Abby McDonald

Finding the Hope of Christ in a Messy Life

  • Home
  • About
  • Book
  • Speaking
  • Coaching & Resources
  • Blog
  • Contact

Privacy Policy

EFFECTIVE DATE: MAY 19, 2018

Abby McDonald (“us”, “we”, or “our”) operates the https://abbymcdonald.org website (the “Service”).

This page informs you of our policies regarding the collection, use, and disclosure of personal data when you use our Service and the choices you have associated with that data.

We use your data to provide and improve the Service. By using the Service, you agree to the collection and use of information in accordance with this policy. Unless otherwise defined in this Privacy Policy, terms used in this Privacy Policy have the same meanings as in our Terms and Conditions, accessible from https://abbymcdonald.org.

DEFINITIONS

PERSONAL DATA

Personal Data means data about a living individual who can be identified from those data (or from those and other information either in our possession or likely to come into our possession).

USAGE DATA

Usage Data is data collected automatically either generated by the use of the Service or from the Service infrastructure itself (for example, the duration of a page visit).

COOKIES

Cookies are small pieces of data stored on a User’s device.

DATA CONTROLLER

Data Controller means a person who (either alone or jointly or in common with other persons) determines the purposes for which and the manner in which any personal data are, or are to be, processed.

For the purpose of this Privacy Policy, we are a Data Controller of your data.

DATA PROCESSOR (OR SERVICE PROVIDERS)

Data Processor (or Service Provider) means any person (other than an employee of the Data Controller) who processes the data on behalf of the Data Controller.

We may use the services of various Service Providers in order to process your data more effectively.

DATA SUBJECT

Data Subject is any living individual who is the subject of Personal Data.

USER

The User is the individual using our Service. The User corresponds to the Data Subject, who is the subject of Personal Data.

INFORMATION COLLECTION AND USE

We collect several different types of information for various purposes to provide and improve our Service to you.

TYPES OF DATA COLLECTED

PERSONAL DATA

While using our Service, we may ask you to provide us with certain personally identifiable information that can be used to contact or identify you (“Personal Data”). Personally identifiable information may include, but is not limited to:

  • Email address
  • First name and last name
  • Phone number
  • Address, State, Province, ZIP/Postal code, City
  • Cookies and Usage Data

We may use your Personal Data to contact you with newsletters, marketing or promotional materials and other information that may be of interest to you. You may opt out of receiving any, or all, of these communications from us by following the unsubscribe link or instructions provided in any email we send.

USAGE DATA

We may also collect information how the Service is accessed and used (“Usage Data”). This Usage Data may include information such as your computer’s Internet Protocol address (e.g. IP address), browser type, browser version, the pages of our Service that you visit, the time and date of your visit, the time spent on those pages, unique device identifiers and other diagnostic data.

TRACKING & COOKIES DATA

We use cookies and similar tracking technologies to track the activity on our Service and hold certain information.

Cookies are files with small amount of data which may include an anonymous unique identifier. Cookies are sent to your browser from a website and stored on your device. Tracking technologies also used are beacons, tags, and scripts to collect and track information and to improve and analyze our Service.

You can instruct your browser to refuse all cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being sent. However, if you do not accept cookies, you may not be able to use some portions of our Service.

Examples of Cookies we use:

  • Session Cookies. We use Session Cookies to operate our Service.
  • Preference Cookies. We use Preference Cookies to remember your preferences and various settings.
  • Security Cookies. We use Security Cookies for security purposes.

USE OF DATA

Abby McDonald at abbymcdonald.org uses the collected data for various purposes:

  • To provide and maintain our Service
  • To notify you about changes to our Service
  • To allow you to participate in interactive features of our Service when you choose to do so
  • To provide customer support
  • To gather analysis or valuable information so that we can improve our Service
  • To monitor the usage of our Service
  • To detect, prevent and address technical issues
  • To provide you with news, special offers and general information about other goods, services and events which we offer that are similar to those that you have already purchased or enquired about unless you have opted not to receive such information

RETENTION OF DATA

Abby McDonald at abbymcdonald.org will retain your Personal Data only for as long as is necessary for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy. We will retain and use your Personal Data to the extent necessary to comply with our legal obligations (for example, if we are required to retain your data to comply with applicable laws), resolve disputes, and enforce our legal agreements and policies.

Abby McDonald at abbymcdonald.org will also retain Usage Data for internal analysis purposes. Usage Data is generally retained for a shorter period of time, except when this data is used to strengthen the security or to improve the functionality of our Service, or we are legally obligated to retain this data for longer time periods.

TRANSFER OF DATA

Your information, including Personal Data, may be transferred to — and maintained on — computers located outside of your state, province, country or other governmental jurisdiction where the data protection laws may differ than those from your jurisdiction.

If you are located outside United States and choose to provide information to us, please note that we transfer the data, including Personal Data, to United States and process it there.

Your consent to this Privacy Policy followed by your submission of such information represents your agreement to that transfer.

Abby McDonald at abbymcdonald.org will take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that your data is treated securely and in accordance with this Privacy Policy and no transfer of your Personal Data will take place to an organization or a country unless there are adequate controls in place including the security of your data and other personal information.

DISCLOSURE OF DATA

DISCLOSURE FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT

Under certain circumstances, Abby McDonald at abbymcdonald.org may be required to disclose your Personal Data if required to do so by law or in response to valid requests by public authorities (e.g. a court or a government agency).

LEGAL REQUIREMENTS

Abby McDonald at abbymcdonald.org may disclose your Personal Data in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to:

  • To comply with a legal obligation
  • To protect and defend the rights or property of Abby McDonald at abbymcdonald.org
  • To prevent or investigate possible wrongdoing in connection with the Service
  • To protect the personal safety of users of the Service or the public
  • To protect against legal liability

SECURITY OF DATA

The security of your data is important to us, but remember that no method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage is 100% secure. While we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your Personal Data, we cannot guarantee its absolute security

“DO NOT TRACK” SIGNALS

We do not support Do Not Track (“DNT”). Do Not Track is a preference you can set in your web browser to inform websites that you do not want to be tracked.

You can enable or disable Do Not Track by visiting the Preferences or Settings page of your web browser.

YOUR RIGHTS

Abby McDonald at abbymcdonald.org aims to take reasonable steps to allow you to correct, amend, delete, or limit the use of your Personal Data.

Whenever made possible, you can update your Personal Data directly within your account settings section. If you are unable to change your Personal Data, please contact us to make the required changes.

If you wish to be informed what Personal Data we hold about you and if you want it to be removed from our systems, please contact us.

In certain circumstances, you have the right:

  • To access and receive a copy of the Personal Data we hold about you
  • To rectify any Personal Data held about you that is inaccurate
  • To request the deletion of Personal Data held about you

You have the right to data portability for the information you provide to Abby McDonald at abbymcdonald.org. You can request to obtain a copy of your Personal Data in a commonly used electronic format so that you can manage and move it.

Please note that we may ask you to verify your identity before responding to such requests.

SERVICE PROVIDERS

We may employ third-party companies and individuals to facilitate our Service (“Service Providers”), to provide the Service on our behalf, to perform Service-related services or to assist us in analyzing how our Service is used.

These third parties have access to your Personal Data only to perform these tasks on our behalf and are obligated not to disclose or use it for any other purpose.

ANALYTICS

We may use third-party Service Providers to monitor and analyze the use of our Service.

GOOGLE ANALYTICS

Google Analytics is a web analytics service offered by Google that tracks and reports website traffic. Google uses the data collected to track and monitor the use of our Service. This data is shared with other Google services. Google may use the collected data to contextualize and personalize the ads of its own advertising network.

You can opt-out of having made your activity on the Service available to Google Analytics by installing the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on. The add-on prevents the Google Analytics JavaScript (ga.js, analytics.js, and dc.js) from sharing information with Google Analytics about visits activity.

For more information on the privacy practices of Google, please visit the Google Privacy & Terms web page: http://www.google.com/intl/en/policies/privacy/

PAYMENTS

We may provide paid products and/or services within the Service. In that case, we use third-party services for payment processing (e.g. payment processors).

We will not store or collect your payment card details. That information is provided directly to our third-party payment processors whose use of your personal information is governed by their Privacy Policy. These payment processors adhere to the standards set by PCI-DSS as managed by the PCI Security Standards Council, which is a joint effort of brands like Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover. PCI-DSS requirements help ensure the secure handling of payment information.

The payment processors we work with are:

STRIPE

Their Privacy Policy can be viewed at https://stripe.com/us/privacy

PAYPAL OR BRAINTREE

Their Privacy Policy can be viewed at https://www.paypal.com/webapps/mpp/ua/privacy-full.

LINKS TO OTHER SITES

Our Service may contain links to other sites that are not operated by us. If you click on a third-party link, you will be directed to that third party’s site. We strongly advise you to review the Privacy Policy of every site you visit.

We have no control over and assume no responsibility for the content, privacy policies or practices of any third-party sites or services.

CHILDREN’S PRIVACY

Our Service does not address anyone under the age of 18 (“Children”).

We do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from anyone under the age of 18. If you are a parent or guardian and you are aware that your Children has provided us with Personal Data, please contact us. If we become aware that we have collected Personal Data from children without verification of parental consent, we take steps to remove that information from our servers.

CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY

We may update our Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page.

We will let you know via email and/or a prominent notice on our Service, prior to the change becoming effective and update the “effective date” at the top of this Privacy Policy.

You are advised to review this Privacy Policy periodically for any changes. Changes to this Privacy Policy are effective when they are posted on this page.

CONTACT US

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us here.

Share if you care!

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Email
  • Print

Hi! I'm Abby and I'm so glad you're here. I am a wife and a mom of two very energetic boys and one sweet baby girl. When I'm not chasing them around I love to write about my love for a God who relentlessly pursued me, even during my darkest times. READ MORE...

Let’s Stay Connected

Subscribe to receive my latest posts via email. And as a thank you, I’ll send
you a free PDF download of "The Daughter’s Manifesto."

Privacy Policy

Stay Connected

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Popular Posts

How God Responds When His Own Want to Die
When You're Losing Hope in Your Season of Waiting
4 Truths to Hold Onto When You Think You've Let God Down
When Fear Masks Itself as Discernment

You Can Find Me Here

Take the Challenge

Categories

Recent Facebook Posts

Recent Facebook Posts

Recent Pins

Latest Instagram Feed

I pray that when I’m 90, I still have the fire b I pray that when I’m 90, I still have the fire burning in my soul that this woman has. What a joy it was to hear Katherine Paterson speak at the HopeWords conference, along with so many other inspiring speakers.

One of my favorite quotes from her talk:

“If a book has any power, then it has the power to offend.”

Oof. I will be chewing on that one for a while.

#hopewords #hopewords2023 #keepwriting
I’m so glad we got the chance to hit the snow tu I’m so glad we got the chance to hit the snow tubing slope before the season ended. It’s often those things that make me feel like a kid again that refresh my spirit the most. 

What’s something you did that refreshed your spirit lately?

#herestoresmysoul #snowtubing #wispresort
Can I share a secret with you? If I waited until I Can I share a secret with you? If I waited until I was inspired every time I showed up to write, I’d get very little writing done. Writing is sort of like working out. I don’t work out because I find it fun or because I’m super motivated. I work out because of how it makes me feel afterward.

Here are a couple of misconceptions about Spirit-led, inspired writing:

1. The Spirit is not limited to spontaneity. Yes, He is referred to as fire and wind. In Acts, we’re told He will give us the words at the moment we need them. This is in reference to testifying.

But the Spirit also moves in our preparation. He moves when we sit down at the computer and make the commitment to write, even when we don’t think the words are good enough. 

2. We don’t have to wait to be inspired to write. The discipline of showing up will invoke inspiration too.

Sometimes writing is like pushing the spokes of a rusty, old wheel. It takes some work and elbow grease to get it moving. But once it moves, the turning gets easier. The same is true for writing. As we put words down, the flow gets easier. The inspiration often shows up in unexpected places.

What would you add to this list? 

#amwriting #writingcommunity #writingcoach #writersofinstagram
Sometimes God allows the death or delay of a dream Sometimes God allows the death or delay of a dream to shift our focus toward him. It’s painful. It can make us question whether we heard God when we took an initial step of faith. But in the process of delaying our dream, God will also transform us if we let him. His word promises he will give us a new heart and spirit. (Ezekiel 36:26)

A few months before my first writer’s conference, a reader made a profound comment on my blog post, and I’ve remembered it to this day: God’s promises go further than our dreams. It took the death of a dream for me to believe it, though. 

I now know it to be true, and have lived it firsthand. Here are 3 reasons his promises go further than our dreams ➡️

💫1. God sees the transformation needed for our dream to flourish.

He sees not only the person we are now, but the person we’re becoming. Through our obedience and trust in him, even when we don’t see the end result, he will refine us and prepare us for what’s to come.

💫2. God’s plans and promises are not short-term. They are eternal. 

If we look at Hebrews 11, we see a list of men and women whose faith still inspires us today. But these people didn’t see the fulfillment of God’s promise in their lifetime. It would be easy for them to think God let them down, but that wasn’t the case. God wasn’t withholding his best. He was preparing perfection.

💫3. God sees not just our dream, but the people who are a part of it.

If we look at the promises God makes in scripture, it is never just about one person. It is about generations. It is about nations and those who will follow in their footsteps. If we think our dream is only about us, God will work out this mindset before he fulfills the vision we have in our heart.

God’s purpose is never to dangle a carrot in front of our face and send us on a wild chase for something he will never give us. This isn’t his heart at all. He sees our desires and the lives of those who need our vision.

If God placed a dream in your heart and you are in a period of waiting, keep seeking his purpose. He hasn’t forgotten you.

#hisgrace #seekhimfirst #keepgoing
St. Patrick’s Day is particularly lucky for me, St. Patrick’s Day is particularly lucky for me, because it’s the day this man and I went on our first date nineteen years ago. Although I really don’t think luck had anything to do with it. 🍀😉

Our dogs led us together. It’s a story only God could write with his grace, humor and whimsy. And for that reason among others, I will forever be a dog person. 🐶

Has this particular day ever left you in awe of God’s grace? How so?

#saintpatricksday #hopewriters #hisgrace #1000gifts #gracegift
Do you lack clarity on what your next step is as a Do you lack clarity on what your next step is as a writer? I can help! With all the information thrown at us online, it can be difficult to determine what’s best for YOU. Your journey is unique, so you can’t simply copy and paste what someone else did.

As a writing coach, I help you:

👉🏼 Uncover what drives you and propels you to take action. Because if we don’t know what drives us, we remain stagnant.
👉🏼 Eliminate habits and mindsets that keep you stuck.
👉🏼 Develop doable steps to help you make progress toward your writing goals.

What do you need clarity on?

➡️ Book a free consultation via the link in my bio or send me a DM to get started.

#writingcommunity #writingcoach #amwriting #writersofinstagram
This picture is from January, but it could have be This picture is from January, but it could have been this week. While my calendar says spring starts next week, but winter is still hanging on for dear life. To be honest, I’m over it. Our winter has been mild, but my vitamin D meter is low. All the supplements in the world can’t make up for a warm day with the sun on my face.

If you’re in a long winter season, whether spiritual or physical, let me offer some encouragement God gave me recently: God can do a new thing in the middle of your winter. 

He doesn’t need a specific season or certain elements to birth new creation. His Spirit moves in the midst of our sorrows, disappointments, and things that seem dead.

When Isaiah prophesied to a nation who had gone their own way, he didn’t tell them God would make a way in the middle of a lush landscape or field of wildflowers. His new birth took place in a wasteland. There was no life. No hint of spring.

“See, I am doing a new thing!
    Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
    and streams in the wasteland.”

Isaiah 43:19 NIV

Friend, the robins flocked to our yard today in the middle of a wind storm and snow flurries. They taste the coming life. As they flock around our yard, they reminded me how God works beneath the surface. He works in the cold, hard ground and under frozen landscape. May they remind you of the same promise today.

#nofilter #morningmercies #winter2023 #springiscoming
My daughter woke me up at 5:00 am on Sunday. So it My daughter woke me up at 5:00 am on Sunday. So it felt like 4:00 am. When my alarm went off a couple of hours later, I wondered what the heck was happening. 

If you’re struggling like I am on this Monday, give yourself grace. Grab that extra coffee if you need it. We’ll get through this.

#daylightsavings #momsofinstagram #mothersofdaughters
My focus can be pretty narrow at times. You too? 🙋🏻‍♀️ I’m so glad God sees the intricate details and the bigger story. When I let him lead, beautiful things happen.

#encouragingquotes #keepgoing #hisgrace
Follow on Instagram

Copyright © 2023 Abby McDonald | Design by The Design Diva | Development by MRM | Privacy Policy

LET’S STAY CONNECTED

Subscribe to receive my latest posts via email.
As a thank you, I’ll send you a free PDF download of “The Daughter’s Manifesto.”