Confession: I have a love/hate relationship with these Contributor Spotlight posts.

I adore getting to know the women behind the words of (in)courage — the deep, the unexpected, the mundane — I love it all! Even though I have the privilege of serving as Community Manager and knowing our amazing team of writers, I still learn something new about each friend every month!

Now, hate is a strong word I don’t like using, but these monthly get-to-know-ya’s stir up a certain level of frustration and discontentment because WHY CAN’T WE ALL JUST BE NEIGHBORS?! The more I rub up against these women, the more I wish we could do life shoulder to shoulder on the regular — know what I mean?

Kristen: Almond milk chai lattes for two any day of the week, girl!
Robin: Girl’s night in with Seinfield and tiramisu sounds divine!
Tasha: Bring your kids on over, and let’s talk creative writing while our littles run wild!

See? Longings stirred. All of that to say, enjoy this edition of Contributor Spotlight at your own risk because I’m pretty sure you’re going to fall in love with these friends and wish they lived next door to you too.

Thanks for being here!
– Becky

Meet Kristen Strong

Tell us a little about yourself.
I’m the wife of a retired US Air Force veteran, mama to three awesome teens, and author of the book Girl Meets Change: Truths to Carry You through Life’s Transitions. I wrote this book to help alleviate our anxiety over the common and unique life changes we experience.

I’m a born and raised Oklahoma girl, but when my family lived the U.S. Air Force life, we ping-ponged across this country and one ocean. Now I live in the Colorado woods with my family as well as six chickens, two kitties, one dog, and a bird.

How long have you been an (in)courage contributor?
Since 2011. I can’t believe I’m going on year eight with (in)courage!

What’s your favorite thing about (in)courage?
The prayer and support our community-at-large gives one another. We really are wing-women for one another.

What are you passionate about?
I love helping all women see their changing seasons of life with more hope and less worry. I do have a particular affinity for military spouses, and I especially love to encourage them.

What personal project are you most excited about right now?
My next book, releasing August of this year!

What is your favorite…
• Way to start the day: With the fire going in our stove, a hot chai latte in my hand, and a good word from the Bible for my day.
• Thing to wear: God bless leggings and tunics. They cover a multitude of sins (i.e. all the Chex Mix and fudge I ate over Christmas)!
• Sweet treat: Cake! All I need in life are faith, hope, and really good cake.
• Salty snack: Boom Chicka Pop Popcorn
• Hot drink: Chai latte with almond milk (I like dairy, but dairy doesn’t like me)
• Thing to do with friends: Sit and talk, walk and talk, window shop and talk
• Way to recharge: Other than getting my hind end in the Word, I love to watch Netflix, listen to country music, or read a good historical fiction or nonfiction book — depending on my mood!
• Thing that makes you laugh: My family, friends, and Parks and Rec.

What’s your favorite place to connect online?
Instagram all day long! You can find me there @kristenstrong. I also love connecting on my website kristenstrong.com.

Check out this fun conversation with Kristen where she talks about how God is meeting her in this season of change and the message behind her new book. If you’re struggling with belonging today, this one is for you. 

 

Meet Robin Dance

Tell us a little about yourself.
I grew up in Athens, Georgia (known as Mayberry because I could ride my bike everywhere safely, and we knew all our neighbors), but somehow ended up in South Carolina for college (Go Tigers!) where I met and later married my college sweetheart. We’ve now been together over half my life and have raised amazing but imperfect children, a daughter working with the urban poor in Denver, a son working in finance in Chattanooga, and the youngest who graduates in May and (praise God!) has a job waiting for him in Atlanta. We’ve ended up in Georgia again after long stints in South Carolina and Tennessee and a year in Germany.

My professional background is in marketing, PR, and sales, so writing has always been a part of my life. I will never be a perfectionist. I’m happiest when I feel known and loved. I’m complicated but not high maintenance. And I make the best apple pie in the world (unofficially). I love to travel, bake, and play games, but I will never be able to iron a shirt without making more wrinkles than it started with.

How long have you been an (in)courage contributor?
Since Day 1! That first month we had a theme — courage. My post was a tribute to my mother who battled cancer five years before her death at age thirty-eight, and to this day, it remains one of my favorite posts of all time.

What’s your favorite thing about (in)courage?
The heart of who we are — a community of women encouraging women, iron sharpening iron. Through storytelling and personal experience by a diverse writing team and guest contributors, we’ve always sought to bring glory to God and point His daughters toward Jesus. I also love our willingness to change and continually ask how we can better serve our community. Our staff, readers, and contributors are truly special, and I’m thankful to know so many of you as friends!

What are you passionate about?
These days, two things are on my radar: maintaining a “get to” mindset and stewardship. With a get-to mindset, I recognize, receive, and respond to every opportunity as a privilege, not as drudgery or obligation. For example, I get to clean my house because I have a home to clean. I get to spend time in the Word because I can read and own a Bible. I get to forgive people who are hard to forgive because Jesus continually forgives me.

I’m passionate about stewardship in a broader sense than financial matters. I want to be intentional about how I use and tend my time, thoughts, body, and relationships and encourage others to do the same. This includes earnestly and intimately seeking God, eating well and exercising — not to reach a number on a scale but for whole health and wellness, and making time to connect face to face with those I love and/or want to know better. These aren’t new year’s resolutions but simple practices I hope will naturally become part of who I am.

What personal project are you most excited about right now?
Though I’ve had the absolute privilege of contributing to ten book collaborations (including the (in)courage’s Devotional Bible, A Moment to Breathe devotional, and Craving Connection), I am currently in the middle of edits for my first book!! For All Who Wander will release this time next year, and it’s my personal account of God’s faithfulness despite my faithlessness, of why knowing Him is better than knowing all the things about Him. How lovely will it be if my own story of struggling through a spiritual desert is redeemed by encouraging others? Though God plopped this book opportunity right in my lap, I begged Him for every word; they did not come easily. I can’t wait to hold her one day!

What is your favorite…

• Way to start the day: Watching the sun rise over the Atlantic and listening to the waves greet the morning.
• Thing to wear: A big smile, a princess dress, a cozy sweater, my wedding ring, and my mom’s gold bracelet.
• Sweet treat: Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate (72%; yes, I’m that specific), Ben & Jerry’s Chocolate Fudge Brownie Ice Cream, Betty Crocker Supreme Original box brownies, or if fancy is called for, tiramisu or crème brûlée.
• Salty snack: Roasted almonds, Kettle Chips, or thin tortilla chips and homemade salsa with lots of cilantro.
• Hot drink: Though black coffee is necessary for me to be human in the morning, hot chocolate with mounds of whipped cream or Harney and Sons Paris tea make my heart and soul much happier.
• Thing to do with friends: Lingering around a table over a great meal, traveling, and conversation that goes deep.
• Way to recharge: Working out, prayer, a spa treatment, or reading (especially ocean-side, but that’s once a year).
• Thing that makes you laugh: Laughter (it’s contagious!), Impractical Jokers (late to that party, but those guys are six shades of crazy), I Love Lucy and Seinfeld reruns, and an unattractive but really funny expression my youngest son makes.

What’s your favorite place to connect online?
I’ll be freshening up my blog (robindance.me) soon, so I hope new friends will subscribe. I’ve finally created a Facebook Page (Yeah! Please follow?), and let’s connect on Instagram (@PensieveRobin) so we can see peek into each other’s lives.

It’s always a fun time when Robin Dance comes to the table! But she also comes with a vulnerable heart ready to share the joy with the hard. Check out this conversation about wandering in a spiritual desert and the surprising place that led her!

 

Meet Tasha Jun

Tell us a little about yourself.
Hello! I’m Tasha, and I am wife to Matt and mama to three littles. My family and I live in a suburb outside of Indianapolis, but I still think of a few other places in the world as home too, which lends to never really feeling at home anywhere. I grew up in a multi-cultural home, am half-Korean, and have lived in three different countries. These pieces of my story have forever impacted the way I see the world and have given me a love of learning about the globe and cultures in it.

My husband and I spent the first part of our marriage doing full-time ministry that we never expected to leave, but then God redirected our lives and our understanding of our dreams and has called us to a different kind of daily surrender that we are still learning to live out today. I spend my days at home chasing my three littles around in one way or another while also trying to write whenever I can and live fully present to the community that we are in.

How long have you been an (in)courage contributor?
Since last spring, which feels like yesterday!

What’s your favorite thing about (in)courage?
So far, my favorite thing has been connecting with other women in the (in)courage community, whether it’s other writers or the women who read and interact in this space online.

What are you passionate about?
I am passionate about whole stories — listening to, learning from, and seeking them out in others while trying to bring my own to whatever spaces God calls me to. For the last few years that has looked like embracing and celebrating my own God-given ethnic identity, while also encouraging others to see, celebrate, and live out their own as well. I am also passionate about finding and naming beauty in big things like travel, adventure, and exploration, but also in the mundane and every day, and oftentimes unexpected and difficult details in life.

What personal project are you most excited about right now?
I don’t have any “official” personal projects, but I am planning to start writing a fictional story that I hope becomes a book with characters that have been dancing around in my head for some time now. It’s nothing concrete and is just for me at this point.

What is your favorite…

• Way to start the day: With a hot cup of coffee and journaling
• Thing to wear: So many things, but if I had to pick, it would be a good pair of jeans or the color black
• Sweet treat: Peanut M & M’s
• Salty snack: French fries
• Hot drink: Coffee
• Thing to do with friends: Eating or traveling together
• Way to recharge: Reading a book, going for a walk, Netflix
• Thing that makes you laugh: My husband

What’s your favorite place to connect online?
Instagram is my favorite, and you can find me at @tashajunb. You can also connect with me over at my writer page on Facebook at Tasha Jun – Writer.

If you ever feel like you’re the only one who doesn’t quite fit in, who doesn’t know how to live into her whole story, this conversation with Tasha will speak to your heart in a special way. 

Want to catch up on past Contributor Spotlights? Find them all here.

Tell us: What is something you’re excited about right now?
Let’s celebrate the good God is doing in our lives.

 

Get to know @robindance, @kristen_strong, and @tashajunb for this round of Contributor Spotlight! Click To Tweet

Join us as we read through the (in)courage Devotional Bible and meet many women of courage — together. It’s FREE to sign up, but don’t delay — we start February 1st! Sign up here.

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