Hey, friends! Welcome to my little corner of the internet. It’s hard for me to believe where this writing thing started versus where it is now. My mom passed away in August 2012 from brain cancer, and this originally started as a space for me to write about what God taught me from that trial. My life has changed greatly since then. When this started, I was still pretty newly married, had no children, and Jack was a youth pastor. Now, we’ve been married for almost 12 years, have 3 kids, and Jack is a senior pastor. The Lord has grown me so much, all for his glory. Whether it’s here on my blog, on Instagram/Facebook, or guest-writing in other spaces, here are the main topics I’ll share (and why!):
Bible literacy. I love God’s Word because I’ve experienced for myself what a deep and rich treasure it is. My journey in being a student of the Word started with Mom’s brain cancer. My life was turned upside down, and by God’s grace, I turned to His Word. Slowly but surely, I began studying God’s Word for itself, and it’s forever changed my life. I’m passionate about Christians needing to be students of God’s *actual* Word. I also believe the lack of knowing God’s Word is one of the biggest problems in Christian culture today.
Adoption. Jack and I always knew we wanted to adopt. We began our process in July 2018, and brought our daughter home from India almost exactly 4 years later. My heart for adoption has grown the longer we’ve experienced it. Adoption is both beautiful and hard, so I try my best to share about it in the right way, while honoring our daughter, our family, her birth culture, and her birth family.
Love for the local church. I was raised by parents who prioritized the local church in our family. I firmly believe that’s one of the main reasons why I am who I am today. The local church wasn’t just something we did if convenient in our family, but it was a central part of our lives. Now as a parent, I see how important it is to prioritize it with our family. The local church is beautiful, and I’m learning so much of its beauty isn’t what the world would call beautiful or Instagram-worthy. I long for all to realize the true beauty of the local church and what a joy it is to be engaged in one.
Pastor’s wife life. I became a pastor’s wife the second I said, “I do.” We served in student ministry for 11 years, and transitioned to another church where my husband is a senior pastor a little over a year ago. There are definitely unique challenges with being a pastor’s wife, but there’s also immense joy. Truly, there’s no other way I’d rather spend my life than serving our local church alongside my husband.
Grief. I’ve learned much about grief since my mom passed away in 2012. It’s a journey that changes with each season of my life, and I’ve seen the Lord’s faithfulness every step. My heart is to share my story in hopes that it comforts others in their grief and also helps us as we come alongside one another in grief.
Ministry to women. Several years ago, I slowly but surely started working on an M.A. in Ministry to Women at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. I’m still not fully sure what my plan is with it, except that I want to take what I’ve learned to serve the women in my local church well, and also serve well in this online space. I believe our world needs strong women, women strong in sound doctrine and God’s Word.
Gospel-centered parenting. From my own life and in my experience with student ministry, I’ve seen the importance of parents disciplining their children. Truly, I can’t overstate this enough- as parents, we must be the primary disciplers of our kids. I’m not a perfect parent, but I hope to encourage others to keep Jesus at the center of their homes. My heart for our family is that spiritual conversations are the norm.
Let me make this abundantly clear: I’m not perfect nor do I have it all together. What gets written by me is the result of what God is doing in my life. It’s important that I do life with my in-real-life people and post with the right motives, so by the time something winds up online, it’s most likely been written for awhile, talked about with friends/family, and prayed over. I’m still very much a work in progress, and by the grace of God, he keeps working on me. Any good I say or do is all Jesus. I’ll end with this, “Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!” Psalm 115:1.
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