First name / My dear friend,

Can we believe that March is already knocking on our door?

Here in Georgia, spring has already come out to play and it has been been so glorious. I'm not yet ready for the pollen, but it's been nice to finally pull out my sandals and say hello again to the sun.

Recently, I joined Hope*Writers (an online community of working writers dedicated to helping you make progress as you learn to balance the art of writing with the business of publishing) and it's been absolutely incredible. I'm learning a ton about writing and how to best serve my sweet community (that's you!).

As such, things will continue to evolve. If it continues to serve you, I'm grateful that you'll continue to support me as a writer by reading this newsletter. If you ever find that this space no longer serves you, then know there's no hard feelings if you decide to unsubscribe. I'm doing my best to figure out my way as a writer, and that involves some trial and error.

But that's how life goes, isn't it? We're all doing some trial and error, especially in these, ahem, unprecedented times.

Here's a wrap-up of this month's essays and quick descriptions on each piece:

∙ St. Perpetua (video)—As part of her blog's #WomanOfValor series, my sweet friend Kelly invited me to have a conversation with her about the life and martyrdom of St. Perpetua. It was so fun to bring this historical figure to life through our words.

∙ Woman with Mermaid Heart (blog series)—Inspired by a piece of art I own, I'm exploring the nuggets of mythical wisdom painted in the piece and how it can apply in our every day life.

   ‣ Introduction

   ‣ [Part 1] Allow Yourself to be Magical

   ‣ [Part 2] Dream as Wild as the Sea

   ‣ [Part 3] Don't Let Reality Get in Your Way

   ‣ [Part 4] Love Your Life

∙ Prayers—Sometimes it's hard to have the words to pray or to know where to begin. I've written a prayer for unprecedented times that you can meditate on, as well as a lectio divina practice you can use to deepen your own personal prayer life.

∙ The Art of Gratitude—An expanded reflection from last month's newsletter which invites you to begin practicing gratitude in your own life.

My dear friend Thomas tweeted these words earlier this month, and they have served me well, so I want to gift them to you:

*breathe in*: It is good to set boundaries around things that make you uncomfortable

*breathe out*: Even if the other person doesn’t like it

As previously mentioned, I host a communal time of prayer and meditation over Zoom (camera/mic not required) each Thursday @ 8pm (EST). I call it “A Centering Moment” because I believe we all need that pause in our lives, even if only for a few minutes once a week.

I'm featuring this group to you again because I am working on a free resource about how to pray. If you want to learn more about that, you reply to this email or signup for the group here (and you'll receive a fun little phone wallpaper right off the bat, too!).

I'd love to hear any questions you might have on prayer so I can work that into the resource, too!

Until next month, dear friend. Thanks for reading and simply being you. You're wonderful.

PS—Thanks to all you lovely humans who checked out and shared my gratitude workbook. I'm hoping to have the next workbook available in April!