As many of you know, in addition to my ministry and coaching work, I also currently work at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. After almost a year in this role, I finally feel like I’m getting in touch with this beautiful, image-bearing Gen Z population of young women.

I want to share with you a list of the lies I am seeing the enemy and culture use to attack these women, because maybe this is you… or maybe you know a young woman in this age range that you can forward this to for encouragement.

Can I ask you something…are you growing spiritually?

 If you aren’t, I bet your life feels a bit blah. A bit empty. Kind of passionless. I can imagine there might even be a small hint of lingering guilt. Why? Because you know you were made for more.

I’m sure you are busy. I’m sure you are capable. I’m sure you are getting stuff done. I’m sure you have a big to-do list. I’m sure you are trying to do all the things you think you are supposed to do, as a woman, wife, employee, mom, Christian…

I never thought I’d need this kind of bravery again. The kind that makes my stomach drop. The kind that makes me feel like a freshman all over again. You’d think by 42, I'd be past the season of “starting over.”

And yet, here I am again. New job, new town, new church. Feeling a bit unknown, unsure, and honestly, uncomfortable. I keep making mistakes. I fumble through things I thought I’d already mastered. No one is impressed. My ego would love for this to be easier, more polished. But instead, it’s humbling… deeply humbling.

I know you. The one who clicked on this link, hoping to read something here that will affirm your current relationship or the one you want to be in.

Many Christian women wrestle with whether it is wise or biblical to date someone who does not share their faith.

I am you. Or at least I was.

The girl who loves God and has an honest-to-goodness desire to be married, to be a wife and a mom. The one who has been a bridesmaid…a lot. The one who knows her worth and often wonders why others can’t see it. The one who has waited for 4 years, 10 years, 15 years…or more for her “life” to start.

Like a rising tide, something started to swell within me, so slowly that I didn’t even realize it was happening.  

It lapped at the bottom of my mind. Small rivers made their way into my heart. I noticed it when my words were soaked with disdain.

A disrespect of men. Many Christian women struggle to trust or respect men after painful relationship experiences.

It came from culture. As everything gets more “female” there seems to be an attitude that, simply put, musicality is inferior, less evolved, than femininity. That got to me.

We all have those moments when we feel a gentle nudge in our hearts, a calling to something new. Maybe it's a desire to hit the gym, join a church group, embark on a new journey, or even start a business.

Perhaps the new season is thrown at us, without our permission. We have to start a new job. Motherhood or empty-nesting snuck up on us. In a world dominated by over-the-top positivity, I've been thinking alot lately about how we truly embrace the experience of being a newbie, which is often filled with not easy, not positive feelings and moments.