Meredith Barnes Writer

Mer Rugby Stripe dress on Rust Stairs

Hi.

Welcome to my blog. I'm so excited to share with you my latest finds and feels.

I’m a people pleaser. In friendship terms this means I can be a bit of a chameleon. I can blend in with the people around me. The positive to this is I typically am well liked. The negative is I’m not always true to myself in relationship

Apr 22

Apr 22

Meredith Barnes

Having trouble making friends in high school changed me. It made me compassionate to the outcast. It made me honest. Really honest. I was so scared of saying the wrong thing for most of my teenage years. I was scared people wouldn’t like

Apr 8

Apr 8

Meredith Barnes

I started a new school in the 7th grade. Arguably the worst time to move. Coming from my background of illness that had led to a lot of home schooling and not a lot of friend interactions, it was hard. My mom showed up about halfway throu

Apr 8

Apr 8

Meredith Barnes

Friendship + Community. I’ve noticed, as I get older, that these are two things that many people around me are seeking. People desperately want to be known and understood. They want to belong to something outside of themselves. I get i

Apr 1

Apr 1

Meredith Barnes

Children misbehave. I think I keep forgetting that. I keep forgetting because up until this year the misbehavior has been manageable, dare I say “cute”. Something happened when my child turned 4. He became stubborn. Really really stubbor

Mar 29

Mar 29

Meredith Barnes

There are so many things throughout our day that impact our decisions and outcomes. There are moments we can control and those that are beyond our grasp. And yet, in each moment we have a call to action. Whether it’s in our attitude or ou

Mar 27

Mar 27

Meredith Barnes

I always hated group projects in school. Inevitably someone ended up doing most of the work. People didn’t agree. There was a lot of wasted time trying to sort out who would do what. It always felt like a lot of work for little result.

Mar 25

Mar 25

Meredith Barnes

About 10 years ago I gave up looking in mirrors for lent. That's right 40 days of avoiding looking at myself. I covered all the mirrors in my home with sheets and towels so as not to catch a mistaken glance. And then I continued to live

Mar 25

Mar 25

Meredith Barnes

After my second miscarriage I did not get pregnant again for 7 months. I had gotten pregnant immediately with the two babies I then lost, so this felt like a slap in the face. Not only could I not keep a baby alive, I now couldn’t even co

Mar 14

Mar 14

Meredith Barnes

What happens when we don’t wait well? We start to take things into our own hands. We make decisions outside of God’s plan. We make mistakes. Sometimes it’s hard to know if you are waiting well or not. And God can absolutely use our mistak

Mar 13

Mar 13

Meredith Barnes

I’ve waited on a lot of things in my life. And each time I grew impatient in the waiting I would say something like “I’d be ok with the waiting as long as I could know it was all going to work out”. I wanted assurance it was going to be O

Mar 12

Mar 12

Meredith Barnes

When I decided I wanted to go into medicine I had taken ONE science class in undergrad: Chemistry of Foods. Yep. That’s right. I hate science. Always have. It’s not my talent. And guess what? I went back to school and took ALL THE SCIENCE

Mar 7

Mar 7

Meredith Barnes

I’ve had 4 “career” changes and many more ”passion pursuits” in my 37 years. I was never a person who knew what I wanted to be when I grew up. I’ve always been a struggling creative, although I haven’t always known this. Before I spoke at

Mar 6

Mar 6

Meredith Barnes

Have any doors ever been slammed in your face? This was a question someone recently asked me. I’ve had an eclectic professional career and have taken a lot of risks. I’ve said yes to opportunities and dreams that seemed sometimes unconven

Mar 5

Mar 5

Meredith Barnes

No picture is without deception. Whether it’s a smile flashed, despite hard life circumstances or an angle that makes you look 5lbs thinner (or not pregnant), there is always an imperfect representation in our pictures. It’s a replica, i

Mar 5

Mar 5

Meredith Barnes

This past weekend I spoke at a women's retreat for my church. I had only been asked to do this about 5 days in advance so I didn't have much time to worry about all the things you worry about before standing in front of a group and speaki

Feb 27

Feb 27

Meredith Barnes

God speaks to me in repetition. Whenever I start hearing the same concept or phrase being repeated in my life I start to take notice. Often times there is a lesson or change coming my way and I know to prepare for what God has in store fo

Feb 26

Feb 26

Meredith Barnes

I am RESILIENT.⁣ ⁣ As I wrote this last of my three strengths last night I had been fighting back tears (not too successfully) for the better part of an hour. My two year old developed pink eye rapidly yesterday all while boycotting his n

Feb 21

Feb 21

Meredith Barnes

My second strength: HOSPITALITY. This is a hard one for me to put out there. I’ve taken the spiritual gifts survey several times throughout my adult life. And each time one of my strongest spiritual gifts was hospitality. This has been a

Feb 21

Feb 21

Meredith Barnes

As I said yesterday, I challenged myself to make a list of (at least) three things I like about myself. It was uncomfortable at first but much to my embarrassment once I really started digging in I found myself liking lots of things. I de

Feb 19

Feb 19

Meredith Barnes