Because what most people don’t realize is this:

the way we answer these questions FORMS us.

Even if (especially if) we answer by NOT answering them.

That’s why I’m passionate about empowering women of all ages to effectively navigate difficult life experiences like illness, loss, major transitions, and trauma in ways that RE-form them from the inside out—helping them transform THROUGH their question-asking into the women they were created to be.

I didn’t start out here, of course.

It was a process.

A formational process,

that took place over several decades.

It began in college, where I changed my major FIVE TIMES struggling to find the right path. My twisty-turny trail led me through a few VERY ill-fitting roles in the social work field, through graduate school to get my degrees in counseling, through private, Christian practice, through counseling at a church of 10,000 to then through pastoring at a church of 10,000—almost every bit of which I loved immensely.

And almost every bit of which, because I’m an ambitious and chronic over-achiever (I might have failed to mention I was also blogging regularly throughout all of this, writing a manuscript, and shopping it to agents and publishers) I went after with great gusto.

I was perfectly situated to enter the second half of my career, hard at work to leave behind a lasting and meaningful legacy.

First her health failed, then my own. She was diagnosed with juvenile fibromyalgia and a host of genetic disorders. About five years later I was diagnosed with chronic migraines and a post-viral syndrome that was attacking my nervous system.

And, friends—I’d never felt more helpless.

I couldn’t help my daughter. I couldn’t find a viable solution for finishing her high school education. I could no longer keep up with my work. I was having migraines more often than I was NOT having them. I was struggling with intractable insomnia. I started to miss work sometimes—I got my work DONE, mind you. (You can still overachieve when you’re sick. You just can’t do much of anything else.)

After blood clots landed my in the hospital and two months off on short-term disability did NOTHING to improve my health, it became clear I could no longer work full time.

Which meant I could no longer keep the majority of my roles.

I dropped down to twenty hours and took over one of the several smaller ministries I used to oversee.

And I still was barely getting by.

I learned a great deal in that very long season about deep grief and loss. About transitions. About identity and worth. About the difference between building a legacy and planting a garden. About not knowing what to do next. About finding my worth outside of what I DO. About surrender and acceptance. About what REALLY is significant. About true, abiding faith. About being loved just for BEING. And about choosing to live a smaller, doable life that is still meaningful and makes the best use of my skills, talents, passions and interests.

And, much to my surprise, I learned that what I really, really, REALLY love doing is helping people who are struggling or suffering do so in a way that ideally changes them for the BETTER.

All of which has led me HERE.

I have come through these years of transition and loss RE|formed.

I have pressed into the fear and grief and sadness and fatigue and worry and pain and allowed it to leave its mark on me.

I have gripped the cloak of an angel, my hip throbbing, spitting out through gritted teeth, “I will not let go until you bless me.”

And I have slowly become, more and more so every day, the woman I was created to be.

I’d be deeply honored to help you do the same.