Full of Joy

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I'm so thankful Jesus gave me the courage to walk across the stage this past Sunday when fear wanted to keep me home in bed! Jesus is LIFE! He is Hope. He Heals. I'm so thankful for Jesus!

I feel like I have big shoes to fill after Abigail’s introduction! I hope I do it justice. I’m Heidi. I am a graphic designer, small business owner and a lover of travel. I am a Type A list maker. I have lived in nine states and 14 cities. I attended 11 different schools. I hate onions. I like black licorice. I love grapefruit. I have no favorite color, but my closet is organized by color. I am a left-handed introvert. I have been wracking my brain for what to write about here for weeks. I am not at the end of some grand journey where I have wisdom or some deep reflections to impart. Instead, I feel like I am in the midst of a painful and ongoing battle in multiple areas of my life. One of the most significant battles being my “woman”hood. I say womanhood with quotes because I am a 36 year old who has yet to claim herself as a “woman”. In my own mind, I am still a girl, trying to find her way into the world of women. I think a lot of this has to do with the environment I wa...

This is my dear friend, Heidi. My creative, inspiring, courageous, hilarious, generous, beautiful friend, Heidi. She's on the left. I'm on the right. We first met when volunteering at the same youth group in VA. Teens would get us confused. One girl in particular used to run up to me quite often and say, "Hey Heidi!" I can't blame her. Blondes with big teethy smiles can be confusing. Heidi is the creator and CEO of her own companies- Heth Design and Haven Paperie . I'm honored to announce she will be gracing us with her presence on the blog tomorrow. There may even be a little give away involved. ;) Come on back tomorrow- I'm excited for you to get a glimpse into her beautiful heart.

For the months of September and October, the arts ministry I'm involved with (Infused Arts) had a huge exhibit at our church. 37 visual artists and writers combined to work for six months on our individual projects wrapped around the theme of the names of God. All kinds of artists came together to collaborate, share ideas, give and receive inspiration, and most importantly, seek the Spirit. We had some powerful times of worship, prayer, encouragement, and laughter as we studied and read about the hundreds of different names of our God! Artists tend to work alone, but something amazing happened when we came together once a month to share in the love of Jesus, and create for Him. This week I am sharing the personal Psalm the Spirit put in my heart for the exhibit. It wasn't the style of writing I usually do. It wasn't my original plan. That's why I know it's His. If you find yourself in a place desiring to connect with Jesus in...

Over the summer a group of friends and I went through Kelly Minter's Bible Study, What Love is . Kelly mentioned her struggle with fear in the book, and suggested her previously written study, No Other Gods . I jumped right on it, and another friend joined in! No Other Gods is part of The Living Room Series . (Not to be mistaken with her stand alone book by the same title.) Kelly not only teaches readers how to dive deeply into Scripture, but she teaches how to do it within the context of community. Having dinner together, playing music, or lighting a candle can really set a relaxing and inviting atmosphere to the gathering. I fully believe in that concept, but at this phase of life it doesn't work too well. My friend and I consistently met up at Dunkin Donuts (free coffee every Monday if Penn State wins!), away from the baby chaos at home, and we found that environment to be just as sweet. Coffee + Donuts + Bible study = a win, win, win! ...

We've been living in our new house for over three weeks now! It was fun to be all moved just in time for Halloween. That was the day I heard the door bell ring for the first time. It had been too early in the day for Trick or Treaters, and we had friends coming over, but not for another hour. I assumed somebody was arriving early. (Can we just stop and take a minute to bemoan early arrivers ?!) Even though I wasn't ready for early guests, I gave myself a pep talk to calm down. The extra roll of toilet paper wasn't out yet in the guest bathroom- no one likes to be caught without the extra roll, the apples hadn't been sliced, Basye needed to be changed- nobody likes to arrive at a stinky diaper house, Jase needed to be changed out of his PJ's (a story for another day), and the dessert wasn't made, but I would handle those early arrivers . This all flashed through my mind in just a few seconds. As I waited at the top of the...

I had a post all lined up for today. Being that it's launch week and all, I wanted to write two posts instead of one. But, today turned out to be nothing like I expected, and thought some of you might be able to relate to the day I'm having. I would rather post the happy story already written, but in the spirit of being genuine I'll share this little tidbit instead. Today stinks. Several months ago I heard about a conference that was happening close by. I was really excited about it! I love conferences, and love hearing from ministry leaders. I was in the process of arranging a sitter so I could attend the conference (not an easy feat), when my hopes of going got shot down. At first I was angry, but then anger turned to hurt. Eventually days kept passing, a couple months went by, and I got over it. Until today. The actual day of the conference. Enter the ever-so-popular Pity Party. I woke up irritated that Chuck got to spend his whole day with friends and coworkers at...

I was sitting on our cozy, more than well-worn couch with my hands wrapped around a warm mug of coffee. The windows were open because the house was stuffy, but I found myself getting chilly by the slight Fall breeze. My friend Molly was sitting across from me on the other end of our larger than life couch. As we were discussing our Bible study lessons for that week, I blurted out, “I’m so annoyed by this author. I wish she would give us REAL LIFE examples as to what she’s talking about! Her references to her struggles are so vague.” Molly whole-heartedly agreed. As much as we were learning and growing from the study, we longed for stories that had actually happened to the author that could help us navigate through our own real lives. A few days later, my friend Lisa (who recently wrote the post, “Disease to Please”) and I were talking about the struggle of blogging. Lisa’s words echo my heart completely, “I’m still that same person that struggles with the things I’m writing about! ...

The realization of a lifelong dream starts tomorrow. My stomach is in knots. I feel giddy. I've thought of this moment long into the night, and have fallen asleep so happy at just the idea. God has given me a brand new vision for this blog. He has inspired my heart, and brought many creative people around to help on this adventure! My hands are nearly shaking as I try to grasp all God has planned.   Falling in love with Jesus is blowing.my.mind . He is opening doors, and unleashing His Spirit on me afresh. When I breathe Him in, He tastes sweet. He refreshes my lungs. He cleanses out those mundane cobwebs that have wrapped their silky webs around my mind deceiving me into believing "this is all life has to offer." There is more. So much more. I'm ready to live my dream of writing, and the moment is now.   Join me TOMORROW, November 3, as I pour the dream of my heart into the wide ocean that is the blog world.