freedom

A Grief Observed

freedom, grief, Life Lessons, memoir, Spiritual Growth

“Losing a beloved is an amputation.” – C.S. Lewis, A Grief Observed I once listened to a podcast in which a psychiatrist was talking about why it feels like we lose a part of ourselves when we lose a loved one. He said that, unwittingly, we store information, memories and experiences in the brains of other people we are close to; like an external hard drive. Our own minds have limited capacity to keep all the data we need, so we share mental and emotional data resources with others. We see this phenomenon to be particularly true when someone loses a spouse and has no idea what the bank password is, or what…

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It’s Got to Be Like Planning a Party, Right?

faith, freedom, grief, memoir

Confetti, Hope and 3/16 My mom plopped down across from me in the nursery looking hurried and determined as she readied to leave my house. She and my Dad had stayed with us three of the four weeks since my son was born, but today they were rushing back home. It had been less than 12 hours since the phone call that changed our lives. They were trying to beat the news back to my Grandmother – my Memaw – so she could hear about the death of her only grandson from them instead of Channel 12. They didn’t make it, by the way. The story broke before they could drive the three…

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Two Weeks Ago, I Googled Myself

faith, freedom, Life Lessons

When the devil whispers a lie to you, it’s not random. It’s intentional. Deliberate. It’s the exact opposite of the Truth. The specific Truth he is trying to discredit in your life. It gives you a little insight into his playbook. Two weeks ago, I googled myself. It wasn’t out of arrogance, I promise, rather shear curiosity. Barry (my husband) and I were driving around town when he told me about a DJ friend of his from college, “He moved to L.A. and is like a real life, big time DJ. You can google him!” So naturally I thought, I wonder what happens when you google “Author Rachel Dawn”? So I did. To…

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Catch Me Up: Permission to Be Imperfect

faith, freedom, grace, Spiritual Growth

You know what my favorite feature in the Bible App is? It’s the “catch me up” button. When I open the app and see I’m 5 days behind on a reading plan, it can be really discouraging. It’s easy for me to start spiraling into shame and guilt. I start to feel like I’m not doing enough spiritually, like I’m not a “good enough” Christian. And that can pretty quickly snowball into to overwhelm. I start thinking about all the things in my life I’m behind on, that I’m not doing “well enough” in. But one tap of the gear icon and “catch me up” shifts the dates of the plan forward so…

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I Love Jesus, But I Cuss A Little

faith, freedom, grace, Life Lessons, Spiritual Growth

The first time I saw that t-shirt I was offended.  Like any good Christian girl should be. And I immediately started judging the person on my facebook friends list who posted it.  Of course she would post something like that. The recently-divorced single mom whose status updates were littered with F-bombs on the regular.  She was a trainwreck, so it was natural a post like that would come from her. (Nevermind the shirt was true about me; but I don’t cuss “as bad as her”, and I would never admit it outloud or gasp! post it on social media!) I scrolled past the garment disgusted and with an eye roll, but that shirt…

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#RealTalk

freedom, grace, Life Lessons

Can we talk about something? Life is messy. Like….really messy.  #realtalk My life was like a fairytale, until it wasn’t anymore.  And I didn’t know how to handle that at all. I spent a lot of years angry and bitter at God. Today, my life doesn’t look anything like I dreamed it would, but I’m learning to love the way it looks now. I started out polished and perfect (at least pretending to be) and knowing all the answers but came out the other side of the lowest pit of my life real and raw and vulnerable, asking “Now What?”. I met and fell wildly in love with Grace – you might know Him…

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Unfinished: Waiting for What’s Next

faith, freedom, grace, Spiritual Growth, Success & Motivation

“Not scared to say it, I used to be the one Preachin’ it to you, that you could overcome I still believe it, but it ain’t easy ‘Cause that world I painted, where things just all work out It started changing and I started having doubts And it got me so down…” -Mandisa, Unfinished Turns out Mandisa and I are practically the same person.  Who knew? Remember last month when I wrote to you about What to do with the Death of a Dream?  It’s not that I was being disingenuous at that time, but I have a confession: The reason I felt compelled to share that message with you is because I…

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Wherever You Go, There You Are: How to Stop Running and Start Facing Life’s Challenges

faith, freedom, grace, Guest Blogs, Life Lessons, marriage, second marriage, Spiritual Growth

“Wherever you go, there you are.” That simple, yet profound, quote is one of my favorites.  It plainly illustrates the truth that you can’t outrun your problems.  No matter how far you go or how hard you try.  Wherever you go, you will be there and until you deal with you, your problems won’t go away. When I was working on my book, I had a vision for the second half to be a collection of stories from other people who had also been through what I called a “Now What? Moment”.  A moment when everything in your life comes crashing down around you and you stare hopelessly at the sky asking, “Now…

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Chain Breaker

faith, freedom

If you’ve got pain, He’s a pain taker If you feel lost, He’s a way maker If you need freedom, saving, He’s a prison-shaking Savior If you’ve got chains, He’s a chain breaker. -Zach Williams, Chain Breaker Every Thursday night that I’m not out of town for work, I get the opportunity to volunteer in the senior high ministry at my church.  And every week when I walk out of that room I feel overwhelmed with a sense of gratitude, awe and wonder. Gratitude that I get to be a small part in these young adult’s lives, at such an impressionable and vulnerable age.  The things they are learning about themselves and the…

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The Other Brother

faith, freedom, grace, Life Lessons

I can pinpoint the exact season(s) in my life when I have been the prodigal. The rest of the time, I have been really, really good at being the other brother. Feeling like I deserve things because I’m “the good one”, the responsible one; I follow the rules, I make good grades, I make good decisions. I’m REALLY good at being good. But notice the character for whom the story is written. The reason it’s recorded in history. It’s called “the parable of the lost son”, not “the parable of the really good son”. God LOVES the prodigals. They bring Him so much joy! He loves to celebrate them!  It’s not that He…

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