by Jessica Bolyard | Dec 18, 2020 | Faith
Dear 2020, I think I’m over you. I don’t think I’m telling you anything you don’t know; I also don’t think you can pretend that our relationship has been a healthy one. I’m just ready to move on from all that you’ve put me through. It’s time. I can’t take...
by Jessica Bolyard | Oct 23, 2020 | Faith
Hey, you. We’re in a bit of a tough spot these days, huh? Yeah, I know. But I don’t want to just talk about the stuff we’re going through. No, I want to apologize to you. Because I’ve said some things. Some things that have hurt you. Some...
by Jessica Bolyard | Oct 22, 2020 | Faith
As I gathered my purse and keys and starting to get up from the couch, I asked, “I need to know something. What, exactly, is the goal here? Like, what are we aiming for?” My psychiatrist looked up at me from over his glasses, where he was writing the last...
by Jessica Bolyard | Oct 16, 2020 | Faith
Dear Younger Me, I desperately wish I could sit down with you, face to face, over a cup of coffee. Well, today’s me (Or should I say you? This could get confusing.) would have coffee, but since you’re only 16 and still on your caffeine hiatus, you’d...
by Jessica Bolyard | Oct 15, 2020 | Family
As mamas, sometimes we do things over and over and over, hoping for a certain result but never knowing if our efforts are making a difference at all. We have to wait and wait and wait, hoping beyond hope that the things we are praying and pouring over our children are...
by Jessica Bolyard | Oct 12, 2020 | Family, Fellowship
I have my share of insecurities, but there is one that surpasses them all: insecurity about my parenting. I want so badly to be a good mama to my daughter. I want to do all that is right for her…be all that is right for her. I want to be the perfect mama, which...
by Jessica Bolyard | Oct 8, 2020 | Faith
During the first few months of my freshman year in college, I fell in love. I was away from home for the first time in my life. Everything was so new and fresh, but I was lonely and desperate and in a pretty bad place. Every morning began with the disheartening...
by Jessica Bolyard | Oct 1, 2020 | Family, Fellowship
(Note: This was originally published in 2014, when my own daughter was only 5 and I was squarely in the middle of mothering a young elementary-aged kiddo. Now, with a “not-so-little” kid, I see this post from the opposite vantage point and go back to it in...
by Jessica Bolyard | Sep 25, 2020 | Faith
Bible study is a tricky thing to figure out. We know it’s something we should do, but we don’t always feel like it (just being honest), and when we do feel like it we don’t always know what to do. Just this year I found *gasp* a method that works for me, and I’m...
by Jessica Bolyard | Sep 25, 2020 | Faith, Fellowship
Dear friend, You’re not the only one. For years I was alone. Not alone alone, because I had my husband and family and all…but really, I was alone. My life was defined by feeling alone in a crowded room. Maybe you know the lonely feeling I’m talking...