A Bible, a pen, a notebook, and a dictionary app.

Are you using these the right way?

And as I walked by people, I thought about them without thinking about it. I talked to God about the people I walked past and asked Him how I could pray for them. I prayed about how to be a more encouraging wife.

I. Had. Been. TRYING. To. Do. These. Things. For. Months.

And continuously getting frustrated and confused. “Why was I having to FORCE all of this?”

And as I’m twisting my hair, realizing I have probably missed half of the song, the Holy Spirit said, “This is why you’re overwhelmed. Because of what you’re doing. You’re starting well and coming to me with good intentions but not all of your attention.”

I probably flirted with it prior to parenting, but being a mom has made it a permanent idol…

Did you see that orange pen?

That is me. Residing in the space between Malachi and Matthew. That’s what it feels like, anyway.

Going through a wilderness season, similar to the Israelites in Exodus, seems to be what people often relate to. But.

There are so many resources out there for Scripture memory. I will never claim to have unlocked any secret method. I don’t (currently) have any cute, customized notecards for you to write your verse on.

What I do have, however, are a few more free tips on how to enhance your ability to memorize Scripture.

I think a lot of us might need to change our approach to memorizing Scripture. Think about this for a moment: Why can you remember every word from an argument you had years ago but can’t remember a short verse for more than a few days (or minutes)?

Ok, well, I don’t have the proper psychological terms for it, but I do know this as at least part of why:

I had to go back to the basics. First, I’ll list out are a few things that aren’t the point of a quiet time:

• Being a perfect Christian

• Being impressive

• So you won’t have anything bad happen that day

• To make someone else happy

• To check it off your to-do list

So, what exactly is the point of a quiet time?

“But it’s embarrassing. And I have no credibility. I wouldn’t trust me.”

This is what I told first the Lord and then Brandon after sensing the Lord leading me to once again begin to point people to Him through words and stories. Why in the world would I want to give some people yet another reason to shake their head at me and give myself another reason to wallow in self pity like a pig in the mud on a hot Southern day? Gross, I know. But honestly, a great visual for what we look like when wallow in self-pity, right? I had started More Than Words Co. over 2 years ago, and I hadn’t touched it on a consistent basis…

Expectations become difficult when they are unspoken, unrealistic, or control us. When I was crumbling under the weight of meeting everyone’s expectations in high school, it’s because I was allowing that to control my life. I loved the Lord and spent time with Him often, but I didn’t fully believe that His approval was all I needed.

Fear of failure and perfectionism are best friends. They know it takes two to tango, and they intend to steal the spotlight on the dance floor with their carefully choreographed moves. If perfection is the only option, we are at risk of experiencing Atychiphobia our whole lives. Don’t worry; it’s only slightly as scary as it sounds.

To summarize, I was staying holy. So, when a huge part of the foundation of my world was shaken, my faith was not. I wasn’t having to ask God where He was because I could hear Him and sense Him; I knew He was there. He had taught me how to position myself to be near Him and realize my holiness.

Holiness is granted us by God through Christ and is realized through our cooperation with the Holy Spirit. He had taught me how to stay holy.

… Then, a few months and a lot of failed LLC applications later, More Than Words Co. was born!

It has had a bit of a bumpy start; it was always something I would put leftover energy into. Turns out, though, high school teachers aren’t really overflowing with leftover energy. But now - apart from loving on my twin girls - this is my job. I hope to use this company to help people live what they know to be true and make every aspect of their faith more than just words.

That's what I want to do for you. Pull back the curtain on "how" to do this Christianity thing. I want to share my thought process behind making the decisions I make and why I choose to read or listen to, or obey God the way I do. I want to be someone you can trust to be honest with you and know that, even if sometimes I am suggesting my own content, you know I have sat with the Lord about it and am only going to suggest something I truly believe will be beneficial in answering the *how* question.

This is an excerpt from what would be my diary. If I kept a diary. But I don’t. I just keep looking at the pile of torn apart wrapping paper on my living room floor, missing my dad. Because, like many of you, the unspoken assigned duty of picking up the discarded wrapping paper was my dad’s. And even though this was our second Christmas without him, it is the first time I have missed him in this particular way. 

The longer answer starts at a local restaurant in Fayetteville, Arkansas, the week of Easter.

A few months prior I had ordered a graphic t-shirt that read, “Spoiler alert: The tomb is empty.” Clever, right? I thought so, too. I was so proud of my boldness, something I had been praying for, to wear a shirt that clearly identified me as a Christian.

I was feeling good from the moment we walked into the pizza place to the moment we walked up to the cash register to pay. That’s where things got dicey.

As I leaned against the counter, making my imaginary thumb arthritis worse, I thought, “I should spend some intentional time with Jesus.” Then I kept scrolling. Because my next thought was, “Nah. I’m too tired for that.”

Oh dear. Embarrassing, right? Insert all the blush face emojis that exist.

Like many others, I walked into 2020 starry eyed and hopeful, and I limped out banged up and uncertain.

Amidst the virus, isolation, unrest, protests, riots, polarizing political climate, toilet paper shortage, devastating personal loss, strained relationships, and unmet expectations, I was also stripped of my favorite excuse…