Category: Life
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Finding Strength in the Confidence Conflicts
Not all Confidence Conflicts are Beauty Battles. Attacks on our identity come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Most of these conflicts are mountains–whether we made them out of molehills or not. Nineteen years ago today, my husband and I faced one of our biggest mountains: the loss of our daughter. Grief is a…
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3 Questions to Reset your New Year
The start of a new year is a great time to reflect and reset. As you reflect on 2017, do you recognize the changes in your life? Surely there were some good and some bad experiences. Perhaps your character was strengthened; maybe your hope was defeated. Was your patience tested, your confidence challenged? How did…
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Confident About the Beauty of Christmas
How many Christmas pageants, plays or recitals did you go to this year? Children add so much life to this season, don’t they? It doesn’t matter if their costumes are professional or pathetic, when a child is on a stage being recognized, it is beautiful. Or at least entertaining. A few children who play their…
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What are your holdfasts?
I was feeling a bit overwhelmed with my to do list, when a dear friend of mine presented this very powerful question. It put life back into proper perspective for me and my hope is that it will for you as well. If you’re plate is full and you are finding it hard to be…
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3 Reasons Image is a Bigger Issue for Some than it is for Others
After 33 years of helping women with Image Issues, I have come to the conclusion that there are the three reasons that the Beauty Battle is bigger for some than it is for others: Some people are raised in an environment that challenges their authentic style and confuses their ideology (like the Ugly Duckling we…
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Changing Emotional Outfits
I love to people watch this time of year. It’s easy to tell who is holding onto Summer and who is enjoying the Fall. It’s especially fun to see those who are eager for Winter–I saw “one of those” last night, in her high boots and thick sweater. I let out a little chuckle when…
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Are you Influential?
Ambitious. Hard-working. Multi-tasking–these words describe most women in today’s culture. Dreamers, with great desires for ourselves and our families. We are strong and courageous and are willing to give up so that others can get. Women are influential As emotional and relational beings, our mood sets the atmosphere around us. When we are peaceful, others relax. When…
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Do You Accept Rejection?
In every conversation, every glance your way, each test you take or act you perform, there will always be the nagging questions about your identity, purpose, power and value: Who am I? Why am I here? Am I enough? Am I too much? Does my life even matter? These questions about our significance may be…
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Making Peace with your Image
Glance at a flower and it will amaze you with its beauty. Take a deep look at the details of each pedal, the leaves and it’s stem and you may not be as impressed. I mean really, what is this? Flowers wilt; they fall over or break, and very often they have many deformities. No…
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Can You Help Ugly Become Beautiful?
If you have ever heard of the Proverbs 31 woman, you know she is amazing. She is someone we all want to be, she does it all, has it all, makes it all, and IS it all! She is the wise, ambitious, strong, organized woman of God who loves her husband, children, and servants. She honors,…
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Do Ugly Mistakes Define You?
I recently heard a recovering addict refer to herself as a dandelion: ugly and annoying to most but beautiful and useful to those who know her. Her analogy has me thinking. As the mother of an addict, I’m often baffled by the way my son returns to his drug of choice even though it makes…
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Do you Need a Timeout?
Summer is typically considered the season to take time to play, rest and renew. The change in routine and slower pace has a way of refreshing us and giving us strength to carry on. When we were children, we were given a ‘timeout” as a means of discipline; maybe this is why we sometimes feel badly…