Hello, I’m Michal.

Hey there! My name is Michal and this is my husband Alex. We are two wild and ambitious kids who were both Division 1 Athletes at Indiana University where we met and fell in love. We love God, we love adventure, we love challenges, and more than anything, we have a heart to share all the lessons we’ve learned the hard way.

So here’s a few fun facts:

• I was born in Wyoming and raised in Colorado.
• He was born and raised in South Bend, Indiana.
• In high school, I was the first women to win Colorado’s state championship all four years in diving and was inducted into the Colorado Sports Women Hall of Fame.
• Alex still holds his High school’s all-time pin record.
• We both gave our all for Indiana University (and myself for University of Arizona for a time).
• At the end of my career I qualified for the World University Games in Taipei, Taiwan were I represented the United States of America on the international stage.
• We’ve both faced setbacks, injuries, disappointments, heartbreak, and all the highs and lows an athlete can face. You name it, and either one of us has walked through it.
• We both coach in our respective sports (wrestling and diving) and are on a mission to teach all that we have come to learn. To put to use the hardship we have had to face.

The only reason I bring this up is because I will use sport as an analogy quite frequently to get points across. The reason being is athletics was a massive part in how God shaped and molded both of us. Although sport is not as intense as real life, the lessons and skills we’ve taken from it are.

We both have lived through hardship and gone through the type of experiences that shape who you are fundamentally. I truly believe our experiences, although life changing and difficult, are ones you too, have experienced.

My heart is to share what God has done, is doing, and hopefully will do. Every word on this blog is a whisper or a work in process that God is making me walk through.

These words are the cup for which I have been given. There is so much I have learned, so many nuggets of lessons that God has planted in my heart. And I believe the time is come to plant them in yours too. I will so wholeheartedly admit I am not an expert. I am not trained in theology. I have so much to learn that it is staggering. I will never claim to know more than I do, and I will only write what I know is from God, of God, and by God and to have been proven true personally in my life.

But there are some things that I do know. There are areas of my life which God has come in and done a whole Joanna and Chip Gaines fixer-upper type renovation on, and from that, and only those areas do I have some words I’d like to give you, too.

Why do this?

• I have walked through seasons in life that have left my feet bleeding and my heart raw. It is through the grace of god I am who I am now. In my seasons in the desert there are things that I learned. I am finally at a point in my life where I feel the pulling and urging to put into words, the love God has poured into my life.
• Because I see the need for a young generation of individuals, Christian or not, who want and long for more in this life. The title of this blog is Counter Culture because I believe we are in a breaking point in history. The culture we live in today is one that promises freedom, adventure, and satisfaction, but is cashing in on loneliness, pain, and shame. This blog is as much to keep myself accountable as it is to shed light on our choices.
• My heart cry is to bring this generation back to personal accountability, responsibility, and discipline.

You do not have to believe in God to acknowledge and understand truth. This blog is for everyone. You can read along and agree and share these experiences with me regardless of your faith. Truth holds true in every circumstance.

You might have a few questions (as would I), so here are a few quick answers:

• Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal? I will always maintain my personal journal. I’ve been journal since middle school and have thousands of pages of prayers, journals, and cries of the heart to God. My first outlet will always be my journal. This blog will not be the dumping place of all my emotions because that would honestly just be a dumpster fire. I will spare you all from that. Once whatever God is working on me is in a place where it can be shared in truth, then I’ll write about it here.
• What topics do you think you’ll write about? That is honestly up to God. He is the author and finisher of my faith and is constantly working on my character flaws, so possibly areas in my life where I am falling short. But if the themes of my life have any indicator it will be this: resilience, discipline, grit, strength and femininity, and holding strong values in a world that desires compliance.
• Who would you love to connect with via your blog? Anyone who has a deep longing in the pit of their stomachs. Those who long for more in life but feel trapped by the one they live in now. Those whose intuition tells them that there is dysfunction in their lives, but don’t know where they can find freedom and truth. Those who want more out of what culture is offering them.
• If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished? An online solidarity and unity. A generation that allows themselves to be convicted by lifestyle, choices, and trends. People who want to genuinely live a fearless, adventurous, and fulfilling life who are tired of falling into these traps which promise memories, fun, and enjoyment but lead nowhere.

I genuinely cannot promise what this blog will turn into or what topics will come about. I can promise that each word I type is something I want to change about myself or have had to change in the past. I am not perfect, the reason I have so much to write about is because I have gotten so much wrong in my life. I have just been pretty damn lucky to have God patient enough to work with me through these seasons.

So here’s to challenging the culture we live in. To face head on the areas in our lives that are contributing to our pain and to address ourselves in the context in the world we live. To walk in fearlessness, freedom, and adventure.