What if I told you that my 2021 started with a hospital trip, a prison visit and a deep sense of betrayal?

What if I told you that my 2021 ended with snow in Colorado, a burgeoning business and the joy of deep and abiding faith?

If you want to hear more about how my year started in 2021, you can take a listen to my podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/im-a-survivor/id1558102667?i=1000522359095

It’s hard for me to communicate what this year has been like. Especially in the face of so much global pain. But I also believe that every story has power.

In the nuances and nitty gritty of our particular story lies a magnificent journey that has forever shaped my life, my work and my purpose.

I started a new business at the end of 2020. Monastic Mamas Publishing and Coaching was a place for me to explore the intersection of creativity and spirituality. I started leading Artist’s Way Groups and coaching women one-on-one. I self-published a children’s book. I was getting ready to turn 40 and take on the world.

Then the unimaginable happened just days before the calendar year turned. I found myself facing the unknown as my husband was hospitalized and then arrested due to a COVID-induced acute psychosis.

My world was rocked.

My faith was frayed.

In a season of immense darkness, it wasn’t church, religion or right living that met me in the middle of lonely nights with my bones literally quaking in fear and my heart shattered with uncertainty.

It was the lullabying presence of the person of Jesus. I can’t describe it better than that.

And if you are reading this and think I’m a kook, that’s cool. We can still be friends.

Because that presence doesn’t make me a religious nut. That experience took all of my fear and turned it into faith rooted in radical love. It didn’t happen overnight. It’s still happening. But I can pinpoint the exact moment that I surrendered to something bigger than myself. It was my personal revolution.

So then what?

I leaned further into my creativity. I learned that whatever this Great Creator does, He surely does love that I continue to create. He surely wants me to continue to move from fear to faith. He supports my creativity like a madman! He’s kind of my biggest fan.

So, this year, I will continue to lean into this new knowing of faith, which is simply trust and hope mingled together in the knowledge that I will always be held and moved in the direction of love.

I now know that where there is hope, there is healing.

This is what I hope to do for every single person who interacts with me; move them from fear to faith.

No matter what faith. No matter what background. No. Matter. What.

I want to walk women through the journey towards faith in themselves. Faith in their purpose and unique voice. Faith in others. Faith in something bigger than the places they’ve been trapped in fear and doubt.

And I believe that creativity–the sweet spot where our deepest joy meets with our ability to communicate something bigger than ourselves, but so very full of our unique and beautiful imprint–is the best way to move towards that faith.

Whether it’s through the Artist’s Way Journey, Thrive Hive Creative for Mamas, 1:1 coaching or simply following along here, I hope you will take hold of the incredible adventure of living your best creative life.

The school of hope is always open to you.

The invitation to healing is never farther than your next step towards the beautiful and divine mystery of your creative path.

Take heart and take hold, dear sisters.

Where there is hope, there is healing!