Past the Picket Fence

You did your best to build a faithful, meaningful life—so why does the life in front of you feel so different from the one you pictured? When timelines shift, roles change, relationships disappoint, or long-held dreams remain unanswered, even gratitude can become tangled with grief.

Past the Picket Fence offers a compassionate, Scripture-grounded way to face that tension without denying loss or surrendering hope. Through clear reframes, fictional composite stories, biblical applications, and repeatable practices, Alice Naylor helps you release private contracts, recover responsible agency, and become present to the life that is taking shape now.

Inside, you'll find:

• A clear way to identify the hidden expectations that turn worthy desires into painful measures of success

• Language for grieving missed timelines, changed identities, unfair outcomes, and futures that never arrived

• Practical tools for separating faithful responsibility from anxiety-driven control

• Biblical perspectives on lament, waiting, surrender, belonging, and hope without false certainty

• Healthy boundary principles that protect voice, dignity, safety, and relational integrity

• Guidance for releasing fantasy contracts in marriage, family, friendship, work, and motherhood

• Journaling prompts for use in a separate journal or quiet reflection, with no on-page writing required

• Habits and practices that bring grief, gratitude, agency, rest, prayer, and community into ordinary weeks

• A ninety-day horizon for building a more honest, sustainable, and deeply inhabitable life

This book is for Christian women navigating disappointment, delayed dreams, grief, changing roles, strained relationships, or a season that refuses to match the expected plan. It is especially suited to readers who want faith-centered encouragement that respects emotional honesty, healthy limits, and qualified support when needed.

Release the flawless picture, make room for what is true, and begin loving your real life with open hands and grounded faith.