How Do You Do?

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Thanks for joining me on my blog adventure! Let’s be friends.

God has led me through a life of misadventures. Some of them have been irresistibly sweet, many of them have been undoubtedly ordained by Him, unquestionably divine, unequivocally holy. All of them have been wild. I’m not where I thought I’d be or who I thought I’d be in life. But I have learned that the best kind of life is lived with hands open to the One who defines abundance and happiness, Jesus. That’s the only path to true joy. I wouldn’t change a thing.

As a Bible study teacher in Northern, Virginia, I began to share the stories of my life and my students found meaning  for their own lives through my sharing.  What I mean is, they could see Jesus moving through my days and years and it helped them find Jesus in their own moments. I dearly loved teaching and dearly loved my students, but God said it was time for my family to embrace a new adventure.  So He drove our crumb-laden minivan to Texas.  To a softer life, one with a smaller geographical radius.

A few sweet friends said I should blog.  I thought, really?  Maybe that’s just a nice thing to say.  Does the world need another Christian mom blog?  Well we shall see, won’t we?  God led me to a group of writers on Daughters of the Deep.com and I’ve been happy to contribute there.  You can find those posts on this site too.  But this year it’s time to launch a space for more personal reflection. God puts these thoughts in my head and matches them with emotions that bubble up from my heart and I put them here.  And if He uses this synthesis to help just one of you…well, I guess the we needed another blog, didn’t we.

As for belief?  I embrace every word of the Nicene Creed.  I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, The Planet Maker.  There’s only one Jesus, the only-begotten Son of God, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God.  For you and for me He came down from heaven and chose a robe of flesh.  I believe His crucifixion was real, His resurrection was real and salvation through His name is real, essential, and the best decision anyone could make.  I believe in and am so very grateful for the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life, who spoke through the prophets  in the Bible to you and to me so we can figure out life down here in the dirt.  I believe the Bible is an inerrant love letter from a Holy God to His people.  Bless Him!

I love you.  I love that you’re struggling and trying hard to make a good life for your people.  I love that you’re learning to treat yourself with as much grace and love that you pour out.  I love that you’re being challenged to grow up and step up.  I am too.  I can’t wait to share life with you…with open hands.

 Julianna

A bit more about the author…

Julianna Mathers-family photo

Julianna Mathers is a writer, ladies Bible study teacher, and speaker who is passionate about encouraging women. She has instructed little girls, teens, and adult women for more than 20 years through discipleship, Sunday school, and in-depth ladies Bible study. Along with her husband, she has co-taught couples and hosted a life groups in her home. She’s had the privilege of sharing her miracle adoption and mothering stories with hundreds of women through speaking events.

With her relatable, poignant, and humorous style, she loves to challenge, dream with and draw women into a deeper knowledge of scripture and a more intimate relationship with the Lord.

Julianna graduated from the University of Virginia and spent 11 years working in corporate America before becoming a wife and mom. She is married to Dwight Mathers, a retired U.S. Coast Guard Captain and is the mother of two wonderful adopted children. In her free time she loves decorating and re-decorating her home, cooking big messy meals, and writing about God’s lavish grace. Julianna and her family live in suburbia north of Dallas, TX.  She and her family are non-denominational Bible believing grace receiving followers of Jesus Christ.