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I’ve been on a long quest to feel good and function at my best, not just so I can enjoy everyday life, but so I can have the strength and energy I need to accomplish all God has called me to do.

In my health journey, I’ve learned about environmental toxins and the harmful effects they can have on our bodies. Sadly, many of these toxins can be found in personal care products…

I’ve been on a long quest to feel good and function at my best, not just so I can enjoy everyday life, but so I can have the strength and energy I need to accomplish all God has called me to do.

In my health journey, I’ve learned about environmental toxins and the harmful effects they can have on our bodies. Sadly, many of these toxins can be found in personal care products…

Last spring, I visited a friend in California. I live in Alaska, so it took a couple plane rides and a few hours of driving to get to her. Before I arrived, I asked for her address and directions to her house. With my course clearly mapped out, I was able to find her house without a problem.

But what if, when I asked how to get her house, my friend had simply said, “It’s in California”?

Our cold winter has finally come to an end, and, with temperatures here in Fairbanks inching into the 50s, I’ve been opening the windows and drinking coffee out on the deck (🎉 yay!).

Last night, I took a short stroll down the driveway after dinner, just to get some fresh air. It was so refreshing! As I made my way back inside, I marveled at how something as simple as fresh air can make you feel so good…

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that I used to write mean things about myself in my journal. This week, I decided to get really real and share a few actual quotes.

So (deep breath), here’s a peek at what my 15-year-old self was saying:

“Why am I like this…?”

As a child, Amy Carmichael was bitterly disappointed by her brown eyes. She so longed for blue eyes that she prayed repeatedly that God would change her eyes from brown to blue. To her dismay, He didn’t.

But, years later, Amy developed a newfound appreciation for how God created her when she became a missionary to India. There, Amy worked to rescue young girls who were enslaved as temple prostitutes…

I used to write mean things about myself in my journal. Mostly, it had to do with dislike for my appearance. I look like Carina, and, deep down, I believed that wasn’t okay. I thought I should look like the models splashed across magazine covers and the movies stars on TV. It wasn’t hard to see all the ways I didn’t measure up, and, somehow, I thought that body bashing would magically transform me into what I wished I could be…

Not long ago, I was driving down the road on a bright winter day when movement on the shoulder ahead caught my eye. At first I thought it might be a fox. I slowed down to take a look and quickly realized that the animal was too big to be a fox. Was it a dog…? As it trotted across the road, my heart jumped. I saw, to my shock, that it was a lynx!

I’m sure my eyes were bulging like a startled pug’s. I’ve never seen a wild lynx, and I had long been asking God to let me see one of these stealthy forest cats…

I grew up knowing about God’s love. My pastors preached about it at church, my teachers taught about it at school, and I read about it in my Bible. But I haven’t always felt it.

In my late teens and early twenties, I struggled with the disconnect between my knowledge of God’s love and my experience of it. I started talking to God about how I felt (or rather didn’t feel) and I began praying to feel His love more…

Happy February, ladies! I don’t know about you, but I love the month of love! At a time when we’re still being battered by winter’s icy paw, Valentine’s brings so many cozy, good feelings. I love the warm pinks and reds, the luxurious chocolates, the cheerful flowers…

I love that the days are growing longer, and after months of weak winter sun, I can actually feel a bit of heat shining through my windows…

Every once in a while I get asked what steps I’ve taken to grow as a writer. After the most recent query, I realized that the things I’ve done to nurture my skills as a writer are applicable to many types of artistic endeavors: drawing, singing, playing the piano, woodworking, pottery, photography, calligraphy, sewing…You name it, these steps can probably help you hone your skills…

Despite being the dead of winter, January is one of my favorite months. The year lies before me as wide open as the creamy pages of my new calendar. My imagination is free to run wild. The air is full of newness, excitement, and possibilities.

I think one reason new beginnings are so exciting is that they almost always carry an element of creation…

I hope your New Year is off to a great start!

I feel like I’ve been in a post-Christmas whirlwind, but I think finding my way back to a more normal rhythm. :)

This week, instead of my normal blog post, I’m sharing an article I wrote that was published in my local newspaper…

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and are enjoying a wonderful New Year’s Eve (or New Year’s Day, depending on your time zone!)!

As I reflect on this past year, I see so many ways God has helped me, encouraged me, and showed His love to me and those around me…

During my first year as a counselor, a former professor invited me to her classroom to speak to her counseling students. She wanted me to share about what it was like to actually be working in the field. Near the end of our talk, one student gushed, “It must be so wonderful to finally be doing what you really love!”

I was at a loss for words….

I sat in the coffee shop debating my next step. I had already decided to go to graduate school. Now I just needed to decide what to study. Against the backdrop of café chatter and between sips of my Americano, I mulled over two options: a master’s in English or a master’s in counseling…

Have you ever had a pair of shoes that didn’t quite fit?

I once had a pair of adorable brown suede flats that I LOVED. They were super cute and went with just about everything. The problem was, they didn’t quite fit. The toe box was too narrow and squeezed my toes, while the back of the shoe had elastic embedded in the leather that bit into my heel, leaving bright red stripes. Still, I was determined to wear them…

 What can help you have

• A stronger immune system

• Increased quality and quantity of sleep

• Decreased feelings of loneliness

• Better relationships, including more feelings of connection and generosity

• A better sense of self-worth

• More feelings of  happiness and joy

• More resistance to stress

• Less pain

• And greater life satisfaction? …

Do you ever wish God would appear to you in a vision and explain with perfect clarity what your calling is?

I can relate. Over the years, there have been many times I wished that my direction was more clear cut. But my path to understanding my calling has been more like a meandering river than perfectly straight railroad tracks leading from point A to point B.

Yet, in spite of all the meandering, there have been moments of clarity and even epiphany.

Today, I’m sharing a bit of my story…

Do you ever feel like you don’t have much to offer? Do you sometimes look at other people and feel like your talents pale in comparison?

Most of us have probably had at least a few days when we’ve felt discouraged about ourselves. Days when we’ve questioned our value and purpose. Maybe we’ve even wondered what God, or others, could ever see in us…

Our state bird here in Alaska is the willow ptarmigan. I think they are so adorable with their kind, watchful eyes and their legs and feet covered in feathers, like little built in bird snowpants.

They also have the wonderful ability to change color with the season. They are snow white in the winter and brown in the summer. And in the spring and fall…well, they’re in between…

Today I’m celebrating a milestone: the one year anniversary of launching my website and starting this blog!

One of the beautiful things about milestones is that they’re an opportunity to reflect on where we’ve been and where we’re going. (The term milestone actually comes from ancient Rome, where the Romans used actual stones to mark the miles along highways. A traveler could both see how far they’d come along the road as well as how much farther they had to go to their destination.)…

Wherever I went, the smell followed. It was spicy and earthy, like patchouli oil. Though I was certain I hadn’t used any patchouli scented products that morning, after a bit of sniffing, I confirmed the scent was definitely coming from me.

As I pondered how the patchouli could have gotten there, I remembered that earlier in the day I’d hugged a friend, and I realized her fragrance had transferred to me through our embrace.

We tend to become like the people we spend time with. The closer the association, the more we pick up another’s mannerisms, patterns of speech, eating habits and even smell…

Have you noticed how fruits and vegetables are so much better when bought in season?

Here in Fairbanks, fall is the only time of year to get freshly harvested local carrots. They are so bright, crispy, and deliciously sweet they seem to be a different vegetable altogether than the imported variety we get the rest of the year.

And if I want squash, I need to get my fill now, because come March, though there may be a few lingering in grocery bins, they’ll be dry and shriveled.

I know not to buy summer fruits like tomatoes in December because they’ll taste like nothing, and if I want non-mealy nectarines I’ll need to wait until June.

Depending on where we live, seasons affect not just what we eat but often where we focus our time and energy as well…

Do you want to spend more time in God’s Word, but life keeps interrupting? The phone rings, the dog gets into the trash, a neighbor stops by unexpectedly…

In the busyness of life, it can be challenge to carve out quiet time. Yet, the reality remains that nourishing ourselves with God’s Word is vital to growing in faith and relationship with Him.

The good news is you don’t necessarily have to be sitting down with your Bible and a cup of tea in order to get a good dose of Scripture…

Life is busy. The list of of every day commitments and necessities goes on and on: phone calls to make, clothes to launder, church events to attend. There are baby showers, doctor appointments, and birthday parties. Dishes to wash, snow to shovel, groceries to buy…

Still, in midst of it all, I rarely miss a meal…

It's a gorgeous September day. The birch trees around my house are just starting to turn golden, and the first leaves are beginning to fall, settling on the grass as softly as feathers. Bright sunshine glows through the branches, flickering like an autumn campfire, and through the open window I can hear one my favorite sounds: the rustle of wind in leaves.

There is something so soothing about the sound of wind-tussled trees, like the caress of ocean waves on soft sand. There’s something timeless and eternal about it, something holy…

Do you have a Bible verse that is particularly close to your heart? One that you aspire to live by and live up to?

One of my favorites is Jeremiah 17:7-8:

But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him.  They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit. (NIV)

I love this passage because it taps into some of my deepest values and topics I’m passionate about…

One sunny morning last summer, I found myself in a big hurry to leave my house.

I had an appointment with myself at the coffee shop to write, and I was determined to arrive before the lunch rush. Like a cat chasing a laser pointer, I darted around collecting this and that. As I raced up the stairs to get one last thing, I could feel my heart pumping and the unpleasant buzz of adrenaline coursing through my limbs.

But it wasn’t until I stepped out of my car at the coffee shop that I realized just how hurried I had been…