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Welcome to Cultivate Grace!

Hi! Welcome to Cultivate Grace. I’m Julia. I’m a pastor’s wife and mother of seven kids. I am also a writer, conference speaker, coach, and Advanced Relational Wisdom Instructor.

On this blog, I help women live for God’s glory (i.e. reveal his character) by extending grace through redemptive relationships. In other words, I help women intentionally apply God’s grace in practical ways to everyday life so they can thrive (not merely survive) the years of singleness, marriage, and parenting. I want women to find joy in their calling; to enjoy their home and to savor rich relationships in the midst of work commitments, ministry life, dating, marriage, and parenting.

I started writing to answer the questions:

  • How can I live by God’s grace?
  • What practical changes can I make to the structure and organization of my home and schedule to allow space for grace and freedom? How can I make space for me and my family to be who we are: imperfect but growing in Christ-likeness?
  • How can I live like I understand I am God’s daughter and not a merely pawn in his cosmic plan? What would change about how I live if I really rested in his grace and better understood my position of favor in his heart?
  • Do the things that capture my time and attention reveal the character of God to others such that they will want to entrust their hearts to Him as well? How can I be about my Father’s business of expanding his kingdom into the wide world just outside my door?

As I asked these questions, I discovered a host of women sharing the same struggles, asking the same questions, and feeling quite isolated in their quest.

I send out one or two posts per week, sharing my ideas of what it looks like to cultivate a life of grace – in community with other women. I explore what it means bring the Bible to life in our lives as we walk through life together.

If you have an aching desire to do or be more, to connect, to approach life with intentionality, and to chase after Jesus with everything you’ve got, this is the place for you.

If you are ready to ask (& answer) the question: What does it mean for me to follow Jesus in the minutia(e) of my day? and then to do it in increasing measure, this is the place for you.

Are you ready to live differently today than you did yesterday? Are you ready to implement practical changes to your life in light of biblical truth? Do you want to pursue grace? Sign up for the blog posts today!

Ways to connect

This blog is where I spend most of my time. But you can also find me on the following social networks (in order of how much I use them):

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Most Popular Posts

Here are some of the most popular posts I’ve written:

Reeling from the Blow

Defeated Christian Living

Is There Such a Thing as Enough Time for Me?

The Child-Friendly Home

A Time for Everything (Household Tasks by Age)

I’m Tired

13 Ideas for Finding the Pantry You Don’t Have

What people are saying

Julia was one of the first people certified to teach relational wisdom and she has a marvelous ability to apply these concepts to the relational challenges of real life. She is biblical, practical, insightful and humorous … all of which makes her teaching both valuable and fun to read. 

Ken Sande, President, Relational Wisdom 360

Billings, MT

I’ve struggled much of my life keeping my own spaces organized, and as a working mom with 4 messy kids, I especially resist practicing biblical hospitality.  Julia is one of the only people I know that acknowledges the diversity of skill-sets and personalities of women God has called to be wives, mothers, ministry leaders, homemakers, working women, home chefs, carpool moms, spiritual mothers, housekeepers, and laywomen in the church.  She is charitable towards herself and others as she makes suggestions for answering all these various callings with grace and graciousness, with limited space and limited time.  Julia has given me the inspiration and practical ideas I needed to show Christian hospitality in my home, in my context.  She demonstrates that biblical hospitality is simple, with a focus on opening our arms instead of worrying about the space we live in or the menu we prepare.  I recommend her as a teacher and writer because she is so uniquely gifted at not only communication, but also demonstrating the principles she teaches.  She lives her talk in a beautiful way, and I particularly like the way she constantly points her readers and listeners back to the gospel of Jesus Christ, which is a gospel of grace with the high calling to respond to it with concrete action.

Shannon Hathaway, working mother of four

St. Louis, Missouri

I first met Julia when she led our ladies retreat. Our husbands were pastors of PCA churches in neighboring towns in Tennessee. After the conference, I was eager to know her better, so I invited myself and my kids over to her house. I loved seeing how she throws herself into the challenges of raising, parenting, and homeschooling a large family. Julia has so many unique and smart solutions to offer, and I love her heart for training and equipping her children. I told her she should start a blog; knowing others would benefit from hearing how Julia approached life and organized her home. Her writing is encouraging and uplifting. Her blog has taught me so much about home organization, child training, and relationship building. She is a great solution finder and problem solver, but more importantly, she is a Grace lover. Thank you, Julia, for sharing your many gifts with us in a relatable, God honoring, Grace centered way!

 

Elizabeth Cangelosi, pastor's wife & mother of five

Madison, Mississippi

I met Julia when our husbands were in seminary together. We lived in a bit of a “bubble” at the time and because of that (and being in the same season of life) we quickly became friends. It’s been years since we’ve lived in the same town, but having experienced living in community with Julia, I have been and am blessed at the wisdom that she has to offer. Julia is a mercy driven friend and a natural organizer who longs to experience His grace in the mundane and in the extraordinary circumstances of life.

Karen Mirabella, missionary & mother of five

Chiba, Japan

Julia has gone from an eat-sugar-out-of-the-bag-under-her-bed young girl who loved to play at all hours of the night to a wife who’s also a mom of seven with great organizational advice that just makes sense. A wise woman sharing God through scripture lessons, organizational techniques, and encouragement to women of all ages. Someone whose advice you want to share; advice that you will treasure with both your daughters and your mothers.

Melissa Grace, working mother of two

Ringling, Oklahoma

One day I emailed Julia and invited myself (and 5 kiddos!) over for the day. Julia graciously opened her home to us and I had a chance to ask her some homeschooling questions and got a sneak peak at their school room. Probably one of the most helpful things I took away that day was watching their kids do kitchen chores after lunch! They each drew a card and did the specific job that was listed on the card. It was neat to see them all doing a different kitchen job and each of them doing it well! I have implemented those cards in our home and it has been a good thing! Thank you, Julia!

Kandice Vick, homeschooling mother of five

Cookeville, Tennessee

Who is this girl? (A little more about me)

Originally from Texas (which any Texan will tell you means it’s in my blood), I now live in Pennsylvania. I am married to an amazing pastor and we have seven children, six of whom I homeschool. The seventh I chase around… a lot.

I started following Jesus as a young child, though I am increasingly convinced that’s when I realized he was pursuing me. I have made about a gazillion poor choices that led to difficult circumstances and painful relationships over the years, but God has graciously chased me down, drawn me into his care, and redeemed even my worst experiences.

My childhood experience was a fractured one. I come from a broken home splintered by divorce and dividing up kids, which was punctuated by living in 21 homes before I graduated from high school. After changing majors about a hundred times and dropping out of college to get my cosmetology license, I finally graduated with degrees in mathematics and physics.

Professionally I’ve done everything from modeling to managing retail stores to pediatric insurance billing to banking. I’ve worked in fraud detection, software development, marketing, financial analysis, graphic design, and speech writing.

I “retired” at 29 to develop my ability to identify potty training readiness and recognize changes in the hormonal currents of adolescence. Let me tell you: storm chasers and meteorologists have nothing on the mother of toddlers or teens! It’s a fun, but wild ride.

Nowadays, supporting my husband in ministry and homeschooling take center stage on my schedule. I am also a writer, speaker, consultant, coach, and Advanced Relational Wisdom Instructor (rw360.org).

If you are interested in coaching with me, start the conversation by filling out this intake form. To invite me to come speak or work with you or your ministry, please check out my speaking page.