I had the best blessing this morning to speak at my high school’s FCA. I’m thankful for the opportunity to speak wisdom back into the students who are literally sitting where I sat. It was such an honor and privilege! Thank you Annie Skoneki and FCA Sponsor, Coach Jessica Owens for having me. ————————————————————————————— I never really felt good enough in middle school or high school. I had three things that really pressed on me for who I was “supposed to be”.. I felt pressu

Girls will be girls or Girls will be like Christ? I was recently at an outreach youth event that started out in a large room. I watched groups form. Mostly I watched forming crowds of pushing and shoving as girls competed for the attention of the group. Chaos. Girls running from group to group, laughing, cutting up, having fun, dancing and being girls. While all this fun was going on, I also watched one girl who stood on the outside of the crowd. Following her friends, but th

I hear it serval times a week. Most students talk about what they watch, what they listen to openly and without conviction or guilt. When I ask about Netflix they get giddy, they get excited, they can’t wait to tell me what they watch, the whole storyline, and it always begins or ends with “It’s bad but it’s so good.” When I think about students spending all their time on Netflix and I think about the shows on Netflix, it makes me cringe. There aren’t many good shows on Netfl

IT IS YOU. Nobody is obsessed with me. I don’t get hundreds of likes and comments. I don’t have millions of followers. I don’t have flawless pictures. My life isn’t perfect and I don’t portray it to be. But you do. Most of the time, social media makes me feel worse. On any given day, I can see engagement pictures, photography shoots, food placed just right, just the right filter and just the right light, beautiful people and beautiful places. Social Media never makes me feel

Last night I saw ‘Miracles From Heaven.’ I won’t tell you too much because I want you to go see it. But a lot of the movie is about the mom questioning her faith, wondering if there was a loving God, how could her child be suffering so much? I can relate to her. When times get tough, I don’t automatically praise God, I don’t always take joy in my suffering, I don’t right away drop to my knees to pray continuously. That is almost hardly ever my first response. My flesh takes o

Decisions. Decisions are hard. Chocolate or vanilla. Steak or Chicken. Jesus or the world. PaPaw or Honduras. Sometimes you can have both and that makes decisions a little easier. You can have a swirl ice cream, steak and chicken together, tea and lemonade together, strawberries and blueberries. Many things you can compromise to make it all work out. But today, I can’t be with my granddad and go to Honduras.  Today I had to make the decision to stay home from Honduras. If you

Nobody wants to hear that word. It was like I was listening to someone else’s story, looking into someone else’s life. Almost two weeks ago, the doctor told my granddad the fluid from his lungs had cancer cells and it had more than likely come from metastasizing from somewhere else. Thursday, we were told it was stage 4 lung cancer and not much could be done. When I was 10, my dad told me he had lung cancer sitting on my grandparents’ bed, where I now lay next to my granddad

I feel most compelled to write when I am hurting. And most the time I talk myself out of posting because of it. But maybe I’m most compelled because most of the world is hurting too. Last week my beautiful Kimmy took her last breath and I have had the hardest time breathing since. With Jesus He turns our tests into testimonies, our messes into messages and He uses our pain for His Gain! We can rest knowing with Christ we will always come out victorious! But what happens when 

a close friend is getting married soon. her wedding is in louisiana and i was ready to leave the day she got engaged. her “save the date” came with hotel suggestions and directions. the anticipation of all the fun continued welling up inside. i just could not wait. as i planned and planned in my head, the realization came to mind- it’s father’s day weekend and something not of excitement began inside. _ I don’t know it was. I don’t know what’s wrong. But this huge hesitation

When you look up “Fatherless Girls” on Pinterest, google, any website you mostly get mad girls, women whose dads left them. You see pictures and stories that say “Dad, I made it without you.” “A Letter To The Father That Doesn’t Know How Awesome I Am.” Things about forgiveness, ways to look past the fear of losing someone else. Statistics of all the girls living without dads who grow up to give into sexual temptations because of their loss, or abuse, neglect or just simply th

I haven’t said much about the way Brittany Maynard chose to end her life and I won’t. But this article (http://www.al.com/news/anniston-gadsden/index.ssf/2014/11/hope_in_hopelessness_gadsden_w.html) sparked something in me and I will say this- As a daughter, I watched my dad battle cancer for six hard months. We had good days and we had bad days. Some days he was so sick we didn’t talk much but some days he was at my softball games and basketball games. He took us to church a

I’ve shared before about my certain celebrity obsessions. There are some actresses I just can’t get over sometimes. I find myself wishing I could act more like them (when reality they are acting like someone else, too), wishing I could look more like them or talk more like them. I even from time to time find myself wondering what it’d be like to have the luxury of having everything you need and want whenever you want! I’ve learned the difference between those kind of feelings

Last night, I was at a Kari Jobe concert. Kari Jobe is a worship leader! WOW! It was a night of worship! It was amazing! As I stood in the church that grew my faith immensely my freshman year of college, I found myself looking around a whole stinkin’ lot and then it hit me. What would this world be like if we looked at everyone as the story God has given them? Everyone has a story. We know it. We’ve heard it. But it doesn’t really change anything. It hasn’t for me, at least.

April 4, 2005 my dad was taken to the hospital. I was leaving to go to my next door neighbors for the night and he wouldn’t wake up so I could tell him bye. I don’t remember being scared. Today, it scares me so bad just to think about it. As I was getting ready to go to sleep, I heard an ambulance. I peaked out the window when my next door neighbor yelled “SHUT THAT! It’s time for bed.” I had no clue it was for my dad. It didn’t even cross my mind. God protected me from so mu

Most Christians for every retreat, mission trip, Disciple Now they go on they experience what is commonly referred to as a “Spiritual High.” You feel good; you and Jesus could conquer the world. You’ve been away from the drama, the nastiness of the world, your every day responsibilities and you have been surrounded by people who are all seeking after the same thing- Christ. Along with the “Spiritual High,” you often hear people refer to “reality.” Often times, coming home fro

Over Christmas break I began putting my things back together for Auburn and I’ve been doing that ever since. I love Auburn. My friends are in Auburn, my college ministry is in Auburn, shopping is better in Auburn, eating is better in Auburn. Everything is better in Auburn. I live on my own in Auburn, I live with my friends in Auburn. BUT my girls aren’t in Auburn, my Children’s Ministry is not in Auburn, so many people who bless my life immensely and who are the reasons I wak