Hi there, my name is Stacey Jo, and I am so grateful you have landed here.

Who am I? Great question…I think we all have wrestled through that deep question throughout our life. I was the one who spent most of my life striving and performing to become someone who stood out and outrun the shame I secretly battled. I chased dreams and goals, and found myself saying, “If there is anyone who worked hard, it was me.” I took pride in being a hard worker, but in my late thirties all that hard work began to not work in my walk with Jesus. My life was falling apart by the seams, and everytime I tried to sew it back together the seams just kept unraveling. The religious formulas I created in life were failing me, and it was evident that I was missing the most important piece to the puzzle- God’s love as a Father.

I began to learn that maybe we were made for something more than just the goals to be reached, an accolade, or a great achievement. Maybe we were made for me more than every high and low in life. Maybe there is a deep connection with God that brings us back to a place of simplicity. And I feel as if I have spent a lifetime trying to find that place of simplicity with Jesus. By God’s grace, I am learning this great and deep secret that the world may believe can be found in striving and performance.

There is a love that goes so deep at the cross that didn’t just save us from hell, but it brought us near to God to walk with Him in the cool of the day, just like back in the Garden, and we are meant to experience that daily.

And that is what life is for me- a garden- people, dreams, family, friends, hope, disappointment, brokenness, suffering, joy, and beauty are meant to be carried in relationship with God. I believe we need to unlearn what we have been taught, even in religion, and find God’s way-rest rooted in a deep trust. It will look different for each of us, and that is what makes it so deeply intimate.

I was personally striving to stand out in a world full of noise and felt I would never be seen- so what was the point of it all? Here I will share much of my story with you along the way. But in my late thirties, my world turned upside down, and it revealed the lies, strongholds, shame, and fear that I held to, and God began to restore my life and put my heart back together again. And through that journey, I began to write my first book, Stand Out in Simplicity- A journey to discovering the true love of the Father. Release date to come.

On that journey, I am learning to trust in God’s love, and that is what makes me stand out- being with Him as a daughter. That I am completely known and seen in the depths of my heart by the one who made me and loves me perfectly. I will be a voice to remind those searching for God's truth how much we can trust in His perfect love. As children of God, we belong to Him, and His

Son made a way for us to be in relationship, and that is where the human heart finds healing- right at home with God.

As I share God’s truth and my journey with authenticity in all its humanity, yet met by God’s grace to create something beautiful, I believe it will also encourage and inspire others to do the same, and we will just keep watching the garden grow around us- one person at a time.