My Mission Statement

A Reflection on Where I Am and a Surrendering to Where I Am Going...

The lovely Laura Phelps over at Words & Birds lit a fire in my heart this morning to pray through a mission statement for Finding Havens and my writing endeavors. And God gave me a chunk of time to do just that! I’m honored to share it with you. Go check out Laura’s amazing writing and reflections — it’s palpable how the Holy Spirit is at work in her!

Without further ado, my mission statement:

Why Do I Write?

I write because I believe in the power of words to transform hearts and lives, especially when those words are written in cooperation with God’s grace. I write because I believe God has placed this call on my heart to share wisdom, insights and reflections that deeply touch my heart and soul and I desire to share this with other women on the journey. I write because it touches a wellspring of joy and peace in my heart that is accessed when I operate in the unique gifts God has given me.

My writing is honest, deep, relatable, occasionally witty and light-hearted, and rooted in relatability. I am not a saint. I hope to be one someday, but I live a real life with real struggles, real sin, and real day to day battles and frustrations. And I also believe that our very real God meets us in each of those circumstances and moments to love us and encourage us as His beloved daughters. I write reflections/blog posts on Substack, shortened forms of these in little doses on Instagram, and have just finished my first book, a women’s bible study titled Love and Loyalty: Heart Lessons from the Book of Ruth. I have started doing small speaking engagements and find that I absolutely love to share the words I write in this format… connecting face to face with the women I write for is energizing, edifying and delightful. I hope to do this much more in the new year.

I am not a theologian, or even close. I graduated from a secular university and I studied Social Studies Education many, many years ago. I was a teacher before I retired and became a mom, which has been my full time job for the past 25 years. I have been learning about my faith since my conversion in 2005, slowly taking in the wisdom of the Church, the saints, and Sacred Scripture, as well as all the beautifully humbling lessons that motherhood continues to teach me throughout these years. It is all a tapestry of grace and truth that anchors my heart in my writing and my life.

Who Do I Write For?

I write primarily for Catholic women, but all women of faith, who know God (or are aware of Him), and who want to know Him better. They are exhausted from the constant barrage of noise in our current technological age, and they struggle to make sense of the chaos and find calm in their hearts. They want to live their best vocations as wives, moms, sisters, daughters, and friends, but the stress of everyday struggles, big and small, can overwhelm their tender hearts. They want to feel seen and known by God, and they want to fill up their hearts and souls with encouragement and wisdom from Him so that they can walk in peace and accept the reality that chaos exists, but so does a good, good Father who will always take care of them.

The guiding verse for Finding Havens is Psalm 107:29-30: He made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed. And they were glad, because they had quiet, and he brought them to their desired haven.

I want women to be able to feel centered and rooted and grounded in the love of Christ while also living freely and fully and firmly planted in the here and now where God has called them to live and love, in the middle of all the struggle, with grace and purpose. I write for women who are craving in person community as these most recent years have led to more siloed, isolated and online interactions that leave our souls feeling numb and lacking, and who perceive deep in their hearts that holy friendship and community is vital to us as women and human beings. I want these women to know that they were created in the image of God to share His light and love – to create and seek havens for themselves and one another that reflect His love.

Who Supports Me on This Journey?

My Holy Friends (credit to Laura Phelps for such a great name) are saints who guide me in this writing journey, and the bigger journey of life. They have walked me for many years now and interceded when I didn’t have strength to ask. Still, I felt their holy and comforting friendship, and they hold up my faith when it is lacking.

Among my closest friends is my Blessed Mother. The feast day of Mary, the Mother of God on January 1 happens to also be my birthday. Mary is kind, tender, wise and everything I endeavor to be as a mom, but inevitably fall short. But I ask her to fill in the gaps, and she is spectacularly amazing at doing just that. Time and again, I see her presence around me, my children, my husband, and my writing and professional endeavors. Right next to her is good St. Joseph. I recently heard him described in a homily as a ‘hidden King.’ He is steady and strong, and always worked to honor his wife and queen, Mary, and to lead his son, the King of Kings, through life as humbly and honorably as he could. Joseph makes way for Jesus to shine, and I love him so much.

I also adore St. Elizabeth of the Trinity, or E3 as I have come to call her (thank you, Claire Dwyer, for introducing her to me!). Elizabeth’s interior disposition was rock steady and her faith in God truly unshakable. She shows me that delicate balance between being in the world and of it, and is a solace for my contemplative and introverted heart. I ask her guidance often to help my writing reflect my interior heart and land in the world with relatability and purpose. Last but not least, St. Pio is a hero of mine. A most powerful intercessor for families and against spiritual warfare, I entrust Finding Havens to him and find such comfort in his powerful and unshakable intercession.

So, there it is… it feels good to put a mission down in print and to be able to reflect back on it. I am so excited about the future and what it holds, be it more speaking, more books, or just more time to connect with women through my reflections. Not much is guaranteed us in our earthly lives beyond birth and death, and so I am acutely aware of the delicate gift that this life is- all of it- my family, my friends, my work, my writing. Jesus, I surrender it all to you. I can’t wait to see what you do with it.

Do you have a mission statement or guiding principles carrying you, your family or your work into the new year? Please share, I’d love to hear about it!