Keep Your Courage

This military life pushes you fully into experiences that take you so far past any limits you thought you had, asking you to do more than you thought you could do. And it's in those moments that you realize you can't do this on your own- you need others in the ring with you. Is this how we discover the hard life can still be a good life? I think so. Listen in. Find Sarah on Instagram!

Part of the wholehearted military life is not only feeling some of the things, but actually feeling all of the things- the good and the hard and learning how to live with it all. And my goodness in the military life, we are handed It All. If you're in a season of military life that feels like Level 10 stress all the time, if you're wondering if you can actually make it, the perspective shift in th...

We in the military know exactly what it's like to have someone else determine much of how our life goes. And as common as it is in the military experience, it still makes me feel a certain kind of way. So much of our own lived life is out of our control... but what if that could be a good thing? If your life feels a little out of control, if you're waiting on orders, waiting for word on what comes...

The military life is a hard one. And my goal is to help make it a little less hard. Because the world feels a little precarious right now, right? A lot are going through deployments, a lot have them on the horizon. A deployment is one of the hardest things we can endure in the military life. But I've found some ways over the years that help me get through deployments- if you need some encouragemen...

It always surprises me that it's often the small moments that add up over time that make me come the most undone. This is true. But what if there's a completely different perspective to have about small moments in this military life? What if it's the small moments that actually give us a structure upon which to build our life? Listen in for more. Find Sarah on Instagram!  

The military life, as hard as it is, gives us lots of opportunities to need to rely on other people in order to get us through. But something happens along the way that feels a little close to a miracle- we could be going through the hardest time of our lives, but because we had someone in the ring with us, we make it through and can even sometimes look back on that season with fondness. How? And...

I've noticed my ability to handle what we go through in the military has a direct connection to how connected I feel to my husband. He's the soldier but we're the team and we're in it together. Ideally. Because it doesn't always feel like we're actually in it together. I discovered a way, a small way, to help re-connect our marriage. If you need some encouragement from the real side of military ma...

Here we are, military wives, some of us mothers too, living a chaotic and uncertain life ourselves, trying to tend to All The Needs of tiny humans who can't do it themselves yet. What if that situation that seems like it's driving you to the absolute end of yourself is actually an invitation to deeper connection? If you need a little encouragement on how in the world to mother children in the mids...

It kinda feels like we're all being pretty shaken right now. From deployments to hard assignments to loneliness to waiting on orders, the military world feels kinda tender and hard. Instead of focusing on all of those hard things though that can lead to fear and anxiety and overwhelm, try focusing on what I offer in this episode. I think it just might help. Find Sarah on Instagram! James Bryan Smi...

Around here, we talk about what we can do to build a strong center that holds, and this concept- of being good to your own self is a central piece to that. Sometimes though, it's hard to even know how to do that- like, how to actually logistally, physically get through these hard things while trying to take care of ourselves too. We talk all about that in this episode. Find Sarah on Instagram! Men...

I know our tendencies. We are the ones who tend to everyone else before tending to our own selves. We show up to work right after our husband deployed so that we can take care of our clients or patients or students. We take care of sad and scared kids even though we're sad and scared, too. Are you as good at taking care of your own self as you are at taking care of others? Listen to this episode f...

I think I've run the whole gamut of new year experiences- the hope and fresh start that comes with a new year all the way on down to total cynicism about what's the point of even trying when we have no control over our life anyway? What if in this awareness of our lack of control though, is an invitation to a choice we can make instead? Listen in to see what I mean. Find Sarah on Instagram!

In this Christmas season, my hope is that even when it's busy, these few minutes together can provide you with just a little reflection, a little time to re-center as you move throughout your day. This week we're talking about joy.

In this Christmas season, my hope is that even when it's busy, these few minutes together can provide you with just a little reflection, a little time to re-center as you move throughout your day. This week we're talking about love.

In this Christmas season, my hope is that even when it's busy, these few minutes together can provide you with just a little reflection, a little time to re-center as you move throughout your day. This week we're talking about peace.

I think a lot of us are walking into Advent with a limp. A lot of us are exhausted, threadbare, but it's not like world events get put on pause to allow us to be still and actually pause to ponder the season of Advent. It's not like units stop training, or a PCS is halted for a little bit. Maybe what we need right now- is hope.  Find Sarah on Instagram!

I don't think I'm the only one in this zone right now, but I feel like I can speak for all of us when I say: We Are Exhausted. Can you feel it? The collective exhaustion? The individual absolutely tapped-out overwhelm? And yet we keep going. How, though? I have some ideas on what we all might need today. Find Sarah on Instagram!  Episode 12: Build the Community You Need

Fear can be loud in the military. Overwhelm can be loud in the military. Insecurity and loneliness and resentment can be loud in the military. I want love and courage to be the loudest voices in the room instead. Today's episode is all about how we can make that happen. Listen in. Find Sarah on Instagram!  Episode 32: The Story of Our Family's Return to the Military

Resilience is no longer the Power Word that it once was for me, because I can't hear that word without thinking of what it cost to acquire it. And so the word resilience? That word? It doesn't make me feel strong- it makes me feel exhausted. Resilience is a hallmark of the military community- but what if there was another way? Find Sarah on Instagram!

It's one thing to talk about hard things in the past tense- like, this is what I went through and this is what I learned. It's an entirely other thing to talk about hard times while you are in the middle of hard times. It feels extra vulnerable. But what if that's the whole point?  Find Sarah on Instagram!

Sometimes we hit a hard season and we know the things that help- we know the rhythms that have worked before, the best pratices that help get us through- but nothing is helping. Sometimes this military life causes us to go through something that is just hard and we're tapped out - what do we even do then? We talk all about this experience in this episode. Find Sarah on Instagram!

I think it's the "Just Keep Going" part about this military life that can feel so hard sometimes. How in the world do you keep going when you feel so depleted and at the end of yourself but you still just have to keep going. I don't like feeling disconnected from myself during these kinds of seasons. I have some thoughts about how to re-connect back to the center of who you are, even in the midst...

All of us military wives know what it's like to miss our person but then to also have to fill all the roles that they normally fill when they're around. The need for us to be a lot can be, well, a lot. How do we even do it? Let's talk about it. Find Sarah on Instagram

Sometimes this life makes it feel like our whole world is coming apart underneath us. Well, those are the exact moments God asks us to trust him. And it turns out, those are the exact times that build the strength we need to get through those exact kind of times.

We experience such strong community with other military wives who are going through the same hard things as we are. I wonder, do we see our marriages the same way? Is it possible for these hard things we go through to be an opportunity to get closer in our marriage? Let's talk about it.