No One Told Me

Marriage isn't easy for anyone. You're taking two people who maybe knew about 70% of each other, committing them for life + telling them – go figure out the other 30% as you go. I'll be the first to say – 5% of the 30% you don't know is discovered when you clean the bathroom for the first time after moving in together. Too much? That feels like maybe too much. But, like always, I went and found someone far ahead of me to help me navigate the really tough parts that we won't always see coming. From communication, to new rhythms, to navigating conflict and of course the complete reset that happens once kids enter the mix. Marriage is hard – but it doesn't have to stay hard. Push play to hear from a couple whose marriage shaped me just by proximity, and now through this conversation. The post What's Hard About Marriage + What To Do About It appeared first on .

Why does this sometimes feel controversial? I want to raise my daughter in a world where these two words – women + leadership – doesn't cause awe…but is the norm. I want her ceiling to be set only by her own personal, healthy boundaries. I want women & leadership to be less about fighting her way to the top and more about confidently walking into rooms based on her God-given gifting, talent and specific call on her life. I hope there are people leading her workplaces that set aside assumed narratives and instead take the time to know her and position her to grow. If this is what I want for her…I want to be a part of building it. Women like Kadi Cole, today's podcast guest, are paving the way by walking into companies, organizations and churches with simple insights and strategies on how to create space for women to grow consistently. Today's episode, Kadi talks about gender differences in leadership styles/approaches, the role of emotions in decision making, finding your leadership voice and tons more. This is a conversation always worth having. The post Women & Leadership appeared first on .

Honestly, there's not catchy title here. Just the cold hard facts that I'm reminded of almost daily. My mom always said your kids have a way of making a liar out of you...and she's right. I was the perfect parent before I had kids and now I'm trying to calculate if the protein in the ice cream I promised them for cleaning up counts toward their daily intake. Here's what I know - this is one area of life you *have to* find people ahead of you. Kristin Geren is one of those people for me. I love her kids and want to know literally everything she did to make them so great. So, I handed her a mic and asked all the things I need to know because parenting takes an overly populated village/metropolis. Push play to add us to your village - we all need each other. The post Parenting Is Hard appeared first on .

The current generation is the first to have their everyday influenced by people who are paid to...influence. The generation stepping into the workforce has a new category to consider and, yeah, I'm buying the gua sha because someone on TikTok told me it would give me a sharper jawline. But in this world of influencers - how often are we paying attention to what's going in and how it impacts what's going out? How often are we considering our own personal influence? Are we hiding behind the excuse that because we don't carry a certain number of follows, likes, shares that our influence isn't real and growing? And, most importantly, how are we wielding the influence? Because whether or not you agree - you carry influence. (I honestly can't believe how many times I just used the word influence.) Push play and share with your people who want to influence our world intentionally and actively instead of passively. The post What Do You Do With Your Influence? appeared first on .

Women today are a part of a pivotal generation. I mean, no pressure or anything. But we're seeing - and participating - in a generation pushing up against the tension of career and family without choosing one or the other. Both...we can have both. This is a generation of women choosing to dream and change course - even if it doesn't always makes sense. A generation of women raising women to know and believe that the opinions of others shouldn't always dictate her personal choices. This conversation with author, Kimberly Stuart, brought so much validation and let's be honest - empowerment - to the art of juggling career progression and motherhood. Her significant insights into pursuing professional dreams alongside personal commitments - chef's kiss. Kimberly takes a word that usually gives me hives - "patience" - and reconstructs it to be an asset rather than a punishment in pivotal seasons of life. We talk about dealing with other people's opinions, the need to nurture passions and the importance of engaging your whole family in your dreams and pursuits. And I'm also outed for my complete lack of understanding of general geographical information. It is what it is. The post Restarts, Dreams Deferred & A Generation of Women Raising A Generation of Women Who Dream appeared first on .

New year, new you. Meh. If you like the vibe of fresh starts, resets new opportunities - but struggle to adjust mentally, emotionally and physically to what all that newness seems to require...go ahead and push play. Whether it's a new major, new job, new relationship, new role (that "mom" title will sendddd you) - whatever shifts usually comes with what the 90's called an identity-crisis. A whole "who am I and what the heck am I doing" mentality. The good news: It's normal. The bad news: It's real uncomfortable. My friend Taylor, who's navigated a lot of change in the past decade, grabs the mic to share what worked - and didn't - in these twists you don't always see coming. The post When New Circumstances Seem to Require a New You appeared first on .

I won't lie - I was on one when this was recorded. You can probably tell by the - forcefulness - of the reading...but I've had so many conversations lately with women who are riding a merry-go-round of the same sights and wondering why nothing changes. If you feel restless, there's actually one fairly common reason why. We'll talk about it in today's episode, along with how to get off the merry-go-round of approval and the practical things I do to make sure I'm functioning fully (or, like, mostly) in the gifting I'm most confident in. In conclusion, I'm not yelling at you in this episode. Just, more so, strongly advising with an elevated voice. The post The Reason You Might Be Restless and Tips for What To Do About It appeared first on .

We've all been there. Seriously, all of us. We find something that stirs us up, makes us want to run in a specific direction - but then we start pumping the brakes as we think about what someone else might say/think/do in response to our decisions. Or maybe someone makes a comment in passing that shakes every ounce of confidence we worked so hard to build. One of NOTM's favorite guests, Kaley Hollingsworth, is back again to kick off a new season and a new year with a conversation about endurance, obedience in spite of doubt and navigating fear in the face of forward motion. This is for the ones who have an idea, dream or stirring toward doing something new or outside of your norm & the ones who need to know to keep going right where they are...even if it feels mundane. The post What Shouldn't (And Should) Hold You Back + Learning To Live Comfortably In Your Calling/Gifting appeared first on .

Okay, wait. If you haven't listened to last week's episode, you're going to be real confused so just scroll up a bit and push play on that before you push play here. Otherwise, we're diving right back in to the conversation around where your confidence is and what happens when you start putting your confidence and identity anywhere but where it belongs. (Spoiler: Burn out. That's what happens.) We're continuing our conversation with Somer Phoebus, co-founder of She Works His Way, and you're really lucky because you'll even get to hear a part we meant to edit out, but it will live forever in episode 179. We're all just doing our best out here, guys. The post Red Flags of Burnout, Insecurity & Listening to Opinions that Matter (Part Two) appeared first on .

This right here...this is a conversation I wish I'd had sooner. Building confidence in any area of life is hard, but what if it was less about confidence in one area and more about being a confident person? Because if all we are is tied up in what we can or cannot do - our confidence is built on some pretty rickety foundations. Today's episode with my friend Somer Phoebus, co-founder of She Works His Way, covers questions like: -What skills or mindsets do you wish you could go back and learn sooner? -How do you know to pump the brakes and when to push for more? -When do you keep at something and when do you know it's time to let it go? And this is JUST PART ONE! This conversation was so good that we talked for over an hour and we all know ya'll aren't going to catch allllll the good stuff if you have to listen that long. So push play on part one and look forward to part two next week! The post Putting Your Confidence in the Right Place + Knowing When To Run Hard & When To Slow Down (Part One) appeared first on .

Call it imposter syndrome, call it an identity crisis or just call it plain ol doubt - regardless of the name it carries, second-guessing yourself isn't just a you thing. If we were all a little more honest with ourselves and with each other we'd realize it's an us thing. In the last episode, we talked about why we hit burn out, what's happening to most women in the workplace and what adjustments we have to make personally and lots of other things I wish I'd learned sooner. This is a continuation of the conversation with my friend, Michelle Myers, from She Works His Way. I spent years trying to find someone ahead of me who was working a lot, leaning into ministry opportunities all while raising a family. Honestly, I wish I had met Michelle so much sooner and you'll feel the same after you listen to this episode. The post Being Sure Of Where You're At And Letting Go Of Where You're Not appeared first on .

Every now and then we like to do episodes around the conversations we find ourselves having the most often. While on a few afternoon walks or over a McAlister's chicken salad sandwich, I'm hearing a lot of the same questions: How do I separate my work life and my personal life? What does it look like to work really hard, but still able to come home and do other things outside of work? How do I grow into leadership positions without coming across entitled? I don't like what I'm doing right now, I'd rather be doing (fill in the blank). Should I quit? There have been a lot of questions about leadership, healthy relationships at work and really how to be someone others want to work with. Most of what we'll talk about as we answer these questions are things I wish I'd learned sooner, things I really only learned by looking back and evaluating what should've been different before I hit the bottom of my tank. The post Avoiding Burnout & Being Someone Others Want To Work With appeared first on .

First time moms and multi-time moms, we need each other. NOTM favorite, Whitney, jumps in to share her own insights into arguably the biggest 'no one told me' season some women ever experience. With fresh baby waiting for her at home, Whit talks about what she wishes more women knew about motherhood and why changing her sheets has become a non-negotiable. (Those two things aren't actually related.) The post The Shift Into Motherhood appeared first on .

Long title, right? And that barely covers everything talked about in this episode with Amanda Held Opelt. She's one of my favorite guests ever on NOTM because of her genuine honesty and authenticity as she figures it all out right along with us. What should we be more worried about than figuring out what to do with our lives? Why is learning to steward where we are more important than uncovering where we're going? Why do we believe that being bored or frustrated means we're getting life wrong? Is it okay to sometimes be restless even though you have a good life? What are the red flags that pride is making more of your decisions than humility? See? I'm telling you - we cover all the bases and then the outfield, too. Okay, so maybe a sports analogy isn't exactly on brand around here, but you get it. Listen and then share it with all your friends. They need it, too. The post Rethinking “Calling”, Stewarding Right Now Well & Why It's Okay To Be Frustrated appeared first on .

When you find yourself in the uncomfortable, unexpected and *maybe* unwanted seasons of life - there's one thing we can all agree on: Bangs are not the answer. Here's the thing, you will undoubtedly land yourself in moments you wish would pass a little faster. And moments you wish would slow down. So, how do you navigate the rollercoaster? My friend, Kaley, has been on this coaster with me since my early 20's. We've figured out how to make decisions when none of the options seemed great, how to keep moving forward when you don't know what forward looks like and how to avoid trying to control all the small things when the big things start getting out of hand. If you've ever wanted to push fast forward on where you're at - just go ahead and push play. The post Before You Think Bangs Will Fix Your Problems – Listen To This appeared first on .

There are few seasons of life filled with more "no one told me" moment than motherhood. This podcast launched from a living room tirade against the hospitals that let people who know nothing about babies take a baby home (i.e. hospitals *fairly* send babies home with their first-time parents). Three kids deep and I'm still trying to navigate all being a mom requires - so I brought in a mom with 40+ years experience under her belt to look back and harness her own hindsight on behalf of all the mothers coming after her. My mom, who I lovingly call Carol Barrel, sits down and shares the top things she wish she'd learn sooner when she moved into the mother-hood. The post Motherhood Explained (Kind Of) appeared first on .

Two things we're usually terrible at: transitions & incredibly high expectations. We spend so much time imagining the other side of a transition - the new role, new relationship, new job, new addition to the family...we forget the toll of what it takes to get there. Expectations hold more power than we think, and most times all it takes is a transition to show us that truth. I find myself in the heart of transition, within multiple areas of my life, and what makes or breaks each day is how I navigate what I expect versus what I experience. The post Transitions and Expectations appeared first on .

In our final installment of the mini series, Good To Know, Sam and Katelyn take on what drives much of our fears: Failure. But there's freedom in knowing no failure is ever final. There's always more to your story. The post Failure Is Not Final appeared first on .

What if we viewed fear as an invitation into faith? What if we decided to keep walking in spite of our fear? What if we spent less time imagining scenarios that will probably never be and more time claiming the promises of rooted in all God has already done? What if we stopped asking, "What if..."? These are choices. And we're choosing to claim that fear will not be our future. Sam and Katelyn continue their NOTM take over with an important conversation full of Truths that are good to know - Fear Is Not My Future. The post Good to Know: Fear Is Not My Future appeared first on .

You know what complicates? Feelings. Whether it's deciding which job to take, which relationships are healthy or if your heart wants Chick-fil-a or Moe's for dinner - it feels almost impossible to separate the onslaught of emotion from the final decision made. So how do we train our hearts and thoughts to recognize feelings without letting them dictate our everyday? While our host, Callie, is still on baby leave, our friends Sam and Katelyn step in with NOTM mini series, Good To Know, focusing today on what we all need to know: Feelings Are Not Facts. The post Good To Know: Feelings Are Not Facts appeared first on .

Sam and Katelyn are putting a different spin on things around here over the next few weeks. They're going to take a look back on the past few years of their lives and share insights in their mini-series, Good To Know. What was actually really useful to be aware of what advice needed to go straight in the garbage? That kind of insight really would be Good to Know. The post Good To Know: Faith Is My Foundation appeared first on .

We have to identify and fight our hesitation to do anything until we understand everything. That's not a life of faith. We don't have to see the full picture to be confident in our next step. I can't wait for you to hear more from Katie Davis Majors as she shares her story of faithful steps on a path she couldn't always see clearly. The post Faithful Steps When You Can't Clearly See The Path appeared first on .

We're throwing it back to one of our most listened to and shared episodes. This episode shaped my approach to my overall health as a woman as I learned what to fight for and the right questions to be asking. Dr. Edie Wadsworth provides insights, backed by research and intensive study, that will help inform the decisions you make on behalf of your health and the health of your family. Here's everything I wish I'd learned about these pesky things called hormones. The post NOTM RECAP: Hormones Are Not Just for Puberty appeared first on .

Faithlessly discarding every circumstance that is less than what we expected or desired means we're only faithfully following our own will instead of His. We're claiming our own sovereignty over our story.  What if instead of asking God to change the circumstance around me, I lean into asking God to change me? The post When You Don't Like Where You're At appeared first on .

What does it look like to be faithful with what's in your hands? How do you continually put your best effort forward and trust God to fill the many gaps you leave behind? There will be seasons you feel an urge to try something new, to do something that makes you a little uncomfortable and a whole lot nervous. This conversation with my new friend, Hannah Weidmann, is rooted in living in the tension of "I really don't want to do this" and "I know I'm supposed to do this". She's the founder of Everyday Heirloom, a jewelry business about a whole lot more than jewelry. She shares about stumbling into starting a business and a family at the same time, her incredibly Hallmark-esque story of meeting and marrying her husband and how, while she lacked vision and comfort for what God asked of her, time in molded a brand new perspective on the story He was crafting. Here's Waiting On A Season To Make Sense. The post Waiting On A Season To Make Sense appeared first on .

While none of us are experts, and honestly probably never will be because I still fly into a semi-rage every week when my husband and I play trashcan Jenga until one of us breaks down and takes the trash out - there is so much I wish I would've learned sooner about how to navigate relationships. Within this episode alone, there are so many small nuggets of wisdom to take into singleness, dating, engagement and those first few years of marriage. Here's my conversation with my friends, Sam and Katelyn, Relationships: What We Learned The Hard Way. The post Relationships: What We Learned The Hard Way appeared first on .

The stress related to pressures can, over time, lead to physical manifestations and slowly start to impact mental and emotional stability. In the end, if left unaddressed, it can lead to a breaking point many refer to as burn out. Suddenly, you struggle to find joy in what once brought you so much joy.  Many of us don't take the time to create, implement and sustain healthy practices for navigating inevitable pressure. Growth has a tendency of happening under pressure. Not always, but pretty often.  I invited an old personal and No One Told Me friend, Kaley, into this conversation because not only has she seen me at my most pressurized, but we've walked through so many of these maxed-out seasons together. Within this episode we'll talk about the breaking points we've rubbed up against, what we wish we'd learned sooner about healthy pressure vs. unhealthy pressure and what rhythms of life we've brought in to make sure we can navigate all of the pressures we come up against in our every day. The post It's Time We Learn to Handle Pressure appeared first on .

There's always this temptation to leave, isn't there? In relationships, plans, jobs - prolonged discomfort makes us feel cornered into only one option: escape.  Today's guest, Natalie Runion, moved across states to walk into a dream position, but quickly found she had to navigate something less than dream-like. That moment led to the launch of a counter-cultural sentiment: Raised to Stay. Instead of validating every single reason to go, she pressed in to learn what it means to stay. The post Choosing to Stay When Leaving Would Be Easier appeared first on .

An opportunity may be good, but that doesn't mean it's right. As we get older, more doors swing open. New relationships, job opportunities, big moves - pivotal points hinge on our ability to discern direction. And, I'll be honest, sometimes my compass is off. In this episode, I'll share the moments I had to change direction after not-great decisions and the questions I now ask myself before walking through any open door. The post Finding Direction for Hard Decisions appeared first on .

Over the past year, so many of my conversations have circled back around to one topic: Calling. How do you zero in on your purpose and what does it look like to actually live within that purpose? Something about the end of the year stirs all of those questions because deep down, we're a little scared we're missing it. Or that it's somehow passed us by. All I can do is what we aim to do every week on this podcast - speak from experience. If you stumble through understanding the call on your life or just feel the pressure to understand it - start here. The post Understanding Your Calling appeared first on .

Listen, the turns this episode takes...I could barely keep up. Two of my very favorite people, twin sisters Brooke and Brittany, unpack past and current Christmas traditions, and well, just a whole lot more. Skincare, shutting down unsolicited advice, navigating Santa + Jesus with your kids and how in the world do you combine and eliminate traditions once you get married. Grab your cocoa and Rudolph sweater - we have a lot to cover. The post 2022 Holiday Special appeared first on .

I get it, that word - grief - is like a red flag to keep scrolling. Why would you voluntarily push play on an emotion we spend much of our time trying to avoid? But that's the exact reason why you should push play. Grief is the greatest emotion no one tells us about...because no one wants to talk about it. Makes sense. Until you find yourself trying to navigate the loss of a person, relationship, expectation, dream. Then what? That overwhelming feeling we spend so much time trying to shove away into the back corners of our minds only begins to show up in new ways we never saw coming. Whether you're grieving now - or later - you and your people will be better on the other side of this episode. The post What Grief Can Really Teach Us appeared first on .

A few episodes ago, in For When You Feel Buried, we talked about how to keep doing what you know to do when you don't really feel like doing anything at all. Consider this a follow-up of sorts. These are lessons gleaned from a year I didn't really want to walk through. A year I wanted an escape route out of. These are lessons from letting go. The post Lessons from Letting Go appeared first on .

If you're new to No One Told Me, let me explain. Our Did Anyone Tell You episodes are a break from the norm, meant to give you all you need in any small-talk-required situation. NOTM friends, Kaley and Khari, jump in this time around to share their personal Halloween experiences...that will most likely surprise you. Take a breath, laugh a little and have the happiest of Halloweens. The post Did Anyone Tell You: Halloween 2022 appeared first on .

You know what I'm ready for? What I'm doing my very best to build? A soft life. I'm tired of this life lived trying to prove something, you know? Because it never ends. There's always some new finish line to get to, and as I get older - I want less focus on where I'm finishing in the race and more focus on how I'm running it. The soft life is in not trying to live a life being who anyone else wants you to be, but paying attention to who you are and who Jesus is calling you to be in spite of expectations and circumstances. It's not easy. But it's possible. And the more we focus on learning our own rhythms instead of trying to match the rhythms of everyone else - the more we'll learn what it means to walk steadily and humbly, only seeking to please our Creator instead of chasing everything we're creating. The post For When You're Ready To Live A Soft Life appeared first on .

Today we're rolling with my new friend, Stephanie May Wilson. She's an author, podcast host, coach and all around encourager - that's my kind of people. So, I think she's your kind of people too. We spend the next half hour talking about how much we want to back out of commitment when the time comes to execute on the commitment, how we hype ourselves up in really hard seasons, how to walk with other people who aren't going through anything we've ever been through...really it's just about how to stay right where you are even though you kind of wish you were anywhere else. There's lots that can keep you from living fully where you are - but now's the time to equip yourself to grab hold of the fullness and keep walking.  The post For When You're Ready To Live Fully Right Where You Are appeared first on .

Community is just...hard. Whether you're rolling into a new chapter in life with a new job or a new city, new husband, new baby - these big life shifts create big emotional and mental shifts and really all you want is for someone to be like, “Yeah, I get it. Let's walk through it together." We want to show up exactly how we are without having to perform or cover anything up. That's the gold standard of friendship, right? You can be exactly who you are without any fear of changing the relationship. While I don't have a magic community forming formula for you, we do maybe have ways to approach building community. Hopefully these are some points of comfort and encouragement, so by the end, you know you're not as alone as you think in trying to find your people. The post For When You're Still Figuring Out How To Find Your People appeared first on .

If you've ever found yourself shape shifting, becoming who someone else needs you to be, saying yes when you really want to say no... If you find yourself completely at a loss when someone asks, "What do you really want?" - you're in the best place to discover the best of you with our friend Dr Alison Cook. The post For When Trying To Make Everyone Happy Makes You Miserable appeared first on .

If you, like me, feel a little buried in your season...by disappointment, expectations, uncertainty - push play. Let's be honest, push play even if you don't, because this is just one of those things that happens. And you'll be happy to know what to do when it does. The post For When You Feel Buried appeared first on .

I didn't know. No one had ever told me how what starts with good intentions, can morph and grow into something you never meant for it to be. The post Life 101: Do You Know What You're Building…And Why You're Building It? appeared first on .

Every now and again, you need a conversation the meanders. You know the kind? It starts at A, but ends up at Z without clear directives on how exactly we there. These Did Anyone Tell You episodes with NOTM Best Friends, Khari and Kaley, are full of the things you didn't know you wanted to know. Small tidbits of information that equip you to participate in the conversation around Jack Harlow's transport over the Kentucky Derby field a couple weeks ago. See? You didn't know you needed to know that. Just over here filling all of the Need To Know gaps - one Did Anyone Tell You at a time. The post Did Anyone Tell You: May 2022 appeared first on .

Bethny Ricks has over 18 years of leadership experience, most recently holding the position of Senior Vice President of Global Human Resources. Her ability to take that experience and equip those coming behind her has led to one of the most rich conversations I've had over the past three years of podcasting. These are the lessons I wish I'd leaned into sooner. The words I wish I'd thought to pay attention to earlier on. Her insight into leadership dynamics from the top, down, and from the bottom, up - no matter if you're in the workplace or holding it down at home...this is worth pushing play. The post Life 101: Lessons in Leadership appeared first on .

Our mid-30's (first of all, how did we get here?!) - we are different than we were and in ten years, we'll be different than we are today. Looking back, what do we know now that we didn't then? What can we say with confidence and what are we still learning? College years to after college. Dating to marriage. Honeymoon to babies. NOTM favorite, Brooke, sits across from me at her kitchen table, combing through the years gone by and the years to come. The post Life 101: What We Wish We'd Known As College Students, 20-Somethings, Newlyweds & New Moms appeared first on .

Why do we feel like we have to explain ourselves? Why do we feel like we have to settle? What do we consistently lower our standards? And why do we buy into the narrative that we are, in fact, too much? What if...we didn't? My friend, Ainsley Britain, she's out to change the story. Addressing shame, self-worth and our ability to create - and keep - boundaries...she's not just changing the story, she's re-writing it. The post Better View: Setting Boundaries, Self-Worth and Why You're Actually Not Too Much appeared first on .

We didn't know who we would be on the other side of a pandemic. How could we? Most of us are still trying to figure it out. But for all the loss we experienced over the past two years - what have we gained? A deeper understanding of who we are? Maybe, like my friend Emma, a better view of the role shame plays in your life and a decision to stop living as if you ever had control to begin with. Once we start removing the obstacles to seeing the life God calls us to live...then, and only then, will we have a better view. The post Better View: When Shame + Desire For Control Cloud Your Perspective appeared first on .

Three years in, and these are still some of my favorite episodes. Khari & Kaley grab a mic and sit down to talk about the happenings of March...a week late. But, it still counts right? From the Oscars, to the forgotten/paused New Year Resolutions, to whether or not Millennials have already had their moment - we're checking off your "things to talk about when I don't know what to talk about" box. The post Did Anyone Tell You: March 2022 appeared first on .

It is difficult to know God's ways if we are trying to make our own way.  When we push, pull and maneuver ourselves to a better view, the view we've decided we deserve, all we end up seeing is less than what we want. The post Better View: Maybe Where You're At Is Actually The Best View appeared first on .

Hey God, if what I'm walking in right now brings you the most glory…then this is where I want to be. Those are hard words to say. Especially when you feel like you're walking through impossible circumstances. Especially when you're in a season you don't want to be on. A season you would've never picked for yourself.My friend Lauren, when she said those words a few weeks ago at The Collective, I just about fell out of my chair. When His glory becomes more important than our comfort – something big is happening. Something that could change the whole trajectory of our lives. Lauren speaks about her deepest desires, the wants she lays before God and asks for Him to show up in. And then what she does, the practices she has in place, for the days those desires and wants feel like they're overwhelming any joy she might find. Deep joy is in loosening your grip. I can't wait for you to hear more from Lauren.  The post In Spite Of: Walking Faithfully In Seasons You Wouldn't Pick appeared first on .

We wait for a feeling, a sign…a written letter addressed directly to us at “Please Tell Me What To Do, Apt 23”. We want to pray about it. We try to about it. But we wake up, or lay down…and our minds wander. The to-do lists, multiple texts, workload, laundry load…something is always in the wings, inching its way into our thoughts right when we bow our heads to address our Father. In steps Valerie. The phrase “prayer life” feels big – but what if we could break it down? What if we could learn the difference between our feelings and God's callings? What if…our conversations with God started to feel like more than talking to ceilings? The post In Spite Of: When It Feels Like You're Talking To The Ceiling appeared first on .

Those seasons of life you don't know what to do with. The ones that aren't defined by anything specific, you're just on the way to the next specific thing. You know what I mean? These are the seasons we grab at, cling to, run toward anything that feels definitive. And usually? It just slides through our hands because it really was never meant to define us. The post In Spite Of: The In-Between appeared first on .

When all you want to do is throw it in reverse. When you're looking for a way out - any way out - of where you are right now. When the wilderness feels more like a punishment than a path to the promised land. What then? The post In Spite Of: When You're Tired Of Where You Are appeared first on .