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The origins of the word clementine speak to mercy, compassion & kindness…qualities that never fail to calm & refresh.
my work
FAITH WRITING
I have a heart for helping people connect to God—not because I think I am better at it than others—but because the more I knock on that door, the more I am blessed in knowing Him, receiving His peace and guidance, and growing into who He made me to be. I feel called to share that through music, words, and encouragement.
My writing pieces below are taken from the work I do as a worship leader at a small, non-denominational church and from my work as a copywriter for the Ashro brand. Ashro is an apparel retailer with a customer base that is over 90% Christian.
*You may click on any image to view it in its entirety.
“Simone is a worship leader deeply passionate about bringing people to Jesus and modeling prayer that is a relational, on-going conversation with the Almighty Creator. She creates an atmosphere where people feel comfortable, encouraged, and challenged in their faith."
Pastor Brian Barrett
Crossroads Community Church
On Sundays, I lead our congregation in prayer and song and help to prepare them for the sermon message. Here are 4 excerpts of my Sunday work...
1. I am about to play the song, “How He Loves,” but I feel that we need a lesson in learning to receive His love.
Imagine that you’re at home, and you have a fireplace with a beautiful crackling fire going. The rest of the house is drafty and chilly. Your fingers and toes are uncomfortably cold, but you’re so busy and distracted. You don’t take the time to warm yourself by the fire at all. You know it’s there. You think eventually maybe you’ll enjoy it, but you don’t. Guess what, you just missed out on the comfort and the warmth and the relief you could have had. That’s what it’s like when we believe in God, but we don’t take the time to sit by Him and feel His love. We miss out. We miss God’s comfort and guidance. Our life feels colder than it had to feel. He wants to give us so much, but He can’t give us everything He has if we won’t stop to warm ourselves in His love. The good news is that His love is here, right now, burning bright for us: an open invitation…
2. Before the band plays the song, “Pieces.” I am concerned that many of us see God through that distorted lens of our earthly relationships.
This next song is about the many ways that we as broken people hurt each other. Most of the time, we love imperfectly. If we are alive, we have hurt and been hurt. Getting through those hurts the right way is hard, but what’s even harder is if we make the mistake of thinking that God’s love falls short like human love can. God’s love is not like that. His love is perfect, healing, merciful, and everlasting.
Isaiah 54:10 says, “’Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,’ says the Lord who has compassion on you.”
‘Father God, thank you for loving us. Help us to see beyond the hurts we have suffered in this life—and open our hearts to Your perfect love. Amen.’
3. As I am about to begin the song, “Lord I Need You,” I want to remind the congregation of their need for God and the true rest that is available to them.
Today we are talking about getting renewed through rest, the kind of rest that only our Father in heaven and our Redeemer, Christ can give us. In Matthew 11:28 Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Jesus invites us to come to Him with all our stuff: the things we can’t figure out or can’t beat, the regrets that haunt us, the relationships, or the habits we wrestle with. For some reason or other, we often keep the worst things to ourselves.
'Father in heaven, help each one of us to search our hearts and our circumstances for what we are trying to do all by ourselves, in our own power. Give us the clarity to see what that is…and once we see that, please give us the faith to release it fully to you. Right now. Help us to declare over our lives, Lord, that we need you. Amen.'
4. This is my opening for Palm Sunday service. I wanted to set up a context for what this day is about and lead them into welcoming Jesus personally into their hearts, minds, and lives…
On Palm Sunday, we commemorate the day Jesus entered Jerusalem as Savior and King. As Jesus rode a donkey into the town of Jerusalem, a great crowd gathered and laid palm branches and their cloaks across the road, giving Jesus royal respect and honor.
Here’s from Luke 19: 37-40
As He was drawing near—already on the way down the Mount of Olives—the whole multitude of His disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the might works that they had seen, saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”
Are you ready to welcome Him? I invite you to pray with me if you feel so led. Jesus, we welcome you today and every day. We welcome you into our hearts to soften and renew them. We welcome you into our thoughts to illuminate and train them. We welcome you into our lives to transform and redeem them. Thank you for walking this hard road to make a way for each one of us. We love you. Amen.
For the wedding of friends
I prepared and led the gathered people of mixed faiths and no faith through this prayer. The couple each had been through some deeply difficult life situations. I saw this prayer as an opportunity to bring God’s blessings in, to spark faith in those who may not be looking for it, to draw the wedding couple closer to God—and to free them for this next season of life together.
“Friends, I have witnessed the growth and the peace that has swept through these two families. This is a God thing and a great blessing. Wherever we invite God in, He will breathe in true life. He will make crooked roads straight and more.
Everything that has come before this moment has grown Kristel and Tim into who they are today, and to this crucial point. And that is good. However, trials have a way of getting into our souls and weighing us down. Kristel and Tim, as believers in the Christian faith, you are called to live in freedom and under grace. As you are about to enter into a new season, I’m going to pray over you to ask God to help you. Everyone, I invite you to pray if you feel so led.
Father God, thank you for Kristel and Tim and for bringing them together, for giving them a new good story. You know more than any of us what struggles and hurts each of them has gone through. If there is anything that they are still carrying that they should leave behind: regrets or hurts, shame or unforgiveness, please help them to release them now, every single one…to leave them at the foot of your son’s cross so that they can walk into this new season together as man and wife, unencumbered, light and free, forgiven by your son and forgiving of others. We pray this in your mighty, loving name, Amen.
Simone has a great ability to speak heartfelt, clear, concise, and biblically foundational messages that can help others prepare their hearts to connect with the Lord. I had the privilege to see this in action when Simone led our congregation in worship. As her former Pastor, I always appreciated her devotional thoughts and prayer points she would share with the congregation during our worship service. I also appreciated how she continually stayed within the theme of the sermon, helping our church to prepare their hearts to receive the Word of God. Simone is a talented writer and even better sister in Christ!
Pastor Blake Canterbury
Redemption Church, Monroe, WI
Faith Pieces at Work
Writing for Ashro allows me to infuse my work with faith wherever it is appropriate for the business.
Ashro Woman of the Week: a fixture of the Ashro brand
Our customers are over 90% devout Christian. I concepted the idea of writing short customer biographies to bring our customer more deeply into the brand, to celebrate her ministries, and to encourage other customers. We have received hundreds of Ashro Women Questionnaires and they continue to come in.
Connecting messages to the heart of people
Bishop Dr. Barbara King was featured in one of our Onward & Upward videos. She passed away within a year of that interview. I was asked to write a basic obituary for the Ashro blog. I used the opportunity to connect her message very personally to our customers.
A compelling story to tell
One of our models had a story of faith that I wanted to tell. At the time, I had the bandwidth to write an article. Here are snippets and a link to the article.
Meet Brittney Sharaun
