Monica Kelsey’s story of abandonment as a newborn powerfully illustrates how God can take our deepest pain and transform it into purpose. Today she is founder of the nonprofit Safe Haven Baby Boxes. She has made it her personal mission to do whatever it takes to save the lives of innocent babies. Her organization offers mothers in crisis an option to safely surrender their unharmed newborn to a hospital or fire station while remaining completely anonymous.
184 || God is Good Even When You Don't Understand His Ways || Ellie Sanazaro
God’s plans are often different from our plans. This was true for Ellie Sanazaro when her world was forever changed after her daughter was born without the chromosomal disorder doctors had told her to expect. God used this event to change Ellie's heart and lead her down the path of adopting a baby with Down syndrome. Ellie is now passionate about spreading the message that EVERY child is an Image Bearer.
091 || On Remembering to Include God in Your Plans || Teresa Swanstrom Anderson
In this episode, blogger/author Teresa Swanstom Anderson shares how she went from not wanting children in her 20s to having a house full of kids today. She reminds us that God put each one of us here, in this time and place, for a purpose. You’ll learn about her struggle through a season of waiting for God to reveal His plan for her life and how she figured out the direction she was going wasn’t it. She also teaches us what happens when we forget that closed doors can be an answer to prayer for doors to be opened.
041 || Why Community Matters to Your Dream || Lauren Jones
Lauren is a homeschooling, bio/adoption and foster care mama of four kids ages 9 to 9 months. If you can’t find her in the kitchen or the mountains, she’s probably scouring vintage shops for beautiful books. It should be said that she’s definitely not cleaning her house--you can pray for that if you’d like. Lauren and her husband Joe started foster care three years ago and have had 7 placements in that time. It’s been a healthy mix of “this is amazing” and “this totally sucks.” They recently founded Treasured Kids--a ministry aiming to get beautiful books into the hands of foster kids. They are excited for a new season of respite care as well as continuing to educate their crew at home and learning what exactly it means to be a family.
Momentum: Episode #22 - Sarah Conner
Sarah Conner is the Vice President of Programs and HR at HIS BridgeBuilders, a poverty alleviation ministry in Dallas, Texas. She oversees programs that serve hundreds of individuals each year on their path towards self-sufficiency and flourishing. Since 2011, Sarah has also been living her passion of unleashing and equipping women by serving at Polished, most recently as the Director of Dallas. Her story is one of overcoming heartache through faith in God and some great community! She’s a big believer in having lots of good girlfriends, laughter, and a great cheese plate.
Momentum: Episode #13 - Andrea Conway
Andrea Conway is passionate about living life authentically with others, whether that be in her community, gathering women around a dinner table, or working with Ethiopian children who live in extreme poverty. Each year, Andrea travels to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia with Out of the Ashes. She has learned that going into situations ready to listen, learn, work, and then listen some more, opens up doors for communities to grow, stereotypes to fall, and love to blossom.