My Story

I am an ordained minister. I am a food blogger. I am a wife, daughter, sister and friend.

And I am a work in progress.

Growing up I didn’t really understand the meaning of the word ‘balance’. I knew what it meant to never say no, to overbook my schedule, to drink copious amounts of coffee to keep myself going, to eat what was available quickly and eventually hit a wall and completely fall apart.

When I was in college, I started running. At first the goal was to manage my anxiety, but I quickly realized that as my anxiety started to go away, so did some of the extra pounds that I had been carrying around since my awkward teenage years. I was intrigued. I continued to run and eventually started to diet. I watched the number on the scale drop and that only made me run and diet more. I restricted what I ate. I never allowed myself to indulge. I loved the treadmill because every time I got on it, I could burn more calories. I ended up tearing through most of the cartilage in my right knee. It went too far.

It was not one of my finer moments in life.

When I snapped out of it, I reverted back to my old ways of over-caffeinated busyness. I gained most of the weight back. I was constantly on the go. I wasn’t happy with my body, but I didn’t want to go back to constant dieting and exercising. I put high expectations on myself in school and in my personal life, but I didn’t know how to say no. I was my own worst critic. I thought there had to be a better way. I knew something had to give.

My life changed in June of 2009.

I put on this dress.

In front of 250 people at a small church in Connecticut, I married my best friend, a wonderful man who tells me every day that I am beautiful, special and capable of doing anything I set my mind to.

And a few years into our marriage … I am starting to believe all those things myself.

I started The Strength of Faith in 2008 as a way of connecting to the friends and family that I was living so far away from while I was completing my master’s degree in Atlanta. At first I just blogged about my thoughts on my life and faith, but eventually my little portal of the world wide web began to morph into something bigger.

After one too many disasters in the kitchen I started sharing some of my successes on my recipe page, hoping that my culinary skills would grow as I wrote my progress down and studied it. In 2010, I started to run again, training for my first half marathon – but this time I did it right. I paid attention to when I was running and how I was fueling before and after runs. I listened to my body and didn’t restrict myself. I stretched and iced and took care of my knee. In addition to my recipe page, I started blogging my daily eats as I sought balance in my life and training.

Now my blog is a place where I document my eating habits, cooking, running and photography. It is a place where I can interact with my blog friends and ask for advice, hoping to offer some back in return. It is a place where I strive to find balance and be healthy. It is a place where I can share my faith. It is a place where I can choose to see the big picture or focus on the details. It is a place where I can escape from the craziness of church leadership. It is a place where I can share both successful recipes and absolute disasters in the kitchen. I love the creativity that goes along with food blogging. It’s exquisite. I love the balance that goes along with food blogging. It’s enlightening. I love the support that goes along with food blogging. It’s powerful.

My approach to food blogging is not completely traditional. I do not photograph and post every morsel of food that goes into my body. Nor do I spend my days dreaming up completely original recipes. My approach is very theological – in the same way Jesus prepared and welcomed all to his table, so do I.

Welcome to my table!

What I love about my blog is that it shows my evolution from a hyper-active, Type A graduate student to a woman and minister who is trying to live life to its fullest with a healthy balance. I have seen what I am like when I am not healthy and I have seen what I am like when I am healthy. I choose healthy.

I want to be confident. I want to look into the mirror and acknowledge myself as beautiful. I want to walk into church knowing that I am living a life of good faith and stewardship. I want to be a good wife, daughter, sister and friend. I want to marvel at all of the good that is around me – and work like hell to fix what I think is wrong. I don’t want to be overbooked and crazy, I want to take the time to enjoy things that I love. I want to be creative. I want to be inspired.

I’m not perfect, but I’m on a journey to be the best that I can be.