Personal Growth | Grit and Grace Life

Have a Dream You Keep Putting Off? Here’s How to Make It Happen

What have you always wanted to do? What do you dream about doing that you dismiss, put off, or tell yourself that it can’t happen now or you just have to wait until the time is right? Everyone has a dream. Everyone. I don’t care if you are 100 years old. I know you have one. If you think you don’t, you are lying to yourself. I’m just being honest here. I know that we are often too self-critical, but there are parts of our lives where we just flat out lie to ourselves, keeping us from living the life we were designed to live. Our words are the most powerful tool we humans have. So powerful that they can destroy generations—yes, […]

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To the Christian Woman With a Crooked Past

By Meaghan Dawson / Faith

As I sat in that stuffy, little room listening to the woman on stage, I looked around at the other women—some nodding along, some with eyes glistening with unshed tears—all with rapt attention. I listened to her testimony, heard her words, walked through her journey with the Lord. And with a bitter inward sigh, I thought to myself, “That’s it? That’s the best you’ve got?” Her story, it was beautiful. Her faith, it was unwavering and strong through the peaks and valleys of her life. I should have felt inspired by her testimony. I knew it took courage and strength for her to sit up there, in front of her peers, and bare her soul in words as personal as any words

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Start Reaching Your Goals in Just 15 Minutes

By Ashby Duval / Life & Culture

Anyone else out there overwhelmed? Or exhausted? How are those goals coming? Oh, you’re not 20 pounds lighter or speaking Mandarin fluently? Yeah, me neither. Most days I wake up and my to-do list comes at me like a tidal wave. Pray more, exercise more, drink more water, eat more vegetables, and stop eating anything fun. Serve more. Make more. Save more. Be Superwife. Be Supermom. Be Super Business Woman. Be superhuman. The only problem with all of this is that we are human. We have limits. Most days my limitations frustrate me to no end. There just aren’t enough hours in the day (or coffee in the pot) to achieve everything. To make matters worse, we get a panoramic view of all

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100 Things a Grit and Grace Woman Believes

By The Grit and Grace Team / Life & Culture

Today, Strong women (and those who want to be) possess two significant life pillars. One is grit, which determines that life challenges will not defeat or define us. The other is grace which gives kindness to ourselves and others even when it’s hard. But to do that well, we need to know what we believe. The writers at Grit and Grace Life share 100 things that they have learned you can count on as a woman of grit and grace. 100 Truths for Every Strong Woman: 1. Life’s short—buy the shoes and eat the dessert. 2. This too shall pass. 3. Avoid avoidance. 4. Talk less, say more. 5. Strive for progress, not perfection. 6. When nothing goes right, go left. 7.

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Finding Purpose When Another Door Closes

By Allison McCormick / Purpose

It was a Friday afternoon, long after the rest of the staff had left. The celebration was over and the building was still and quiet. I walked to my office and leaned against the doorway, cardboard box in hand. I thought about the years spent within these four walls, the conversations, the accomplishments, and the many challenges. A career ended far too soon. I spent the next few minutes packing years’ worth of memories into the box, glanced fondly out the window, walked out the office, down the hallway, and out the building—the front door closing behind me. I can vividly remember the feeling of cold air hitting my face as I stepped off the sidewalk. It was November, a fitting month

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All the Ways Gratitude Is the Game Changer You Need

By Rachel Hagstrom / Faith

Potentially, summer can be a time to recalibrate after a full school year or seize opportunities for a mid-year inventory on the goals set at the first of the year. For some of us, the slower daily rhythms can allow more space for processing and reflection. Others of us try to find ways to sift through the nuances and recent events of life despite barreling forward with busy schedules. As is typical of life, the harder moments have inched their way into all that’s good and pleasant, asserting their existence—making sure I won’t evade their ability to discourage. The past several years of my life have been a beautiful mess: a co-mingling of blessings and hardship that has often left me feeling

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What Is the Magic of the Snowball Effect?

By Rachel Hagstrom / Purpose

Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things. —Robert Brault Years ago, I was scheduled on a red eye from Hawaii to Houston. Shortly after I sat down in my seat, a middle-aged Japanese woman plopped down in the empty seat to my left. “Hello,” I smiled at her before sliding my headphones over my ears, the universal signal that I wasn’t up for conversing. It was close to midnight, after all. But the woman started engaging with me anyway. Not wanting to be rude, I took my headphones off and answered her questions while our plane barreled down the runway. Pretty soon, we were describing what our days consisted of and

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When You Go All in on the Life Hand You’ve Been Dealt

By Amber Koehn / Faith

“It’s not about the cards you’ve been dealt, but how you play the hand.” -Randy Pausch Hello. My name is Amber. I love God, my family, coffee, sports, and a great lip gloss. I have received accolades and awards for my academics, music, athletics, and writing. I have a wonderful husband and four beautiful girls who make me proud every day. My friends are some of the best, and I laugh daily. On the surface, I’ve been dealt all aces. But underneath the surface, the cards tell a different story. My name is Amber. I also battle depression and grief. I overreact in situations that upset me, and my mind races and imagines scenarios way beyond reality. I have struggled with my weight

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The 6 Qualities That Make a Female Leader Strong

By Jenni Catron / Work & Money, Life & Culture

It is no surprise that “strong” is a word we use to describe women who have risen to positions of leadership. Males and females alike recognize that women in positions of power must be strong in order to survive the pressure cooker, which results in only 6.4% of women in Fortune 500 CEO positions.1 A stat, by the way, is up over 50% from 2016 and has tripled since 2008. The number of women holding these upper-echelon positions of power is troubling, considering that nearly 40% of MBA students are female.2 We start strong, but where do we get squeezed out? I won’t begin to explain (or try to understand) all the reasons why the numbers thin so dramatically the closer we get

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How Do I Know What Defines Me?

By Darlene Brock / Purpose, Best Of

I am single. I am widowed. I am married. I am divorced. I am a mom. I have no children. I am a career woman. I stay at home. I am an artist. I am a cancer survivor. I have a doctorate. I finished high school. Are these really who we are? Or are they merely part of our journey, a title, or life experience that will demonstrate what we are made of? I, my friend, will passionately argue for the latter. In my 20s, I was a booking agent for musicians when I married my boss. No, it was not one of those torrid affairs in the workplace that you would read or hear about over your lunch break. He was

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This Is My New Exercise Regimen for My Faith

By Amy Saxby / Faith

I love new beginnings. I’m a girl who enjoys looking back, reflecting, evaluating, and dreaming for the future. For me, a new day, season or year means a new opportunity to clean out the old, purge clutter, refocus, slow down, set goals, and reflect on what God has done in my life. I’m the nerdy girl who loves to turn the calendar page to a new month. I love the newness and blank slate it brings, representing a fresh start. Recently, I felt a need to start a new exercise regime. Not a physical, let’s-get-fit exercise, but a new mental and spiritual regime I am trying to practice and embrace. I have noticed lately that I allow many of my emotions to

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5 Things You Need to Quit Right Now

By Ashley Johnson / Purpose, Health & Beauty

I was scrolling through Instagram the other day and came across a quote that said: 5 Things to Quit Right Now: 1. Trying to please everyone. 2. Fearing change. 3. Living in the past. 4. Putting yourself down. 5. Overthinking. That’s actually pretty good advice, I thought. So I took a screenshot of it and decided to take it to heart. Here’s why I think we should quit each thing on that list: 1. Trying to please everyone. It’s simply impossible, and if you live your life seriously trying to accomplish this goal, you’ll run yourself ragged… And probably feel like a failure, because it’s simply unachievable. Don’t do that to yourself. Be kind, respectful, and do your best to love your neighbor

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5 Ways I Learned to Love My Middle-Aged Body

By Meaghan Dawson / Life & Culture, Best Of

The other day, as I was participating in my daily scroll on social media, a Facebook memory popped up on my feed. It was a heartwarming throwback of me and my youngest when she was just a baby. I looked tired, yes, but also had that new-mom glow as I held my daughter in her “Baby’s First Christmas” outfit. She was three months old and this was, sadly, quite a few years ago. I remember that picture well. We were at my in-laws’ house after church, and it was the first time I had gotten “dressed up” since giving birth. And I remember being wildly insecure about my new, mom-of-three body. I felt frumpy, overweight, and gross. I didn’t want to go,

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Want to Change Your Life? Start Building Something New

By Rachel Hagstrom / Purpose

“The secret of change is to focus all your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new.”—Socrates (a character in Way of the Peaceful Warrior: A Book That Changes Lives by Dan Millman) For the record, the words above weren’t penned by the philosopher Socrates, but rather by a character with the same name in a book I have not yet read. I stopped scrolling when I came across the quote on my Instagram, half-hoped it indeed was passed down by the Greek classic, but regardless, instantly liked it—yet with strings attached. The part of me that rebels against the meaning of the words is the same part of me that finds value in taking an honest inventory of

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I Found Freedom After Sharing My Painful Story

By Eve DeBardeleben Roebuck / Faith

What do you do when one of your best college friends moves to the beach? You round up the rest of the gang and head down to see her. This is just what we’ve done for the last several years, and it’s come in the nick of time for some whose lives are wearing thin. While we’re often in touch with updates and prayers, getting together yearly at Fernandina Beach as we’ve just done last week is the highlight. We spend evenings outside after supper, catching up as the sun goes down. One night, there was such an astonishing sunset, no one thought to snap a photo. We gaped instead. Later, when the moon rose and the clouds parted and the light

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Ask Dr. Zoe – How Can I Get a Promotion at Work?

By Dr. Zoe / Ask Dr. Zoe

‘Want a Promotion’ Asked: One of my goals for this year is to get a promotion. What’s the number one thing I can do to get noticed at work and prove to my boss he should promote me? I hate talking about myself but I know I’m good at my job and I’m valued in the workplace. Dr. Zoe Answered: I love working with women to help them get promotions! What better time than the new year to go after that promotion! There isn’t just one main thing that can lead to the promotion of your dreams. It’s a combination of things. So, I will give you the top ones: The most important thing to understand is that your value at work

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When Life Changes, Does Your Purpose Change, Too?

By Marlys Johnson Lawry / Purpose, Audio Articles

(Listen to the audio version of this article here.) An old, wooden door with a torn screen and chipped paint once graced our front porch. A birch basket of pinecones sat on a red chair in front of the door, and a “Welcome” sign hung from the top corner. The screen door that once slapped happily against the frame of a tired, old farmhouse had been repurposed into porch art. It received a few comments through the years, not all of them complimentary. One friend went so far as to offer to repair the screen door. (It seems that some people don’t appreciate good art when they see it.) What if you once knew what your purpose was? And what if you

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