I’m Samantha Barnes, a native Arkansan navigating through the early years of marriage with Eric, a stud of a husband, and Ridley, a border collie pup. My daytime job is working with a campus ministry called Cru – calling the Hogs and getting to see life change in college students are two of my favorite things.

Written words have captured my heart for as long as I can remember – from writing stories as a child and selling them for a quarter a piece (thanks, Mom, for all of your spare change) to hiding novels behind my elementary school textbooks (sorry, Mrs. Clanton) to studying English Literature and Creative Writing in college.

Here in this space, I share stories and life lessons as I myself live them and learn them. I hold fast to the hope that the entirety of life is a grand adventure… though we often find ourselves unexpectedly lingering in places we wouldn’t choose to be. I have found that the grip to endure comes from looking for God’s hand in the day-to-day, in restructuring our perspective to see Him at work even as we hike through darkness or ditches. And my desire is that you, too, will see Him woven into all of your own life stories as I share mine.

If you want somewhere to start, here are some of my favorites:

• grace in the wilderness
• though a desert should surround me
• disappointment as an act of love
• admitting when things are messy
• a list for those still looking for mr. right
• walking through autumn
• finding adventure right here
• stopping to speak “grace”
• joy in advent’s dependency
• a letter for a discontented heart
• “I was the lion.”
• it’s more than moldy cheese and janky SUVs
• when you can’t skim over life