Hi. I’m Brianna. I’m the wife of a woodworker, Travis, and the mother to two lil cubs, Forrest and Marlowe. I live in an endearingly old ranch style home in Nashville, Tennessee. I’m the writer behind this little link on the world wide web, and a firm believer that God is faithful in every season.

I grew up in a small town just outside of town. I wrote my first blog post as a senior in high school when I documented my story of donating 19 inches of hair. This season in my young faith walk served as a flag planting of sorts. It felt so good, so honest, so right, to pen my journey.

I had only been a follower of Jesus for about a year, but I knew then that I was put on this earth to write good words.

The Season of Staying

For years, I tried halfheartedly to leave Tennessee.

I continued documenting some of the journey online. I just knew God had big things for me out there. My feet led me to Hong Kong to teach English, but ultimately found their way back to Nashville where I began teaching newly resettled refugee and immigrant students in my community. Home didn’t feel small anymore. I was only half an hour down the road, but I realized that every english lesson taught and piping hot tea shared was honoring the call to go to the nations.

I knew then that I had the right address. In a transient city of coming and going, I answered the call to stay.

But boy, did I wrestle with staying.

I watched peers travel far and wide. I felt little of my calling and sheepishly admitted, “I’m just a teacher” which turned into “I’m not even a real teacher.” As I talked to more gals following Jesus close to their home, I realized I wasn’t alone. I wasn’t the only one who felt like my calling was not as important because of my coordinates on a map. Many in my community felt like their roles were subpar simply because they were building a life in an already familiar place.

“God rooted me here, and that’s a good thing,” became the story I spoke over myself.

I made it my mission to be intentional with my home, educate others on the rich diversity represented in the community, and encourage others to join the journey of believing our stories matter – yes, even here.

I knew then that God works regardless of our location on a map. The world seemed bigger than ever here in my hometown. God was faithful in that season.

The Season of Resignation and Rebuilding

Fast forward through nearly a decade of faithful cross-cultural work. I was a young mom with a new dream in my heart: stay at home motherhood. The word stay transformed into something new and different.

I eventually resigned my role as a program coordinator of a literacy program for refugee youth at a local nonprofit, which was the humbling decision to scale back on my salaried work in a leadership position with a retirement plan. The new plan was to stay home, so that I could spend more time raising my baby boy and cheering my husband on in his woodworking business. With open hands of faith, we chose to shift toward a more content and simple lifestyle.

We entered a time of rebuilding in our home, in ways that might only ever live in the hearts of my husband and I.

I knew then that my credentials and professionalism don’t matter in the context of the greatest job I could ever hold as one serving the Lord as a wife, mother, and daughter. God was faithful in that season, yet again.

The Season of Becoming Motherless and Mother to a Daughter

Fast forward another year into this great and simple stay-at-home-motherhood endeavor.

We welcomed a daughter into the world. Three weeks later, my mother died. I held my newborn as I held my dying mother’s hand.

Holding life and death clarified my vision for life and gave me the courage to get after it. I called the thinness of that ongoing season a grace of mourning. I had watched death and birth, I had seen both the book marked beginning and ends of our lives – and in that place, I found my voice.

And I knew then, with no doubt in my heart, that the Lord’s mercy and grace abounds as He is faithful in every season. Even this painful one.

The Common Thread is This: God is Faithful in Every Season

As I ushered in era after era of being, I was reminded of what I was put on this earth to do.

Outside of my faith, there is only one desire that has moved with me through the years: writing. In all of the hats I’ve worn and the roles I’ve lived over the last decade, my heart’s desire to write remains in every season. Like a thread woven throughout my days, my hands and heart are wired to pen meaningful words. And when I’m not faithful to it, a sense of lack creeps in.

To be totally candid with you, my story is not remarkable. There are twists and turns I couldn’t have picked for myself a decade ago, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. My story is one of following Jesus in weak and anxious faith and receiving His strong and happy care. It’s a story of sacred and ordinary moments met with incredible people from all over the world.

It’s a story of creating life-giving home rhythms. Building community on honesty and honor. Staying late for tea with neighbors. Going to international festivals. Dreaming up my baby’s childhood and making it happen. Reading helpful (and sometimes not helpful) books. Memorizing recipes. Going to church. Praying when I don’t even know what to pray or how to say it.

And my common thread is not based on my writing alone, but because of the visible work of God that deserves to be proclaimed.

It matters not because I’m anything special, but because God’s work is. The way we move in the world makes a difference because God is on the move in the world. When we live informed about other cultures, it changes the way we treat people. As we surrender all we have and are to raise up the next generation, we become disciple makers. Coming to sit in our grief, we commune with God in blessed ways.

The world needs your story and it needs mine too.

Even if it feels small – especially when it feels small. I’m not looking for the next big calling. I’m here to remain faithful to the places I’m rooted and to tell something good about the One who is always faithful.

Life is meant to be shared. God is faithful in every season. And that’s how this hodge lodge vision of learning to love God in all seasons came to fruition. I’m honored to shared a page of testimony with you, friend.