My name is Amy and I live in the messy middle of life. The tag line for this blog is “where grace and truth reside.” I find people tend to be drawn to grace, grace, grace OR truth, truth, truth. Neither side requires much discipline, do they? Instead they foster autopilot living. But real life happens … in the messy middle, with both.
I know, it can be maddening. But also exhilarating!

In terms of this blog, The Messy Middle started in 2011 when I still lived in China. It was a place to share the “messy middle” of life. For years I’ve believed that more than one thing can be true at the same time and the pains, joys, boredoms, frustrations, interests, relationships, and God can all reside near each other.
Since then, the internet has changed and this blog is mostly a space where I occasionally share about books. Every summer I host a Summer Reading Challenge (you can read how it started here and see the most recent on here (we’ve done seven so far!)
I also love reading and seeing book lists people have put together. Here are a few I’ve made:
- 10Top 14 Books of 2021
- 9 Books I Loved in 2014
- What my book group read in 2021
- A Non-Cook Reviews 3 Chinese Cookbooks
- 9 Lessons on friendship from a pig and a spider
- My top 9 Christmas books (Um, it appears I like the number nine or factors of nine.)
I also write books for Great Commission Cross-Cultural Workers:
All of my books are available in Kindle and Paperback. You can buy them on Amazon here and read about each book here.
As much I I love reading and writing, I love meeting with people in person more. If you’re in need of a speaker for an event, you can check out my speaker page and get ideas of how we could work together. Whether you’re needing a speaker for a weekend or one-time event, I’m your person.
“I’ve heard Amy speak many times to large groups and small ones. Every time Amy speaks she is energetic and passionate about the topics. She is also very relational with her audience. She’s the kind of speaker that you listen to and think to yourself, “I want to be friends with her because she understands me and I would like to hang out with her afterwards.” I always leave refreshed and encouraged after hearing her speak.” Jonathan Wu
The majority of my working time is invested in Global Trellis—where we increase the capacity of Great Commission workers so that they can stay focused on playing their part in the Great Commission.
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I am quick to laugh, always ready to cheer on the Denver Broncos or Kansas Jayhawks, and have turned into a gardener (love the surprises life holds!). But if push came to shove, I’d choose my family over everything. Thanks for stopping by. In China one always has a gift ready for a guest, so, my welcome gift for you is Life in the Messy Middle .
Welcome to the messy middle,
Amy
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