Sobremesa Stories

Letting stories unfold around the table

How I Use A $20 Bill To Teach Students They Have Value

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Way back when I was just a wee college student trying to decide what I was going to do with my life (aka five whole years ago), I was in the heart of four years of intense Young Life ministry.  Seeing how much I loved working with high school students, I felt like being a teacher was the perfect way to combine my love of languages with my desire to impact high schoolers.  I knew I would walk into a high school and immediately have meaningful, deep relationships and conversations with every student I met each and every day (this is the part where all the veteran teachers laugh).

But as I started teaching, I started to realize that teaching is quite a bit different than leading student ministry.  For starters, I saw 160 students every day, with as many as 30 students in my room at one time.  I traveled between two schools every day, so I often wasn’t there for those before, after, and in between moments that help build relationships.  I had a handful of good conversations and got to see students’ hearts in tiny glimpses, but for the most part, my days were consumed with the daily realities of lesson planning, classroom management, and keeping rowdy 8th graders from driving me and each other crazy while still teaching them a thing or two about Spanish.

Teach Students They Have Value Converse Fields

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Why I’m Scared To Say I’m “Creative”

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If you had asked me to describe myself as a child, I probably would have chosen one word: smart. I was a part of my elementary school’s gifted program and did Honors/AP classes all the way up until I went to Davidson, a college known for its nerdiness and crazy-hard academics. For most of my life I’ve identified myself as hard-working, intelligent, and a perfectionist at just about everything. In other words…I’d probably say I was pretty nerdy.

But creative? Definitely not one of the words I’d use to describe myself.

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What I’m Scared To Ask God For

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I have always been a journaler, and pouring out my heart to God on the pages of a journal feels as natural as talking to a best friend.  I love that God cares enough about my heart to listen to me ramble about all of those crazy emotions swirling around inside of me. I have stacks and stacks of journals with pages filled with everything from the ramblings of a new-to-faith teenager to the confessions, desires, and prayers for my marriage and my still-new adult life.

But when it comes to actually asking for specific, tangible things? I’m not so sure.

If you've ever been scared to ask God for something, you have got to check out this post!

My Hesitations with prayer

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Womanly Wednesday: A Guest Post on Motherhood And Answered Prayers

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When I moved to Kansas City three years ago, Jessica was one of the first women I met.  Whether she’s working, leading and pouring into Young Life girls and women like me, or loving on her two sweet girls, her joy, laughter, and passion are contagious.  Jessica is one of those people who makes you feel like you are the most interesting, funny, and wonderful person in the room (and who doesn’t love that?).  It’s been a joy to know her these last few years, and I’m excited to share her Womanly Wednesday post with you today!  

First off, let me tell you guys that writing this post almost tore me up from the inside out. I knew what I wanted to say, but I had an absolutely terrible time trying to say it. You see, I didn’t want to sound ungrateful.

Womanly Wednesday

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Womanly Wednesday: A Guest Post On Being Torn

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Today’s Womanly Wednesday post is by a woman whose friendship has impacted me deeply.  Taylor Thomas is not only an amazing artist (check out her website here), but also a compassionate friend whose joy and authentic desire to know and love people show me Jesus on a daily basis.  She asks the best questions, has the most ridiculous sense of humor (and the highest pitched squeals of joy), and expresses the deepest, most broken parts of her heart more poetically and honestly than anyone I know.  She was the co-maid of honor at my wedding with Haley George, and is closer to my heart than just about anyone.  It  is an honor to have her share in this space today.  

Womanly Wednesday Taylor Main pic

Being torn is being okay.

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Womanly Wednesday: A Guest Post on Abuse and Rescue

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As part of our Womanly Wednesday series, I’ll be sharing guests posts by different women who are bravely putting their hearts and stories out there for you to read.  And friends, this girl is the bravest.  I met Annie my freshman year in college, and her story is one of the clearest examples of God’s relentless pursuit of our broken, hurting hearts.  She is radiant, with a joy and heart for people and adventures that absolutely shines and lights up whatever room she walks in.  I bawled reading this post about how she found healing and hope in the midst of abuse and pain, and it is an honor to have her sharing her heart on the blog today.  

Womanly Wednesday

Mine is a story of abuse and utter despair.  It is a story of hopelessness and pursuit of worldly success that has no ultimate value; a chasing after the wind.  It is a story of redemption, of God’s saving grace, of the Lord’s unfailing pursuit of a girl who bolted the other way – and his ability to capture and comfort even the most broken-hearted.

Maybe it’s a story you can relate to – perhaps not with the nitty gritty details, but with the heart of the matter.  The insecurities.  The shame.  The confidence in no one and nothing but myself.  The futile attempts to pick myself up by my bootstraps, without realizing that I had no firm foundation to place those boots on.  The slow realization and denial of the simple fact that if your efforts are all that you rely on, you won’t stand for long when the terrain beneath those boots morphs to shifting, sinking sand.

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Womanly Wednesday: A Guest Post on Chasing After Dreams

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Holy moly…there are no words to describe THE Haley George.  She is my best friend, and more than almost anyone I know has taught me how to love and be loved, how to share life and hearts and struggles.  The way she has run after her dream of being a photographer in the midst of fear and doubt is beautiful, and she is one of the bravest, wisest, most adventurous and well-traveled people I know.  It is an honor to have her as my friend and as my very first Womanly Wednesday guest post.  Check out her website to see more of her gorgeous photos and stories! 

There’s no one in the world who could have stared me in the eyes ten years ago and convinced me that my life would look the way it does today. Part of the beauty in getting to be a photographer, and the reason I love telling stories for a living, is the unexpectedness that comes with the process. I’m convinced that every story, in its unexpectedness, joy, and hardship, has much to offer the world— even mine. 
Womanly Wednesday - Sobremesa Stories

Sometimes the way that pieces fit together is obvious; other times, despite the answer being right in front of you, those pieces seem too scattered to connect. Though I carried a camera around everywhere, I never considered being a photographer. Though I loved speaking other languages and experienced a natural ease toward learning words, I never imagined stepping outside of the classroom to use them. Though I loved traveling, I never realized it to be made for more than leisure. Though stories from across the world tugged at my heart like nothing else could, I never dared to enter into them. I’d like to say it has been easy to connect these pieces, but “formative, long, dependent, unfinished” is the more honest set of words that describe my process. 

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My Favorite Love Story (A Two Year Anniversary Post)

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Two years ago this past weekend, I put on white dress, took my dad’s arm, and walked down a grassy “aisle” to marry the man of my dreams.  It was a sweet, slow day full of joyful moments with people from all the different parts of our lives and our story.  Today, in honor of my sweet husband who makes my world a whole lot brighter, I want to go back and share how our love story started.  Some of you might already know this story but for me, it just never seems to get old!

Love Story Sobremesa Stories

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How I’m Finding Freedom From Shame (A Three-Step Process)

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“Owning our story can be hard but not nearly as difficult as spending our lives running from it. Embracing our vulnerabilities is risky but not nearly as dangerous as giving up on love and belonging and joy—the experiences that make us the most vulnerable. Only when we are brave enough to explore the darkness will we discover the infinite power of our light.”  

Brené Brown –The Gifts of Imperfection

Finding Freedom From Shame - Sobremesa Stories

The first time I remember feeling shame, that gnawing feeling in the pit of my stomach that something’s wrong with me, was in middle school.   I struggled in my relationships with girl friends, and remember one particular conversation with a girl friend who told me she didn’t want me around when the boy she liked was there because I was “too much,” and when I was my full self I was “obnoxious.”  I know that those words came out of a place of her own insecurity and fears, but they impacted me deeply.

I started to believe that who I am is obnoxious, that I needed to tone down my personality, my happiness, my intelligence, and myself in general to be liked and even loved by others.  I desperately sought attention from boys, believing that giving them my body and my heart was the only way to overcome my “obnoxious” personality and be “loved” the way I was longing for.  When I compromised my boundaries and values to make them happy, I felt an even deeper sense of disappointment and shame.

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Creating Our Marriage Mission Statement

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“Marriage has the power to set the course of your life as a whole. If your marriage is strong, even if all the circumstances in your life around you are filled with trouble and weakness, it won’t matter. You will be able to move out into the world in strength.”

Tim Keller – Meaning of Marriage

How to Create your Marriage Mission Statement - Sobremesa Stories

When Jordan and I got married, we knew we weren’t signing up for a lifetime of romance and forever happiness.  We were lucky to have couples of all ages loving us, asking us hard questions, and speaking truth to us..  As we spent time with these people, one thing consistently stood out: these couples whose love had stood the test of time, tragedy, and trials of all sorts firmly believed that their marriages had a much bigger purpose than their “happiness.”  These people trusted that their marriage was something God would use to shape them, to draw them to Him, and to paint a picture to the world of His love, joy, and commitment.

After the chaos of the wedding faded and the daily realities of marriage began to sink in, we wanted to revisit the things we had admired in those married couples who had counseled and inspired us.  We decided to spend some time processing our dreams, values, and goals for our marriage, hoping that through writing out these thoughts, we could come up with a mission statement that summarized a bigger picture and purpose for our marriage.

We sat down together and started to brainstorm, focusing mainly on these questions:

  • Ideally, how do we want to relate to each other? What action words, ideas, and concepts repeat as we describe what we want our marriage to look like?
  • Who are some couple whose marriages we admire? What do we admire about them? How do we feel when we walk into their home or spend time with them and why do they make us feel that way?
  • What things or ideals do we value in life in general? How do we want our marriage to express these values to each other and to other people?
  • When other people walk into our home and sit around our table, how do we want them to feel? When they get into their car to drive away, what do we want them to say or think as they leave?

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