I’m very excited to share this guest post with you from Holly Barrett of Reclaiming a Redeemed Life. Come and meet my friend and be sure and check out her blog and read the blog posts she shares at the bottom for a great sampling of what you’ll find at her lovely blog!

It’s kinda hard to write about yourself. Even for those of us who write a lot! But I have to say, Kate has been so gracious and open and willing to honor others. That’s made it quite a bit easier and I really appreciate this opportunity.

So what are the things I write about?

Faith

I am a Christian. My beliefs and values permeate everything that I do and guide every decision that I make. Jesus made promises to us while He walked the earth. He promised that we would have life and have it abundantly.

That’s not material blessing, by the way. Although material blessings are sometimes part of His grace upon us. Rather, it’s a life of fulfillment with a Resource available to us to handle all that life throws on those less-than-fulfilling days.

The problem as I see it though, is that we often don’t walk in that abundance. We are redeemed when we are saved, but we often don’t live like redeemed people. We live in defeat and doubt, wondering where and when we will see behind the fear and the pain and the yearning for more.

Not that I have it all figured out, mind you. Just because I can see the goal doesn’t mean I have achieved it! But I’m trying. And I want to encourage you to try too. To trust God’s love for you enough to embrace the gift of redemption He has given us through Jesus.

Family

I am a mom and a grandma. I became a single mom 20 years ago and somehow raised two healthy functioning children to adulthood! I often say they grew up well in spite of me rather than because of me. I certainly made some mistakes and we had our ups and downs. But I’m also willing to say that by the grace of God, I did some things right too. Today they are living proof of God’s graciousness to a little family of three who survived trauma through love and hard work and a great support network!

Single parent families don’t have to be broken families. And I’m going to write a book about that one day.

Causes

I am a minister. One of my greatest loves is Christ’s church and I am passionate about connecting people to Jesus. I’m passionate about building authentic and open community that will open the door for people to see Jesus in our local communities. So I particularly love any type of community transformation ministry right where God has planted us. What is the makeup of your local church? Where has God placed you at this point in time? And how would He have you impact the community where you live and work and play?

I also love the causes that work in community as well. My employer is The Crossnore School, where I minister to young adults as program director for Miracle Scholars. We provide residential support services to students who have aged out of foster care and are enrolled in community college.

Compassion International brings hope and education to children and families who live in poverty. I am a Compassion blogger and really believe in the work they are doing on the ground in many countries around the world.

I also love the work of Operation Christmas Child, where the gospel story is told with every single shoebox given out. And Sole Hope, who recognized a simple solution that has impacted many lives.

We have been given so much. I believe that God expects us to give back to others. You will never regret giving to a cause you can believe in.

Books/Writing

I am a writer. I blog and dream of having a book (or three) published one day. I say three because I currently have the beginnings of three books on my computer right now. I believe in the power of words to inspire and encourage or to discourage and destroy. It’s all up to how I choose to use them.

There is power in leaving a legacy of words. Of writing down the stories that we are living for the generations who come after.

The ultimate power is in The Word. The power to convict and change. To encourage and empower.

I currently have two series going on the blog. Big Red Sofa usually runs on Mondays and is a time for us to just sit on my big red sofa and share for a while. Sometimes I’ll show some pictures I’ve taken, talk about an event, or a lesson that’s been particularly meaningful for me. Testimony Tuesday is a blog link-up and takes place on Tuesdays (duh!). It’s a place for us to tell the stories of how God is working in our lives. It’s the series that really opened the door to community on my blog.

So that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Just a southern gal, living life on the edge, doing Kingdom work, and throwin’ around a lot of words when I get the chance. I hope you will stop by and check out our community at my place! I’ll look forward to meeting you there. I’d also love to connect with you on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or Instagram.

Some posts you might want to check out:

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