Skip to content
Jessica Fralin

Jessica Fralin

  • ABOUT JESSICA
  • SPEAKING
  • COPYWRITING
  • CONTACT
  • RESOURCES
    • #MAKEMONDAYKIND
    • SHELF
Scroll down to content

Posts

Posted on April 30, 2015April 29, 2015

When My Soul Needs Steadying

Life has a funny way of being unsteady. When things are good, it’s hard to focus on what matters. It’s just giddiness & energy & joy, joy, joy. When things are bad, it’s hard to focus on anything else. It’s just confusion & tear-filled eyes & pain, pain, pain. I’ve grasped for countless supports to …

Continue reading "When My Soul Needs Steadying"

Posted on April 29, 2015April 28, 2015

So, You Can’t Write a Book

Sneak peek into the most common conversation in my life these days: “I’ve always wanted to write a book!” I always tell them, “You should do it!” “Oh, I never could. I just think it would be awesome if I did.” The encourager in me wants to hug these people & tell them that they …

Continue reading "So, You Can’t Write a Book"

Posted on April 28, 2015April 27, 2015

The Best Day, The Worst Day, Just Another Tuesday

Last weekend, I heard a sermon about joy. I know, we’ve all heard at least nineteen of those. But don’t tune out just yet. This one’s got an illustration that’ll rock your way of thinking. A few years ago, some psychologists measured contentment levels in two groups of people who had gone through life-altering events. …

Continue reading "The Best Day, The Worst Day, Just Another Tuesday"

Posted on April 27, 2015April 26, 2015

When Jesus Yells

A lot of times, I hear people mention the still, small voice of Jesus, prompting them to learn a lesson, to change a pattern, to step out in faith. That’s nice. With me, Jesus typically has to yell. I’m not so good at growing in the still, quiet moments. My mind is crowded these days, …

Continue reading "When Jesus Yells"

Posted on April 24, 2015April 23, 2015

Community Fridays: Meet Kaitlin

Happy Friday from Tennessee! Today’s guest post is by one of my favorite people. Kaitlin & I met over social media a couple of years ago though, & when we finally grabbed coffee back in February, I just knew I’d found a girl I wanted to keep around. I don’t know whether it was the …

Continue reading "Community Fridays: Meet Kaitlin"

Posted on April 23, 2015April 22, 2015

Truth for the Bumps in the Road

Some days, life goes really smoothly. Yesterday was not one of those days. I just encountered lots of bumps in the road, both literally & figuratively. But even in the craziness of health issues & traffic issues & relationship issues, Jesus carved out time to be with me. In a season of running, running, running, I …

Continue reading "Truth for the Bumps in the Road"

Posted on April 22, 2015April 22, 2015

Life in Two Zip Codes (Or, The End of an Era)

If home is where the heart is, then my heart’s in quite a few pieces. Virginia holds moments & memories I’ll treasure for the rest of my days. Spending the better part of twenty-two years in a place etches its character deep within you. The Blue Ridge Mountains hold a spot in my soul that’s …

Continue reading "Life in Two Zip Codes (Or, The End of an Era)"

Posts navigation

Previous page Page 1 … Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 … Page 11 Next page

LET’S GET TO SOCIALIZING.

  • View jessicafralinwrites’s profile on Facebook
  • View jessicafralin’s profile on Twitter
  • View jessicafralin’s profile on Instagram

Instagram

Missing that Oregon coastline today. There’s just nothing like it. I remember exactly how I felt in this picture. I was in the home stretch of a really hard season (although, of course, I didn’t know it was the end at the time). Even though it was freezing, I just wanted my feet in the sand, to feel grounded somewhere when everything else felt untethered. I breathed out quiet prayers as waves broke on Haystack Rock, little pleas for breakthrough in both my body and my heart. That was eight months ago. It feels like yesterday. It feels like a lifetime ago. If I could only tell that girl on the beach, “Not only will those under-your-breath prayers get answered, but God is about to blow you away with goodness.” Instead, I’m telling you. Here’s what I can attest to: if God tells you something, believe it. Even if it seems crazy. Especially if it seems crazy. Even as I was staring at the ocean that day, He was working a whole slew of things together for good, and I had no idea. Today, I can barely fit all those answered prayers in my hands. He’s been ridiculously good to me - and He will be to you, too, because He doesn’t play favorites like that. Sometimes, when we can’t believe things for ourselves, we need others to believe them for us. I needed that once. I’m sure I’ll need it again. But right now, I’m believing for YOU. Hold on — His goodness is chasing you down, even if you can’t hear the footsteps yet.
Happy birthday to the gal who keeps me dreaming + drags me out of the house for the best adventures. She’s absolute magic behind the camera, she’s a style icon, and most importantly, she’s an incredible friend — one who always shows up, always listens, and always, always knows just how to make me crack up. Wish everyone could have a @jessicasteddom in their life. I’m so lucky that I do. Happy birthday, my girl ✨
“Surely, God is not confined to the months of January through November. Surely, there’s friendship to be forged and creativity to endeavor upon and love to be found and work to be finished and miracles to be revealed - maybe even in the next four weeks. Who am I to count Him out? To tell Him, "I'm tired. Wait until next year." And if I won't count Him out, then I surely can't count myself - made in His image, after His heart - out, either. Maybe He has more to do. Maybe I have more to do, too.” ———————————————————————— Sharing a few words from December’s edition of The Pour Over, just in case you need a shot in the arm to KEEP GOING. God hasn’t turned his back on 2019, or on you. 💕 There’s goodness ahead, and we don’t have to wait until January 1 to taste it. The Pour Over is a monthly email series I started this fall - featuring words to pore over, coffee to pour over, and a dash of the sweet stuff. If you need some encouraging words to kick off each month, love finding good playlists and podcasts and purchases, or just enjoy a good cup of coffee - this is the email for you. If you’re not subscribed yet, click the link in my bio & consider it your Christmas gift to me. 😉 I’m having a blast writing these little guys, and it would mean so much if you came along for the journey in 2020.
Celebrated Bailey + Ben with a bunch of best friends this weekend, and it was the stuff of dreams. We even got our wedding souvenirs from a t-shirt cannon (swipe to the end to see my new favorite outfit.) Really, really grateful for this crew.✨
I’m usually pretty decisive. But lately, I’ve been in a couple of places that left me unsure of what to do. And I’ll just be transparent — I didn’t handle that indecision well. I overshared and underthought, and honestly? I muddied the waters for my own dang self. Even worse: some people gave opinions I didn’t even ASK for, and I let those influence me, too. Lesson learned: there’s a big difference in seeking wisdom and stressing out over comments from the peanut gallery. When I let too many voices speak into my life, I end up confused and anxious. When I finally tune it all out, I realize that I’ve known which way I wanted to walk all along. This is probably true for you, too. My friend @erinloechner is really wise about this, and she recently talked to me about how we don’t trust our intuitions any more, because we don’t have to. Going to a new gym? Google the details so you know exactly what to wear and when to arrive and how to navigate the facility. But let’s be honest: we’ve all been to a gym before. We, generally speaking, know how it works. We should trust ourselves a little bit more. See also: pulling up the menu on our phones before visiting every restaurant and checking the ETA on Apple Maps for a place we’ve been a hundred times. We rely on our heads and not our guts. And then, when we NEED them, they’re out of practice. Yikes. My point is this: you probably know what to do. You don’t need that 56th opinion. You don’t even need Google, I bet. Trust the discernment you’ve been given. Trust the God you follow. And trust the people who have stored up valuable relational capital in your life — and whose lives you wouldn’t mind shaping yours after. (Don’t accept directions from someone who hasn’t been where you’re going. But that’s another post.) Check in with what, or who, matters, and leave the rest of those voices in the background. Whatever you’re walking into — a new job, a difficult conversation, a proverbial fork in the road — I bet you’ve got it. I’d give you my opinion, but you don’t need it. Just know I’m cheering you on.
I tried on these overalls in August, fell in love with them on sight, and then promised myself I’d wait until the inevitable sale — one small rebellion against the culture of immediacy. I didn’t know it at the time, but as I refreshed the Anthropologie website, Jesus was leading me into uncharted territory. Last month, I had scheduled a long overdue hair appointment. But then, a phone call from family changed my plans, and I found myself on a plane to South Carolina instead. Weirdly, back to the city in which I spotted the overalls. I didn’t have them in hand. I had to cancel my appointment. A year ago, I would have been frustrated over both of these things. Not even because they’re deeply important, but because I was deeply impatient. Fast forward: three months later, the overalls DID go on sale. And yesterday, I wore them to my hair appointment. Waiting for both these things made me more grateful for them, to be sure. But if this post was all just about waiting for sales and rescheduling appointments, it wouldn’t make for a very meaningful story. But waiting for sales and highlights has shifted my heart as summer’s turned to winter. My soul feels settled in a way it didn’t before. Peace is meeting me here, with overall straps on my shoulders and fresh highlights in my hair and a heart full of much bigger, much weightier hopes. But here’s the thing: I’m attuned to waiting now. Saying no to immediacy has given me peace I couldn’t have anticipated. Trusting God’s timing isn’t possible without trusting in His heart. But these days, I trust it more than I’ve ever trusted anything. It might be winter, but I’m already seeing the seeds of some of my deepest hopes poking through the dirt. He’s been good, and He’ll keep being good — it’s just who He is. That’s why, even in the waiting, contentment is the song I’ll sing over big and little hopes alike.
Blog at WordPress.com.
Jessica Fralin
Blog at WordPress.com.
Cancel