Save the Date, Friends!
Posted on August 16, 2021 Leave a Comment
I am not entirely sure how it happened but we are literally just about 3 weeks away from the launch of my podcast, Life Out Loud! Friends, mark your calendars and save that date. In the meantime, there are a few things you can do to get ready for the big day. To make it easy for you, I made a little list for you below. (While we are here, can I be honest and tell you one of my secrets to successful and stress-free living… MAKE LISTS. I have them for everything and it offers a clear direction to get things done!)
- Follow Life Out Loud on Instagram
- Follow Life Out Loud on Facebook
- If you feel as excited as I am (or just want to help a girl spread the word) share my accounts on your social media!
- If you want to become a supporter, Buy Me A Coffee to keep my podcast fueled.
Until we launch, I cannot wait to see you over on my social media! Get ready because I am throwing encouragement around like confetti and giving you support to live your very best life… EVER.
Breaking News that Won’t Break You 🥰
Posted on August 10, 2021 Leave a Comment
Ciao Friends,
Welcome back to this intimate little space. It’s been a while – I know. While I would like to blame all the things, the truth is, there is no blame to throw around. The time away from this blog has been something of a transformation – truly.
I have some exciting news to share but first I want to talk about where we have been…
I have spent the last almost 10 years talking about life in this space. Life Out Loud has been just that – Life… out loud. Talking about the things we as humans sometimes never really talk about. I am not sure how it has been that long but I blinked and here we are 10 years later. The world (and let’s be honest, life) has changed leaps and bounds since my first post published on April 20, 2012. Interestingly enough though, some things have stayed exactly the same. Life is funny like that.
The last 17 months of the #CovidPivot have been a re-centering transformation of sorts. Some ups, some downs, all of it necessary in its own way. One of the things that became very clear over this time is the realization that I was put on this planet to support humans in living their best life. I have always in the back of my mind thought this but on some level was too fearful to actually own it… because that’s what we do sometimes as humans. We have big dreams but tiny amounts of courage. So here I am owning the dream… which leads me to my exciting news!
In a little under a month, on September 7, 2021, I am launching my podcast, Life Out Loud with Dez. I hope you are as excited as I am for this endeavor!
Sweet and loyal readers, mark your calendars to join me on 9.7.21 over the AIRWAVES! Together, we can throw encouragement around like confetti! There are more details below so you can follow along and not miss a single thing! Thank you always, for almost a decade of love, support and real talk. Cheers to many more to come!
Follow along on Instagram and Facebook
Support my work and keep my podcast fueled: Buy Her a Coffee
Check out the Website
Silent Saturday
Posted on April 11, 2020 Leave a Comment
Silent Saturday. The day between Good Friday and Easter Sunday. When I think about this day and what it means, I think back on Jesus’ faithful followers. I try and put myself in their shoes. I think of their despair and what they must have been feeling. For them, all hope seemed lost- for just the day before, hope– their hope made flesh– was horrifically and brutally crucified on a cross.
To Jesus’ faithful, it was over.
Maybe you are facing some Silent Saturday’s in your life right now. Hope seems lost. The path is no longer clear. Things we had figured out are now a little muddy and a lot uncertain. In the face of that, maybe even in spite of it, do not lose the faith. What ever you do, do not let your faith be shaken.
In the most silent of Saturdays, God is doing his greatest work. God is in control. Though he came to Earth, He never left the throne. I said it a couple weeks ago and I will say it again- despite the state of our reality, what we can see with our natural eyes, God is still in control and he is still on the throne. Sometimes when God seems to be silent, He is really doing his greatest and most profound work.
Sweet friends, I need to remind you of something that we know, that Jesus’ faithful who watched Him die on the cross didn’t know…
Tomorrow, JESUS RISES!
He defeats sin. He defeats Satan. He defeats death.
Tomorrow, Jesus drops the mic. He dropped it back then, and he is still working in our lives, dropping mics now. We might not be able to see it in our day-to-day moments, but we must trust that Resurrection Sunday in our lives is coming.
In stillness, the Earth awaits the Resurrection.
Sunday is coming. Keep the faith. Stand in hope. Sunday is coming.
Go Fly a Kite… seriously.
Posted on March 25, 2020 Leave a Comment
Yesterday, I flew a kite with my son for the first time.
This (super-fly) shark kite has been sitting in the closet for a year and a half because let’s be honest, when do we ever have time to fly a kite? Our weekdays are full of rushing to preschool and work. Trying to fit in workouts and meal prep on top of that. We have schedules packed tight and todo lists a mile long when we get to the office. Our weekends have errands and running around and let’s not forget social life calendars and church on Sundays. It makes me physically sick to think about the life just 13 days ago that I thought was a good way to live- and dare I call “normal“.
Yesterday, I took out the super-cool shark kite to entertain a 3-year old boy with enough energy to fuel a fighter jet. Friends, this time spent with my sweet boy was nothing short of extraordinary (check out the video on my Instagram feed). Time with him is always fun, but lately, it hasn’t been rushed. We haven’t had “life” to go hurry off to. The world is falling apart around us but I also can’t help but believe in some ways, it is falling together. Work has become more efficient by about 100-fold. The stressors that were built into our schedules are now non-existent because the way we do the work has changed. The quality of our interactions with friends and family has grown exponentially because we literally make time to just sit and talk over FaceTime. There is a peace and calm that is occurring because we are home, with our families, right where we belong. In the sickness of the world there is a healing and calm that is happening in our homes and hearts. We may not have thought things in our lives needed changing. Sometimes God shows up to let us know that’s exactly when you need it the most.
Friends, I don’t know about you, but now, there is so much in my life and our home that cannot remain unchanged. I read something this week that said “The biggest loss in the end is if we come out on the other side of this unchanged.” I felt that deep in a place in the gut of my soul. I can’t unsee the good that happens when we pour into our homes, our people, our communities, our world. I can’t unsee the ways in which this awful pandemic has begun to recenter lives. I can’t unsee the time we get with our spouses and children.
I cannot unsee the look on my sons face the moment his super-cool shark kite caught the wind and was lifted into the air. The white-knuckled grip of his hands on the handle. The excitement and the squeals as the kite’s streamers flew across the sky. I cannot unsee these moments.
It is my deepest prayer that we can find ways, after the #StayHomeStaySafe is lifted, to implement more of what truly matters into our lives for good.
#StayHome #StaySafe
Kinda Uncertain. Kinda Anxious.
Posted on March 16, 2020 Leave a Comment
Sooo anyone else out there kind of shell shocked right now? Maybe feeling a little uncertain? A little anxious? I am, uhhh, asking for a friend…
Full-disclosure, the responses that I seek answers to aren’t for a friend, they are for me – but I am sure you already figured that out.
Guys, can I do some real talk in this judgement-free zone?
I have been in triage mode and high-alert since Wednesday. I am fearful. I am anxious. I am tense. My tummy is in knots and I have a constant headache. I don’t think I have taken a deep shallow cleansing breath in a week. I am starting to get addicted to the pop-ups on my phone notifications with all the breaking news. Hubbz family in Italy has kept us in the loop of the situation there and we knew for weeks what could potentially be coming our way. It’s enough uncertainty to make a human go a little cray-cray. I kinda wanna grab myself by the shoulders and shake me and be like “WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU, GIRL! SNAP OUTTA THIS AND PULL IT TOGETHER!” But also, I kinda wanna go in my room, pull down the black-out shades and sleep this Coronavirus-induced fear off. Wake me when it’s over please… the first option of tough-self love didn’t work and the latter is not a feasible thing, so here we are…
Anyone else feel the same?
Sweet readers, what do we do when the world is uncertain? What do we do when the fear is gripping and we are feeling more wrecked than worshipful? What do we do when all the breaking news is breaking us?
What I realized this week, amid a flurry of group texts, is that now, more than ever, it is imperative that we seek Truth.
When I talk about Truth, I am not talking about whatever news outlet you trust or what social media platform you deem worthy of your attention. I am not referring to your social circle of friends and family (though they can be amazing and helpful and wonderful). What I am referring to is Truth that surpasses all understanding. Truth that is steadfast and unwavering through the ages. Truth that embodies peace because of its mere existence.
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Jesus Christ.
Phillipians 4:6-7
The truth in Philippians 4:6-7 hit me like a ton of bricks and then, if I can be honest, it made me facepalm so hard. You guys, I have spent the week so wrapped up in the emergencies of the days that I forgot to hand it all over to the One who created the day. I don’t know who else needs this reminder today but even through all of our uncertainty, God is in total control, and despite sometimes popular opinion, He is still on the throne. Read that last sentence again.
I am so unsure about the future and what it looks like but one thing I know is that now, more than ever, I must be vigilant about putting my trust in Him. We prepare for the unknown, we pray fervently without ceasing and then we fall into His Truth. Please don’t misunderstand me- this is not an easy task. Just because I offer this to you doesn’t mean it’s easy for me to ACTUALLY do. Full-disclosure? I will have a white-knuckle grip on that truth in the coming weeks because as soon as I say I trust, worry is right behind it- I’m human like that. Here is the one thing I do know about trust- the more we fall into the cadence of trusting Christ and His Truth, the more and more we end up trusting Christ and His Truth.
Sweet friends, take these words and store them in your heart. Write them on a post-it and place them on your bathroom mirror, on your refrigerator and the lock screen of your phone. Meditate on them and trust them.
Don’t get weary, friends.
Even in total uncertainty.
He is God.
He is in control.
He is still seated on the throne.