How my journey began

Thank you for stopping. I’m glad you’re here. Like all people, we all begin somewhere. I was born in a small midwestern town. I remember winters starting around Halloween and finally leaving around Easter. I also remember mounds of snow so high we could tunnel through from one end of the driveway to the other. The winter season was long, cold, and grey.

Thankfully we moved to New Jersey when I was in elementary school, and to this day, I consider it home. There were incredible moments in my home town. It was a beautiful suburb of New York City nestled in the rolling hills of Somerset County. I would spend my summers down at the shore holding all kinds of jobs but mostly soaking up as much sun as I could.

Life was good.

Summer is my favorite season. But as we all know, seasons change. My life seasons began to change. The winds shifted, and winter came and came hard. It was just like being back in the midwestern town, the heavy snow was falling, and it would not stop. The accumulation was high, and I wasn’t sure if I was going to see the light and feel the warmth of the sun again.

The sun did return. The warmth wrapped itself around my world once again. Through the light returning, I was able to see the purpose in the pain, the value in the process, and a relentless Love that was with me every step of the way.

My story is not one of perfection. It is far from it. My story is filled with trips, tumbles, stumbles, and falls. It is also saturated with perseverance, endurance, determination, and victory. It was through the seasons I learned it was not for me to write my story, for there is a great Author and Perfecter of my story. As I have journeyed through His story, I have come to experience the most perfect love. I have come to commit to an intentional life of trust and deep faith and belief in an amazing and real God.

I am all about being authentic and real. For many years I worked very hard at living an acceptable life. I faced disability, divorce, disease, and despair. I have fiercely advocated for the underserved. I have more degrees than a human should. I have loved deeply and known tremendous loss.  Each of these experiences was purposeful in bringing me toward the realization the abundance of life was not in the acceptable.  However, it wasn’t until I came crashing down did I realize I was being called to seek the exceptional.

It is my hope, through being vulnerable and real with my story, that you will be encouraged and want to journey with me toward the exceptional. Come, join me. Get real, so you too can experience real faith, real freedom, a real-life through a real relationship with God.