June 2023

So, I feel the need to write this update. Credit fresh conviction though part of this pondering has been brewing for the past few months.

Assessing the past few years of His Girl Fryday, I admit I have not been true to the original intent of this project. For over five years (2015-2020), I tailored my posts to the ‘marketplace minister’ discussing matters relative to vocational identity and workplace troubleshooting. We tackled topics pertaining to influence, team building, Scripture as best practice, work as worship and spiritual warfare, even applications and tools to simplify the hustle and bustle.

But for the last few years, well, if you’ve been following our family’s story, you understand how the epicenter of theme and trope had to change. In fact, this whole decade has been downright crazy starting with the COVID-19 pandemic, health complications with Everly late 2020/early 2021, and, of course, the Juby Journey from summer 2021 to fall 2022. In between all this, you had job transition, EMDR therapy, home remodeling, PTSD, and plenty of car trauma just to name a few. Needless to say, our core narrative has been compelled to adapt. And for whatever reason, I feel apologetic I haven’t been churning out more work-centric content to help build a bridge for the bivocational as our tagline proudly states.

Part of me has wondered if I should retire the endeavor and/or start a separate site to be a home to non-vocational musings, kind of like a catch-all to anything outside the His Girl Fryday umbrella. Honestly, I lean towards this approach and will be praying into a new name in the spirit of simplifying our purpose and returning to our humble beginnings.

Side note: For all you potential newbies out there, His Girl Fryday was birthed from a place of helping ministers balance work and church responsibilities and matured over time to include all vocationals as our biblical understanding of spiritual gifts broadened.

At the very least, I want to return to our premise and add fresh layers of insight to our library of resources. While the majority of 2021-22 posts likely lacked a direct impact into your personal life, Lys and I hope more of what we create moving forward will produce new life and motivation into the fabric of your day-to-day. Perhaps you can join me in reviewing the past two years’ worth of content through the lens of self and social awareness, specifically knowing how to journey people through their dark days and how to relate to those struggling with grief. To be fair, I’m sure there are many ways we can corporately receive the tenor of our writings outside the filters society demands, primarily relevance and prevalence.

All that said, I want to thank you as an audience for tolerating our randomness and sporadicness but more importantly, allowing us to take these recent years to share our hearts and journeys with you. The content clean-up will soon begin as new ideas take root and new series are conceived. No question, we count ourselves blessed as messengers equipped with words as arrows for such a time as this. We look forward to the future of this project and others on the verge of commencement as our family life continues to heal and settle.

Thanks again for being awesome ambassadors in your spheres.

Blessings,

Cameron & Lyssah Fry

Cover photo creds: PeakPx

Written 5/6/23

So last Saturday during a yard sale Lys & I were hosting, a stranger with a limp and a cain approaches our driveway. A fresh face with a wallet in hand, we were excited about what appeared to be a serious prospect to liquidate some of our inventory.

Of course, as time and conversation would have it, our inkling would be confirmed. And after four hauls to her vehicle, a sit-down to catch our breaths would result.

Here is where it gets interesting…

During the next few minutes, Lys and the local start to discuss the reason for the sale and it comes to light this lady has a 17-year-old daughter who was born at 24 weeks, similar health issues to Juby though somehow she survived.

Suddenly, this divine appointment becomes a litmus test. After all, finding someone with a similar story at such a profound level shouldn’t be so easy. I mean, c’mon God, we were just starting to enjoy this time with our neighbor. Now, we get to hear of this alternative ending we wish was our own!?! Not cool, not fair. We don’t need this salt in our wound.

Granted, the daughter has endured a lifetime of health complications and surgeries. Certainly, the road would have been paved with hurdles galore had Juby survived. Still, what parent wouldn’t trade the hurdles for a lifetime, for the legacy of fighting to continue?

Whatever the case, despite the facial flatlines, Lys steers the dialogue into constructive territory…and by dialogue’s end, the finale is clear: Not only had we gained an intent of return but a mutual admiration of the moment and a friend through a unique and common bond. Who knew opening up your home and property could yield such fruitful returns?

My point in sharing this is simple: In the tale of life and death, there will be jealousies and the temptation to give into them. While on some days we will covet possessions, on others, we will envy testimonies and narratives. We will love our brother in an instant and in the next, be blindsighted with a ‘why’ that defies understanding.

If you find yourself in one of those situations, know as you’re faithful to live the Word, you can relish those involuntarily mental crossroads even when you catch a glimpse of what could have been. Again, if you’re letting God establish your steps, it doesn’t make sense to chase vain imaginations down those dead-end cul-de-sacs. Instead, believe in the One who ordains all things, who predestined them according to His purpose, who works all things according to the counsel of His will, and sets in motion the secret things that belong to Him while also revealing that which belongs to us.

Wonders without number that reflect the greatness of the Almighty…they will find you, sometimes when you least expect. And that’s okay. You may not think you’re ready, your emotions may seem chained to a crazy carousel. Whatever the case, live your life, abide by the Spirit, and when an open door skips the horizon to the front of your grill. walk through it and dare to be exposed. Who knows! You may just find that you’re further along than you think.

Note: I’m keeping this short and sweet in the spirit of book fodder. For now, as always…

Selah.