Sobremesa Stories

Letting stories unfold around the table

Womanly Wednesday: A Guest Post On Wrestling With Grief

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Thanks for stopping by for this week’s Womanly Wednesday!  This week’s post is by an amazing friend of mine from Davidson named Louise.  When I met her during her freshmen year and my senior year, I was so in awe of her sweet spirit, her heart to love people, and the deep way she was starting to process her grief about all that she describes in this post.  It has been a blessing to know her and see her start to explore God’s grace in the midst of her grief, and I hope you learn as much from her story as I have! 

Womanly Wednesday Louise Headshot

It was spring of my 4th grade year. He was only in the hospital for 24 hours. No one saw it coming. But at age nine my world was wrecked from the inside out as my sweet daddy and favorite person in the world went to go see Jesus. I was blown away, heartbroken and terrified. I had no idea how to respond or what I should think or feel. But I knew that Jesus was holding our sweet, broken family- it was evident by the great and strange sense of peace we felt. But how to respond to such a thing? I had no earthly idea. So when someone told me to “be strong for your mom” in the weeks that followed, I did just that.

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Womanly Wednesday: A Guest Post On Letting Go Of Expectations

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Thanks for stopping by for this week’s Womanly Wednesday!  This is one of my favorite parts of the week where different women bravely and vulnerably share their stories.  If you would be interested in writing a Womanly Wednesday guest post of your own, please send me an email with your information and a summary of what you might like to share.  It would be an honor to have your voice and your story on the blog!

I met my friend Kat a year or two ago through our church, and it has been so fun to be a part of her story as she has bravely chosen to trust God with big life decisions, even when it’s terrifying.  I love her heart, her sense of humor, and her honest way of sharing about her life and her marriage.  And the best thing? She just started a blog! Make sure to head over to Sweeter Comfort and check her out! 

Womanly Wednesday Letting Go Of Expectations

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Womanly Wednesday: A Guest Post On Eating Disorders And Second Chances

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Thanks for stopping by for this week’s Womanly Wednesday!  This is one of my favorite parts of the week where different women bravely and vulnerably share their stories. This week, we have the honor of hearing from a lovely new blogging friend named Liz.  Liz writes about marriage, motherhood, and life over at Sundays With Sophie, and her blog is definitely one you need to add to your must-read list!   I love how bravely and honestly she is sharing about her journey of wrestling with an eating disorder, and I have a feeling you will too.  

Hi, I’m Liz!  This is what you know about me, mama to Sophie, and wife to Kyle.  I’m the sole writer of Sundays with Sophie.  Mama by day, blogger by night and wife on the weekend.  But, here’s something you don’t know about me.  Something that I haven’t talked about before, something I’m bravely telling the world.  I’ve suffered from both Anorexia Nervosa.  It happened quickly and quietly.  This is my story.

Womanly Wednesday Sundays With Sophie

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Womanly Wednesday: A Guest Post On Infant Loss and Infidelity

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Thanks for stopping by for this week’s Womanly Wednesday!  This is one of my favorite parts of the week where different women bravely and vulnerably share their stories.  If you know Aly Voigt, this week’s guest poster,  you know that she is one of the bravest, strongest women in the whole world.  In the last three years  her world has just about fallen apart, and the way she has continued to honestly pursue the Lord in her grief and her joys is beautiful.  It’s an honor to have her sharing her story on the blog today.  Read more by Aly and her story on her blog, Sookie Jane! 

I wasn’t allowed to date until I was sixteen. Sixteen in my book meant sixteen. Not sixteen and one month or even sixteen and one week. It was on the very day that I turned sixteen that we went on our first date. My heart was done for. Signed, sealed, and delivered.

Aly Womanly Wednesday Profile

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Womanly Wednesday: A Guest Post on Finding Hope In Illness

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Welcome to this week’s Womanly Wednesday!  This week’s post is by the lovely Liz Sievert (formerly Liz Powell).  I met Liz through a church small group last year and was immediately struck by how friendly, caring, and pretty much hilarious she is.  She has a steady wisdom to her, the kind of wisdom that comes when someone has wrestled deeply with the Lord about who she is and come to the hard-won conclusion that she is fully known and deeply loved no matter what. It has been a joy to get to know Liz these last few years and it is an honor to have her sharing her words on the blog today!  Also, be sure to check out Liz’s blog for more beautiful stories about her everyday adventures in life, faith, and marriage.

“Wholeness is brokenness owned and thereby healed.”  -Brennan Manning

Womanly Wednesday Hope In Physical Brokenness Bride

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Womanly Wednesday: A Guest Post On Anxiety

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Thanks for stopping by for this week’s Womanly Wednesday Guest Post! Today’s post is by my friend Jenny Hall.  I met Jenny (a fellow California girl!) before we started our freshman year at Davidson College, and have learned so much from the brave ways she has reached out to other people and to God to wrestle with deep questions of who she is and what it looks like to live her faith and her life well.  She is an incredibly passionate person who loves deeply, feels deeply, and runs after the things she loves with everything she has.   I am so grateful to have her vulnerable, funny, and beautiful words on the blog today.  

Womanly Wednesday Anxiety Oxford Jenny

There was a time in my life when I thought a lot about my armpits. I planned my outfits carefully. Sleeveless tops were best, obviously, but if I had to wear sleeves then I most definitely needed a sweatshirt on hand – even in 100 degree Southern California summers. It takes a lot to sweat through a sweatshirt.

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Womanly Wednesday: A Guest Post On Weakness And Worth

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Thanks for stopping by for this week’s Womanly Wednesday Guest Post! Today’s post is by the lovely Kelsie of Currently, Kelsie.  I met Kelsie through Young Life here in KC, and it’s crazy how many things we have in common.  She’s a teacher and Young Life leader who loves and leads her students well, she got married around the same time my hubby and I did, she recently jumped into the blogging world too, and she is wise, funny, and a wonderful writer.  I hope you’ll check out her blog to read more of her thoughts or her Facebook page for more blog updates! 

Womanly Wednesday Kelsie 1

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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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