Journey of Faith

Let me tell you right now; I am one of those  people who loves New Years. I get it. All of you cynical people out there would shun me for my optimistic aspirations and yearly planning. But I don't give you a hard time for playing your Christmas music while it's still flip flop weather, so let me have my moment. There's something about the space for pausing, reflecting, and looking ahead that I absolutely love. Maybe it's just the shift to something different which appeals so strongly. 2018 has been a year for the books, to say the least. Our year started out wonderfully, with the husband and I coming into 2018 as new members of a wonderful church family after months of being out of community. We bought our first (and hopefully last) home in the month of February, which was so exciting, but for those of you in Northeast Ohio, I don't recommend moving in the dead of winter. We celebrated our first anniversary and rejoiced over how absolutely fun our marriage has b...

I've been trying to formulate my thoughts into coherent paragraphs for almost a month now. Lately, life has just been so heavy. I've lost a family member, faced the declining health of loved ones, watched friends battle horrible situations, and dealt with deceit from people I care for. All I want to do is come up for air and stop diving deeper into the mess of life. The betrayal I faced this past month was almost enough to do me in. I started planning through what I was going to say to this person I used to call family next time I saw them. My thoughts were swirling as I cried and contemplated how our relationship was never going to be the same. I had played the part of the fool and was feeling particularly justified in the walls I would be putting up and avenues through which I would distance myself. Then through a serious of events, God pulled me back to reality and back to Himself. I don't get to wash my hands of people and leave them high and dry, just because they ...

Growing up, the churches I was involved in participated in communion on a monthly or quarterly basis. I think the thought behind this was not to create a tradition in which we lost the special meaning of communion. And I appreciate the heart behind wanting everything we do as Christians to have a meaning and purpose.  Recently, my husband and I became members of a new church and I soon realized communion is done every week. At first, I was worried about the possibilities of this becoming just another ritual to check off my list on Sunday mornings. I thought surely I would soon no longer recognize the depth of this beautiful picture of Jesus sacrificing His body and shedding His blood so I could have freedom in Him.  Friends, I could not have been more wrong. In fact, I don’t think I appreciated communion enough before. You see, I am not a perfect person. Mom, if you’re reading this, I know you’re shocked, but it’s true. I screw up sometimes, a lot of times, and occasio...

As some of you may know, I just did a social media-less month. It wasn't a super thought-out and analyzed decision. However, I found myself in an unhealthy place and knew I needed to do something about it. Maybe you can relate to where I was. Maybe not. I was spending a ton of unnecessary time scrolling through feeds and agonizing over what to post. I couldn't go somewhere without trying to find the perfect place and perfect angle for the perfect post. It's honestly ridiculous thinking about it. My life is interesting to me, regardless of whether or not social media validates that. And to be honest, I found myself with an unneeded level of anxiety and opted for a month away to alleviate it. So a couple of observations. This wasn't particularly a more spiritual time in my life than others. I still found ways to kill time (Netflix. Duh). I downloaded a dumb game on my phone and threw away some time playing it. I don't find myself a much holier version because ...

Today, my husband and I celebrated one whole year of marriage. Without an ounce of irony, we were married on April 1, 2017. But for real. Yes, everyone I spoke with had to make sure we were aware it was April Fool's Day. Just in case I didn't know. Anyways, I wanted to take a moment and share some observations I have on marriage. This has truly been the most fun year of my life. My husband is a gem AND he can cook. I hit the jackpot and I know it. So many people talk about how difficult the first year of marriage is, but if you ask me, dating is way worse. I love going to bed at 9:30 on a Friday night after eating apple crisp for dinner and watching 2 hours of Netflix. There is no shame in my game. Don't get me wrong. It's not all sunshine and roses. Marriage has shown me just how completely bonkers I really am. One time, I picked up every single item my wonderful husband left laying around the house and placed it all perfectly lined up on his side of the bed. Every...

If you don't live under a rock, you know that a lot of chaos has been happening in our world lately. School shootings, neighborhood shootings, political nonsense, you name it. And as things normally go when mass atrocities take place, people have flocked to social media. As a quick side note, I have an equal hatred/guilt for social media debates on hot topics. I believe they accomplish absolutely nothing. People's emotions are heightened and there is a propensity to believe you can say whatever you want over the internet. I also have guilt, because it is so difficult  for me to stay out of these debates. Anyways, I could go on and on about my hatred for starting fights on Facebook that solve nothing and how I believe Christians need to stay the heck out of judgmental social media, but I'll hop off my soap box. Because as tragedy ensues and tough conversations need to be had, I've realized how truly blessed I am. I'm in a group text. I know, "blessed" a...

I hate  making mistakes. Okay, obviously no one likes making them, but I have a special hatred for screwing up. I will lay up at night reliving a comment I made years ago that made someone uncomfortable, as if there is anything I can do about it now. It's pointless, but for whatever reason, my brain can't seem to Let. It. Go. Lately, I have noticed I seem to be extremely anxious for reasons I can't quite pinpoint. I've prayed about it, I've tried to switch my thoughts, but no matter what, my stress level is still at a Britney Spears in 2007 (Google it). It's come to a point where I will be sitting on the couch, completely freaked out trying to figure out what I'm freaked out about. Over the past few weeks, my Bible study has been going through the book of Galatians. In this book, Paul speaks over and over again about the freedoms we have in Christ and how we no longer need to be enslaved to "the law." Suddenly, it all came full circle. Instead ...

A few months ago, I shared how I felt like I was stranded on a desert island. My life felt so dry, as if the joy had been vacuumed out. I acknowledged that the reason for this was placing my hope in people and then being devastated when they continually let me down. It was at that point when I realized I had to reset my priorities and get back to seeking after Jesus as my source of hope and joy. During this season, I learned a few things about God and myself. I learned that God doesn’t work through strong fist and heightened weaponry. God didn’t just pull me off my desert island and overflow my life overnight. However, slowly but surely, He changed my heart and the blessings came after that. We found a church community to join. He gave me a new excitement for His Word that I haven’t experienced in a long time. In showing me His great generosity, He has changed my perspective from seeing my possessions as things that must be guarded carefully to living life with a more open han...