I’m tired. I have felt all out of tears many times, but this time, I knew what to do. I prayed and asked the Lord to help me navigate these waters of church, politics, community and friendships. Most importantly, I asked Him to realign those tensions with His truth. The word He gave me in response was: repair.

If you’ve followed me for any length of time, you’ve read about my marriage journey. It hasn’t been the fairytale that I imagined, by any means. It has been hard and has required daily work. However, the gratitude I have for how far we’ve come in the past three years is beyond my ability to articulate. The pride I feel when I look at James is proof that God’s grace is the real deal.

Right after the new year began, I received a text message from someone in my husband’s life. This text message stated they had “forgiven me.” They listed all the things they had forgiven me of. What?? My immediate response was to press my “block” button.

My love for black dresses began at a time when I didn't embrace my body and thought I had to conceal the extra weight I gained post-pregnancy.

When you’re in an environment, any environment, that often renders you depleted, it is your responsibility, and your’s alone, to recognize that you can’t control the environment, but you can shift the internal conversation. And sometimes that shift requires you to take a minute to breathe, recalibrate, seek professional counsel without shame or fear, reset your self-beliefs and restrategize.

We each have components of our life that we want to improve upon and I want to give you this Monday morning encouragement: love yourself exactly where you are, but make the investment in yourself in order to become who and where you want to be.

You all know how I feel about my lips- when they're naturally full, you better show the Lord you're grateful for them with a good lip color :).

Transitioning from season to season, and region to region isn't easy! But, if you find a good product, your skin won't suffer.