LIFE IN BLOOM

Learning How to Flourish in God's Grace


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From the Well to the Garden

Well, hi!

It’s been a while since I’ve been in this space, and a lot of life has happened. Lots of parenting, lots of basketball, a little bit of reading, a lot of joy, a lot of fun, a lot of hard work! In that time, I’ve been really reflective about where I’m going in this phase of my life. Where I should focus my time and energy, how I am using my gifts and talents to the glory of God, how I want to experience life, and how I want to be experienced.

I suppose this is a byproduct of both getting older and gaining perspective. Our experiences help us to understand what matters most. One thing this season has brought me is a desire to shift from striving to being. That sounds great in theory – but when the rubber meets the road, what does it really mean?

And that, my friends, is the wrestle that I’ve been engaging in.

This blog started as “Life Beyond the Well,” and it fit, since it was my space to process and share the lessons I learned as a student at UNC-Chapel Hill and as I grew in my faith and my journey with Christ. My faith has deeply shaped my life and perspective and has carried me through different seasons. As I have navigated those seasons, with faith as my compass, I have entered a new space: the Garden.

This season now is about being rooted, truly understanding my identity in Christ, and operating from a place of contentment. It’s about being planted in the right soil, allowing the right seeds to be planted and to take root, and being watered so that I can reach my full potential and truly fulfill His purpose for me.

So what can you expect from this space moving forward? More writing, deeper community, and practical tools to help us stay rooted. In fact, this shift from striving to being is what inspired my brand-new 21-day devotional, BLOOM: Rooted and Reaching for Him!

Writing this book was my way of mapping out what it really looks like to step out of the daily hustle and rest securely in our identity as daughters of God. The book officially releases on September 12th, but pre-orders are officially open today!

Pre-order your copy now, and let’s step into this new season together. Join me on this journey as I strive to live my life in BLOOM.

Let’s flourish together!

Be encouraged! Peace and blessings!


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Minding the Grief Gap

Four years ago, my daddy passed away. It feels like yesterday and forever at the same time. I distinctly remember getting a phone call repeatedly – from a number that I didn’t recognize – and upon answering, being asked to confirm my identity and then being told apologetically, that my father was deceased.

I was at work. It was a Friday afternoon. After answering the phone, it felt like the world paused, I rushed to the office where my teammates were, and I shoved the phone into the hands of my coworker and friend and came back to my office and cried and cried and cried. My coworker calmly took all the information from the first responders, called my mama and told her, and then called Preacherman. After Preacherman arrived, they helped me pack up my things and made sure I was okay to drive home.

That was four years ago, and it feels like yesterday and forever at the same time.

Over the years, there were points where my relationship with my father was shaky at best. In those years, we “talked” sporadically at best, frequently through voicemails and perfunctory polite conversations – and at times, I can convince myself that is the season that we’re in. But then there are jarring reminders that it’s not my reality – when I want to call or text about the Luther Vandross documentary, or when I find a lump in my throat and on the verge of tears while on a Peloton ride because Whitney Houston’s, “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” is on the list and I remember the little girl who danced around the living room to that song with her daddy. She is I and I am her.

There’s the missed moments. And the reality that every day I get farther away from the last time we spoke; that while it hurts different, it doesn’t hurt less, and that as time passes, there are fewer and fewer people who know (knew) my daddy – and have the ability to help him be known to me in the ways that your parents become known to you as full people (beyond being your parents) as you get older. In many ways, there are times when his existence feels very real and big to me – and also full of gaps and questions that need answers.

After four years, I still find myself minding the grief gap – managing the space between what was and what is and trying to give myself grace in the process. Grace as I manage the wondering and what ifs. Grace as I try to figure out how to share him with my boys. How do you make someone real to others who have no concept of their existence?

Four years. Yesterday and forever. Big existence and big gaps. Questions that need (and probably won’t get) answers. Minding the growing gap. Giving myself grace. Sharing him with others.

On the day that he passed away, I shared the following on Instagram:

“His life has built much resilience and compassion within me, it has strengthened my faith and expanded my capacity to love my neighbor as myself. His soul is now at rest and is free.”

I am comforted in knowing that he is experiencing the freedom now that he so deeply sought on this side – through many broken and dangerous pursuits – and resting in the love and glory of our Savior. His life and his memory are a blessing.

Until next time…be encouraged! Peace and Blessings!