Meet the Magnolias

  I've wanted to be better about blogging for a while. Years, tbh. I think the best thing for me is to just treat it like I treated my MySpace blogs. Like a journal. Scattered but coherent. Like me.  :) Yesterday, Jordan and I went to church for the first time since the pandemic. We sang a song I hadn't heard before called Getting Ready. You can hear it here . As I was listening to the words and trying to sing along, I had a mind-blowing epiphany.  Despite so many reminders and lessons, I forget that the entire purpose of my life is eternity. I was thinking about this other song that I sing on repeat - Wait on You. I sing the song as if I'm singing about what I'm waiting on the Lord to do for me. The catch is - HE HAS ALREADY DONE IT! Jesus is what He has done for me. I forget that I'm not the main character in this story. I forget (HOW?!) that it's not about me. Do I think God cares about my hopes and dreams and desires? Of course. He created me exactly how I a

First, let me just start off by saying that I'm sure I'm going to say things wrong. I may say things that make you roll your eyes or close the page, but they are things I need to say. Let's talk about body image. Shall we? Growing up, as in from ages 0-25, I was skinny. Really skinny. Commonly-called-a-beanpole skinny. And I get it. This seems like such a silly thing to bring up, right? Well, I'm realizing the more I think about it, how much it has affected me and still does. From ages 0-18 or so, I was teased for being so thin. I couldn't help my genetics. I was always snacking. I hated being skinny. I was constantly concerned that people thought I had an eating disorder or was using drugs, neither of which I've ever had or done. Finally, by the time I started college and got a job at the mall, I minded my size less and less. I didn't care that I wore a size 0 or a size 2. I started to like the fact that I could have the appetite of a football player and no