For This House
Every Season. Every Space. All for Him.
Every Season. Every Space. All for Him.
May 26, 2025 | 12 min read
Lauren Van Woerden, Emily Van Eps, Ally Veldhuisen
Welcome to For This House! We’re honored that you’ve been following along with our little endeavor to serve and encourage women as they walk through all seasons and stages of life by putting our God-given gifts to use in this space. Thank you for being here!
Our audience has grown considerably in the last year, so we figured an updated introduction would be timely. We hope you enjoy learning more about our vision and decide to tag along for the journey.
Ally: We all started this blog with a simple desire to use our talents to serve a broader community, but we lacked a lot of clarity as to what that might look like. We stepped out in faith, and have since seen God hone our mission and vision into something lifegiving for each of us and encouraging for others. Although we’ve been blogging since 2023, we still feel like we’re in the beginning stages, really! It will be exciting to see where the Spirit leads us in the coming year.
Lauren: As a group, we’ve had a sort of vision conversation come up organically every 8 months or so that just helps us to really elevate and push into the purpose we each had when we started For This House. I love how adding blog contributors has stoked the fire for us, proving this is a space that is needed, wanted, and desired. As women, we’re all striving to fit more of Him into every little thing.
Ally: We had very fluid roles in the beginning that have now shaken out into a three-way split focused on where our skills are best spent. I am our social media manager, Lauren is our primary editor, aspiring email marketer, and blog contributor coordinator, and Emily manages the web design and products—we also have many other tasks and duties that we toss around, but we’re so grateful to do this as part of a team! Blogging is a TON of work if you strive to do it well.
Emily: It’s been nearly two years on this adventure together, and what a journey it’s been! I love how our talents complement each other perfectly—Lauren with her writing and SEO expertise, Ally with her social media magic, and me with my graphic design background.
Being sisters in blogging is special—when motherhood chaos strikes or life happens, we can seamlessly step in for one another without missing a beat. I’m so grateful for how our individual strengths have created something none of us could have built alone!
Emily: Definitely finding the space in our busy lives! There was a brief period when I had to step away because there just wasn’t enough time—I was working part-time while caring full-time for my oldest and pregnant with our second. Lauren and Ally graciously allowed me to take a break—maybe you noticed my absence. I took a 6-month break and returned in an adjusted capacity—I handle more behind-the-scenes now instead of writing as often. I’m so thankful to be in this venture with my sisters—we’re all in the same stage of life right now, so we can empathize with each other and help wherever necessary.
Lauren: Time! We’re all moms of littles, and so are many of our contributors, so finding the focus time to bring an idea to fruition in blog form can be quite difficult, but it is so healing and fulfilling when it happens, which keeps me going. Having three of us behind the scenes really helps to pull the yoke evenly when it seems one of us is almost always under a mountain at any given point. 😅
Emily: Writing blogs, or even just social media captions, has helped me process many different things in my life over the last few years. Taking an idea from just a thought to a full-fledged blog has allowed me to process through all the different facets of it and learn a lot about myself! I hope that God will take my words and use them to bless someone else just as the writings of my sisters and our other guest bloggers have blessed me!
Ally: It’s intimidating to put your writing out there—at least it has been for me. I have wrestled through a lot of self-doubt while we’ve been blogging. I often question why I think I have the right to share anything. What do I know? I surely don’t have it all together, nor would I want to lead anyone to believe I do! I’d say this blog is still transforming me as I develop confidence in my own story, in God’s willingness to use “little me” for His good, and in my ability to trust that the gifts God has given me have purpose and add value.
Ally: In fall of 2023 I published one of my first blogs about Toxic Positivity. I honestly figured nobody was going to read it and I quite frankly felt more scared that my words would be read than I was that they’d be ignored. Then suddenly I was at Bible Study later that week and someone brought up the blog. It led to a very fruitful discussion that never would have come up had I not stepped out and shared my struggle via those words. I learned that many other women were realizing for the first time their tendency to equate righteousness with positivity… and that’s when I first knew that this project was worthwhile and my wall of fear around letting others read my thoughts started to crack.
Emily: Part of the reason we started this blog is that we recognized that other women might be blessed by reading our stories and learning that they’re not alone in whatever they’re facing. And while three of us support the overall running of this blog, there are specific trials or rejoicings that we just can’t speak to because it hasn’t touched our lives. By opening the blog up to guest writers, For This House has become a platform that can feature the voices of many more women, who have all had very different walks of life but are each tied together by the thread of faith. At the end of the day, this is all to glorify the one true God.
Lauren: It was almost a year ago now and Ally and I were sitting on her living room floor just going through some basic blog tasks together when we ended up in this deep conversation about why anyone would want to write with us, and if they even did, what in the world would help cast the vision of the voice of our blog?!
And here we are: Every season. Every space. All for Him! Our theme verse explains it so well, too, from Joshua 24:15: “And as for this house, we will serve the Lord.”
We acknowledged that the three of us are limited in our experiences and challenges being in the same stage of life and living in the same area. We wanted to cast vision for women from all walks of life to join us in sharing their own experiences striving for that same mission in their everyday lives.
Lauren: From a practical standpoint, we have a series of slides and an agreement that all of our contributors review and sign before writing their first post. Then we do our best to edit only for grammar and readability so that their true experience, meaning, and voice comes through to readers.
Ally: Lauren, Emily, and I are all in a similar season right now. While our goal is to blog about womanhood, it’s tricky not to let motherhood wash over all of the other aspects about life. We’ve loved having guest bloggers who can speak to different seasons and stages better than we can—there is so much value in being encouraged by those both in and out of the stages you find yourself in. While our authors may differ in experience, they all uphold the same essential values, which is something we as For This House founders won’t waver on.
Lauren: I’ve never been a strong hobby person, but the things that bring me joy in this season of life with littles include getting outside with my family, catching up with a friend over coffee or treats, or, when possible, getting some alone time to give my mind rest from all the busyness of the everyday.
Emily: I’ve been so blessed to be surrounded by a group of other women and moms through my small group—we often do things together, with or without kids, that truly nourish my soul. During our area’s warmer, drier months, I love to be outside with my girls and work in my garden.
Ally: Cleaning my house? Haha, no, I do spend a lot of time homemaking… I love to bake, I find joy in hosting, I thrive in a tidy space, and I happily go for walks whenever the weather allows. I am often coordinating events or finding excuses to do things with others instead of by myself!
For This House was never meant to be an echo chamber of our voices only. We did not set out to be influencers in this endeavor. We want this collective of writings to show how all women in every walk of life is learning to help their homes serve the Lord in all that they do.
How are you serving the Lord in your current season of life? We’d love to hear from you!