Brave Heart, Brave Soul. She who is brave is free.

"Hope is not born on mountain tops, but in valleys when you're looking up to the heights and peaks that you're yet to climb."  ~ Susanna April I don't know about you, but I'm a mountain climber. Now let's not read too much into that. I'm not speaking of climbing an actual mountain like Everest. I'm adventurous enough to say back in my college years I was known to climb up and repel down a few in the Mountain state. But on a serious note, what I'm really talking about are the mental, spiritual and emotional mountains we face. These mountains I know well. These mountains can be dark, dangerous and down right scary but in the midst of any ascent or descent, I've learned this: "Tell your mountain about your God.' Mountains can be beautiful as much as they are treacherous. They can offer us refuge and still cause us pain. The thing I know about life is it's filled with both valley's and mountaintops. You have to go...

Expectations can sure get us into a lot of trouble, can’t they? If you have any doubts, look no further than yours truly. I have spent most of my life expecting way too much and sorting out the consequences later. It’s not as if I don’t know what I’m setting myself up for, because I usually do, but for whatever inherent reason I still take that detour. I’m always full of good intentions. I set out with a decent enough plan, a highlighted map through the back roads, and yet somehow my navigation skills just don’t seem to add up most of the time. My own eagerness, expectancy, presumptions and conjecture seem to always land me in the deep end of the ocean. I should be used to it by now. I surely should have learned to keep an inflatable life vest in my back pocket, that’s for certain. Yet to my own surprise I’m usually flopping around, treading water, drowning in a sea of self-doubt. I’m a walking contradiction, a beautiful if not deafening complicated mess. I’m assuredly a complex, ...

Have you ever asked yourself why is it as women we tend to compare ourselves to one another so much instead of appreciating what we each bring to the table? I often wonder if we could just stop and see ourselves through the eyes of the One who created us, molded us and perfectly designed us how we'd feel. I am thinking it would be pretty awesome and rather incredible, don't ya think?  Life lesson #35, self-doubt with all her shortcomings can really mess us up! She comes in like a wrecking ball, with her demolition crew eagerly awaiting to turn our lives into rubble. Honestly, how many of us start the day off already defeated, with our crown tilted or better yet in need of a serious polish? We believe every stinking one of the lies forced and spoon fed to us. If we don’t have the latest hair trend, if we aren’t following the newest diet fade, if we aren’t signed up for the current fitness craze or sporting an up- to - date version of ourselves we are obviously in de...