebrated, I mean really we are unpacking our household goods), I wanted to share the top 4 lessons I learned in the last 4 years. 

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God Moments - Cynthia Cline's Story

God Moments - Cynthia Cline's Story

For the past 10 years, I have seen God transform my world beyond what I would have ever imagined possible. I have seen His work from as far back as I can remember. I have seen Him in the heartbreaks and pain that served a purpose that, initially, wasn't so clear. Reflecting back on those 10 years, I have seen Him in the everyday moments of my life. These moments I classify as "God Moments"; moments in which God was an ever-present being even when I didn't know it at the time. 

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Be the Kind of Woman who Wants to see Other Women Flourish

Be the Kind of Woman who Wants to see Other Women Flourish

Regardless of your beliefs on a woman’s role in society, I urge you to take a second and consider my words. Instead of judging your sister for her perceived effect on the feminist cause, can you instead focus on uplifting her and encouraging her to follow God’s prompting for her life?  

All too often, we allow the fear of being judged to remove what it means to be the woman we were created to be. Girly-girl or tomboy, baker or grill master, whatever the preference, it's a personal choice that should not be influenced by the society around us. Don’t let fear or culture steal that choice from you.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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?

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

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

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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