They have jobs, families, school, and many other things to juggle. They get up early and stay up late. But with hope in their hearts, and a story on their mind, they have all been given a gift of writing and I am so glad they were! If you're looking for some new reads for the New Year, check out these "In The Spotlight" features. Amie Lewis & Shannon Valone Category: Fun, Parenting, Lifestyle, Marriage, Health Amie & Shannon are two Mama's who have found a beautiful friendship through their uncanny similarities and unique differences. They are both lovers of Jesus, family, #momlife, all things southern, and writing. https://www.2kindredmamas.com/ They have learned that this whole Motherhood thing isn't for the faint of heart. Knowing that, they have decided to put themselves out there and share some of their struggles and triumphs they have endured on their journey. You can find just about any and everything on their blog! They say that nothing is really off-limits! It's not always easy, but they are just loving this journey, using a light-hearted approach to some of life's greatest obstacles, to hopefully inspiring others with a lot of laughter and maybe even a few tears. Ashley Setterlind Category: Faith, Transparent Encouragement, Parenting, Lifestyle Ashley Setterlind is a pastor’s wife, a new mom, and unashamed dog mom. https://adabee.weebly.com/ Ada Bee is a blog inspired by one new momma’s desire to infuse the Gospel of Jesus Christ into every part of her adventure into parenthood. Through her pregnancy journey, she has realized that parenting is more than just “raising a child,” but that investing into a little one’s soul is both a rich gift and responsibility. Her blog welcomes imperfection, and follows her journey into motherhood as she figures it all out for the first time. Emily Caldwell Category: Transparent Encouragement, Faith Emily is a lover of Jesus, family, and photography. She has experienced some unfortunate events which have resulted in a level of spiritual growth so significant that she says wouldn’t change a single thing; all of which have led her to her writing, Emily says, "I lost my mother-in-law and step-father-in-law before my marriage had even celebrated its one year anniversary. I lost my own mother 16 months after that, I experienced my first miscarriage 8 weeks later, and I have been on this uncharted journey called “infertility” ever since." https://desperatesurrender.wordpress.com/ She overcame her fear of sharing all her secrets for the sake of helping others when her blog, Desperate Surrender, launched February of 2017, Loss was her theme until God did what only He could. Emily saw what God promises us in Romans 8:28 come to life as He slowly and gracefully walked her through the healing process. With a desperate pursuit of her Creator and an exploration of levels of surrender. Emily says, He helped her so that she can help others. This blog is a place for her to share fresh revelations and her struggles as they’re happening; Doing all of this in hopes that just one person would find comfort in the only One that can give the kind of comfort we all need. Erin Scarnecchia Category: Transparent Encouragement, Faith, Lifestyle Erin lives in Odessa, TX with her husband, Phillip, and dog, Jax. Writing never interested her until 2015, when God gave her the push to share her heart with others through writing. It's a gift that she believes God has given her, so she can share many of the ways He has worked and continues to work in her life. https://herfaithfulsteps.wordpress.com/ Her purpose of Her Faithful Steps, is to tell others about my personal experiences, good and bad, and what God has taught her through those experiences. In doing so, she hopes that she is able to help others who may be going through similar situations. My passion is helping others grow into who God created them to be, and to help them realize how extremely loved and cherished they are. Erin has seen that God has worked in and through her life in so many ways and it is her hope and prayer that her words will encourage others. Joy Johnston Category: lifestyle, college and career, faith, transparent encouragement Joy is a soon to be Pastor's wife, senior at Western Carolina University. She enjoys leading worship at her local Church, hiking, photography and song writing. http://johnston274537.wixsite.com/joyfullyliving-blog Joy started the blog Joyfully Living four years ago with the intention of using what God was doing in her life to speak to others who may be in similar places. She feels that vulnerable writing is the most powerful kind. So, with this mindset she set out to begin a blog journey that showcased the good, the bad, and the ugly of what life is like as a young Christian woman. Laura Bell Category: lifestyle, family, encouragement Laura is a southern woman and story teller. By day she works for a photography company. She loves running, reading, and writing! Theivorybell.com The Ivory Bell really is a place for storytelling. It is a place to share what’s happening in Laura's life, or the life of others to inspire and encourage those that read. From house renovations, to coffee, to inspiring people in the city, to stories of her life, she writes about it all! You never know what you may find here, but it will always be a fun read because Laura is an amazing story teller! Rachel Hipps Category: faith, encouragement Rachel Is from the mountains of Western NC but currently calls Anderson, SC home. She is s student and assistant to author and speaker Sharie King. She enjoys all things outdoors and trying all sorts of new vegan foods. https://www.writtentheblog.com Through different seasons in her recent years, from being a women's ministry intern to being part of an intensive discipleship program, the Lord has lead her to start Written the Blog. Written is a collective of writers seeking to help women write or rewrite their stories daily based on the truths of scripture. Written is a blog and social media platform designed to show women what it looks like to apply the truths of scripture directly to their own lives through the thoughtful insight of those who have walked the same path. Their hope is to see women write or rewrite their own stories daily based on the truths of scripture. Are you a writer, but haven't quite been brave enough to start your own blog? Written would be considered a "reverse blog" where a collective of writers contribute to the bulk of the content with the occasional post from Rachel. You can apply to be a part of the collective here https://www.writtentheblog.com/be-a-contributor/
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Putting yourself out there is hard, and it can sometimes go unseen. It takes courage, bravery, and determination, Today, I want to celebrate these ladies for going for the goal, for being the goal diggers that they are, and encourage them to keep going.
It's almost Christmas, so if you need some last minute gifts, help me encourage them. Shop small, support a dream, and let these ladies help you! They are separated into categories below. Babies & Children Chelsea Troutman - Baby Girl Headbands & Bows All of Chelsea's bows are inspired by and for her little girl Madeline. She loves sewing and creating new bows for her girl. She thought it would be fun to start selling the same things she makes for her. Most everything is sewn using hand drawn patterns she made herself. She can make bows with nylon headbands for newborns/babies or bows with alligator clips for older girls. Pricing for her bows is 2 for $8 or 3 for $10 and to order you can email her at [email protected] Amy McEwen - Usborne Books Usborne Books and More offers fun and educational books for kids of all ages. Books make great gifts for any occasion and there is nothing better than spreading the love of reading. Usborne Books and More also offers fundraising options, book fairs, and other special programs. Earn free and discounted books when you host a qualifying party. Contact her for more information. Amy McEwen [email protected] https://y4129.myubam.com/shop Jessica Pearce - Mountain Owl Made Mountain Owl Made was born out of having a daughter who couldn’t stand store bought clothes. Something about them was always just too “something”. After so many other moms telling me they had the same issue, I decided to share the love and open up an online dress shop. Jessica sells custom handmade dresses, sizes ranging from newborn to 9/10. Most of them are styled loose and “twirly”, Made from 100% cotton. Easy to wash and wear. Prices range from $25 up to $65, depending on the style and size of the dress. She recently added a line of newborn “sets” made from a variety of knit fabrics. The sets include a baby hat, bandana bib, and pants all made from the same fabric. You can also purchase these items individually. Sets cost $40, hats: $10, Bibs: $10, pants: $20. You can even add monograms! Check out her shop on Etsy MountainOwlMade, e-mail her at [email protected], or message her on Facebook for custom orders and lots more pictures! Laura Sherrill - Baby Blankets Laura makes beautiful handmade baby blankets. It takes her about 2-3 weeks to make one and she can do just about any color. The size is approximately 3ftx3ft and when you order you can decide tassels or pom poms. You can email her here to order [email protected] and her blankets are $40. Linda Lewis - Harlow Rose She started up Harlow Rose Handmade when she was pregnant with her daughter Harlow so that she would have some supplemental income while she stayed at home with her. She absolutely loves sewing and making things. She says it’s the perfect stress reliever for her. Here’s the link to her shop harlowrosehandmade.etsy.com Fashion & Jewelry Lia Castiglione - Clothes & Jewerly Lia is an Amelia James rep. Amelia James is a women's clothing line from sizes 0-26. She also sells jewelry and accessories from an independent distributor. The company just launched this February and has less than 1000 reps Nationwide. They are constantly launching new styles and their goal is to have exclusive all made in US clothing in the near future! Lia also holds pop up shops for locals to come try on and is currently booking for January-March https://www.facebook.com/groups/ameliajamesbylia Candice Gibson - Rustic Boutique Design Candice owns an Etsy shop called Rustic Boutique Design. She sells mostly essential oil diffuser jewelry, but has some other jewelry items as well. You can check out this awesome stuff in her shop https://www.etsy.com/shop/RusticBoutiqueDesign Home & Family Breanna Lamar - Scentsy Scentsy has a wide variety of smell good things. Warmers and wax melts are the most popular, but there is more! Cleaning and laundry supplies, bath/shower goodies, buddies for the kiddos, and something to ‘smell’ up your entire life! You can find out more at place an order here blamar.scentsy.us Ashley Pryor - Thirty-One Thirty One offers a variety of bags, home organization, and personalized gifts. You can view all online catalogs through her website, place orders and have them shipped to your home, but if you need help and a personal Thirty-One shopper, she is your girl! Selling thirty-one has allowed her to stay home with her baby boy a little longer. You can check out her Thirty-One stuff here www.mythirtyone.com/1962300 Cheyenne Williamson Macon Sweet Tees Cheyenne has a vinyl creation business that specializes in custom shirts and onesies, but it has expanded into vinyl everything. You can check out her stuff & place an order on her Facebook page https://m.facebook.com/MaconSweetTees/ Katherine Crawford Smith - Homemade Goat Soap Kat makes homemade soap that is safe for your families. Her soap is made with goat's milk, coconut oil, olive oil, and grapeseed oil. She only uses essential oils and natural colorants and exfoliants. - Some of her soaps that she offers are Simple Salt Bar, Lemongrass Geranium, Orange Spice, and more. To order or find out more you can email her at [email protected] Heather Hall - Caroline's Creations Heather does custom orders. Mostly vinyl monograms, decals, etc. You can see what she has to offer and order by liking my facebook page Caroline's Creations and/or by messaging her on Facebook. Career & Business Lauren Hamer - LaunchPoint Resume Lauren has created and been running LaunchPoint for 2 years now. She does resume writing and editing for people of all career levels - college and beyond. Most of the time it also stems into interview prep and job search tips as well. Check her out at www.launchpointresume.com. She also has a Facebook account that you can reference: www.facebook.com/launchpointresume *Special Offer* We have a special offer for all our #GoalDiggers from one of our featured #GoalDiggers Lauren with LaunchPoint has teamed up with us @ Just The Johnstons to offer you a special deal for her services! If you mention this feature and use the code JOHNSTON10 you can receive 10% off your total! We just celebrated Halloween, Thanksgiving is Thursday, and the countdown is on to Christmas. Decorations are going up and plans are being made.
Ready or not, here it comes. Want to have the perfect Thanksgiving (and even Christmas) this year? Be expectation free. Sounds simple right? You can't just say you are, you have to actually be expectation free. Because we live in a social media saturation society, this time of the year can bring about a lot of stress that is tied to unrealistic expectations of perfection. Expectations, more often then not, we don't even realize are there. Family picture; Everybody better be in attendance that day because that has to be done and has to be perfect. Your outfit; Has to be perfect. Decorations; Move over Joanna Gaines, because those better be perfect too. Food you prep; Doesn’t have to taste good but it better be picture perfect. Even the presents you buy and how they are wrapped have to be perfect. It all has to be perfect, or at least look that way for a picture. Did you know, it takes half a second to take a picture? We are only getting a half a second glimpse into somebody’s world, and only giving somebody a half second glimpse into ours. So for that half a second, there is perfection. My guess is the other 86399.5 seconds in the day don’t look like that. For them, or for you. What’s worse than the expectation of the perfect picture, is the drive to make your social media life look perfect while neglecting the truth in real life. I see this a lot, and have even experienced it in my own life. We treat somebody one way in person, but rave about them from behind the screen. We make it look good, when actually it isn't. Social media is a tool to be used to connect and network. It’s meant to help you stay in connection, not replace actual communication and relationships. It's a tool, that often times becomes a trap. What may be a family update, or a picture to share with friends, becomes a quick addiction and infatuation of checking how many likes and comments you get. We sneak away from the reality of our lives and drown ourselves in Social Media reality. Which really isn’t real at all. Ultimately it is our choice. Can we choose to be real this season? To put aside the pretend that is our social media world, and enjoy the real that is the beautifully chaotic of our actual day to day lives? We can choose to post and not become enthralled with others reactions and opinions. We can choose to be real this Holiday season, choose to let the expectation and pressure of “perfection” go. We can choose to enjoy our family, extend grace to others, and just be present this season. We want you to enjoy these holidays, enjoy your family, and fully embrace who you are in this season! The Johnstons invite you to share your real family pictures with us this Thanksgiving & Christmas! We would love to see them! Post them here, or on Facebook. Use the #RealLifeRealUs She sat across from me with her hand gently around that red cup. In the seat where her back would be against the wall. She liked to be able to see what was going on.
She answered questions about ministry, her time with The Lord, friendships, and more about her current season of life with her head held high and a smile on her face. With the last question she answered though, something changed. Her shoulders dropped, her tone changed, and without looking back up she said "no, I'm not married." The quick change was such a shock. From the things she had been saying, it was very evident The Lord has blessed her. This girl had answered everything so joyfully, but that one question. Her answer to that one question was so heavy with shame. She had so many blessings, but had she missed that because the enemy had pulled one of the oldest tricks in the book? Let me explain. Go back with me to the beginning. Not the beginning of this story, but the beginning of The Story. Back to the Garden of Eden. (There is a lot of scripture here so I won't insert it all, but I encourage you when you have a moment to go read through Genesis 2.) Let me talk to you about Eve, the very first woman in the Bible, and the very first for the enemy to pull this trick on. Eve had a man (companionship). Eve had 4 rivers flowing through the garden of Eden (water) Eve had trees, plants, and animals within quick reach (food) Eve had The Lord's blessing, protection, and perfection surrounding her. She had it all, but one thing. And here is where the enemy pulls a fast one on her. He places a big ole spot light on the one thing she doesn't have. Using that one thing to distract her and make her think The Lord is holding out on her. Making her think He does not know, or want what is best for her. There is a reason she doesn't have that one thing in her possession, but she is so caught up in the enemy's trick that she can't see that. Sound familiar? See how these two stories are oh so similar? From the very beginning this has been a trick of the enemy's. Eve missed all The Lord had blessed her with because she was so focused on that one thing she did not have. She was so distracted by it that she couldn't even trust The Lord and know that maybe He had a reason for keeping that one thing away from her. The same goes with the girl with her head hung in shame over the fact she doesn't have a husband. Can I be completely honest with you about something? That girl in the story, remember her? Yeah, that used to be me. Head hung in shame as soon as somebody asked if I was married. Every single time. My reaction was always the same. Like I was so insignificant because I was unmarried. Feeling so shameful because I didn't have a husband yet. Shame wrapped in thoughts that were actually lies. Things like "they will wonder what's wrong with me." I remember one day that my eyes were opened. Almost like The Lord just whispered "you are missing all the other blessings, because you are so focused on what you do not have. Be thankful, and keep your eyes focused on me and what you do have." and with that He placed the story of Eve on my mind. After reading and studying what Eve had in the Garden of Eden and how she had fallen prey to the same exact trap I did, I began to understand. God calls us to be content, not complacent. God call us to be faithful, focused, and fruitful with what He has given us. Not distracted, distraught, and disobedient because there are things He has not given us. God isn't punishing you by saying no. Don't be so distracted by the things that you don't have, that you miss the sweet blessings of Your Heavenly Father. Just as Eve couldn't see that The Lord had a plan and a purpose, I couldn't see that He had and has a plan for me too. Years later I can look back and know that His plan was and is so much better than mine. Now married, with an 8 month old baby girl, I can see how the Lord used my time of singleness to develop me as a person and as a disciple, and unltimately led me straight to the best of the best. We all have wants which sometimes we feel like are our needs. Yours is probably on the tip of your tongue right now. A baby. A spouse. A job opportunity. A place to call home. I challenge you to open your fists and hand it over to The Lord. I challenge you to trust He has a reason for it not being in your life in this season. I challenge you to choose to move the spotlight off the thing you don't have, and focus more on all that you do have. "Am I doing something wrong?" I half seriously asked my mama as my 8-month-old sat watching Daniel Tiger.
I was thinking this because I follow a lot of moms on social media, and I've seen the way they do things. The posts they make. The homemade baby food. The no TV until 2. Babies sleeping through the night, in their own rooms since day 1. And that my friend, is not us. Puffs, Daniel Tiger & "I Have Decided to Follow Jesus" covered by her daddy on repeat. This short list of three things are the only things that soothe my upset baby, other than a bottle and being held by mama and daddy. We're just getting started, and I know there is a mama reading this that has already gasped, or loudly proclaimed their disgruntled thoughts about what she just read. Yes. I let my child watch TV before 2. I give my child food that wasn't prepared in my own kitchen. I let my child listen to music other than Ludwig Van Beethoven and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. You may disagree with my mama decisions, and that's okay. I am right, and so are you. I know what's best for my child, and you know what's best for yours. Just because we choose to do things differently, doesn't make one of us better than the other. "Mom Shaming" happens so quickly when we think that our way is the only way, the best way, and there can be absolutely no other. Instead of taking the time to think that every mama has a reason for her choices, we’re quick to think, if she doesn't do it our way, she's wrong. We are so quick to see other mama's decisions as wrong, but we don't want anybody to think that about ours. Daniel Tiger, Puffs, and Jesus songs. I have my reasons for them, you have your reasons against them. Daniel Tiger has great lessons to teach, it's not mindless, rude, or crude. Puffs teach her coordination. Her father and I believe in God, and want to share that with her. I have my reasons, and you have yours. TV, diapering, sleep methods, medicines, treatments, toys, music, vitamins, clothes, food, detergents. You name it, there's more than one way to do it. I want what's best for my child. I would never cause her harm. I want her to feel loved and nurtured. To grow up to be smart, loving, loyal, and independent. If I had to guess, you want that too, mama. Don't you? Just because my choices aren't the same as yours, doesn't mean I'm a bad mother. I'm right, and so are you. I know what's best for my child, and you know what's best for yours. We don't have to agree with each other's choices, but can we just agree to stop shaming? Because I can be right, and so can you. |