Welcome to this week’s Womanly Wednesday! This week’s guest poster, Rachel, was a student at the high school where I led Young Life.  It has been amazing to watch her run after a life of fullness and joy in Jesus, even if  I didn’t know her all that well in her high school days.  As someone who wrestled with serial dating myself back in the day, I love how she describes that struggle and the hope she has found in the midst of it here.  You can check out Rachel’s beautiful photography website here! Thanks for sharing your story, Rachel! 

I was that girl who either continually had a crush or was constantly dating a guy in middle school and high school. I found my identity in boys and relationships. I loved the idea of always having someone to watch movies with, someone who would give me their sweatshirt at a Friday night football game and always having someone to text. I was a “serial dater.” The longest high school relationship I had was seven months. The shortest was two weeks. Commitment and settling was a big no-no in my book.

[Read more…]

I “met” Amanda through the Blog Passion Project a few months ago and have loved following along with her story and her blog since then. She writes beautifully about her life in college and what it looks like to find fullness and joy in the midst of school, work, and life.  I’m so glad to have her story of how she’s wrestled with anxiety and depression on the blog today and hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did!

[Read more…]

Welcome to this week’s Womanly Wednesday! I met this week’s guest poster through Young Life when I moved to Kansas City.  Sarah and her husband Josh got married on the exact same day we did (May 25, 2013) and it’s been fun to see them move forward in their marriage and their family.  They love the Lord and bring so much joy and laughter wherever they go, and it’s an honor to have Sarah sharing her story here today. This month is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month, and this post is the perfect reminder that if you’ve experienced this kind of loss, you are not alone.  Thanks for sharing your story, Sarah. 

I sat in church and felt very moved listening to the message about mothers on Mother’s Day. As our congregation prayed for every type of Mama imaginable, I felt a huge wave of Holy Spiritness saying “TAKE A PREGNANCY TEST!! YOU ARE WHO WE ARE PRAYING FOR!!” We got in the car and I had explained to my husband, Josh, very casually, how I felt. We had just started to have conversations about being ready to be parents and to try. I went with my gut feeling and made Josh go buy a pregnancy test.

[Read more…]

When I found Brittany’s blog, The Nested Nomad, a few months back, I immediately felt like I’d found a kindred soul.  I love her honesty, her writing voice, and her heart to encourage others to live simple, beautiful, and adventurous lives.  She’s one of my favorite bloggers to follow nowadays and I’m honored to have her story of sexual abuse and what it looks like to recover from it on the blog today! Thanks for sharing your story on this Womanly Wednesday, Brittany!  

During my senior year of college, I started dating a guy whose life was full of red flags; red flags I was unwilling to acknowledge or that I was fooled into missing altogether. This man, whom I’ll call Mitchell (not his real name), professed to be Christian, led worship at my church, and was an all-around funny, charming, smooth-talking guy.

When he began pressuring me to have sex just a few months into dating, I hesitated and resisted, knowing this was not what God intended for our relationship. But it was difficult to say no to a man I thought I was growing to love, who had told me weeks earlier that he loved me and wanted to marry me someday, especially when his pressure subtly turned into coercion.

Many times I tried to put an end to the sexual component of our relationship, asking him if we could wait until we were married, and when I was strong enough, saying no in the moment. But for Mitchell, my no never meant no. It meant that it was time to twist my arm, convince me that sex was the only way for me to show my love for him, and then get what he wanted as quickly as he could.

[Read more…]

Welcome to this week’s Womanly Wednesday! Today’s post is by Trisha of The Ham And Cheese Of It, a blogger I’ve come to enjoy a lot over these last few months.  It breaks my heart to know so many kids go through traumatic situations like this but I am so encouraged by men and women like Roxanne who step into that situation and offer hope, love, and grace.  Thanks for sharing your story, Trisha! 

I am so grateful to have been chosen to participate in Womanly Wednesday. I have very much enjoyed reading the passionate, heart wrenching stories from the women that have contributed to Lauren’s Womanly Wednesday series. When she asked her readers for guest posts I felt conflicted, as I am sure many of my predecessors before me felt as well. But my adoring husband made a great point. What if someone else is in my shoes? Well, as always he had a great point.

My biological mother is a felon, drug addict and even though she has never been charged, she has, on more than one occasion, alluded to the fact that she may or may not have been a participant in a murder. She has also been arrested for money laundering, credit card fraud, domestic abuse (she shot her second husband in the leg), arson and intent to distribute. The list goes on and on and on. I could fill this entire story up with just her legal woes. But I am not here to talk about her. I am here to talk about a woman named Roxanne.

[Read more…]

Welcome to this week’s Womanly Wednesday! I met today’s guest poster when I moved to Kansas City a few years back.  She and her husband head up Young Life in the North Kansas City area and from the first moment I met her, I was so impressed by her wisdom, passion, and the way she deeply loves and fights for her family.  Her journey of learning to support her youngest son has been beautiful to watch, and I know mamas everywhere will relate to what it looks like to fight for our kids’ hearts and futures when all the obstacles seem stacked against us.  You can read more from Melissa over at her blog! Thanks for sharing your heart and your story, Melissa! 

I had my third child on my 31st birthday. Up until this moment motherhood was relatively easy for me. It was manageable and good. My oldest were 23 months apart. Life was predictable. I had a handle on this season of motherhood and babies. I wandered into this third child thing completely unprepared.

[Read more…]

Welcome to this week’s Womanly Wednesday! Today’s poster, Anna, is writing beautifully about a topic that is so close to my heart.  As Jordan and I move toward growing our family, I’ve wrestled a lot with what it looks like to use my education and intellect and also raise a family.  I love how Anna makes me feel like this is normal struggle and that choosing a family over a career isn’t a “waste” of my education.  I hope you enjoy today’s post as much as I did! 

This may seem backwards to you, but I think that doing well in school can sometimes make you feel trapped. That’s how it worked for me anyways. Usually you would imagine that people who make good grades can go on to do anything they want, right?

But what if what they want is not “good enough?”

[Read more…]

My heart for this blog is that it be a place of sobremesa, a place where we gather around the table and share our hearts and our stories.  And if just one person does all the talking while we sit around the table, it doesn’t make for much of a conversation.

I started the Womanly Wednesday series to give other women a chance to share their stories in this online space, to open up the conversation to include other voices besides mine.  I emailed friends from my childhood, from my college years, and from my life here in Kansas City and asked them to share a part of their story.

[Read more…]