Welcome to Grace Paced Life
A quiet space for overwhelmed women who want calmer, more meaningful lives, grounded in grace.
Life can be hard. Really hard.
I’ve seen it. I’ve lived it. Parenting a neurodivergent child, living with ongoing health problems, feeling the squeeze between parenting your children and caring for your aging parents, and attempting to make money stretch as your wage stagnates and prices rise. It’s just hard. Deeply, quietly, relentlessly hard sometimes.
Life is Heavy for a Lot of Us
The older I get and the more I watch women try to balance it all, the more I see the need for community and grace - a community and grace our “pull-yourselves-up-by-your-bootstraps” culture doesn’t always acknowledge or nurture. We’re scared to ask for help, or maybe we have no one to ask. We fear judgment in an age where conclusions are posted all over social media before facts are known and situations understood. In a culture that values doing it all and being an expert, it’s easy to feel alone. Judged. Tired.
That’s why I am creating this space. I don’t know about you, but I long for a more relaxed time of life. I look back on my childhood and remember playing outside for hours on end. I read books late into the night. As a young wife, I found time to meet with friends on a regular basis. I still do, but it’s gotten much harder. Life moved at an easier pace back then. That begs the question: What changed?
A Little About Me
It’s true that with age comes responsibility. As a fifty-something old woman, I juggle a lot. I homeschool a neurodivergent teen, which means managing health, therapy, and lots of hands-on parenting. I work part-time as a substitute teacher. I volunteer at church. I manage the budget and schedule while my husband works far too many hours to make ends meet. Don’t get me wrong. I love my life, and I love my family. But sometimes it’s a lot of pressure.
You may have different issues. Maybe you have health problems. Maybe your parents have health problems. Maybe you’re a single mother, trying to be all things to your children. While I can’t understand your specific struggle, I can understand struggle. I can understand the questions, “Am I doing this right?” and “Am I doing enough?”
What I Mean by Grace Paced Life
Let me be clear. There is no such thing as perfection, and enough is a myth, unless it is preceded by the word “good.” That’s what a grace-paced life is - being comfortable within the confines of your abilities without being overwhelmed. Doing what you can and letting God carry what you can’t.
Doesn’t that sound great?
What You Will (and Won’t) Find Here
If you’re tired and overwhelmed, this is the space for you. Here you will find encouragement, mentoring, and a soft place to land. You’ll find that it’s OK to admit you are exhausted. It’s OK to love your family fiercely, but to acknowledge that sometimes you’re frustrated or scared for the future. It’s OK to give voice to the fact that you’re a Christian, but you sometimes struggle with wondering why your life didn’t turn out the way you planned. Here, it is OK to admit that you don’t have all the answers and you don’t have it all together.
What you won’t find here are Christian platitudes, like “If God brings you to it, he’ll bring you through it” or “God helps those who help themselves.” While the first is true, and the second is questionable at best, they aren’t exactly what I want to hear when I’m struggling. And I doubt that’s what you want to hear either.
You also won’t find productivity or hustle culture here. You have permission to rest. God rested on the seventh day of creation, and Jesus often retreated from the crowds to pray. That tells me rest is important for all of us. My aim is that this space will be peaceful and encouraging, a place to take a deep breath in the midst of the storm. You don’t have to show up here at your best. You’re welcome exactly as you are.
If This Resonates With You
If that sounds good to you, you belong here. Because being a Christian is central to who I am, I will talk about my faith, but I aim not to be preachy. However, if you are not a Christian, you are welcome here, too. In a divisive culture, I want this space to be uniting, even if we don’t agree on everything. We can agree that life is hard, nobody is perfect, and we need to rest, right? If you can agree to that, I welcome you.
I will be writing here about once a week with a mixture of encouragement, simple tools, and deeper reflection. I’m not aiming to be an “influencer” (I really dislike that term), but to build community. If community is what you’re looking for, I encourage you to stick around.
If you can identify with anything I’ve written today, feel free to reply with whatever is weighing you down lately. Sometimes just giving voice to your concerns helps lighten the burden. And I would love the opportunity to encourage you, even just by listening.
I’m really glad you’re here. I hope this becomes a steady, grounding, and restful space for you.
Grace-Paced Life is a quiet space for overwhelmed women who want calmer, more meaningful lives, grounded in grace.
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