They Call Me Blondie

You see, we live with this false illusion that if only our makeup was perfect we were thin or pretty enough, then we'd somehow gain acceptance in the world and life would suddenly start to make sense, come together, maintain control. (Yeh right.  Nice fairytale, huh?!) And yet when  all is said and done and "perfect enough"  there still seems to be a screaming loud hole in the depth of one's soul  that somehow doesn't fill the void; and you find yourself longing...  Longing to believe the truth when people say "they will still love you for you, no matter what size you are," meanwhile the billboards, magazine covers, movies and ads by the thousands dont lie.  At least in your mind they dont.  They all scream the "ideal" female. But what digital artists, marketing geniuses and hollywood failed to clue you in on was that every ad, billboard or magazine cover has been airbrushed and countoured to just that 'perfect look.'  It's impo...

"Women, the world needs you more than ever to embrace grace & who God’s called you to be"   -- I stumbled upon this post tonight and I couldn't agree more.  I am so thankful for the amazing women in my life who have chosen to not only model this but walk along side of me IN LIFE and also choose the same!  It's not easy.  By ANY means is it easy to follow Jesus, speak life into others, cultivate true beauty and actually love other people at all times! (People are mean, rude, selfish, and hurting and they definitely are good at showing this to others when they feel this way:( BUT I also daily see and interact with some of the most amazing people too who are CHOOSING to follow Jesus, speak LIFE into others who need it, represent and draw out beauty they've seen and stumbled upon in life and nature (helloooo instagram!)  and actually do a fairly excellent job at really loving others (seemingly well, all the time!)   I know it is definitely NOT...

So we just finished an excellent topical teaching on "greater than". . . The typical sermon that one would expect to hear on Easter Sunday didnt have a chance with what we experienced today. And Im still having a difficult time articulating it. You see, a few weeks ago, we were introduced to the idea of "greater than"  My God is greater than... and then one would finish the statement. "My God is greater than...         ...my struggling marriage"         ...my addiction to alcohol"         ...my obsession with anxiety and gossip         ...my parkinsons         ...my sister's abusive husband         ...my fear of pregnancy going bad         ...my eating disorder         ...our fight for our kids         ...our athiest and god-condeming work environment" ...a...