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Dorina Lazo Gilmore-Young

Chasing God's glory down unexpected trails

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Incourage essays

How to navigate through the fog of uncertainty

I grew up in Chicago where winters were punctuated by blustery winds, snow drifts, and icy roads. I remember having to put on all the layers to bundle up before school and the strange sensation of my nose hairs freezing when I stepped outside our front door in the morning. After college, I moved to Central California to chase a career as a ... [Keep Reading...]

January 11, 2021 Categories: General, Navigating GriefTagged: Incourage essays

When my roses are preaching about healing from trauma

I’m not very good at keeping plants alive. I forget to water them. I leave them in the sun, and sometimes they become parched. I even have a penchant for killing succulents. That said, I love flowers. Watching them grow and bloom makes my heart swell. In this time of COVID-19 and sheltering at home for months, I’ve been longing to see more ... [Keep Reading...]

July 23, 2020 Categories: GeneralTagged: Incourage essays, Lead Loved, trauma

The dance of grief and glory through the holidays

I still remember our first Thanksgiving after my husband Ericlee died. My family tried to hold it together. We tried to stay the course with certain traditions, but it was clear everything was off-kilter. He wasn’t there to run the Turkey Trot. He wasn’t wearing his silly apron in the kitchen, helping me chop the butternut squash for the soup. ... [Keep Reading...]

November 21, 2019 Categories: Navigating GriefTagged: abundance, behold, christmas, courage, death, gifts, Grief, hope, Incourage essays, kids, laughter, transitions

Pivoting Away from Jealousy Toward Abundance

When I was a newly-minted widow, I started to struggle with envy. In those early days of grief, it was excruciatingly hard for me to see all the summer vacation photos with daddies playing with their kids, the wedding anniversary celebrations, and the perfectly-crafted family Christmas pictures. Feelings rose up inside me that I never faced before. ... [Keep Reading...]

October 15, 2019 Categories: Navigating GriefTagged: abundance, community, compassion, flourishing, friendship, gifts, Grief, Incourage essays, struggle

Running for His glory: Learning to breathe at higher altitudes

Breathe in deeply. Let the air gently fill your lungs. Pause. Then release. Feel the tension in your shoulders drift away. Inhale again. Then exhale. This is the give and take of breath. This is a deliberate slowing of the cadence of our breath. This is discovering a new, unforced rhythm. Breathe was the theme of the retreat I attended in ... [Keep Reading...]

July 28, 2019 Categories: Navigating GriefTagged: abundance, community, courage, flourishing, friendship, Grief, hope, Incourage essays, relationships, sharing faith, writing

How pruning clears the path for new growth

I saw the most gorgeous tree the other day at my kids’ school. She stopped me in my tracks with her huge blooms that were fuchsia on the outside and blush pink on the inside. Just a few weeks ago, this very tree was naked, seemingly dead and dry. Now, she sang of new life and was flourishing. We are in the throes of transition from winter to ... [Keep Reading...]

March 18, 2019 Categories: Navigating GriefTagged: family life, flourishing, Grief, Incourage essays, kids, self-care

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Meet Dorina

Aloha, friend! If you love stories, you are in the right place. I write about grief, glory, running, food, and more. I hope these words inspire you to chase after God’s glory in your life today!

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Recent Posts

  • Traveling the World From The Comfort of Home: Exploring Armenia January 14, 2021
  • 10 inspiring books I read in 2020 January 12, 2021
  • How to navigate through the fog of uncertainty January 11, 2021
  • Traveling the world from the comfort of home: Can you sushi roll? January 8, 2021
  • Traveling the World from the Comfort of Home: An English Tea party, if you please! January 6, 2021

Popular Posts

  • Celebrating a Heaveniversary: 10 ways to honor a loved one’s death
  • 10 meaningful sympathy gift ideas for widows and families
  • Instant Pot Filipino Garlic Fried Rice: A creative way to celebrate friendship
  • 10 creative ways to honor a loved one’s memory (and clean out the garage)

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Five years ago today, our family stood at the altar and said “I do” to a redemption story only God could craft. We chose love in the midst of our ...

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Jan 16

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Five years ago today, our family stood at the altar and said “I do” to a redemption story only God could craft. We chose love in the midst of our deep grief.
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People talk about the “dumpster fire of 2020,” but our dumpster fire was in 2014. That was the year my beloved received a devastating diagnosis. Four short months later, the girls and I stood at the graveside surrendering him to Heaven. That year I walked away from a ministry and work that we had built together over a decade in Haiti. The loss was unimaginable. Not only had I lost my husband, but I also lost my community, any sense of normalcy, my confidence, and my livelihood. I buried many dreams in that dumpster fire.
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But God promises to bring beauty from the ashes. And we stand a testimony today that He is faithful to His promises. For five years now, Shawn and I have been a couple. Two became one at that altar. And defying all math, five became one. For five years, my girls have experienced a new earthly father. We have stepped into a new sense of family.
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God has planted new seeds in our garden of ashes. We watered these seeds with tears and laughter through the years. Our family has cultivated new rhythms and watched new life spring from the grave. 
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Friend, I know you have walked through the fire this last year. I know you are worn and weary, broken and bruised. I know your loss is unimaginable. Today I want to give you permission to grieve. I also want you to know that hope is always on the horizon. Even in darkness there is a glimmer of glory. May you and I be like phoenix that rises from the ashes and spreads her resilient wings. May we sing in our loudest voices the redemption story God composes over and over again.
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Happy 5th anniversary, @shawnyoungruns  I’ve said it all year, and I’ll say it again. I’m so grateful to walk through the dumpster fire with you. 🔥 
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#beautyfromashes #redemption #redemptionsong #hopewriterlife #newsong #phoenix #widow #grief #griefjourney #anniversary #fiveyears #allthingsnew #chosen2021 #glorychasers #flourishingtogether #walkrunsoar #weareincourage #1000gifts
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We're ba-ack! We just kicked off Season 2 of the Walk Run Soar podcast this week with an interview with Dr. Ray Winter, who is the head Track ...

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Jan 14

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We're ba-ack! We just kicked off Season 2 of the Walk Run Soar podcast this week with an interview with Dr. Ray Winter, who is the head Track & Field and Cross Country coach at Fresno Pacific University. 🚶🏻‍♂️Ray shared about his story of coaching now at his alma mater. 
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🎙 We also chatted about:
-coaching through the challenges of Covid times
-connecting with God through nature and running
-how Scripture and mantras can be used to augment workouts
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We love how Ray talked about running as his "soul food" - where He goes for spiritual and physical nourishment regularly. 
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🎧 Listen in here: https://anchor.fm/.../Walk-Run-Soar--Season-2--Episode-1...
🍎 Or on Apple podcasts here: https://podcasts.apple.com/.../walk-run.../id1493567998...
📺 on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/7zEfh4Rtvvg
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#runnersofinstagam #runners #christianrunners @FresnoPacificUniversity #runningmotivation #glorychasers #runforhim #runners #runningcommunity @the1protagonist
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Every year I listen and look for a ✨word of the year✨that God might use to teach me. This has been a spiritual practice in my life for more than...

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Jan 14

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Every year I listen and look for a ✨word of the year✨that God might use to teach me. This has been a spiritual practice in my life for more than a decade.  I follow that word through the year. I reflect, read the Bible, copy down quotes, and write about what I’m learning. I love the way the words connect from year to year.
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Of course, every year I choose a word theme and by December I am surprised at the lessons I’ve learned from following that word. It’s never what I hoped, imagined, or predicted back in January. Choosing a word always involves surrendering, reckoning and deepening my relationship with the One who was and is the Word from beginning to end.
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These last few months, I’ve noticed a new word bubbling to the surface. It always happens this way for me. I notice a word appearing in different places – in the pages of scripture, in art, in music, in conversation, and in my heart.
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This year I’m exploring the word “chosen.” The dictionary tells me it means “one who is the object of choice or of divine favor.”
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This morning I read these words in Isaiah 43:  “‘You are my witnesses,’ declares the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he” -Isaiah 43: 10
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We may have flipped the calendar to a new month and a new year, but the reality is we still have a lot of wreckage to reckon with in 2021. As much as we are longing for a fresh start, there may be a lot of the same. Yet, I hear the echoes of Isaiah’s prophecy calling me and calling you to be witnesses. God will prevail even through our present challenges. We are chosen to know, believe, and understand who He is and to reflect His glory to a weary and wandering world.
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Will you join me? What’s your word this year?
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👉🏽I’m hosting a Zoom Word Party at 10 am on Saturday, January 31. If you choose a word of the year or would like to hear more about this practice from other women leaders, join us. Details at @leadloved or register at www.leadloved.com.
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#leadloved #wordoftheyear #oneword #chosen #womenoftheword #jesusgirl #faithblogger #oneword2021 #oneword365
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Books were my companions in 2020. In my early mothering years, I didn’t have the space to sit with books, to let them fill me soul’s pores in ways...

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Jan 13

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Books were my companions in 2020. In my early mothering years, I didn’t have the space to sit with books, to let them fill me soul’s pores in ways they had when I was a child voraciously reading in the corner. My busy schedule and exhausted lifestyle didn’t leave space for me to stay with words, to linger long.
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I know that sounds crazy since I’m a writer, but it’s true.
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But not this year. This year I read. I climbed into bed on some afternoons and many nights a week and dove into the deep end. I savored the words like a delicious meal you don’t want to end.
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These 10 books have been my friends in 2020 when other friendships have felt strained, awkward, and even distant. I know that’s mostly because this pandemic forced us to hold each other at a distance. I know that’s probably because many of us quickly grew weary of texting and bearing our souls even to our favorite people through Zoom.
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Maybe some of us never even started.
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But these books, these words, held me. They pushed, prodded, and poked. They invited me into dialogue I desperately needed. Sometime it was the sheer beauty of the words that brought comfort. Other times it was the message that looked me square in the eyes and said, “Yes, this is for you.”
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I read bits and pieces of many other books this year that were meaningful, but these 10 are the ones I wish I could wrap up in brown paper and tie with a pale blue ribbon and leave on your porch. I pray one or two of these will be a companion to you as it looks like 2021 may be a little more of the same for a lot of us.
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Click on the link in my bio to see my Top 10 list + 2 fave book club books: https://dorinagilmore.com/10-inspiring-books-i-read-in-2020/ 
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📚 What books did you read in 2020 that you would recommend? 📖 
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👉🏽The second pic is my growing stack for 2021! 
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#books #bookreview #top10 #booksworm #reading #bookstagram
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🍣 My girl is a big fan of sushi. In recent years, we have frequented different sushi restaurants as a family for special occasions. But we’ve ...

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Jan 11

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🍣 My girl is a big fan of sushi. In recent years, we have frequented different sushi restaurants as a family for special occasions. But we’ve never made our own sushi. Honestly, it felt a little daunting.
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🍱 One of our favorite parts of eating at sushi restaurants is seeing the artful ways the sushi chefs display the rolls and the combinations of seafood, veggies, and sauces they employ.
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🇯🇵 Meilani made a list of necessary ingredients. I sent a few texts to my Auntie Doris, who is Japanese-American, and has some experience with sushi and Japanese foods. (When in doubt, phone an experienced friend or family member!)
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🍚 Meilani put the sushi rice in our Instant Pot. We wanted to make sure it was cooked and cooled before assembling the rolls.
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🎣 Meanwhile, we took a little field trip to R-N Market, our local Asian food market. We frequent this market often for ingredients for our favorite Filipino dishes, but this was our first time buying sushi grade fish. I was grateful for an experienced butcher to help us along. We decided to purchase some fresh salmon, avocados, cucumber, and pineapple for our first rolls.
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We returned home with our bounty and set to work. I sliced the ingredients thinly while Meilani prepped the sheets of nori and sushi rice. We started rolling...
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Making sushi is not something I would attempt on a typical day, but this experience helped remind me that God’s glory is often discovered in the kitchen and through the exploration of culture through food. This is a value I long to instill in my daughters and embrace myself. We are each created in God’s image. We belong to each other. There is much we can learn from each other that will give us a fuller picture of our creative God.
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👉🏽We are traveling the world from the comfort of home during the pandemic. Check out the full story about our sushi adventures and other “trips” on my blog at www.DorinaGilmore.com
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#traveltheworld #workdtravel #foodie #foodiefamily #pandemiclife #creativeathome #glorychasers #yum #sushi #raisingstrongdaughters
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