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Hi, I’m Emily

My name was supposed to be something very 1978 like Erica or Jessica, but when my theatrical grandmother arrived at the hospital to meet her newest granddaughter, she looked upon me with my single loop of red hair and exclaimed, “How’s my little Emily Anne?!”.  And that’s how I got my name.

It’s fitting, really. Emily means ‘diligent worker’ and I like that about me: I am a hard worker.

What’s not so great about being a person who expertly checks things off a list is that I can get tangled up pretty easily in thinking my effort and accomplishments and successes and failures are what define me. So tangled, in fact, that I spent the second half of my 30’s desperately trying to get untangled.

Here’s what I’ve discovered: we don’t have to diligently work to prove our worth. As we move from self-reliant striving to surrendered trust in God, He is gentle and faithful to renew us into who we truly are so we can live from a place of love, identity, belonging and purpose instead of for it. This is abundant life and I want it more than anything. 

My deepest hope is that whatever I do – whether at home as a mom and carpooler and expert chocolate chip cookie maker, or in my work writing, illustrating and putting things on the internet – that I shine a light on the beauty, goodness and truth all around us so that we might see who God is and who we are just a little clearer.