Jessica Bolyard
Hope and Light for Life’s Darkest Places
Welcome!
I’m Jessica (or Jess, if you’d prefer), and I’m a Christ-following, Bible-journaling, pen-collecting, iced-coffee drinking wife and mama. I’m passionate about helping other women see the gentle ways God pursues them in everyday life, and thereby showing them His love in real, practical ways.
I am so glad you’re here.
A few years ago my husband and I were praying for our newborn niece when he said words that would forever be embedded on my heart: “Help her as she is adjusting to life in this world.”
As an infant, she was adjusting to the world; as we prayed, though, I realized that in truth, we all are.
We are all adjusting to life in a world for which we were not created.
As C.S. Lewis famously stated, “If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world.”
We are all sojourners.
Every heartache and frustration comes from the plain truth that we are not at home in this place. We were created for heaven and life in perfect union with our Creator. The journey home is not always a smooth one, though, and we are too easily distracted from both the purpose of the journey and the ultimate destination.
It is my hope that wherever you are on the journey toward home, you’ll find encouragement for your travels while you’re here.
Along the way, my passion is to encourage you to do three things.
Look up, believing that there is more to life than what any of us can see with our eyes. We keep our physical and spiritual eyes focused on God because He wants to be known and will guide us every step of the way home.
Look to the side, holding fast to the people with whom God allows us to share the journey. The road is long and lonely without our fellow travelers.
Look inside yourself, discovering your desperate need for a Savior and watching as He works to fit you for eternity in heaven.
Regardless of where we are on the journey, God is with us and drawing us to Himself. He is in the clouds and the breeze and the laughter of a child. He is in heart-shaped rocks and breathtaking sunsets and crashing thunder that shakes us at our core. He is all around, desiring nothing more than our undivided attention and unrivaled devotion. In our darkest places, He is the hope and light we’re seeking as we muddle our way through.
Together, we’ll find God. Together, we’ll find ourselves. And together, we’ll make our way home.
Take a look around, and consider subscribing to my updates for regular encouragement. Think of this space as a little local coffeeshop, always open with a cozy booth waiting just for you. Come in, breathe for a little while, and be refreshed for the next leg of your journey.
I’m so glad I get to travel with you.
-Jessica
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My books…
A Traveler's Notes:
Reflections From A Journey Of Faith
You are invited to an epic journey.
If you accept, it is one that will empower you to see your life clearly.
What if, in the most mundane of moments, we kept our eyes fixed beyond the here and now?
Would every situation, every errand, and every conversation become a step toward something bigger that we just can’t see?
Would we exchange our “here we go again” mindsets for a prayer that our eyes would be opened to the story God is writing every day?
Would we promise ourselves to remember all that we saw and heard as God answered our prayers? Would we allow ourselves to be changed?
If we did, life would change from daily drudgery to an epic journey. And Jessica Bolyard believes your life – yes, yours – can be epic.
With relatable stories and inspired revelations, A Traveler’s Notes chronicles a journey of faith through ordinary moments of motherhood, current events, mental illness, and more. Through its pages, you will learn to see life as a journey, every day as a lesson, and yourself as a courageous traveler through a world that’s not your home.
Brick by Brick:
Boldly Claiming Identity and Bravely Choosing Community
Have you ever stood in a crowded room, cringing and wondering why relationships are so hard for you?
Do you ever feel like you’re on the outside looking in?
Are you more frustrated than fulfilled by Christian community?
Friend, this is not God’s plan for you.
In Brick by Brick, Jessica Bolyard pointedly addresses how deep issues of identity and shame form a towering wall around God’s daughters, forcing us into isolation and out of God’s purpose for our lives. Once we recognize our identity issues and call out the shame for what it is, though, we can move forward into the Lord’s design for community.
Brick by Brick will help you to: identify issues of identity and shame in your own life, recognize how lies have kept you isolated from the relationships you desire, and be encouraged to pursue the kind of deep, Christ-centered community for which you were made.
I Don’t Know What to Say:
Praying God’s Word Over Your Home and Family
Prayer can be difficult, even when we’re praying for our families. There is so much to pray for that we often get overwhelmed and, as a result, don’t pray for anything at all. We just don’t know where to begin. We don’t know what to say.
But what if we didn’t have to come up with the words ourselves? What if we allowed God’s Word to speak for itself in our prayers? This straightforward book of prayers equips wives and mothers to pray powerful, impactful words for their husbands and children. Because God’s Word has already said it all, we don’t ever have to say, “I don’t know what to say.”
