Welcome to my home!
This is where I’d like to pour you a cup of coffee at my kitchen table while you tell me how God is stirring your heart toward something new… or maybe we’ll sip cinnamon-orange tea over tears of regret and confessions of loneliness.
No matter where you find yourself today, I hope you’ll find encouragement here. I know you’ll find a friend.
As a writer and speaker, maker of coffee and drier of tears, my passion is using God’s Word as a “how-to” manual for loving him and loving others. He delights to show us his grace and glory, and showers us with goodness as we walk with him (Psalm 84:11)!
With words rooted in ancient Scripture yet rich in practical application, I guide women toward lasting hope for difficult days.
In my living room, I learned to explain difficult concepts in simple, relatable terms by inviting my neighbors to a women’s Bible study – never mind that I didn’t know my neighbors and had never taught a Bible study! There’s nothing that will make you throw away your carefully prepared “Christianese” notes like looking into the eyes of women of all ages at different stages in their faith journey. As I listened to their heartfelt needs and sincere questions, I learned to teach in relevant ways with fresh perspective.
Can I Borrow a Cup of Hope? How to Find Faith for Hard Times in 1 Peter is based on a Bible study I first taught at my own Neighborhood Café. This combination book and Bible study shows how pain and suffering are transformed into hope and purpose. Peter (and his wife!) will teach us how to pry apart our hopeless fears and hopeful fantasies and set our hope fully in God’s faithfulness.
I love to travel to speak about finding faith for hard times, and sharing it with a neighbor! Let’s have that coffee soon,
Welcome to the room where it all began.
This crazy idea of knocking on neighbors’ doors grew into an international ministry called The Neighborhood Café, where I coached countless women across the U.S., Canada, Great Britain, and Australia to overcome their fears and fulfill their calling in their communities.
My first book, How to Love Your Neighbor Without Being Weird, provides even more practical tools, prayerful encouragement and powerful inspiration so you can embrace the people God has carefully placed around your home—the best place for forming new friendships and deepening old ones.
You’re still reading? OK, here’s more…
I married my elementary school sweetheart in 1990 and we have a beautiful daughter, Emma, who lives up to her “lively” name. In 2015, we moved from Ohio to a precious mountain town in the the High Rockies of Colorado. We actually live on a dude and guest ranch – come visit us! We’re Florida’s youngest snowbirds and are blessed to spend winters on the Nature Coast.
When asked to describe my religious background, I once replied: “Pagan!” Because I have a Bachelor’s Degree in Christian Ministry, I know a pagan is defined as someone who does not acknowledge God. But because I lived like a pagan for 20 years, I remember how I hardened my heart like a stone and stopped up my ears so I would not hear the Lord’s voice. He stopped up my ears, too, and during a struggle with hearing loss I finally returned to my sweet Savior.
David and I helped plant Life Church Vineyard where I served as Associate Pastor for four years. I oversaw communication, website and systems management, social media, small group leadership and development, ministry development, women’s ministry, and occasionally cleaned toilets or whatever else needed to be done! My husband and I are active in leading small groups at ClearView Community Church in Colorado and Seven Rivers Church in Florida. We run a tech and marketing company providing Christian business consulting for entrepreneurs. I serve on the board for the annual BV Strong Community Dinner – a gathering of 3,200 neighbors down the middle of our majestic Main Street! I am currently enrolled at Asbury Theological Seminary pursuing my Master of Biblical and Theological Foundations.
Writing
How to Love Your Neighbor Without Being Weird was published by Bethany House is 2015. In 2021 I completed The Book Proposal Bootcamp with Lysa TerKeurst, Meredith Brock, and my Writing Coach, Glynnis Whitwer, all of Proverbs 31 Ministries. I am represented by the incredible Blythe Daniel of the The Blythe Daniel Agency.
Can I Borrow a Cup of Hope? How to Find Faith for Hard Times in 1 Peter was published in September, 2023 by the wonderful team at Kregel Publications. It shows how pain and suffering are transformed into hope and purpose. Along with his wife, Peter teaches us how to pry apart our hopeless fears or hopeful fantasies and set our hope fully in God’s faithfulness.
In this book the reader will discover how to:
- Express what she feels, identify what is real through the filter of God’s Word, then wisely determine how to deal with her challenges
- Reframe anxiety and uncertainty into hope and purpose using a prayer that never fails
- Make sense of pain that seems endless and pointless by understanding God’s timing and intention
- React to chaos and confusion with a calm, clear-headed, Christlike response
- Apply five simple and effective coping strategies to create her own “new normal” when her world is turned upside down
- Shed the shame of past mistakes as she learns to share her story for God’s glory
