I've written three series for my blog. Below are the links so that you can read them in full.
My first series is entitled: A Journey to Understand Grace:
I became a Christian at 7 years old. I still clearly remember the day I was baptized, one day before my 8th birthday. I remember my Dad sitting me down later and showing me my first one year Bible and telling me to read it everyday, and ever since that day I have done pretty much that.
When you are 8 years old you are also first learning mathematics, mostly as rote. 2+2=4, 3+3=6. You memorize it and you can spit out the answer. My journey to understand grace started out pretty much the same way. What is grace? Unmerited Favor. What does that mean? God loves me even though I don't deserve it. Rote. I can spit out the answer in 3 seconds or less, but it didn't really mean anything to my heart.
Fast forward 11 years. I began going to a church called Mad City Church. My pastor, Shane Holden, a rebel saved by grace preached with a "one string guitar of Grace" as he liked to call it. This string he plucked week after week truly did sing something to my heart. God loves me even in my weakness, for real! It took off years of guilt and never thinking I did enough to please God, years of thinking that He was always mad at me. It opened wide the door to freedom in Christ.
However, a chasm still remained in my understanding of grace. In my youth, I could tell you what grace was but I didn't live in it. In my 20's I could live out of grace and feel its transforming effects in my life, but I couldn't explain it. In my years as a Christian, I have seen two extremes in regards to grace. Extreme 1: Grace is a dangerous thing, it gives people a license to sin and therefore we should be quiet about it. This extreme is a complete reaction to the second extreme that states grace is a license, I can do whatever I want and sin does not matter any more because I am free by the grace of God. This extreme wears their sin proudly like a badge of honor on their chest. They are providing an opportunity for God to pour on a little more grace... Click here to continue reading...
My second series is a personal reflection on my marriage and the journey my husband and I traveled to having it redeemed. The series is entitled: Draw Me a Map that Leads Me Back to You:
This series will be about marriage. I've been married to my wonderful husband for almost 11 years now and we are a beautiful place in our marriage. However, we had about a two year season that was very tough, difficult and long. As I've been in conversation with other women about their marriages, I've realized that some of the negative thought patterns that led my marriage off-track also exist in their marriages. I want to share pieces of my story because I know that the thought patterns and lies I believed almost destroyed the beauty of my marriage and I know that it is worth fighting for what is right and true. I'm praying that pieces of my story will provide hope and inspiration one may need to keep fighting for beauty and deep love in your own marriage.
The first seven years of our marriage were beautiful and exciting. I realized that I had married the perfect man. We enjoyed being able to experience the full measures of our love and it brought two precious children into the world. Then real life began to set in: sleepless nights, work, stress, anger and religion. Click here to continue reading...
My third series is entitled 13 Inspirational Thoughts for 2013: It takes 13 verses from Romans 9-14 and expands on them further: what is the Gospel, what is Salvation, how does God feel about us, how does that effect our everyday life, how should we walk it out with the people we live with, the people we meet walking down the street, our fellow believers, what does practical love look like? Click here to continue reading...
These series should give you an idea of who I am personally and a glimpse at my writing style. You can sign up to receive my posts on the sidebar of my blog or via Facebook. Thank you for taking time to read.
In Christ,
My first series is entitled: A Journey to Understand Grace:
I became a Christian at 7 years old. I still clearly remember the day I was baptized, one day before my 8th birthday. I remember my Dad sitting me down later and showing me my first one year Bible and telling me to read it everyday, and ever since that day I have done pretty much that.
When you are 8 years old you are also first learning mathematics, mostly as rote. 2+2=4, 3+3=6. You memorize it and you can spit out the answer. My journey to understand grace started out pretty much the same way. What is grace? Unmerited Favor. What does that mean? God loves me even though I don't deserve it. Rote. I can spit out the answer in 3 seconds or less, but it didn't really mean anything to my heart.
Fast forward 11 years. I began going to a church called Mad City Church. My pastor, Shane Holden, a rebel saved by grace preached with a "one string guitar of Grace" as he liked to call it. This string he plucked week after week truly did sing something to my heart. God loves me even in my weakness, for real! It took off years of guilt and never thinking I did enough to please God, years of thinking that He was always mad at me. It opened wide the door to freedom in Christ.
However, a chasm still remained in my understanding of grace. In my youth, I could tell you what grace was but I didn't live in it. In my 20's I could live out of grace and feel its transforming effects in my life, but I couldn't explain it. In my years as a Christian, I have seen two extremes in regards to grace. Extreme 1: Grace is a dangerous thing, it gives people a license to sin and therefore we should be quiet about it. This extreme is a complete reaction to the second extreme that states grace is a license, I can do whatever I want and sin does not matter any more because I am free by the grace of God. This extreme wears their sin proudly like a badge of honor on their chest. They are providing an opportunity for God to pour on a little more grace... Click here to continue reading...
My second series is a personal reflection on my marriage and the journey my husband and I traveled to having it redeemed. The series is entitled: Draw Me a Map that Leads Me Back to You:
This series will be about marriage. I've been married to my wonderful husband for almost 11 years now and we are a beautiful place in our marriage. However, we had about a two year season that was very tough, difficult and long. As I've been in conversation with other women about their marriages, I've realized that some of the negative thought patterns that led my marriage off-track also exist in their marriages. I want to share pieces of my story because I know that the thought patterns and lies I believed almost destroyed the beauty of my marriage and I know that it is worth fighting for what is right and true. I'm praying that pieces of my story will provide hope and inspiration one may need to keep fighting for beauty and deep love in your own marriage.
I married the perfect man, found out he wasn't perfect, and then that he was:
My husband and I are high school sweethearts (actually 8th grade sweethearts). We dated for 8 years before we got married. As you can imagine, we were thrilled to finally get married and let the fun times begin! Since we started dating so young we were only 22 when we got married. All throughout our relationship we always heard, "You will never make it." "People change when they get older." "This is young love; it will never last." While I understand the intentions of these statements and I understand the rarity of a relationships like ours, those words ended up planting seeds of doubt in my heart that eventually started to sprout.The first seven years of our marriage were beautiful and exciting. I realized that I had married the perfect man. We enjoyed being able to experience the full measures of our love and it brought two precious children into the world. Then real life began to set in: sleepless nights, work, stress, anger and religion. Click here to continue reading...
My third series is entitled 13 Inspirational Thoughts for 2013: It takes 13 verses from Romans 9-14 and expands on them further: what is the Gospel, what is Salvation, how does God feel about us, how does that effect our everyday life, how should we walk it out with the people we live with, the people we meet walking down the street, our fellow believers, what does practical love look like? Click here to continue reading...
These series should give you an idea of who I am personally and a glimpse at my writing style. You can sign up to receive my posts on the sidebar of my blog or via Facebook. Thank you for taking time to read.
In Christ,
