Featured

8 Things Moms Should Say to Raise Strong Kids

Say These 8 Phrases to Raise Strong Kids

By / Motherhood, Featured

In their most powerful form, words have the ability to shape one’s character, self-esteem, and relationships. They can impact us for better or worse for the rest of our lives. As moms, our words in particular shape our children, and the longer my motherhood journey continues, the more I discover this to be true. I’ve witnessed the positive impact of my words—evidenced by my girls’ grins, hugs, and outward joy—as well as the pain that my words can illicit, spoken in the moments of impatience or anger. Both can have a lingering effect. If you’re like me and looking to add more life-giving phrases to your everyday vernacular, here are 8 things (outside of “I love you”) you should consider saying to […]

Say These 8 Phrases to Raise Strong Kids Read More »

Trusting God in the Aftermath of Hurricane Helene

By / Faith, Featured

The Wednesday before Helene hit Florida’s Big Bend, I drove to Florida’s east coast to meet up with old college friends. Call us crazy, but we didn’t want to miss our annual beach trip–or lose the vacay dollars we’d already spent. Besides, we figured being tucked away in the most northeastern part of the state would prove to be the safest place from which to watch the weather. Turns out, we were right. Hurricane Helene Approaching Except for the shaking of storm shutters and rain throughout the night, we knew nothing of the terror that would hit those in Helene’s path during the wee hours Friday. Unlike them, we woke to blue skies and sunshine and made a day of it at

Trusting God in the Aftermath of Hurricane Helene Read More »

Bible Verses From The Grit and Grace Team on Anxiety

Bible Verses on Anxiety from The Grit and Grace Team

By / Faith, Featured

We all face anxiety, some more than others. It’s part of being human. So, what do you do when fear strikes? When a thought of the unknown future taunts even the most confident fiber of your being? The ladies at The Grit and Grace Project share some of their own worries and anxieties and the Bible verses that bring them peace. Take heart, friends, and may you be comforted to know that He’s always there. Here are some verses for comfort: Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Matthew 6:34 We are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do. We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons,

Bible Verses on Anxiety from The Grit and Grace Team Read More »

This Is How to Use Your Gifts to Build Your Business

This Is How to Use Your Talents to Build Your Business

By / Work & Money, Featured, Life & Culture

Recently, I learned something that absolutely shocked me: the average American spends 90,000 hours at work over the course of their lifetime. That’s more than 10 whole years of your one and only life—at work! If you love your job, maybe that doesn’t seem like much of a sacrifice. But if you’re among the 70% of Americans who report being unhappy at work, that’s a whole lot of precious time wasted. But here’s the good news: it doesn’t have to be that way. Imagine what it would be like to work for yourself. To set your own hours, work from home, earn an extra income for your family, and help people by using your gifts! Sound too good to be true? Well,

This Is How to Use Your Talents to Build Your Business Read More »

women get better with age and this is why

Women Get Better With Age, and This Is Why

By / Life & Culture, Featured

We stood in a little, clustered semi-circle. Three women, not quite yet friends, but acquaintances testing the waters of friendship with tentative toes. Asking ourselves silently, “Will this work? Will she accept me for me? Could we possibly become friends?” We were waiting for our daughters to get out of gymnastics, a captive time frame, one where there is no easy escape if the conversation turns south or gets awkward. At least not until practice is over. So caution was taken, nothing overly controversial was broached, nothing daring or too revealing. We were still feeling each other out, waiting to see if our weirdness matched up with one another. It’s dangerous waters when you’re making new friends as an adult. Somehow, though,

Women Get Better With Age, and This Is Why Read More »

Overcoming Shame from Abuse in a Grit and Grace Life

By / Purpose, Featured

If you were a victim of child abuse or neglect like me, you very likely have experienced or do experience some level of shame. In my case, it plagued me for many years, yet I had no idea what it even was. Shame from abuse is hard to pin down because it assumes many forms. But it has the same message. It tells us that we are inferior, a mistake, fundamentally flawed. Shame Is Not the Same as Guilt Shame focuses on self. Guilt focuses on behavior. Shame says that “I am bad.” Guilt says that “I did something bad.” Instead of saying “I made a mistake,” a person who experiences shame says that “I am a mistake.” Think of shame as

Overcoming Shame from Abuse in a Grit and Grace Life Read More »

Announcing Smart Living In Small Bites Guidebooks!

By / Life & Culture, Featured

Do you ever wish you had a guidebook for life’s challenges? Challenges that feel insurmountable, and you would love guidance from someone who has already traversed the road you find yourself on? Something easy to read that allows you to feel comfortable with your hurts, feelings, and thoughts? We created those books in the Smart Living in Small Bites series. The first four are on sale now in paperback and Amazon Kindle eBook. Hard Marriage, Suicide Loss, Anxiety Struggles, and Past Sexual Abuse are the first of the subjects we are speaking to. Our writers, just like you, have faced challenges with nowhere to turn. This shared experience led us to help others facing what we had already faced. Each book in the

Announcing Smart Living In Small Bites Guidebooks! Read More »

My Dad's Suicide and the Hole in My Heart

My Dad’s Suicide and the Hole in My Heart

By / HerStory, Featured, Life & Culture

I knew my father was having a difficult time in life. It was so very unlike this man, whose smile warmed the hearts of perfect strangers, to see that smile so infrequently. But at the age of 50, having left his position as an accountant, he could not find a job in his field. There were challenges he was facing that he kept to himself, and the depth of depression that descended upon him was not fully known to those who loved him. That is until the day my mother found him in the garage having taken his life. My father had committed suicide. I was a 23-year-old newlywed living in Nashville, Tennessee when I received the call. This was my daddy.

My Dad’s Suicide and the Hole in My Heart Read More »

Scroll to Top