Meet the face
behind it all!
Hi I'm Carley! I live with my amazing husband, Briston, Mini-Aussie, Lady, and Baby #1 on the way. I enjoy helping others grow in their walk with the Lord. I have a MPA w/ Social Entrepreneurship Emphasis and a BFA in Interactive Media & Marketing from Southern Arkansas University. In college, I ran cross country and track and met great friends and mentors who spiritually pushed me further in my walk with Christ.
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I've always loved writing and want to use this passion for God's glory.
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Learn more about my life and story below!
Home Life
Growing up as a family of four
Family Life​
I was born in El Dorado, Arkansas in 1999 and grew up with a mom, Jill, a dad, Shane, and a younger brother, Maverick. Being raised in the church, we attended a southern Baptist church called Immanuel. I came to know Christ at 7 years old and was baptized.
We lived in Arkansas until I was 9 years old and moved to Dewitt, Iowa- 14 hours away from family and friends. Although the move was hard, it made our family stronger as we had to depend on one another in the new area.
During our time in Iowa, we started attending a non-denominational church called Harvest. I also experienced a lot of spiritual warfare in the house we lived in.
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Then, in the middle of my seventh-grade year, we moved to Memphis, Tennessee and lived there for two years. Honestly, I hated that school. It was the largest school I had ever attended and making friends was always a struggle. I felt alone and isolated. Each grade was so large that I didn't know anyone in my eighth-grade classes. Everyone I had met in my seventh-grade classes didn't have the same schedule as me, so it felt like I had to make friends all over again.
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The summer leading into my freshman year of high school, we moved to Panhandle, Texas, a small town outside of Amarillo, Texas. I really enjoyed this place. I started running cross country and track and field here, which played a crucial role in running in college.
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We also chose to attend a spirit-filled non-denominational church called The River and I started to learn more about the Holy Spirit, spiritual gifts, spiritual warfare, and so much more.
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Family life was simple: love one another, try your best, and have fun. My parents always tried to provide and support us in our activities.
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When I was a junior in high school, we found out my mom had cheated on my dad. It was devastating. I saw my dad cry for the first time. I didn't know if the family would stay together and what would happen with Maverick and I. Thankfully, the Lord led both of them to decide to work it out and restore their marriage. The process wasn't easy- took years of work- but I'm thankful they did the hard stuff.
Click below to listen to my parents full story on YouTube or Spotify now!
College Athletics
A prophecy spoken into existence
A Prophet's Prophecy
When I was a sophomore in high school, a prophet from South Africa came to our church and spoke. He would stand on stage, point at people, and tell them something. During this time I was a little unsure if he was an actual prophet (sad but true).
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During the service, he pointed at me and asked what I wanted to do after high school. Being only a sophomore, I didn't know, so I said I wanted to be a mom.
He looked at me and said, "I see you going into college athletics in swimming, and you're going to do very well."
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I laughed, "But I don't swim." (Competitively that is, our school didn't offer swimming as a sport.)
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He responded, "But you love the water." (Which is true. I LOVE the water and swimming.)
As I left that day, I didn't think much about what the man said. If anything, I thought he was crazy. Why would I compete colligately in a sport that wasn't even offered at my school?
Future Plans After Graduation
During senior year, I decided to enroll at Texas Tech University. My plan was to major in Advertising, but I had a specific goal: I wanted to pay cash for college.
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Paying for school was a prayer request since my junior year. My parents told me that I'd be in charge of paying for school, and I think we all assumed I'd get plenty of scholarship money. So, after I was admitted at Tech, I started applying for as many scholarships as I could find.
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Sadly, by March of senior year, I had applied to over 100 scholarships and received $0. I couldn't believe it. All my classmates were receiving money. Why wasn't I?
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It was during this time that I was diagnosed with Narcolepsy and Cataplexy and recommended to go on a super strict diet (low-to-no sodium). What's cool is months before this, God was planting desires in my heart to each super healthy. I can remember thinking I was going to eat only clean foods when I got to Texas Tech.
It was also during this time that I felt a super strong nudge to unenroll from Texas Tech. The realization that money wasn't coming in hit hard and I couldn't shake the idea of taking out loads of debt to pay for school.
But what was I going to do after graduation?
And was it really worth dropping college for a goal?
Two options kept replaying in my mind:
1. Drop your goal of getting school paid for in cash and take out debt to attend the university
2. Drop the university but have no plan for what happens next.
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Sounds crazy right? But the idea of paying for that much money for a four-year experience didn't seem reasonable enough to do it, so with a leap of faith I unenrolled from Texas Tech.
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The next month-in-a-half was stressful.
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