Uncompromised

  Clothed With Strength and Dignity "She is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs without fear of the future." Proverbs 31:25 I've been receiving private messages and emails from several ladies this week, and it's been striking how many of us landed in the same place. Afraid of the future. Not having a plan. Not seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Or just not being satisfied with where they are right now. Different situations, different stories, but the same weight underneath. Marriage. Ministry. Family. People we love. Things we can't fix. Things we wish we could change. Things we don't understand. And, of course, the future. That word can carry a lot of weight, can't it? Sometimes we look ahead with excitement, and other times, if we're honest, we look ahead with a knot in our stomach. What if this happens? What if things don't work out? What if something changes? What if I can't handle what comes next? What if the thin...

WHEN For the Mother's Day that belongs to every one of us Somewhere along the way, we got so afraid of hurting someone on Mother's Day that we forgot to actually celebrate it. And friend, I think it's time we fix that. I get it. I really do. The intentions are good. Nobody wants to be the one who makes a grieving woman cry in the third row. Nobody wants to ignore the woman in the back who has been waiting years for a positive pregnancy test. The sensitivity comes from a real place, and that part is beautiful. But somewhere between being careful and being kind, we started quietly apologizing for something God never apologized for. And friend, I'm not writing this from a safe distance. I lost a baby. I walked through a season where I quietly made peace with the idea that maybe motherhood wasn't in my future anymore. And then God, in His wildly unexpected way, sent me a boy I hadn't planned for but had somehow always prayed for. I lost my mom, my greatest exam...

The Quiet Ache in the Crowd It’s been a while since we caught up, my last post was back on March 17! A lot has happened since then, as I spent the last few weeks in Brazil visiting family, wandering through vibrant markets, and soaking in the incredible specialty coffee and cafe culture of São Paulo. I'm still a big city girl in the heart, and I confess it was refreshing! I have so many beautiful stories and pictures to share from the trip, but we'll save the travel journal and the local cafe finds for a separate post soon. Getting back to the quiet reality of our everyday lives, though: we have never had more ways to reach across the globe, yet we have never felt so far away from the person sitting across the table. I was sitting in my favorite booth at a local cafe the other day, nursing a warm matcha latte, watching the room fill up with people. It’s a familiar scene, everyone together, yet remarkably alone. So many times, a person is surrounded by a crowd and still feels co...