Sometimes the road that feels impossible to travel is the one God uses to lead you where He always planned for you to go. What began as an unexpected, electric connection grew into love, hope, and fast plans for a future Lisa never saw coming. But as the months passed, circumstances grew harder to understand. Questions multiplied, and the life she thought was taking shape began to feel increasingly beyond her grasp. 

Broken Road: The Journey of a Heart Healed is the true, deeply personal story of love and longing, faith, devastating turns, and the God who remained present and faithful every mile of the way. Sometimes the life we pour our everything into building is not the life God had in mind.

When I first started sharing the #thingsrileysays on social media, I had no idea it would turn into such a rich collection of amazing adventures and hilarious conversations with Riley. His wit, charm, and truly fantastic sense of humor fill these pages to the absolute brim.

From the story of his humble and scary beginning, born via emergency c-section at just 29.5 weeks to save my life, to his adventures in school, family, friendship, and faith, he certainly caught the attention of those in his world from day one. As you view life through his unique perspective reliving the conversations we have shared over the last decade, you will be laughing with every turn of the page. You are not going to want to miss a single #thingrileysays.

I grew up, fell in love, got married, had a baby, and lived most of my life in a small town nestled in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains in Northern California called Paradise, CA. It might sound familiar because it made international headlines when it was destroyed in California's deadliest wildfire in November 2018 (or maybe it doesn't ring any bells, and that's okay too). After we lost our home, jobs, and nearly all of our earthly possessions in the fire, my family and I moved north to Kitsap County, Washington State (it doesn't burn as easily here). We've enjoyed the cooler summers, fresh seafood on the regular, the incredible wildlife, and even the gray cloud days ever since. 

My life has had some pretty significant marks upon it, deep, painful scars left by heartache, loss, medical trauma, and actual flames (those scars are still metaphorical, not physical- well, except for the medical one; I do have an actual scar to show for that one). Yet through it all, God has remained faithful to never leave me or forsake me, even when the deepest pits feel like places I'd never be rescued from; He always showed up in ways I could never have imagined. His ways each and every time have always been immeasurably more than I could have asked for or imagined. I have lived it more than once, and I continue to trust that He will continue to do so each and every time. Those are the stories I love to tell!