I guess what defines me most is that I’m a wife and mother of two boys. I love my family and I love Jesus more. My work life, much like my personal life, has been a rollercoaster. There have been periods of work and periods of being at home. I’m currently in an at-home period. I love my local church and being part of the ministry there. I especially love the fact that it’s made up of mostly military families. There is no greater privilege I can think of than ministering to young, military wives.

I grew up in Tennessee and as is the expectation of all good Southerners, my family went to church every Sunday. It wasn’t until I was 30 years old, my marriage was ending and I thought that my life had reached complete hopelessness that I remembered the simple Sunday school song from childhood “Jesus Loves Me”. I cried out to God that I was weak and I needed His strength to get me out of the mess I had created for my life. I couldn’t do it on my own.

God answered that prayer and my marriage was restored. I returned to attending church on Sundays. But the difference this time was that I learned through bible study with women who reached out to me with encouragement and accountability, how to not just believe in God, but how to be a Christ follower every day of my life. Through their mentoring I found the peace and joy that we all long for in Christ. Life is not perfect, I’m still on the rollercoaster. But now my circumstances no longer consume me because my trust is not in myself and my abilities but in God and the promises of His Word.

I’ve always liked to write but never imagined it would be something I would do to encourage women much like the ladies who encouraged me so many years ago. I love to read, mostly fiction and news. I’m extremely patriotic and cry every time without fail that I hear the national anthem. I served 4 years in the United States Navy and those were some of the best and most meaningful years of my life. I love sports and will watch just about any type on TV except equestrian events which is odd to me because my favorite animal is a horse. My all-time favorite show is “24”. I like to cook and my husband says I would win the world’s most improved if there were such an award. I like to spend time at home alone or doing something with my family. I love to travel and dream of days when there will be more opportunity to do so. I love Africa and it’s people. I like cats more than dogs and I’m kind of a neat freak. I get excited about purses, new books to read and school supplies (what in the world does that say about me?). Those are the simple facts. For the more complex you’ll have to find it in my writing 🙂

My hope and prayer is that if you have stumbled upon my blog, that you will find encouragement whether everything is pretty good in your life or whether you are in the darkest place you’ve ever been or somewhere in between the two. And I pray that if you find yourself in the desperate moment of “I can’t take it anymore” you will discover that Jesus really is the only option for you.