Who to Share Your Dreams With and When
I’m learning that I can’t tell everyone everything. For a long time, my habit has been to gather opinions from everyone around me when I’m making a decision or going through a difficult time and need some guidance. I remember when I started dating a guy a few weeks before Valentine’s Day. As February 14…
Read MoreHe’s Not the One Who Got Away
This phrase has been running around my head lately: He’s not the one who got away. Did you catch that “not” I slid in there? I thought about it one night when I was cooking and listening to the Civil Wars. Their song “The One that Got Away” came on and got me thinking. The song…
Read MoreWhen You Realize You’re the Pharisee
Often when I read stories in the Bible about Jesus, I consider myself one of his disciples in the story, and I consider the Pharisees my enemies. But in reading a story in Matthew recently, I realized the reverse was true. Matthew 12 begins with Jesus and the disciples walking through some cornfields on the…
Read MoreWhen Women Are Jealous
Girls being jealous of girls was the spontaneous topic of conversation for me a few times this week. And by girls, I guess I mean women because the friends I talked to were in their twenties and we weren’t speaking in past tense. Sure, when we were in middle school we huddled with our friends…
Read MoreWhat to Do When You’re On the Verge of Quitting (+ a book giveaway!)
The winners of the giveaway are…. Nicki Kennington! Erika! Diane Sanchez! Send me a message via my contact page with your mailing address, please! Thanks everyone for entering. I loved reading your comments! It’s been one of those months where I’ve wanted to quit all the things. Have you been there? Big stuff is…
Read MoreWhat’s Really Killing Your Spiritual Life?
What is the death of the church and the Christian life? I heard a pastor ask that this week, and his answer caused me to do an out-loud “hmm” – something I’m not prone to do in congregational settings, unless it’s really good. He didn’t say the death of the Christian life is not enough…
Read MoreThe Difference Between Change and Transition and Why It Matters for Your Life
I was reading a book on a plane the other day called Change Your Trajectory by Bishop Dale C. Bronner. This isn’t the type of book I expected to make me cry, but it did. As soon as I read this: “Transition is a terribly uncomfortable place for you to be in your life. You…
Read MoreA Key Question on the Path to Finding Your Niche and Your Purpose
Remember that time I promised you a three-part series on How to Become a Freelance Writer and wrote part one and then never wrote parts two and three? Yeah, well, I’m finally ready to address part two: finding your writing niche. This is ironic considering the reason I’ve been dragging my feet on this post…
Read MoreThe Truth About Writing Books and Perfection
As I mentioned last week, I recently wrote a book. A dream come true. A freaking miracle. It’s about 65,000 words in its current state. Those 65,000 words are what I submitted to my editor. Then, there is a document hidden on my computer called “CUTS.” My dad told me about the CUTS document…
Read MoreA Big Announcement…OkI’llJustTellYouRightNow! I WROTE A BOOK
{Written on February 1, 2016, the day my book was due.} I wrote a book. I have been wanting to write that sentence, or a variation of that sentence—I am writing a book! I am thinking about writing a book! I sort of just started writing a book!—for the last two and a half years,…
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