Welcome to faith-stretching! My name is SJ. I’m currently in my late 20’s — recently married, no kids yet, and working as an interior designer.
I grew up in church. I went to Sunday school, moved up to the youth ministry, was “active” in multiple ministries, and eventually became a youth leader. It became easy for me to compartmentalize my faith and assume that I knew what it meant to be a follower of Christ. In recent years, the the boxes I tried to keep God and faith in have burst open again and again. The more I get to learn about God and experience His refining and transforming grace, the more I learn about how my trust and faith in Him is to be expressed in every aspect of life, not in little compartments. Not just in the four walls of a church building.
On this blog, I hope to write on four categories (which turn out to be more interconnected than I first realized) that I’ve become passionate about:
1. The inner life
2. Life in simplicity
3. Life in community
4. Life in creation
I’ve been pressured to perform, achieve, and deliver. It’s taken a toll on how I view myself, how I live, and my mental health. From the perspective of an anxious perfectionist and a perpetually stressed out young adult, I share what I’m learning about God and how having a relationship with Him impacts my identity.
Click here for posts on The Inner Life.
As I did research for my undergraduate thesis back in 2013, I realized that I stored away so many things that I hardly used. I would declutter multiple times a year, but the mess never seemed to end! Since then I have been trying to be more intentional about living simply, not just in terms of how much I own, but how I live in general.
Click here for posts on Life in Simplicity.
I am daughter, a sister, a friend and now, I am a wife. I continue to meet others and develop relationships through my profession, hobbies, and involvement in Church. Being in these relationships is far from easy, but the unconditional love God has for us challenges me to constantly re-examine how I am to be and interact with those around me.
Click here for posts on Life in Community
I first learned about Creation Care in 2015. OMF International defines it as the “responsible stewardship by humankind of the earth and its life forms, for the Lord’s sake.” I don’t have a background in environmental studies, so trying to figure out how to participate in my own context has been daunting. Thankfully, I have met people from whom I can learn and journey with.
Click here for posts on Life in Creation.
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