Okay, let's be real: small talk is my least favorite form of communication, even though I somehow constantly find myself making small talk.  As a high extrovert I have this obnoxious need to know everything about everyone everywhere all the time.  But my favorite conversations are when I'm sitting on my couch with someone, exchanging vulnerable words over steaming cups of coffee.   I was made for those moments.  But since I'm sadly unable to talk to you face-to-face, I'll give you the two-minute introduction of myself.

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          The most important thing about me you should know is that I have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, and I choose to live my life to honor Him. Above anything else, Jesus is my King and my God.  But He's also my deepest love, my closest friend, and my safest home.  His kindness and mercy have changed my entire life.   I met Jesus when I was 12-years-old at a Christian summer camp when one of the leaders shared the Gospel with us.  Once I put my faith in Him, Jesus immediately gave me an insatiable zeal for His Word.  As a middle schooler, I ate the Scriptures every week as if they were this savory feast that I'd been craving all my life.  Even nineteen years later, the Bible is still the thing I treasure most in my life.  God's Word has opened my eyes to the richness and beauty of Who He is in so many indescribable ways.  It has completely altered every part of my life, and I'm forever grateful for that.

           

          The second most important thing you should know about me is that I deeply love people.  I've wanted to help people for as long as I can remember.  In 2014, I graduated college with my Bachelor of Science in Psychology and a minor in Philosophy.  But while I was planning on attending graduate school, God took me down a vastly different path.  For nine years, my husband and I worked together for a non-profit, Christian ministry that meets the spiritual and tangible needs of urban and suburban high school students.  We spent most of our days hanging out with teenagers, sharing the Gospel with them, and discipling them while teaching them the Word.  Through years of laughter, we shared our whole lives with them and loved every single second of it.  And while that season forever changed us, we are now following Jesus while working in secular careers we surprisingly enjoy.  These days, ministry for me and my husband looks more like us opening up our home and our hearts as a refuge to anyone in need, and it's been positively delightful.

 

             The third thing you should know about me is that I would not be where I am today without my community.  God has blessed me exponentially with the incredibly wonderful people He has allowed me to love.  The first and foremost of all my beloved community is my husband, "B."  I met him in March 2011, started dating him in June 2013, and married him in May 2015.  Although we have completely opposite personalities, he both humbles me and captivates me by how he champions truth and righteousness in everything he does as a man of God.  He is the love of my life; a truly wonderful man whom I absolutely love building my life with.  

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(I would show y'all pictures of B's face on the blog, but he highly values his privacy, and I respect that.) 

 

           The second of my beloved community are my beautiful girl friends.  These amazing women have completely formed me into the woman I am today.  A few of the older ones have spent years discipling me with their hope-filled counsel when I've desperately needed the compass of wisdom.  A few who are about my age have been my faithful companions, spending over a decade buttressing my weary arms into victory (Exodus 17:10-13).  Even a few of the younger women whom I've been privileged to disciple over the years have been like spiritual daughters to me (1 Timothy 1:2), reminding me in a fresh way how exhilarating it is to follow Jesus. All of these women have taught me to how to delight in Christ my Shepherd, whether He leads me among green pastures or through the darkest valley (Psalm 23:1-4).  Because of them, I've experienced true and sustaining joy, and I love deeper and fuller because of the rich ways they've all loved me.

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             My relationship with Jesus and the people I love are definitely the deepest treasures of my life.  But I'm also the girl who loves drinking ungodly amounts of coffee, traveling to new countries, playing with our rescued mutt, Samson (see my obsessive dog-mom pictures below), hiking in the woods, going on spontaneous adventures with my friends, road-tripping with my husband, and nerding out about all the fantasy fiction universes (typical millenial, I know, but my favorite is Harry Potter...I honestly feel like a Ravenclaw-Hufflepuff hybrid, but the Sorting Hat and I both agreed I'm a Ravenclaw).  My favorite thing to do is belly-ache laugh until I cry, and one of my skillsets is making an impressive fat face in a selfie (y'all...it sadly doesn't take much). 

 

I'm usually the loudest one in the room and probably the bounciest too. 

I love to turn acquaintances into my friends, and I hope to do that with you too! 

 

                    

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P.S.  If you want to know the full story of how Jesus changed my life, you can find it here.

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P.P.S.  If you want to the know the more robust version of the beliefs I affirm, then note this:  B and I both highly advocate the wisdom and necessity of a believer to be an involved member of one local church body.  Because of this, we are members together of a local church.  However, I often say that my personal theology is truly interdenominational.  Over the years, my faith tenets and practices have been influenced by various theological backgrounds.  I believe in routinely applying the Berean approach when discerning the truth in all teachings (Acts 17:10-12):  I take every piece of counsel I hear and thoroughly compare it to the inerrant counsel of the Scriptures, contextually from Genesis to Revelation (1 Thessalonians 5:19-22; 1 John 4:1-3).  As I practice this, I find that I often agree and/or disagree with various points of multiple theological views of the Bible.  Therefore, I don't always align with all the points listed in extrabiblical interpretations of Scripture.   This framework is what I daily use to view extrabiblical things through the lens of Scripture.  Additionally, I affirm the three creeds listed here, this catechism (minus the symbolism of infant baptism), this catechism, and the five core values listed here.

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