Sweet JamieLee Joy

She’s simply the best and I’ll take any chance I can get to celebrate her.

Happy Birthday Mama, I love you!💕

This week we celebrated our 8 year wedding anniversary on the beach.🌊❤️

Marriage is my favorite thing. Growing up, my deepest desire was to find someone to share life with. Growing up with a broken family was hard — you had so many people to love but they were all in different places. I always had a “tug” not fully being where I was — because part of my heart was somewhere else.

I vividly remember driving away from celebrating Christmas with my moms side of the family, getting in my black Subaru (Black Beauty) and driving alone 3 hrs to go celebrate Christmas with my dads side of the family. DJ and I were engaged at this point and remember crying feeling so thankful that this will be the last year I have to do this alone — because I found my forever person. I found my home.

David John, you are the light of my life. You are my home and bring me peace unexplainable. You love with such a steadfast love. You’re thoughtful and kind. You are brave and steady. I’ve never felt alone with you — even in the moments we are apart. I’m so lucky that I get to hold your heart, it is forever safe with me.

Happy Anniversary Babe, believing this will be the best year yet for team Kramer.❤️

In my seasons of grief, there have been many days where the fear + sadness overtakes me.

Where the everyday little things — getting dressed, leaving the house, having a conversation — felt like a feat.

When others tell me they admire me for my strength — when I feel nothing near that.

When I look at pictures of the “younger me” and I wonder where she has gone — feeling like I morphed into a completely different person. A stranger in my own body.

A quote I’ve held close to my heart during these times is this:
“Courage is just fear that has said it’s prayers.”

For when I outwardly look courageous + brave, I’m inwardly praying constantly...

“Lord, help me find joy in this moment.”

“Holy Spirit will you give me peace that surpasses my circumstances?”

“Jesus, I know you understand my the heaviness of feelings. Will you carry it for me?”

Courage is just placing your fears in the right hands through your prayers.

That’s how I’ve kept going.
That’s how I’m still here.
That’s the “secret” I want to share with you tonight.

xoxo, JamieLee Joy🖤

Before I went on my run last night, I asked myself WHY do I want to go on a run?

Is it because I saw something that made me feel my body wasn’t good enough?
Is it because I don’t like the size of my pants?
Is it because I feel like I need to?

As I asked myself these questions, I could answer no to every one of them. There was a time when the answer was yes to each and every one.

I thought to myself... I WANT to go for a run right now.
I want to go for a run because I’ve been sitting and working all day, moving my body outside sounds refreshing.
I want to go for a run because my mind is filled with anxious thoughts and rhythm moments help ground me.
I want to go for a run because my mind is stuck on projecting to the future, and running helps me be in the present.

The first set of questions would be out of hate of my body.

The second set of thoughts is out of love for my body.

Let’s be women who move our bodies because we love our bodies, not because we want to change them.

Yes? Very good.

*Styling in .thedeej vest. Will give fashion advice. 🤣✌🏼






❤️

Prayer is like a door into your home. The Holy Spirit is a gentleman — always standing right outside the door willing and ready to come in, waiting for an invitation.

When you pray, you decide to open the door and let the Holy Spirit come inside. His power and ability didn’t change, what changed was He was invited to move in on your situation.

The more people that invite Him into the situation, the more He will move because He comes and works in places that He is wanted.
That’s the flip-side of free will, love is a choice. Prayer is choosing Him — choosing love.

I think oftentimes we make prayer harder than it has to be (I know I do). Is it as simple as deciding to open the door?

He doesn’t care if your home is a mess. He’s like the best friend who when she is in her way over, you don’t worry about cleaning up and doing the dishes in the sink. He is the type of friend who when He walks in the door...He asks you what you need — someone to sit with you, someone to listen to you, someone to roll up their sleeves and help clean up?

The Holy Spirit is mysterious in many ways...but I don’t believe He wants His love and presence to be mysterious.

He’s eagerly waiting outside your door today, have you invited Him in?

"My body is broken"
It's been over a year since our loses and it's still a daily thought I struggle with.
Some days, this thought is in the back of my mind like an annoying beep of a truck backing up outside the window as you sit in the coffee shop. Other days it's like someone is screaming at me -- two inches away from my face, red-faced, veins popping, spit spraying.
I've talked to many women who have the same terrible, unwelcome thought living in their minds after they have suffered a pregnancy loss.

I heard someone explain it differently the other day and I felt I could take a deep breath. It helped me in the depth of my soul, I pray it helps you too.

"We live in a broken world, yes. But our bodies are not broken. They were touched by brokenness, but our bodies can heal."

*Our bodies have been touched by the brokenness of this world, but they are not broken.* (Read that again)

We may never have the answers this side of Heaven...why things play out the way they do. Honestly, I hate that we won't have the answers. I like answers to my questions. Don't you? I think what we are looking for when we are looking for answers is a comfort to our pain. A refuge in our storm. A calm to our chaos...

Our thoughts are so powerful. It takes about 300 times for a thought you think to turn into a belief. Once you have a belief about something, it's hard for us to break it. BUT this can go both ways -- we can change our beliefs about if our body is good.

What is it that you want to believe about your body? I'll go first. I want to believe that my body is good. That my body can sustain life, even if it hasn't happened yet. I move my body because I love my body, not because I hate it. I nourish my body because I love my body, not because I hate it. I believe that even though my body was touched by the brokenness of this world, it is not broken. Healing is possible. Healing is happening. I live in the Kingdom of abundance, not of lack. I serve a God who is always with me....giving me strength and peace, even on my hardest days.

What is it you want to believe about your body?
Let's start changing our thoughts today, so our beliefs line up with the TRUTH. xo

🍲My secret to quick nourishing meals? Bowls! You choose a carb base and top it with some protein, fat and veggies!

☝🏼One easy base is Congee! Congee is simply just rice that has been cooked longer with some ginger to make it easier on your digestion.

🍚How to make Congee: place 1 1/2 cups white jasmine rice, 1/2 cups white sticky rice and 1 inch fresh ginger peeled and diced in a medium pot. Add filtered water to cover the rice by 1 1/2 inches. Bring to a boil and cook for 45 minutes until rice soften and open up. Stir often and add more water if needed.

🍲Adzuki Bowl🍲
+1 cup peeled, diced and cooked sweet potatoes
+ 1 cup Adzuki beans, warmed
+ 2 chicken breasted cooked and seasoned (I used garlic salt, onion powder and pepper)
+ Top with Primal Kitchen Garlic Aioli

— Putting it together —
Place warm rice in a bowl, top with sweet potato, beans, chicken and a little aioli. Enjoy!

🖤Save for later and come back and comment what you think!

This gal has news!! 🎉✨

This Fall, I intentionally took time to sit with God and ask the hard questions. This was the main question I sat with Him about, “With all this pain I’ve been going through, God, how do YOU want me to use it for the good of others and for your glory?”

I saw an email one day in my inbox from to apply for her coaching program. I felt the holy nudge to apply, so I sent in an application not really expecting to hear back. To my surprise (thanks God!) I got accepted into her licensing program!

For months, along with 50 other women, we dug in deep for how to each of us were uniquely designed to help women. It is such an honor to see God work through these coaches in huge and gloriously unexpected ways. We all got together in December in Charleston to dig in deeper, brainstorm together and ask God for even clearer vision.

Through this season of seeking, I felt God answering my question. To use all this for his glory would be to help other women understand their stories, dig in with them and get a front row seat to watching God move, and giving them practical tips to run after their dreams + come along side them with a flashlight and the Holy Spirit to uncover how their personal stories can be used to help others and to better understand themselves.

I’m a Life Coach, sis! If you have a situation you want help walking through or know of someone who would benefit from this kind of work, I would be honored to be your coach.

Send someone this post.
Share this post.
Send me an email ([email protected]).
Check out my website.
Ask me any questions!

I can’t wait to see how God moves through you. Let’s uncover what He has been whispering to you, together. Amen?

Xoxo, JamieLee

Years ago, I would go for long runs because I hated my body and wanted to change it.

A few years ago I was training for a half marathon, I could run more miles than I had ever ran before...but I was in a dark season of depression. And in a lot of physical pain because I pushed my body passed it’s limits. I didn’t listen to her because I hated her and didn’t care what she had to say.

Today, I went for a run. As I was running I was thinking about how different it is now. I wasn’t tracking my miles. I don’t even know how long I ran. I just ran when I felt my body needed to run. Mentally, I felt like I needed to run to clear my head. Physically, I knew if I ran this evening I would sleep better tonight. I moved my body because I love my body, and I want to take good care of her.

I didn’t run until I felt like I had to puke,
I ran until my thoughts were clear.
I ended when I felt a smile come across my face, not a scowl of discouragement that I didn’t run as fast, as long, or as far as so and so.

This wasn’t a overnight change.
It was a gradual shift.
Years of learning more about my body and how it works. More about my mind and why I have the emotional patterns I do.
It was learning to take life in strides and not strives (.epperson 😘).
Learning how to set MY pace and stay in MY lane, even if it looked different than everyone else around me.

I want more women to move their body because they love their body, not because they hate it.❤️

These last two days have been filled with time to be creative and it’s refreshing me all the way down to my bones. Thankful. 🤍

——
Seeing a vision in your head become tangible + beautiful.
Playing with flowers with some people I really, really love.
The first sip of coffee.
Witnessing hundreds of kids hear about how much Jesus loves them.
The art of stringing words together.
A new shirt.

“The present moment is where time touches eternity.” -C.S. Lewis

The emotions you feel are always valid, but they are not always true.
(Read that again.)

This is how it goes:
Thoughts create emotions —> Emotions create patterns —> Patterns create beliefs

When you notice that you’re feeling “off”, stop and ask yourself....what was I just thinking about?

Do a heart check to see if that thought is factoring into why you feel sad, mad, scared, happy, etc. in this moment.

Your emotions aren’t always true because a thought is just a thought until we put it into action.

It’s not true no one likes you.
It’s not true you’re not beautiful.
It’s not true you’re wasting your life.

Take it back to the root — “What was I just thinking about?” And then speak TRUTH into that thought.

I am deeply loved by God + my family and friends.
I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
I am doing the best I have with the day I’ve been given.

“Take every thought captive + make it obedient to Christ.” (2 Corinthians 2:5)

The first step to taking our thoughts captive is being aware of them + how they are making us feel.

When we connect with our emotions, we can better connect with God and with others…this is the goal. Connection brings healing.

Have you thought about it this way?

“God, thank you that you’re never-changing in an ever-changing world.”

Is a prayer on repeat in my heart lately.
Never-changing. We cannot even comprehend that. The same God we read about in His word is the same God today. The same God that created the universe is still the same God today. We’ve heard it before, but have we let it really settle in our hearts?

We are always changing. Our minds. Our hair. Our homes. Our careers. Our bodies are always fading.

The only thing we have is the present.
The only thing we can hold onto is right here.
The same God who created the universe, who formed the Heavens, who breathed the first breath... is the same God who wants to be with you. Right here, today. In the present moment.

——
The way DJ looks at me.
Seeing life through a toddlers eyes.
Baby giggles + wiggles.
New friendships.
Long walks in the crisp air.
The way dough feels in my hands.