I have an unusual combination of professional backgrounds: marketing and landscaping. Through that combination and my faith in Christ, I began speaking engagements and writing.On the personal side, my husband, Richard, and I are huge sports fans, and we’ve worked together for more than twenty years providing the radio broadcasts for high school football games (Richard does play-by-play and I do color commentary. We’re crazy about the St. Louis Cardinals, the Memphis Redbirds, the Memphis Grizzlies and Arkansas college sports.

When Richard and I can get away, most of our trips are either to visit some of our eleven grandchildren, to catch a ballgame, or to visit some of our favorite state parks where we love to spend time hiking or canoeing.I love, love, love to cook. Almost every weekend you can find me in the kitchen baking bread or trying out a new recipe.

In 2016 I experienced my first mission trip, traveling to South Africa with a small group that included two beautiful women who I now serve with in CTS Ministries. This ministry began as a result of our mission trip and continues to grow and evolve as we live every day seeing a need and working to meet it.

Where my ministry is concerned, I’m passionate about sharing the message of God’s love, His forgiveness, His mercy and His grace. God wants to do something big in the lives of each of His children, and I want you to know that you are no exception. No matter where you are in your walk with God, no matter what sins may lie buried in your past, God has something earthshaking He wants to do through you and He doesn’t want feelings of defeat or doubt standing in the way.

Sometimes we come to a point where our lives just don’t honor God. No matter what kind of Christian foundation we have, or how long we have been Jesus followers, sometimes we make choices that lead to broken fellowship with God. I know that to be a fact because I lived it. I grew up in a Christian home and was taught the importance of faithful service to God and church attendance. But, early in my adult life I still wandered far away. Some of my life experiences, including the ending of my first marriage in divorce, led me to live in self-condemnation and a belief that I could no longer be used by God. As He rescued me through His faithfulness and mercy, He showed me how my forgiven failures could be used for His glory and to help others.

My experiences have left me uniquely burdened for those whose past contain “that thing” they’ve allowed themselves to believe makes them unusable in God’s Kingdom work. Things like divorce, addiction, abortion, prison, abuse, or any other kind of failure. Those who struggle with anger, unforgiveness, or not being good enough to please God; those are the ones who pull at my heartstrings. My passion is to help them realize God has a plan for them, and He still wants to use them. He especially wants to use them, not just in spite of their circumstances or their past, but because of it.