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Welcome to The Wholehearted Project Newsletter!
The Wholehearted Project seeks to create and highlight resources that help others engage their stories, encounter Jesus, and experience hope, healing, and freedom while awaiting the restoration of all things. The TWHP newsletter aims to create a space where you can come to find words for all the things you think and feel, fear and hope, doubt and believe. It’s a place where we honestly wrestle with the realities of life and faith in a broken world—a world that holds both the first fruits of redemption and the groaning of “How long, O Lord?”
The psalmists have long provided us with a vision of wholehearted living. Both their songs of praise and their songs of lament are raw and unsanitized—unleashed from the depths of the human soul. And by this, they give us the gift of going first and permit us to be human. The psalmists acknowledge our glory as men and women created in the image and likeness of our Creator. Still, they recognize our fallen nature as men and women fractured by sin and suffering. And in doing so, they give us words for repentance and lament, joy and sorrow, petitions and praise.
So whether you are in a place of deep gratitude or deep suffering, may this be a sacred place for you—holy ground, where God meets you exactly where you are and gives you both the permission and the room to live wholeheartedly.
I’d love to have you join me on the journey. Subscribing to the newsletter lets you receive new content straight to your inbox.
Introductions:
Before we go any further, let me introduce myself. I am a fifty-year-old empty nester who has been married for fourteen years. The first few years of marriage were a rocky start, and though we eventually found our groove, we still stumble our way through this thing called marriage. I couldn’t have children of my own, but I was gifted a now twenty-three-year-old stepson, who is currently building a life of his own with his lovely wife and fur-child. I am thankful for the opportunity to be “CC” to my nieces and nephews, which has brought me tremendous joy.
I recently retired from my role on staff at a local church as the Women’s Discipleship Advisor. I spent thirteen years in the role—leading and teaching women the power and hope of the Scriptures, writing a discipleship curriculum (linked below) and a monthly discipleship-focused newsletter, training and developing women to lead, and advising church leaders locally and nationally about ministering to women. Now, I am entering a new and exciting season of creating my own resources.
I never wanted to be a Christian. I regarded the church, the Scriptures, Jesus, and believers with either apathy or contempt, depending on the day. I tried for years to fill the gaps in my soul with drugs and alcohol, both of which nearly killed me. I longed to know love and belonging and gave my body to men who offered me nothing but a vain hope. I encountered Jesus when I wasn’t looking for him; he was the last thing I wanted. But when he finally got my attention, he began mending all of the broken pieces of my life. And he has continued to do that ever since. Now the Scriptures are my dearest friend—revealing and healing my fractured heart and speaking the perfect balance of grace and truth into my life.
I love dad jokes; I think they’re hilarious. But to my husband’s dismay, I do not understand or appreciate the humor of Calvin and Hobbes. Coffee and books are my love language. I may be slightly addicted to both. I love reading books of all kinds, especially memoirs and biographies. There’s a rich treasure to be found when another person allows you to peer behind the veil of their life.
Perhaps one of my favorite things is mentoring women and seeing the first glimmers of hope, freedom, and peace on a woman’s face when her sin or suffering is met with kindness, curiosity, compassion, and the love of Christ reflected back to her through the face of one of his embodied image-bearers.
I’ve written what Julia Cameron called “morning pages” ever since I got sober over twenty-five years ago, which I will write more about on this platform in the future. At the right time, the right word can peel back the veil of my heart and mind and bring clarity to what was previously dim and muddled. But, ultimately, for me, writing is a form of worship.
I love writing—playing with and crafting words in ways that capture your imagination and help you encounter Jesus. Abraham Heschel once said that “Words create worlds.” And I want to be a missionary of words—helping to reveal a world in which all parts of your story not only matter but are a vital part of God's creative work in you and through you. While I love to speak and teach about Jesus, it is humbling, exposing, and hard. Still, I can’t imagine not communicating about the power of Christ to bring about substantial hope, healing, and freedom on this side of eternity.
I wrote three books and co-created one video-based study during my time on staff. Each of these resources is geared toward helping women find hope, healing, and freedom in specific areas of their lives:
Redeeming Sexuality: Inviting God to Mend Our Fractured Hearts
A Woman’s Words: Getting to the Heart of Our Speech
Body Matters: A Biblical Understanding of the Body and Why It Matters In an Age of Discontent
Shame: Finding Freedom (Video-based study with workbook)
You can connect with me personally on Instagram and Facebook or on The Wholehearted Project Instagram or Facebook where I will write short-form posts weekly. You can also find additional resources on The Wholehearted Project website. But this is where I will share ideas in more extended form—perhaps even flesh out thoughts for new books.
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