Small steps, big picture began in a small apartment while I was learning some very big things about God. As a seminary wife I found myself with evenings to myself while my husband was in class. Too tired from taking care of kids all day to do much but sit on the couch, I decided to stop reading so many blogs and write my own. The goals were to be a blessing to friends and family who wanted to keep up with our kids and to process how all that we were learning from God’s Word and godly people was changing my mind, heart, and ordinary life there in that apartment.

I discovered that I loved writing. And… like most other things in my life, it was hard to be consistent.

Fast forward two ministries later and a cross-country move, we find ourselves in the Inland Northwest with six kids and a seventh on the way.

If I acted like any growth or transformation in our marriage, parenting, or sanctification could be attributed to us, I should be struck by lightning. When I look back on the last ten years, it is only God’s faithfulness that must be praised. His grace has carried us. By His Word and His Spirit He is shaping us into the image of Christ every day. Some days it’s discernible; most days it’s painful; every day it is sure.

My writing has slowed down considerably, but my mind is always going. The theme has not changed, though the particulars of life have certainly expanded.

Though I am constantly tempted to think that this life of repetition and minutia, of emotional highs and lows, of spiritual struggles and growth, of great joy and endless disappointment does not matter, it does. Because this life is not my own. God in his infinite wisdom created it and has made it his own by the sacrifice of his Son. As long as there is breath in my lungs, he desires to receive the glory he intended when he made me in his image. I want to worship Him with every thought, word, and deed because that is what I will be doing for eternity. But the struggle with time, sin, and forgetfulness is real. I must return to the gospel constantly to shift my hope from changing circumstances to the power of Christ displayed at the resurrection.

The particulars? I’m a wife to Paul, mom to six (soon to be seven), sister to an amazing church community, and neighbor to those whose paths I cross. I enjoy walking outside, gardening (complete rookie), reading (when I can put my phone down), and playing with my kids; but writing music that is theologically driven is what never leaves my head. I haven’t been brave enough to write about that here yet, but perhaps soon.

If you take the time to read here, I deeply appreciate it. My hope for you is that you would see Christ before anything else and surrender to him in faith and obedience.

Walk with me as we contemplate the small steps of our lives in the big picture of God’s story.