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An open letter to parents from someone who works with kids of all ages...

 Before I get started, here is some background information about me. I'm 24, single, grew up with one younger sibling, and I work with kids grades 1-12th in an Afterschool program. Throughout my whole life, I've been around younger kids and have helped out with those younger than me in several different roles.  What's been on my heart currently is a bit of heartache because I see so many kids, mostly preteen/teens, have an overall outlook of just not caring. I see so many young people not caring about what they say or do, especially to other people. I see them not care about any passions or hobbies. I see young people being self-focused and not motivated to participate in anything that doesn't have an immediate reward for themselves. It breaks my heart to see children and teens living this way and seeing the effect it has on those around them.  That being said, I want to encourage parents today to inspire their children to have passions and desires in life. To inspire t...
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Being Intentional with Others

Right now, we are in a season where it is difficult to be intentional with others, whether you're an introvert or an extravert. Today I want to share with you a few simple ways to be intentional with others. But first, why should we be intentional with others? God commands us to first love Him and second love others as ourselves. Scripture makes it clear that we are to care for and love one another. Hebrews 10:24-25 states, "And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near." God created us as relational beings and it is not good for us to isolate ourselves for too long. While we can't meet together in person and our calendars are looking barer, it is no excuse to neglect the people we would normally talk to on a regular basis. Here are a few simple ways to "meet together" and encourage one another i...
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Living Life with an Inner Critic

The Inner Critic- something very familiar if you are an enneagram type 1 like me. (If you don't know what the enneagram is, it is nine personality types and you can take a quiz here , but I recommend also studying the types and determining for yourself rather than blindly going off the quiz.) Criticism isn't bad as it can help you grow and improve and everyone knows the phrase "you are your own worst critic." However, the inner critic is different. The inner critic is much more than just a voice inside your head. It is constantly telling you to do more, say more, and be more. It is saying "eh you could be more perfect than that" and "oh that wasn't quite right, try again" after everything you do in life. You are constantly second-guessing yourself and have high self-expectations. High expectations can be good but they shouldn't be hard and harsh expectations. I started to recognize these expectations I put on myself a couple years ago...
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Stop Overthinking

Overthinking- something I think everyone is familiar with, especially if you are in a season of life where you need to make big decisions and you have a perfectionist personality. And if that's the case, I'm right there with you! One of my goals for 2020 has been to have more fun and take more risks. If you know me, my idea of fun is normally just having a girl's night in with a chick flick and junk food. While this is fun, there is so much more to enjoy in life and "risk" is barely in my vocabulary. Last year one of the riskiest, spontaneous things I did was order the flavor-of-the-day at Culver's without knowing what the flavor was until I pulled up to window two (shoutout to Carli for witnessing this hahah). So in 2020, I'm committing myself to try something new or do something spontaneous every month. In January, I went on a plane ride with my sister and her boyfriend who has his pilot's license. (This was something I would've done anyway b...
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Potter's Wheel Reflection

This post was recently summited for one of my assignments but I wanted to share my reflections on here as well. Here is a link to the video that I watched for this assignment. As I watched this video, I was brought back to my ceramics class in high school and I remembered how frustrating it can be while forming a clay pot. Sometimes it takes just the slightest move to knock it out of shape and you have to take the clay and start again. As I shifted my thinking to God as the potter and myself as the clay I was amazed at how strong and patient God is with us. We often get knocked out of place when we make poor decisions or as a result of the broken world we live in.  A recent example of a time in my life when I was knocked off and had to truth the Potter's hands and heart has been the season of life I'm still walking in. I've finished my undergrad degree and moved off-campus and the adjustment hasn't been the smoothest emotionally speaking. Don't get me wrong...
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Putting the Bible back into Bible study.

Too often in today's Bible studies do we take the "Bible" out of the study and place our own lives into the topic of discussion instead. We ask questions like "how can I improve?" or "what can I get out of this reading today?" We rarely ask "what can I learn about God today?" or "what does God want to teach me about him and his word?" It's time to put the Bible back into Bible study Now hear me out, think back to your last Bible study meeting or even daily/weekly devotional. Did you actually read scripture, from the actual Bible? Was the topic of study about God and who he is or was it about you and how you can live better as a Christian? First of all, I'm not saying these devotional books or Bible studies you are doing are bad or you can't learn how to live as a better Christian. These are good tools and its important to know how to live in a way the glorifies God well. But we also need to make sure we are reading s...
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Enough

Enough: "adequate for the want or need; in a quantity or degree that answers a purpose or satisfies a need or desire; sufficiently."* The word 'enough' is one that has stuck with me for the best several years because of my favorite Bible verse (Matthew 6:24). But it has become so much more than just a word for me. I tend to be a perfectionist and if you know anything about the enneagram I'm a type one for sure. I struggle with an inner critic and I thought this was normal until last year. When I started to learn that I had these subconscious expectations for myself and they were causing part of my anxiety and depression, a transformation began to take place. I started to learn what it looks like to truly trust God and learn to be ok with who I am. This is not something I have perfected by any means. In fact, this past week or so I've been struggling with it more again. I kept thinking to myself, "Where is all this stress coming from?" and ...
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