Rachel Dawn 2 grace, Life Lessons, marriage, relationships, second marriage, Spiritual Growth
Twelve years ago – on this very day (as Shutterfly so aptly reminded me) – I was saying “I do” for the first time in my life. I was young, naïve, blissfully ignorant…. And so, so, so misinformed. I meant the words I said with all of my 21-year-old heart, but I was ill-equipped to […]
Rachel Dawn 4 grace, marriage, relationships, second marriage, Spiritual Growth
Earlier this Spring, my husband took a group of high school guys to an event our church coordinates called “MAN CAMP“. He left Friday morning before I woke up, so when I came into the kitchen to fix myself breakfast, I found a note waiting for me. It started with “Morning Rach! A few things…” […]
Rachel Dawn 2 Life Lessons, marriage, relationships, second marriage adultery, affair
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 […]
Rachel Dawn 1 marriage, relationships, second marriage
I remember the first time I went grocery shopping alone as my marriage was disintegrating. Grocery shopping was something we had always done together. I was walking the aisles feeling pretty sorry for myself already when suddenly the PA system starts playing some 98 Degrees love song that sparked a memory of the beginning of […]
Rachel Dawn 0 marriage, relationships, second marriage
Love. That’s the theme of the entire month of February. But for upwards of 50% of the population of the U.S., that’s not a theme worth celebrating. This month only serves as a painful reminder of heartaches and disenchantment from the Disney fairy-tale dream they were promised by today’s culture. My divorce papers were served […]
Rachel Dawn 0 Life Lessons, relationships big brother, brother, growing up, growth, letter to brother, letter to child, letter to son, life lessons, little sister, love, nephew, niece, sibling relationships, siblings, sister
A few weeks ago, I sat watching my niece and nephew play together. I smiled and felt a sting of pain simultaneously as I watched the way she looked at him. She never left his side; she needed to be everywhere he was, doing everything he was doing, at every moment. And to use an […]
Rachel Dawn 0 marriage, relationships, Spiritual Growth 1 corinthians 13, 1st corinthians, affirmations, choices, choose, choosing, cling to your confession, confessions, daily decisions, faith, happy, happy marriage, love, marriage, positive affirmations, positive confessions, scripture, shower cling, speak life, speaking, speaking life, success, successful marriage
This week a professional friend/acquaintance told me “you have one of the happiest marriages I’ve ever seen on Facebook.” While I appreciate what he said, his comment in and of itself was a can of worms. I mean, we are all guilty of using our Social Media pages to portray the “highlight reel” of our […]
Rachel Dawn 0 faith, Life Lessons, marriage, relationships anger, bitterness, give up, hope, hopelessness, out, pain, stay, try
I have personally experienced the deep, agonizing pain of hopelessness in a marriage. Riding the merry-go-round of blame and shame and anger and bitterness. Being too exhausted to even try anymore. Feeling like the only solution is out. That the ONLY possible way either one of you can be happy is to leave and start […]
Rachel Dawn 2 Life Lessons, marriage, relationships, second marriage, Spiritual Growth divorce, encouragement, failure, music, negative thoughts
Recently, I received a brokenhearted email from a friend. Her email read simply, “Today, I am struggling with feeling like a failure as a wife”. My heart wretched inside me. In a time and place not so long ago, I had uttered those exact words. I struggled with that exact thought in my own mind. […]
Rachel Dawn 1 marriage, relationships busy, forgiveness, freedom, grace, Jesus, life, life changes, life lessons, marriage, overwhelmed, perspective, prayer, prayer life, relationships, spiritual growth, stress
It’s funny, in the last few weeks there have been so many things going on in our life – MAJOR life changes: my husband quit his job and now works from home, I started a professional speaking career outside my current job, my editor got back to me with all the changes I need to […]