my story

Hello there!

I’m the author of “Love Beyond Looks: A 5-Week Bible Study on Body Image,” and owner of Revelation Wellness Athens, a local faith and fitness ministry.

Here’s a little bit of background of how I got here:

I’m a University of Georgia alumni, where I received a degree in Public Health and went out to heal the world through health and fitness education. But the Lord had other plans to heal me along the way. After graduating and working a humbling job as a non-profit medical receptionist while teaching fitness classes, I married my best friend and joined him in Seattle, where he encouraged me to start a healthy living blog. That blog caught the attention of a corporate wellness company, whose biggest client was Starbucks, none other than my dream job! I worked at Starbucks Corporate for a year in their Java Gym, doing health promotion work for another company in Seattle, while I continued my blog and started seminary.

I posted a body image blog series as part of a seminary assignment and forgot about it until six months later when a friend told me she used it for her small group. I quickly reworked it into an actual Bible study and released it as a PDF. It was easier to read in Kindle and hardback, so I made those too and it became "Love Beyond Looks: A 5-Week Bible Study on Body Image." It turned out to be especially helpful for me as a postpartum mom rethinking her body and how to glorify God in each new season of life. 

After we moved back to Athens, Georgia, motherhood and the pressure to compete in the blogosphere was overwhelming. I was always a go-getter and was taught never to quit, but I reached my breaking point. I pulled back from any voluntary responsibilities and began my journey to find rest—both in my body and soul. It was during this time the Lord finally caught my attention. He pointed out that my lifelong struggle to find purpose in my work disappointed me because I was not first resting my worth in His work. 

Now when I start to feel burdened, I surrender my anxieties to the Lord and am lifted up.  I can breathe easier, my shoulders are less tight, and I feel grounded in my spirit. Sometimes, we need the reminder that we are small and finite, and God is big and infinite. It is in that place that we feel the most full, the most satisfied, the most true. Here we are free from expectations and empowered to live out our destination. 

So here I am, on a journey to find rest so I can rise up into God's great plan. I hope you'll journey with me on this adventure!