Life Lessons

Are You There God? It’s Me Rachel

faith, Life Lessons, Spiritual Growth

“Tell them to go home and flourish in their planting, in the place where I have planted them, and if they do, they’ll change the world.” – Bobbie Houston  It was a sweltering Friday in July, but I was inside. I was sitting just outside of a hotel meeting room door anxiously waiting for my name to be called. It was my first writer’s conference and I had scored one of the few, coveted appointment slots with a publisher; during which I would pitch my book in hopes they would offer me a contract. I sat quietly, legs crossed at the ankles, my hands in my lap resting on top of the three…

Continue reading →

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…

Continue reading →

God Will Never Give You Someone Else’s Husband

Life Lessons, marriage, relationships, second marriage

A friend of mine recently posted this image on Facebook and I was torn by it. While I wholeheartedly agree with its truthful message, I was a little jarred by its delivery. In my past life, I would have reposted the image with hearty agreement, and all the judgment and condemnation I could muster to go along with it. (Note: I’m not criticizing the poster for posting. I don’t know her story. Maybe there’s a woman pursuing her husband right now, and these words are coming from a fragile, threatened heart? I’m just saying in my past life, I would have clicked “post” from a place of self-righteous pride.) But for me today,…

Continue reading →

#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…

Continue reading →

What to do with the Death of a Dream

Life Lessons, Success & Motivation

Have you ever given up on a dream? Has life ever beaten you up or beaten you down so badly, you felt it was pointless to believe in a better or different future? In my book Now What? A Story of Broken Dreams and the God Who Restores Them, I talk about how after my divorce in 2011, I felt like my life was ruined. Like I had blown my chance at the dream life I pictured in my head, by mistakenly marrying the wrong person, and would just have to settle for whatever second-rate existence I could get from thereon. A divorce is not only the death of a relationship, but the…

Continue reading →

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…

Continue reading →

4 Things You Need to Know Before You Start Blogging

faith, Life Lessons, Success & Motivation

Have you ever thought about starting a blog? I toyed with the idea once or twice myself before I finally did. As much as I love to write, I hate blogs.  Everything about them.  My thoughts are, who has time to read blogs? …much less keep up with writing one?  AmIRight? Plus, there are just so many out there already!  As of 2013, there were 152 million blogs on the internet. [1]  As of 2:46pm on Feb 17th, 2017 there had already been 2.9 million blog posts posted THAT DAY alone.[2] I figured if I did ever start one, I would make it about two months and never remember to post again.  Fizzle…

Continue reading →

What to Do Before You’re Ready

Life Lessons, Success & Motivation

“Do everything before you’re ready.” -Jodie Fox, lawyer turned entrepreneur, co-founder of shoes of prey I read this quote as I finally began #therechargechallenge. (A guided reflection/goal-setting program hosted by The Rising Tide Society on instagram) Ironically, as I was reading the introduction in the guide, I was already thinking about my big takeaway from this year being: the year that I finally released my book was the year I was least prepared for it. And then I read those words above and laughed at the irony. This is EXACTLY what the last two years has been about for me. On my journey to publishing, I learned that I needed a platform to…

Continue reading →

Hover Boards and House Shopping

faith, grace, Life Lessons, Spiritual Growth

[Clayton is the 9 year old boy who lives in my house with his mom, Jenny.] Last night, Clayton came home from his dad’s house, where he had been since our “Christmas morning” celebration on the 24th.  He left ecstatic about all the incredible gifts Santa brought him – books and DVDs, video games, a razor scooter, a hover board, even his very own .22 rifle! When he came home from his dad’s all he talked about was how much better the hover board he got there was than the one he got at our house.  This hover board is so much smaller than the one I got at my dad’s house.  The…

Continue reading →

Find Your Reset Button

Life Lessons, Success & Motivation

Earlier this month, while sitting across the table from a beautiful 16 year old, I recognized the familiar look of overwhelmed-ness on her face and in her tone that I have felt myself for most of the last 18 months. She told me about changing schools so now she’s in a vocational program in addition to her normal school load, she is in the Army Junior ROTC program, and on top of all that is interviewing for other jobs. We talked about other things, but in between each conversation topic I would see her sigh heavily – something I catch myself doing a lot – and could watch her mind reeling with all…

Continue reading →