Being a Christian Woman
When 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 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 MoreEating a lot this Holiday? That’s OK.
A note: Hey guys! Because of some exciting writing things happening (which I will tell you about as soon as I can), I’m going to be re-posting some of my favorite blogs for the next few weeks until that project is done. Below is an old time fave of mine about food and the holidays.…
Read More“I didn’t know myself without social media.” – Essena O’Neill and Knowing Ourselves
I don’t often drop everything to comment on newsy topics, but when it involves body image and identity, sometimes I can’t help myself. You may have seen that Essena O’Neill, a teen social media celebrity with half a million Instagram followers, has quit social media. I didn’t know who Essena O’Neill was until yesterday, but…
Read MoreTwo Things Daughters Need to Hear from their Fathers
A few weeks ago I was assigned to write a Father’s Day article about what daughters need to hear from their fathers as teens. Immediately I remembered this one time I did a Q&A session at a youth leaders’ conference. I and another preacher’s daughter answered a few questions about what it was like to…
Read MoreFeeling Bent. Feeling Broken.
Suffering has been stronger than all other teaching, and has taught me to understand what your heart used to be. I have been bent and broken, but – I hope – into a better shape. – Charles Dickens I spent about 26 years of my life feeling pretty good about myself. I was always a…
Read MoreI'm Strong, But I'm Needy, Desperate and Fearful, Too
I have an irrational fear of being in weddings. I fainted during a ceremony a few years ago when I was a bridesmaid and ever since, the thought of being a bridesmaid brings back that blurry vision, wobbly knee feeling. It’s irrational, I know. The reason I fainted in the wedding a few years…
Read MoreA Christmas Reminder for Perfectionists
This weekend I attended The Gift of Christmas–a night of spoken-word poetry and music with Ann Voskamp, Amena Brown and Ellie Holcomb. I expected the Christmas songs and the candles and for the word “advent” to be thrown around a few times, but I didn’t expect to be so moved by it all. I like…
Read MoreWhy Men Don't Tell You You're Beautiful
I read this post by Matt Walsh a while back. It was a letter to his daughter, who is still very young, about her beauty and how he hopes that the magazine rack and social media will never convince her she isn’t beautiful. He’s knows it’s wishful thinking but it was a very well-written and…
Read MoreBeing the Type of Woman the World Needs
I’m about to tell you something you’ve heard from just about everyone in your life 100 different times. You heard it from your mom first, then your dad, then your friends and youth group leaders, then your grandmother and the preacher and your camp counselor. It comes from the Bible and is paraphrased and repeated…
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