Blog | Kelly Callen Heath

This is Real Life…

by Kelly Heath | Apr 27, 2021 | Faith, Parents and Mentors

Today we’re using the #RealLife filter, because sometimes life doesn’t go as planned. And that’s okay.

I was feeling pretty proud of myself this afternoon. It was 3:00 and not only did I actually know what I was making for dinner (which is a minor miracle), tomorrow’s dinner was already thawing on the counter! Impressive, I know.

It was a simple dinner with very little prep, so I was able to squeeze in a quick walk before getting started. I washed my hands and pulled all the ingredients out of the fridge. Tonight’s menu included French dip sandwiches, salad, and roasted brussel sprouts. Sounds delicious, right? (Again, total rock star.)

Well, unfortunately (or fortunately, for my kids) the brussel sprouts spent a little too long in the crisper drawer and ended up in the trash. Not wanting to be outdone, the lettuce I bought last week plopped into the bowl as a giant pile of slime… so I had to toss it out as well.

I was 0 for 2; it was not looking good for the home team…

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Transforming Your Perspective: New Things are Coming!

by Kelly Heath | Apr 20, 2021 | Faith

If you are walking through a season of “lasts” (or loss), let me encourage you to look up and around. Look up to the One who holds all time in His hands, who is the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last. And look around— at those He has placed in your path, at the hidden things that may only now be beginning to grow, and at His Word which is living and active in our lives. A slight shift in perspective might just bring you a much-needed glimpse of hope…

March 2021 Book Stack

by Kelly Heath | Apr 14, 2021 | Bookstacks

My book stack for March has a lot of variety. Two books came from my local used bookstore, one I have owned for nearly 30 years, and one I couldn’t wait to order from Amazon! They are all different lengths and genres; two are fiction and two are non-fiction. So this should be fun!

Which leads to our first book…

Change How You Parent: Fear or Faith?

by Kelly Heath | Apr 1, 2021 | Faith, Parents and Mentors

It is really hard to watch our kids walking that line between right and wrong, tip-toeing as close as they can to the dark without actually falling in. Jeff and I have encountered these types of struggles on multiple occasions with our children, so I feel your pain.
Jeff is better about seeing the big picture, but if I’m honest with you, I pretty much tend to freak out. I’m afraid they are going to ruin their life. I’m afraid they are going to walk away from Jesus. I’m afraid they are going to become everything I have invested so much time and energy guarding against!
I’m just plain afraid. And I begin to parent out of fear…

Asking for Help: Why it’s Hard, Why We Should, and How to Do it

by Kelly Heath | Mar 30, 2021 | Parents and Mentors

When is the last time you asked someone for help? Was it hard for you?

For me, it depends on what it is. Earlier this week, we changed plans and needed a last minute T-shirt design for a college ministry retreat. I had a choice. I could spend several hours attempting to design something that, let’s face it, would look awful no matter how much time I invested in it. Or I could text a friend and ask for help.

I am not kidding; the first draft of the design was completed within three minutes of the text.

THREE MINUTES!

Umm, yeah, I think that was a good decision!

But there are other times when I am not so quick to ask for help…

Finding Grace When You Feel Like an Imposter

by Kelly Heath | Mar 23, 2021 | Faith, Teens & Young Adults

…When Jeff and I brought Sarah home from the hospital that first night, I felt like a total fraud.

All that experience when out the window, and I was simply a girl holding a baby, wondering what in the world we were supposed to do now. Those nurses who sent her home with us were somehow expecting us to keep this tiny creature alive, and the burden of that responsibility was heavier than anything I’d ever carried in my life!

We managed to survive that first night, but it turned out that was only the beginning. Three more babies followed; and I was supposed to know how to sleep train and potty train, how to disciple and discipline, how to braid hair and build Star Wars things with legos!

These days I am supposed to know how to navigate phones and social media and friend drama and hormones. I have pretended my way through all sorts of adolescent crises, depending 100% on the Holy Spirit, and feeling like a charlatan 99% of the time.

Imposter Syndrome is a real thing, y’all.

But here’s the deal— just because I didn’t feel qualified to do any of those things didn’t mean I wasn’t…

A Letter to Heaven

by Kelly Heath | Mar 20, 2021 | Faith

…I know you would be so proud of her. She is beautiful and hardworking and just as (stubborn) driven as she’s always been! She has an elegance and professionalism that remind me so much of you. I see you in her sometimes, and it makes me smile. I hope you know how grateful we are for your impact on her life.

We miss you…

My February 2021 Book Stack

by Kelly Heath | Mar 16, 2021 | Bookstacks

Maybe I'm weird, but something about cold weather makes me want to read. There is nothing like curling up by the fire under a blanket with a good book! Thankfully, there was plenty of cold weather last month. So, here’s what I read in February: The Great Alone by...

When You Feel Stuck…

by Kelly Heath | Mar 9, 2021 | Faith, Teens & Young Adults

Several years ago, when our kids were little, we paused to take pictures at an outside platform. We were in the World Showcase at EPCOT, looking across the lake towards Spaceship Earth. Eli was just a toddler at the time (and all boy!). I leaned down to fix Abby’s shoe, when all of the sudden, I heard screaming, and Sarah squealed, “Momma, come help! Eli’s stuck!”

Somehow our little guy had squeezed his head through the opening in the bars and was unable to pull it back out. So there he stood, half of him on one side of the gate and half of him on the other, unable to move in any direction.

Eventually, we were able to calm him down, and when he scooted a little lower, his head finally slid out. He was instantly off on another adventure as if nothing had ever happened. Like I said, all boy!

Friend, do you ever find yourself feeling stuck?

Maybe you set some goals and start moving forward, only to get part way in and find yourself caught between where you just were and where you are going. It paralyzes you, stopping your momentum and freezing you in your tracks. It can be scary at times, annoying at others, but it’s never fun.

We are nine weeks into the New Year, and I’ve had so many people express lately how they are feeling stuck…

31 Day Discipleship Challenge: How to Follow Jesus

by Kelly Heath | Mar 1, 2021 | Faith, Teens & Young Adults

My freshman year of college, a close friend gave me a book that had a profound impact on my spiritual life. In His Steps is a Christian fiction novel written in 1896 by Charles Sheldon. It tells the story of a town that is completely transformed when a...

6 Scripture Verses for Heart Transformation

by Kelly Heath | Feb 23, 2021 | Faith, Teens & Young Adults

Have you ever read something in the Bible you may have read before, but suddenly something about it strikes you in a completely different way? You read it again, wondering how you ever could have missed it!

Because this time it changes you. It makes you different.
You can never read those verses the same again.

The story of Jesus feeding the five thousand found in John 6:1-15 is one of those passages for me. I was familiar with the story, had read it more than once, and heard it preached on countless times. However, one night at a college Bible study, this one tiny verse stuck right in the middle of the passage jumped out at me for the first time ever. Jesus asks the disciples…

My January 2021 Book Stack

by Kelly Heath | Feb 19, 2021 | Bookstacks

New year, new reading challenge! Let’s go!

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