You probably can't tell, but that's me in this grainy photo in the ocean at Isle of Palms on September 9, 2012. If you didn’t know the backstory, you might see this picture and imagine a sweet and tidy story of a girl about to be baptized. I used to look at people following Christ as if they had arrived at some sort of peak of goodness and were somehow worthy of now taking this step. But the place I found myself as I stood in the waves that day was definitely not a peak, but the very bottom of ...
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Be a Light
Take one look at our world right now and you will be hard pressed to miss the glaring division. Many are passionate about getting their point across. Many are just hungry for an argument. Many are ready to move on. But what we may be missing altogether is the call to take a closer look at our own hearts. By this point, you’ve most likely already formed your opinions. You are sure of where you stand and you aren't budging. But before taking one more step forward in any ...
13 Days
When I was diagnosed with breast cancer just 2 months after Adam and I got engaged, our wedding plans took an unexpected turn. A wedding date that was months away would now be here in less than 2 weeks. The story of our wedding day is one that I love to tell, a bright spot in those first few dark months of cancer. A story of undeniable faithfulness, love, and grace. In December of 2014, after dating for a year, Adam popped the question at a tree farm in North Carolina. It had rained the entire ...
Well Done
On February 2, 2020, one of the most radiant women I have ever met, Brooke Turner, entered into heaven. As I thought of Brooke meeting her Savior and being reunited with her husband in her eternal home, the words that immediately came to my mind were from Matthew 25:23, “Well done, good and faithful servant." In 2015, Brooke’s path crossed mine because of cancer. Her diagnosis came just 2 months after mine. As I was in the middle of chemo, I received a Facebook message from Brooke. She said ...
Sitting in the Tension
Disappointed. Frustrated. Unsettled. These are the feelings that have weighed heavily on me over the past six months. It’s been a season of sitting in the tension of disappointment that some things are just not how I hoped they would be. A season of feeling deeply the things that don’t feel good - frustration, fear, and hurt. So many goodbyes, changes, and hard lessons in obedience and laying things down without yet knowing what to pick up. This is the kind of tension that is created when ...
Getting Back to Normal
Do you ever just want things to go back to the way they were? Before that hard thing happened, before your world was rocked, before everything fell apart? Me too. June 25, 2015 was a day of joy and celebration, smiles and laughter, hope and relief. I beamed as I sat in that chemo chair for the very last time, surrounded by a dozen friends and family members. With a huge smile on my face, I rang that bell to signal the end of a long three months. The hardest part was over. I was one giant ...