Pink Bows & Stilettos

Luke 8:1-3 (NLT) 8 Soon afterward Jesus began a tour of the nearby towns and villages, preaching and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom of God. He took his twelve disciples with him, 2 along with some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases. Among them were Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons; 3 Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s business manager; Susanna; and many others who were contributing from their own resources to support Jesus and his disciples. Jesus broke down cultural norms and invited women to follow him - women that the religious people of his time may have looked down upon. These were the ones he called and used for a mighty purpose. And he called them BY NAME at a time when women were not deemed worthy to even be mentioned in historic literature. Ladies, we are called with a purpose by a God who knows our faults and our past and our names. We are valuable to Him.

The last few weeks have been met with sleepless nights. My daughter is in this phase where she gets up in the middle of night singing, talking to her stuffed animals and just all together being a toddler. Now, I wasn't prepared for this phase of life; however, I don't think anything can prepare you for this monster trapped in the itty bitty body of cuteness. She often makes me feel like a bad mother just by being a toddler. On Thanksgiving, she decided that she would hit me in the face for the first time - in front of my entire family. I was in shock so I just stared at her in disbelief. My dad spanked her hand, which doesn't even provoke much of a reaction except an angry yell, followed by a whimper that leads up to another hit the face for mommy. The second hit sort of shook me from my mannequin pose and told her, "No, no!" That actually affected her quite a bit more. She cried, in fact. On Thanksgiving, in front of all of my family, while still in my arms...

Today I participated in a webinar about "Growth Mindsets". Essentially, if you believe that you (and others) can do anything if you work hard enough, then you have a "growth mindset". The theory revolves around mentorship and modeling this in your life. One of the resources provided centered around reframing mistakes. The text explained how young people can often feel like mistakes they make are "catastrophic". I can still remember that one of my most embarrassing moments in grade school was based on a silly little oral reading error. To sum it up, I pronounced the silent "s" in "Arkansas". Which means, yes, I swore. Out loud. In front of the entire class and my teacher. I was mortified. Growing up in a more impoverished city, I had a lower quality education. However, I took advantage of all opportunities and read everything I could get my hands on. Jane Austen was (and still is) my very favorite author. I used to read British c...

I just began a new job. Newness is not something uncommon to me, but I am feeling a little shaken out of the comfortable situation I maintained over the past four years. "This is good for me" I repeat over and over again. And I have to say, I have never been happier at a job. But each day, I am learning there is something else I don't know. I wonder why it is that as women we believe that we must be the experts, whether it is the expert mother, the expert housekeeper or the expert professional. It is as if these titles define who we are and so we must be the very best. And what's worse is that we aren't just trying OUR best, we are competing against our friends or celebrities that we follow on Instagram. You know, those perfect moms who do everything organic and their craft times are on point. Or maybe that business owner on LinkedIn who perfectly balances her financial statements in one hand and a toddler in the other. How does she do it? And we feel gu...