“Grace in the moment,” four words spoken to my heart by God, during my freshman year of college at while attending an all night prayer event. I pondered these words in my heart, turning them over and over like a key in my pocket, desperate and eager to know how to use them. Bright eyed, with a heart full of dreams, and a longing to do Kingdom work, I ran to my college best friend, Kaitlyn Aaron (now Kaitlyn Aaron Simonson) and shared these words with her. Together, with hearts on fire, and 18 year old passion, we set out to launch our very own ministry under the name Grace in the Moment.

Our mission was this, “we strive to be real with our words in the raw moments, and together see God’s Grace, that is present through all seasons.” We sought to tell the world of the one constant we knew, God’s grace in every moment. We dedicated all of our freshman year to doing just that. So we wrote and dreamed and prayed and hoped and believed this little passion project could really be something. And it was. It was hope and purpose for two bright eyed 18 year old girls who dreamed of turning the world upside down by the grace of God. We saw God move through our efforts, and it felt something like magic, walking in the purpose we knew God had for our lives.

Moving back to Tennessee for our sophomore year, things in my life began to change quite drastically, and my long fought battle with mental health began to worsen. I was deeply depressed, and desperately ill. This would ultimately lead to me withdrawing from school, and moving back home to North Carolina for 10 months, where I dedicated my life to trying to find some semblance of healing and stability. By the unchanging grace of God, I stumbled into recovery in some form or fashion, er, I was stable at the very least. By this point Grace in the Moment was put on the back burner so I could heal, and Kaitlyn could focus on school, and the many incredible opportunities that lay before her.

At the end of these 10 grueling months of healing and recovery, God moved me and my older sister to Georgia in 2017, where we joined a ministry leadership program, in which we would be a part of the second ever graduating class, two years later. Perhaps the greatest decision of my adult life was moving to Georgia, but that’s another story for another time. New dreams and passions were birthed in me that I began to explore as God gave me opportunity. Still in all of the wonder these last 6, going on 7, years in Georgia have held I have never forgotten those four words, God whispered to 18 year old me back in Tennessee.

I tell you all of this to tell you that Grace in the Moment was one of the purest dreams God ever put in my heart, that I was fortunate enough to share with my dear friend Kaitlyn. A dream that was placed on the shelf for a season while life changed rapidly, as I learned who I was and what God wanted me to be, and do. But it was a dream that never died. And with Kaitlyn’s generous blessing, it is a dream I am picking back up again.

So here we are, you and me. In territory that is both familiar and unknown, all at once. I can’t tell you what all this space will hold, because I don’t even know that. But I can tell you this, I’ll follow the One who first spoke these words to me 8 years ago every step of the way. I’ll write and dream and pray and hope and believe that this little passion project could really be something, not because I think what I have to say is so great or important, but because I know His grace is everything we need.