February 26, 201517 Comments
I was manipulated by someone that I loved and wanted to believe the best in for eight years…so suffice it to say, when I spot manipulation of any kind now in my life, I nip it in the bud immediately. And God has been teaching me so much about manipulation in this new year: Opening my eyes to ways in which I was being manipulative and also revealing to me people in my life who … » Read More
February 19, 201519 Comments
You know what? Sometimes this happens in life…we dedicate entire chapters and books to people who barely give us a footnote in the story of their lives. I’ve done it. I did it – literally! For years I tried to cast someone as the romantic lead in my story who hadn’t even auditioned for the part. And there are moments I want to take my book I’ve Never Been to Vegas but My Luggage Has … » Read More
February 3, 201533 Comments
Sometimes winter…either the literal winter or the winter of our souls…feels like it’s going to drag on forever. Stripped as bare of our hope as the trees are of their leaves, we start to question whether we will ever feel truly ALIVE again. But in the quiet, in the stillness, underneath the surface…things are happening. New life and possibility and growth is being stirred. We can’t possibly see it now, but there will come a … » Read More
January 30, 201522 Comments
I’ve been on a journey with God in this new year about pride. God showing me my own prideful behaviors and using others as mirrors to reveal to me who I no longer want to be. I don’t want to be that person who uses social media as a scratching post for my wounded ego, as a platform for boasting about myself, or as a medium for convincing other people how great or actualized or … » Read More
January 22, 201530 Comments
I didn’t write this quote, but this could well be my mantra for 2015. RELAX, I just keep hearing God whisper into my spirit. Stop striving. Stop seeking after things that others have. Stop DOING so much and just learn to BE. Because here’s the thing. You can easily scroll through Twitter or Facebook or any other social media stream at any given time on any given day and feel completely lacking and inadequate when … » Read More
January 20, 201524 Comments
I’m really trying to RELAX more in 2015. I tend to be a worst-case scenario, wring my hands, Chicken Little “the sky-is-falling” type of person. But what I’ve found in my years on this planet is that the worst case scenario that we fear so much rarely ever comes to pass. Life has a beautiful way of working out. Especially when we’re not gripping onto it with white knuckles of stress and worry and fear. … » Read More
January 12, 201512 Comments
You know the scariest part of starting to write a new book? (Or blog, or post, or speech, etc. etc.) That moment just before I actually begin. When I’m staring at a blank page that I have to fill with words and I feel absolutely terrified that I’m going to fill the page with the WRONG words, or that my brain is just going to stop working and I won’t have any words at all. … » Read More
December 20, 20148 Comments
There’s a ranch kitty, Effie, who I have bonded with who sort of seems to consider my deck her unofficial home. Because she’s out there so much, I’ve put a bowl out just for her and have started feeding her. Effie has taught me such a lesson in patience. I will often wake up and see her sitting so still and quiet in front of my front door, obviously hoping I am coming to feed … » Read More
November 11, 201410 Comments
What if today we remember to be a little kinder? Speak a little softer? Show people a little more grace? Remember that the waitress who forgot to refill our tea glass might be preoccupied with her struggle to make ends meet and provide Christmas for her kids? Remember that the clerk who doesn’t crack a smile in the checkout line might not be rude, but perhaps just got a call from the doctor with some … » Read More
October 30, 201460 Comments
For a long time in my 20’s and even into my 30’s, I was constantly chasing after people and friendships and guys and things I thought were going to make me happy. A beautiful thing happened when I stopped the pursuit of happiness: I realized it had been here all along. Now I just stay in one place and trust that the people and opportunities meant to be in my life will flow to me … » Read More
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Life doesn’t always look the way we want it to look. In Mandy’s upcoming book, Turn Toward the Sun: Releasing What If and Embracing What Is, you’ll find encouragement to live in the moment, sit with your experiences, and trust God with the unknown.
