First and foremost, this is a writer’s notebook.

This is a journey, a ruminating, a wrestling, as I seek to discover what it means to write in a way that reflects our Creator.

What does it mean to try and present who God is in the midst of a broken and hurting world? To write characters that reflect who we are as humans and yet give glimpses of hope, truth, and, love?

This is my attempt to answer that question. It is my honest grappling through my own work and reflections on current events coupled with a deeper desire to see people come to know who God truly is.

Add to The Beauty seeks to bring together the two pieces of who I am:

  1. A woman of God trying to figure out how to maneuver in a society that has lost sight of who God is. We have traded Truth for the idols of power, comfort, and self-preservation. But God calls us to something better.

  2. I write stories of ordinary people making small choices and the impacts of those decisions.

Hello dear friend, I am Amanda. 

I have traveled around the world to Ecuador, Cambodia, Rwanda, The Congo, and Myanmar. These experiences shaped my view as a writer and as a person. I have come to merge my love of history, with the reality that every person’s life matters, and the idea that everyone can do something where they are with what they have.

I strive to write stories that are true. I strive to write characters that are human. In them, we can identify our struggles, questions, triumphs, and ultimately God’s grace.

We all have a story. We all matter equally before God. What we have done, or what has been done to us, does not define us. Every day is a new opportunity to be who God made us to be.

I want to be a reflection of Him. To find God in the everyday and add to His beauty by choosing to stop hustling and instead see who is around me.

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Every Tuesday, I publish a free newsletter with a longer essay on something going on. This could be reflective of a current event, my life as an INTJ and enneagram 5, reflection on a project I’m currently working on. At the core, is how I am seeking to live out loving God first amidst the chaos around us.

On Fridays, I send out an email with three things for your weekend. 

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This is a space for those who love to read stories with more authentic characters, while maybe learning something about themselves. It is a space for those who love God and believe in Him deeply and yet feel left out or lost in the modern, American church. 

This is a place for the remnant. For those who believe or those who just feel called to live a life rooted in love, grace, and caring for each other. 

Want to support me on this journey? 

For those who want to go deeper, you can get an email with my thoughts on faith, devotionals, or calls to action. It also includes monthly journal prompts. I will also

Paid subscribers will also have the chance to join me in studying a book of the Bible and/or participating in book clubs (did someone say banned bookclub?). 

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I have been putting words on paper since my parents got me a typewriter when I was three. It was gibberish then, but it is what grounded me. I have always been an avid journaler and have written fiction as a way to help me process what was happening around me.

I started my first blog in college. Now I am working to publish my first novel and turn these ruminations of who God is into something that helps others find a place in the chaos around us. This is what I was made to do. I would love for you to join me.

My faith impacts my stories, just as people’s stories impact my faith. 

Ordinary people stepping into the moment change the world. I hope to tell some of those stories in my fiction. I hope to help you figure out how to step into your moment. Let’s see what happens when we lean into the pieces of who we are - together. 

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A writer's notebook on the journey to tell stories that matter, cultivate rest over hustle, and leave the world better than I found it.