Enjoy

From one season to the next our life flows. We hardly get to catch our breath and we are in a new season with a new struggle. We have to catch ourselves and make ourselves stop and rest. To see that we have reason to praise God. We are here, now. We are breathing. We can eat a meal. We can sing a song. We can go for a walk. We can listen to music and draw or paint or write a note. We can pick  up the phone and call someone we love. We can speak happy, encouraging words. We can make new friends and cultivate old ones. Life has so many challenging times that we have to stop and just be thankful. Truly thankful for the little things we have right in front of us. A home, a family, a dog, a dining table. As our hearts and minds are filled with thankfulness it lifts us out of our hard times and gives us a new perspective.  We can move from season to season in life with grace because of thankfulnes.

Answered Prayers

"Lord, help this broken person minister to other broken people". I don't know how many times I have prayed this prayer or wrote it in my journal and yet I am still surprised when life breaks me and I ask "why?". As I ran across this prayer as I thumbed through my old journal the other day, I was suddenly struck with The Lords faithfulness. I recognized his hand in my pain in a whole new way. I stopped dead in my tracks and said audibly, "I asked for this?"!

You see, The Lord knows our hearts desires and He knows what we are created for and He writes our story with this in perfect view. We on the other hand, often don't even know what we have prayed for over and over again. We have desires that we are not aware are deeply imbedded in our very design. Often, these answers to prayer come in the form of pain, rejection, cancer, betrayal, death.....

This song by switch foot speaks to me of the contradiction we often see in life. http://youtu.be/s_Lv8z9RuPA

The chorus says:

I know that there's a meaning to it all

A little resurrection every time I fall

You got your babies, I got my hearses

Every blessing comes with a set of curses

I got my vices, I got my vice verses

These are my vice verses

These are my vice verses

Things are not always as they appear. So often I look at the difficulty I'm going through and don't recognize the greater purpose behind the pain; The resurrection that the Lord is bringing out of the very thing we felt would be our demise. He is desiring to give us the desires of our heart and often this is accomplished through experiences we don't want to experience. What I see as rejection, God sees the other way around. He sees the acceptance that another human will experience because of my rejection. When I see death, He sees the life that is realized through that death. 

As I sat this week with someone who was broken and at the bottom, I was able to tell her that I have been there too and I don't judge her. She believed me. She cried. She shared her pain and I cried with her. Only because of my own pain, was I able to understand hers. The lord knew this and so has let me reach the bottom many times in my life. He did it for love. Love for me and love for those He knows I will be able to reach because of my own brokenness. 

If you find yourself at a place in life where you don't understand why it looks so wrong....why it isn't what you pictured your life to turn out to be, remember things are not always as they appear. Lean into the pain and allow it to mold you into the vessel God has prepared you to be. And remember above all that He loves you! 

The Heart.

These two cuties are my Grandmas. My Dad's Mom is on the left and my Mom's Mom is on the right, Mary Ann and Elaine. There is so much for me to say about these amazing women, but what I want to focus on for this blog post is how women are the heart of the family. 

The function of the heart in the physical body is to pump the oxygen-rich blood to all the parts of the body. That is an extremely important task, it's life or death. The heart needs to constantly work or else the body dies. The heart is central to the body.

Like a physical heart, the woman in a family is central to whether that home thrives or dies or barely survives. Like a heart that pumps blood for the body, the woman is the heart of the home. She speaks words of encouragement, hope, and guidance to her family members, bringing them life and vision for their lives. She prays for her husband and children bringing them Jesus, who is the source of all life. She feeds them real food, three meals a day, to bring them the nutrients they need to thrive in their own bodies. When a member of her family is hurting or injured she rushes to that person and helps them get back on their feet, like the heart rushes blood to an injury. A woman feels deeply, loves lavishly and bring life and beauty to her family and friends. A woman's place in the home is something to be celebrated and protected. Her place as the heart of the home is so extremely important, her family's wellbeing depend on it. 

My Grandmas exemplified this principle. They both were the warm, nurturing presence in their homes and thus in my life. Both my Grandmas would love to feed me food that I liked. They would wrap me up in tight, tight hugs and kiss my cheeks. They would let me stay the night at their houses and be interested and involved in my life when I was there. So special!! 

This beautiful woman is my Mom and she is the life blood of our family. She brings us together in love, she gives us a place to belong and a place to launch off from. She prays, gives, loves, cooks and cares for her daughters and grandchildren all with a heart full of love. She was and is the heart of our family, selflessly caring and serving for all of us. 

What a wonderful purpose we have as women. We bring heart to the family and it is a role that is irreplaceable. Our families need us to be the heart and to do it well, with everything we've got, their health depends on it. What a privilege and responsibility it is to have people depend on us to be attentive and nurturing and loving and caring. I love that thought. It brings me such vision and purpose in my own life. 

Be a woman, be the heart of the family and do it well! Full of health and zest and Jesus! 

Why Blog?

blog

bläɡ/

noun

plural noun: blogs

1. 1. 

   a regularly updated website or web page, typically one run by an individual or small group, that is written in an informal or conversational style.

   
   

   - Dictionary

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   THE WORD blog is a conflation of two words: Web and log. It contains in its four letters a concise and accurate self-description: it is a log of thoughts and writing posted publicly on the World Wide Web. In the monosyllabic vernacular of the Internet, Web log soon became the word blog.

   - theatlantic.com

   
   

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   Why blog?

   
   

   I did a little research to find out why people blog.

   
   

   This website has 34 reasons to blog. He says, "With a blog, you can tell your stories in form of an online diary. And if you don’t tell your stories, no one else will. And if they do, they might be biased. Or innocently wrong."   I love how he says blogging is a place to tell your story(s). Our stories are so important. In fact, I believe each life's story is so important each person should have a book written about them. When I think of the people I know, and the amazing things they have accomplished, struggled through, and experienced, I think their stories needs to be documented. I was telling my Grandma the other day that she should write some of my Grandpa's stories down in the form of a book. She didn't think she had it in her to do that but said I should. Well, somebody should because he had so many amazing qualities, quirks and adventures. I would totally read a book about his life.  
   
   This site says, "You’ll inspire others. Blogging not only changes your life, it also changes the life of the reader. And because blogs are free for the audience and open to the public, on many levels, it is an act of giving. It is a selfless act of service to invest your time, energy, and worldview into a piece of writing and then offer it free to anybody who wants to read it. Others will find inspiration in your writing… and that’s a wonderful feeling."  I couldn't agree more! Inspiring others is my main motivation for blogging. The things I am passionate about and interested in are fun to share with others and I love learning and hearing what people around me are excited about and pursuing. A blog is a way to share our beliefs, passions, and selves with our families, friends and whoever wants to take the time to read them. 
   
   "Reflect on your past to improve your future. When you blog, your thoughts and ideas are documented over time. Sometimes you may take certain stances on topics that may prove to be right or wrong later. By documenting your ideas in sequence, you can look back and reflect on how your ideas and opinions evolve over time. Looking at the past is critically important in understanding how to improve the future. This is why students at Harvard Business School review hundreds of business case studies. Learn from the past."
   -Forbes
   The gentleman in the above quote says when we blog we document things, we write them in stone, we go public with thoughts, ideas and stories and then we can later look back on these and learn about ourselves and the world around us because we see what has changed and if it is still important. Blogging helps us learn about ourselves, it forces us to examine our own motives and intentions before we write them down. Very true! Re-reading a journal entry from years ago gives me perspective.  Blogging is a way to preserve our lives for future generations.
   
   "Blogging gives you a voice. We all have something to say, even if we don’t think of ourselves as writers or speakers. A blog gives you a place, free from censorship and criticism, to say what’s on your heart and find other people who connect with what you believe."

   -goineswriter.com

   Blogging gives me a place to be creative. 

   I have enjoyed reading people's blogs about why they blog and it has encouraged me and given me more of a conviction to continue blogging. I hope you have a place where your voice can be heard, where you can document your life so in the future you can look back and see how far you've come, a place where you can inspire others and a place where your story can be told. 

   Cheers to blogging! 
   
   ~Erica

   
   

   

   
   

   
   

   
   

The Master Gardedner

This dear sweet friend of mine came to my home last night to share love in the form of gardening. With a shovel and some plants in tote, she blessed me with more than just gardening tips. 

This is a woman who I've watched since I was in junior high, go through difficulties in life victoriously. I've watched her go through betrayal of a husband which resulted in divorce and becoming a single mom. I watched her raise her kids with very little financially. She learned to trust again and remarried once when her kids were young, and learned what it felt like to be abused by a husband. He had a heart attack and passed on making her a widow for many years. She learned to trust yet again, a man she was married to for 15 years. He became her best friend until he passed away, leaving her a widow once again in her senior years. This is a woman who has a rich history of walking the broken road with Jesus by her side. She carries the marks of suffering with dignity and beauty. I admire her and love her. 

As we worked in the garden, she pointed out every flower I have in my new garden and told me its name; she reminded me that we all are known by our maker. I listened intently to the story of her life as a gardening master and how it paralleled her own brokenness and redemption. I watched her laugh through the pain of the memories with a tear in her eye. And I marveled at the faithfulness of The Lord that has brought this beautiful human to my home to share her life with me. 

As she climbed into her car to leave she gave me one last piece of herself, while looking on my mound of flowers in the front yard. "Tammy, just like those flowers that have filled that space, multiplied and over crowded it, some times our lives are like that. You get in that flower bed and pull all the flowers up so you can get to the dirt. Amend the dirt and make it rich. Then, replant only the flowers needed to make the space organized and beautiful. The lord does that with our lives. He is the master designer and he knows that not everything that's in us and around us is good for us. So sometimes he uproots it all so He can make our lives more beautiful. He gets to the foundation and amends us and makes us rich so that He is more glorified by our lives. Accept this as part of life."

With that word, my sweet friend drove away into the dusk of the late evening. I stood a long time breathing in the cool air of the evening and trying to absorb the beauty that she left behind. The beauty of one life that has lived through much pain and struggle leaning on her Jesus. The Love that would come and share her life and her gifts with another, revealing His glory to a hurting world one person at a time. And I am encouraged to push through my own pain to love with his love and to share the gifts He's given me. 

RISK

If you are truly going to live life and open yourself up to Love, you WILL experience pain. You will fail. You will experience loss. You will come to crossroads and question whether it's worth it. You will want to give up the fight. 

Jesus would tell you, through example, it is worth it. You were worth it. He was mocked, questioned, abandoned, rejected, denied....but he stuck with the fight until the very end when he said, "it is finished". He did that for you, He did that for me. 

Unlike Jesus, we make mistakes when we step out. We try and our best isn't good enough. We fail. 

THEN we get back up and try again and risk one more time. Risk to love. To reach out. To step out. Maybe we risk all and fall over and over. The Lord says get back up and do it again. Take what you've learned and fail forward. With each failure, you move forward, one more step closer to the life He has prepared for you. 

I think of a baby learning to walk and they fall over and over. They take a step and stumble and get back up to take another. This process continues for hours and days. What are mom and dad doing through the process? They're cheering baby on and anticipating what they know is coming. They know their baby will walk someday. They're enjoying the process and helping them through the falls. 

The Lord too is watching us, cheering us on and interceding for us to get back up. To make ourselves vulnerable again and risk it all to follow after Him in His plan for our lives. Why? Because he knows what he has planned for you to do and He knows you will do it. He isn't affraid of your failures and falls. So don't be affraid of whatever holds you back from being who He created You to be. The only real defeat is in failing to get back up. Take the risk. 

Bloom

"Bloom 

where 

you

are 

planted."

This truth has really spoken to me lately.  There is something so heroic and brave about the idea of someone making the most of where they find themselves in life. 

To me that is the definition of a hero: someone that finds their life to be difficult or to have circumstances happen to them that they wouldn't have chosen, and yet they make the best of it.

The person that chooses joy, faith and hope in the midst of a storm is a HERO.

Every single human has difficulties in their life. Each of us are made to face things in life that we don't want to. Choosing to press on, bloom wherever you find yourself and thriving in the midst of a storm, those are the people that make a difference in the lives of others and those are the people that have joy.

Like the flowers we see all around us right now in Spring, just bloom and bless those around you.  

-Erica

Hope

In my yard there blooms a flower

Making beautiful it's space

The sun shines down upon its petals 

It's speaks to me of grace

The clouds roll through to intimidate 

They bring dark shadows on glory

Yet standing helpless in that shade

Courage speaks a deeper story

Then comes the wind in power 

It threatens to destroy

That flower holds on tightly

Reveals to me its core 

The floods they come in torrents 

It's washing all the pain

The flower closes petals

Its roots drink up the rain

The flower opens up once more 

To radiate the sun

To speak to all who will notice

That joy is sure to come.

"Weeping may endure for the night but joy comes in the morning" 

Tam 

In My Journal...

Love God. Live Free.

Be You, Bravely.

Shine Like a Star.

Don't let the World Tell You Who You Are.

Dust off Your Dreams & Give Them Worth.

Ask God Questions.

-Erica 

Personality Types

What is your personality type? I recently discovered I am an INFJ. What does that mean you may wonder? It means Introvert, Intuitive, Feeling and Judging personality type.  There are 16 different combinations of personalities. 

• Introversion (I) or Extraversion (E)
• Intuition (N) or Sensing (S)
• Thinking (T) or Feeling (F)
• Judging (J) or Perceiving (P)

Go here to take a free personality test and to read about the different personalities. I took this personality test and also I took the Keirsey Temperament Sorter test, found here. After I was done and I read the descriptions of my personality it was amazing. I felt like someone had read my journal. Never before had the way I thought and the way my brain worked been explained so accurately. It was weird! Come to find out I have the rarest personality, less than 1% of the population is an INFJ. Since discovering my personality type I have found more confidence and assurance in myself.  I've realized I was created in a specific way and the way I think and who I am is not an accident but planned by God for a purpose. It brought me peace and a grounding that the way I think and go about living life is not an accident. I highly recommend figuring out your personality type so you can know more about yourself, which in turn will allow you to live your life to the fullest, moving toward things that will enhance and compliment your life. Knowing our personality types helps us to not waste time doing things that are contrary to how we were made. 

- Erica 

Passions

'Lithia Creek' by Erica Gwaltney

Why does is seem that our passions are opposed?  

Why are the activities that bring us life and fulfillment so hard to engage in and actually do on a consistent basis? 

I think the underlying issues are more than just disciplining ourselves and time management. That is valid too. We have to make time to engage in our passions and we have to log time to get good at the things that bring us life. 

But, I think our passions are key to us. What I enjoy and what brings me good pleasure are rooted in God's design for me, rooted into my identity. These activities bring me into the presence of God.  God put in me an invitation to meet with Him by putting in me desires and things I love to do.  The same goes for you. Our passions, likes, and dreams usher us into the presence of God.

What if God created me with the passions of nature photography, hiking, decorating, reading and adventuring for the purpose of calling me to meet with Him? When I am taking pictures in nature I get the feeling that it has kingdom value. 

We can expect God to show up in these areas. Our passions are to be pursued and nurtured because they are the areas where we can find God within us.  That is why they are so opposed. 

'Signs of Spring' by Erica Gwaltney

Continue to believe in the dreams that God has given you.

Press forward in your passions believing that God put those in your DNA and He wants you to do those things because He wants to meet with you there.

The reason I am talking about this topic is because this has been something I have wrestled through the last few weeks. In my life right now I have some time on my hands. I have hours in my day that aren't spoken for and I was struggling with feeling bored. I was feeling guilty with how useless I was perceiving myself to be. I am wandering through my house searching for meaning and something to do. My prayer was to God to show me what I should do with my time. He did! 

He showed me to use this time to pursue my passions and put time in on those creative loves of mine. He changed my perspective to view my "hobbies" not as frivolous, but as my craft, my job. These passions are who I am on a true level and worth my time and attention. 

Be more true to who God created you to be. Be aware of what brings you life and then go there and meet with God. 

This post could bring up the question, "What if I don't know what my passions are?"  I will address this in a future blog post.

- Erica 

Beauty and Rain

The rain! It seems to have been raining nonstop for the entire winter. It's as if the clouds have been storing up the past two years of precipitation to be able to dump on us incessantly this winter. Don't get me wrong in the beginning, it seemed like a good idea and I embraced the rain knowing that it meant snow in the mountains. The snow meant ski trips with the family. Initially I rejoiced in the rain. However, as the months wear on I am ready for the rain to end before I drown. 

The old saying comes to mind like a flood and fills me with hope. "April showers bring May flowers". The showers are ushering in something beautiful. Even as I lift my gaze through the rain splattered windows of my home, I see new life just moments away from erupting. Flowers are preparing to open up all around me. Buds that have been developing under the surface, are awaiting warmth and sun to finally come forth. Dormant grass is about to turn a brilliant green. 

What is it about this picture that brings me such hope? Is it simply the reality that summer time is upon us? That the days ahead are full of breathing in warm air, playing in the lakes, running in the sun, picnics outside, paddle boarding, BBQ's and Bon fires? It's a much deeper hope. 

We hope for beauty. We hope for more of Gods Glory. We hope that after enduring the not so pleasant, we will see the beauty of The Lord reign and radiate into our lives in new life altering ways. The great truth is that we will and He does! We push through the difficult days to find a God shaped reality on the other side. 

Sometimes I think we need to remember this when the days seem to hold no hope for tomorrow. When we want to give up or not take that step of faith into something that scares us. Remember what is waiting for us on the other side and how beautiful it is. Maybe if we will remember in every season of life the resurrection that's coming,  we won't shrink back in fear but step out in hope and faith that now is the time to prepare in the rain what beauty we desire to see after it ceases. 

Go to sleep

I sit writing this blog while rocking my granddaughter in my arms and stillness all around me. My heart is full and bursting at the seems with love and joy. I wonder for a moment why I feel so happy.....

This week I was met with some pretty difficult realities. I was reminded how fallen this world is, how fallen I am, how far from heaven I really am. Life is full of pain and heartache. Death sits on our doorstep and haunts while life seems an illusion we can never grab ahold of. 

So why at the end of it all can I sit and be astounded by the peace and love and joy that fills me to overflowing? I look down at the baby in my arms and clarity comes. 

The Lord has put me to sleep. He has caused me to rest. Just like my grand-baby who has complete trust in being held close by one who loves her, I am held close to my savior who loves me. His love for me is perfect and I can completely trust him. 

That truth seems simple enough for a child but as an adult it has been hard for me to grab ahold of. It's easy to trust when things are going my way. What about when it's not? When the wheels are coming off the track I'm driving on? When I'm sinking and can't catch my breath. 

Let me encourage you. We are meant to rest. I'm not saying lay around and be lazy, but rest. Go to sleep because God has it under control. Let the burden fall on His shoulders as He carries you to heights you've never experienced before. Then you will live in a broken world, full of life and shine the light of God into the brokenness

. 

Hope Like Stars

Hope is like a 

sky full of 

stars...whether

we see them or

not doesn't

change the fact

that they are

always there.

Truly, it is not

until the night is

at its very

darkest...that

we see them

shine the most

clearly.

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams.

Starting something new requires confidence and bravery. It can be intimidating to look ahead at the new information you will need to learn and the new skills you will need to possess. This is usually the point we cast the new endeavor aside and say we could never do that. But, I want to put out a challenge that starting a new hobby and going after those dreams that have gathered dust, is exactly what your life needs. I am in my late 30's, been married for 17 years, I have two children that are both teenagers and I am at the point in life that I look around and say, " I have a lot of life left and I want to be moving toward something." Of course I am not saying to abandon the husband and kids for anything. No way! There isn't anything in this world that is a higher priority to me than my husband and kids. They are my life. But, my kiddos require less of my time at this stage and I am thinking that I want to continue learning and growing too. This is where I am right now. So, I picked up a couple new hobbies:

*photography

*essential oils

* started a book club with Tamara

* started this blog with Tamara & Ann

* I started training to become a CASA ( Court Appointed Special Advocate) 

Plus, there is something else I am working on that has been a dream of mine and I am hoping it happens. All this feels a bit stretching, to say the least.  As I  start out on these new roads I don't feel adequate. I feel insecure at times. I wonder and wonder and worry way too much. If I really listen to my heart though, I hear it say it craves to live big, to experience new things, to rub shoulders with more people and to be stretched. Does this resonate with you too? 

I believe we follow our desires. God places desires, talents and skills inside of us to guide us through life. We only need to listen to these desires and then we know that is His will for us. Obviously, if we aren't walking with Him then we can't really trust our hearts or desires. But, if we are walking with Jesus and have a relationship with Him we can totally go all out in following our hearts. He puts His will in our hearts and it becomes our desires and that is how He guides and directs us through this life. Easy as that. For example, I have wanted to buy a DSLR camera for many years. I finally was able to purchase one and now I am loving to learn everything I can about it and photography. This desire of mine is leading me down a new path that I believe the Lord wants me to go down. I will learn new skills, I will interact with new people and I will be able to use my gifts and talents which in turn makes me a happy person.  Simple. 

"Lord, we bring You our lives and we say take them and use them for Your glory. Please don't let us get to the end of our days on Earth and realize we buried our talents in the ground because we were scared. I pray instead we get to the end of our lives and feel so happy that we stepped out in faith, in all different ways, and used our talents to show Your love to others. I pray fear is never something we listen to. I pray we would be fearless, confident, brave, loving and trust in You. Thank you for Your love and grace."

Beauty For Ashes

Here I am....writing a post for a blog that I have no idea who will read. Let me introduce myself to you.

My name is Tamara...most everyone calls me Tam. I was raised the baby of 8 children, in a loving home, with a mom and dad who did their best to raise us with love. My mom and dad have been married fifty plus years and have taught me what true love looks like. Their marriage was far from perfect. They fought, let the other down, got on one another's nerves, and blew it over and over again. One thing they did right though is they taught me about love and  they never gave up on each other.

My husband and I got married when he was 17 and I was 18. We were expecting our firstborn. While neither of us had a job or a place to live, we were full of hope for the future. My grandma put in our card on our wedding day, "I hope you two can pull this thing off". We didn't understand what she meant. Lol!!! We had no idea how difficult life was, nor did we care. Ignorance is bliss they say. We started out in our marriage on shaky ground by many standards....but God.

Through the years, we have been given outrageous blessings. Not least of which are our three children who are gifts that God entrusted us with to raise. We have failed miserably at times. Other times we felt like we had it all together, only to find out how untogether we really were. In all, we have learned the fact of only being held in the grip of the manifold grace of God. By His grace alone, our three kids adore Him and know how loved they are by Him. That is a gift!

We have added to our family a son in law who we adore and a precious granddaughter who has taught me more in her 6 months of life than I can put into words. My life is utterly and truly blessed. It is not without its struggles however. I am trying to learn how to go forward in life when it doesn't go how you planned or doesn't look like you want it to. How to embrace all the beauty without despairing of the pain that sits along side it.

I sat one morning recently in the dining room of my new house. We were refinishing the floors and so most the house was destroyed and filthy. I grabbed my morning tea and bible while I cleared a corner where I could sit and pretend for a moment my life wasn't torn apart. As I looked around at the mess, in the corner of my eye I caught a glimpse of a rainbow that stretched across the sky as far as I could see. I felt The Lord whisper to me, "Tam, look at the beauty in the midst of the mess".

This is the lesson I believe my parents taught me through their marriage long before I even knew life wasn't what I thought it was.  Life is full of ups and downs but find the beauty and hang on. Isn't all of life like that? Beauty mixed with brokenness. I have lived and struggled through enough life to know this truth. I am broken. Yet I am made whole.   Beauty in the brokenness. My prayer is to encourage you (whoever you are) to see what value you have. That you are not cast off. You are deeply loved and unconditionally accepted. Jesus makes beauty for ashes. He calls you beautiful!

Hello!

Welcome to Birdsong and Starlight!

A new blog has begun. We are excited to begin this journey, to move into uncharted territory and see where it takes us. 

There will be three of us blogging here. Three different styles, three different voices and three different life experiences.  

Ann Michael is a 60-something vibrant, joy-filled, prayer warrior that has 3 grown daughters and 6 grandchildren. She says, "Betrayal, rejection, emotional pain and deep heart ache may come to each of us as we journey through this life.  These sorrows of life are not intended to destroy us, but to impel us into the everlasting arms of Grace." Ann will candidly share how Jesus Christ personally walked her through valleys of emotional abuse, fear, the heartache of rejection, loss of a dream and divorce. Her prayer is to inspire hope to the hurting heart and to bring glory to God. 

Tamara McDonald is a 40-something fun-loving, dynamic, compassionate woman that has one child left at home who is in highschool, two children that have moved out and one granddaughter. She desires to encourage women that they are enough. She says, "The only label women need to wear is the one Jesus places on them that says, 'You are loved, valued, and accepted." She wants women to understand the value God places on them and to inspire others to extend the gifts of God's love and acceptance to one another. 

Erica Gwaltney a 30-something grace-filled, wisdom seeker that lives life as free as possible. She has two children in the home; one in high school and one in junior high. She says, "I want my life to reflect the grace of God. We don't earn God's love by doing something, we just get to be ourselves confidently. He created us with a purpose and it is to be ourselves, full of Him."   The message that is extremely important to her is, God writes His will upon our hearts and He lives inside of us so we can trust our hearts to lead us. 

Each life has a purpose that God our Father designed from the beginning of the world. Each person has a light to shine, like a star, and a song to sing, like a bird. We want to encourage you to believe that your song and your light are enough to make a difference in this world.  

Jesus is our Savior and we owe Him our lives. Without Him we wouldn't have a song to sing or a light to shine with.

-  Tamara, Ann & Erica