Ann Voskamp's Blog, page 115
October 10, 2018
What We Can Offer to a World Crying Out (and it’s not what you think)
Shannan Martin believes every crumb of ministry begins with attentiveness. When her family moved from their cozy farm to a low-income neighborhood in the city, she knew her lens for beauty and belonging was going to have to change, and it did. Before long, her eye was drawn to crumbling things, flowers poking their hopeful faces through chain-link fencing, neighbors who lived grueling lives and loved her well. Shannan knows the everyday power of suffering and celebrating together, of taking turns being the needy one, and of leaving the front door easy on its hinges. The Ministry of Ordinary Places is an invitation to live as though there is no separation between ministry and ordinary life, committing to our place and our neighbors for the long haul. In a world that tries to crush us with complication and overwhelm, Shannan points us to the simple truth – in learning to be with people as Jesus was, we’ll discover the abundant life. It’s a grace to welcome Shannan to the farm’s front porch today…
“I would totally do it if I had the chance.”
These were the words that tumbled from my mouth when my adult son, Robert, mentioned the parenting class he had been court-ordered to attend on the heels of an entanglement with the law.
I was trying to be encouraging. The learning curve had been sharp in the years since he had come into our family after a lifetime of struggle and trauma.
After his short time in prison, my eyes were opened to the overwhelming list of requirements heaped onto men and women ready to start fresh. My quippy response was meant to support him along the hard road ahead. Nothing more.
The question is, as always, are we paying attention?
But a month later, I got this text from Robert. “Hey mom. I got us signed up for our parenting class. It starts next Tuesday.” (Insert record scratch.) And this is how I accidentally signed up for a ten-week, court-ordered parenting class with my twenty-two-year-old son.
We signed on all the lines, paid our dues, and spent the next ten Tuesdays eating beans and hot dogs, making homemade play dough and paper-bag puppets, reading children’s books together, playing Chutes and Ladders, and attending a carnival.
After dinner, the adults filed into a classroom where we sat together week after week receiving instruction, watching cheesy videos set in the eighties, completing old-school worksheets, and humbling ourselves in necessary ways.
Going in, my hackles were raised. I remembered how embarrassed and defensive I had felt fifteen years ago when I’d had to sit through an all-day driving school after one too many traffic tickets.
This was on a whole new level.
Cory Martin @jailchap
Shannan Martin
Shannan Martin
Most of our group had been deemed by the courts as people who were struggling with parenting.
I could only imagine how that felt. So I’d prepared myself ahead of time to be outraged over the insensitivity of the instructors or the condescending atmosphere.
I even planned to take notes in a small notebook and was ready to bang out an emotional exposé if the situation warranted it.
What I found instead was the surprise of true community, richly diverse and utterly unfussy. It didn’t take long to discover who was shy, who was loud (I’m looking at you, Robert), who was combative, who was timid.
Some stayed pretty checked out. Others of us began dropping small facts about our lives, our stories, and the kids we were raising.
A young woman, exuberant without exception, came to class one evening with her thick, black hair twisted into an elaborate crown atop her head, Dum Dum suckers spaced evenly through the plaits of the braid that held it all in place. She was a charming, comedic Statue of Liberty there in our midst. When a classmate answered a question correctly, she would reach up, remove a sucker from her crown, and toss it to him or her. In the unexpected parade of court-appointed parenting classes, she was our clown and our resident Kiwanian rolled into one, throwing good will around by the fistful.
My assumptions were destroyed as we sat together each week, students of parenting and life.
There was no discussion of the mistakes that had led us there, just the prevailing sense that we were all in it together.
What drew us near was a central force, a shared thread. We were parents with room to grow.
As the world gets more confusing and trickier to navigate, my role as a mom rockets up the chart of significance.
And before I say another word let me be perfectly clear—all women are mothers.
Humanity is crying out to be nurtured.
We are life-givers, each of us, in ways both wild and vast.
Our title as mother isn’t defined by biology or science. It can’t be measured in centimeters or the arc of a curve.
Mothering is the thing all women do, with the small and big kids under our care, the neighbor boys up the street, our students, our grown nieces, the children we can only hold in our hearts, and the ones we don’t even know yet to hope for. What I’m trying to say is that none of us is off the hook here.
Humanity is crying out to be nurtured.
There are dozens of opportunities to do this during any given week, or even daily.
It doesn’t matter where you live, what you look like, how similar or different you feel from those around you.
It doesn’t matter if you work outside or inside the home, or whether you’re in government housing or on a cattle ranch in Oklahoma.
The question is, as always, are we paying attention?
Have we made ourselves available?
The way we spend our love is the way we spend our lives. Do we care enough to love those around us as though we really belong to each other? And can we dare to believe these small gestures of specific care and well-timed warmth are enough to alter the path of mankind?
If we want our world to be better, we have to go out and love the people around us. We need to invite them in, as family.
Mother Teresa famously said, “If you want to bring happiness to the whole world, go home and love your family.” We gobble up her words, plastering them on signs and hand-lettering them onto notecards. We love them because they are beautiful. And profoundly true.
But let’s not forget, this is the same Mother Teresa who reminded us to “draw a wider circle” around who we consider family. Seen under the light of that truth, new meaning emerges.
If we want our world to be better, we have to go out and love the people around us. We need to invite them in, as family.
Beginning to live as though there’s no such thing as other people’s children might be our most critical, significant contribution to the flourishing of our world.
Simply believing this, however, is not enough, and sympathy without action is no more than wasted breath. Mothering is often physical, gut-wrenching work.
What do we believe our kids are owed? To what ends would we go to offer them protection, support, and love?
In the span of God’s wide and rowdy family, we all belong to one another and there is no such thing as other people’s children.
Just this week, I have lost sleep over the heartache of one of my kids. I’ve sent e-mails, searched for outside support, indulged a few unhealthy fantasies involving the vigilante justice of a forty-one-year-old mama with a few bones to pick, and, oh, how I have prayed.
I love my kids. There’s not much I wouldn’t do to make sure their needs are met.
The dreams we have for our children—to know community and freedom, to grow in truth, to be safe and loved—must be available to all.
We are lion-hearted mamas, every one of us, made to roar for the kiddos most closely within our reach.
In the span of God’s wide and rowdy family, we all belong to one another and there is no such thing as other people’s children.
Take a look around. Find someone to nurture.
This is how we’ll rise.
Shannan Martin, is a speaker and writer who found her voice in the country and her story in the city. Shannan, her jail-chaplain husband, Cory, and their kids, live as grateful neighborsin Goshen, Indiana. Her previous book, Falling Free: Rescued from the Life I Always Wanted, charts her family’s pilgrimage to neighborhood living, away from the self-focused wisdom of the world and toward the topsy-turvy life of God’s more being found in less.
In her newest release, The Ministry of Ordinary Places: Waking Up to God’s Goodness Around You, Shannan dives into the believe that the welfare of our neighbors really does determine our own (Jeremiah 29:7) With transparency, humor, heart-tugging storytelling, and more than a little personal confession, she shows us that no matter where we live or how much we have, as we learn what it is to be with people as Jesus was, we’ll find our very lives.
[ Our humble thanks to Thomas Nelson for their partnership in today’s devotion ]
The post What We Can Offer to a World Crying Out (and it’s not what you think) appeared first on Ann Voskamp.
October 8, 2018
A Fix for the Disconnect Between Your Head and Your Heart
The world can feel backwards right now. It feels upside down, if I’m telling the truth. And, as believers, we’re wondering how to do we take what we observe about Jesus and make it true in real life. Hayley Morgan has noticed this, too, and she calls this upside-down backwardness an “integrity gap” and observes that there is a stark difference between Christians knowing something and really deep-down understanding something. There is often a disconnect between our heads and our hearts. It’s a grace to welcome Hayley to the farm’s front porch today…
My husband, Mike, is always finding insightful videos online, and he found a YouTube account called Smarter Every Day.
It all started when his friend Barney, a welder, gave him a gift. Wearing Carhartt jackets in a chilly garage, several friends and coworkers gathered to watch it all unfold. They all wondered what would happen.
You see, Barney had fashioned a bike for his buddy Destin.
He had welded gears to the body and the bars, meaning that the handlebars, although they looked the same, functioned backward.
We’ve all experienced the difficulty of putting our head knowledge into life practice.
The nervous laughter was heady. You could see the steam of their breath as they chuckled and gathered in a circle. Everyone was passing the bike around, swiveling it back and forth as though to do a quick hand-eye coordination test. The men looking on wondered how hard it could be to ride a backward bike. As it turns out—very hard!
Like most of us, Destin knew how to ride a standard bike. He’d learned twenty-five years earlier, in the fading sunlight of an autumn evening. His smile was as bright and wide as the stripe on his 1980s sweatshirt when his six-year-old self finally figured it all out.
We all remember that feeling. Instead of wobbling back and forth, something clicks. We find our balance, and then we glide away forever.
They say some things are “just like riding a bike”—meaning that you never forget.
Now, intellectually, Destin knew how to ride this backward bike. Instead of the standard “turn left, go left” and “turn right, go right,” it should be the opposite.
When he turned the bars to the left, the wheel should go to the right. When he turned the bars to the right, the wheel should go to the left. It’s a simple thing to see and know. He could have spouted off in a quick speech how he was planning to ride this crazy backward bike.
It all sounded easy enough, so Destin hopped on the bike before a crowd of cold, but good-humored onlookers. He sat his rear end on the seat and pushed off. Destin didn’t last two whole seconds before the tire slid out from under him, causing him to plant his foot on the ground for balance, effectively ending the bike ride before it even got started.
Like a six-year-old, Destin tried again.
The second time wasn’t even marginally better. Picture it—a grown man getting on a bike confidently and falling off in a matter of seconds. He was giggling like a child, but inside he was embarrassed and frustrated that his mind was not taking the information it knew and transferring it into something his whole self understood.
Now, isn’t that something we all want to know? Why can’t our brains take something we intellectually know, something that seems easy, and process it into something we just get with our whole selves.
We’ve all experienced the difficulty of putting our head knowledge into life practice. As I was learning about Destin’s difficulty with this backward bike, I deeply identified with his frustration.
How many times in my life had I been confronted with the fact that I knew what I needed to know but still couldn’t make those things happen?
Many people who believe in God get stuck here, finding the rich Christian life out of their grasp. They may hit this point of frustration, but at some point, they relent and settle. One cannot struggle in frustration forever, so they keep God in their heads and tuck away the hope of ever knowing Him in their hearts.
We take the bad news we tell ourselves, we notice it, and then we pull it into alignment with the truth of God.
They intellectually believe in God, but they do not functionally experience His presence or His goodness in their life.
If we get stuck here, we’re giving up before the going gets good.
We’re settling for less of Jesus—and a diminished Jesus is not the true Jesus at all.
It’s not just you or me. There is a dissonance in the life of every believer.
I’ve heard it called an integrity gap or even hypocrisy. In my Christian life, the words integrity and hypocrisy have felt loaded and burdensome. But this idea of an integrity gap is describing what it’s like when our heads and our hearts are not lined up.
The way we move our heads and our hearts into alignment is the same way Destin learned to ride that backwards bike.
It took him more than a year of daily practice to move from the knowledge of how to ride the backwards bike to the understanding to actually do it.
This is the life with Jesus.
In this work, this daily practice, the Spirit is making us more like Christ.
It’s a beautiful practice of taking our thoughts captive and renewing our minds.
And, while these are ancient truths found in Scripture, these practices are not dusty artifacts. This is the work of the Christian life.
We take the bad news we tell ourselves, we notice it, and then we pull it into alignment with the truth of God.
We preach to ourselves.
We tell ourselves the truth.
In this work, this daily practice, the Spirit is making us more like Christ.
We go from getting it intellectually to understanding the truth in our hearts and deep in our bones.
Halellujah, He is good.
Hayley Morgan is a speaker and entrepreneur who reminds women what is true of God and themselves. She is coauthor of the bestselling book Wild & Free and just launched Preach to Yourself, a new message of freedom helping women break the cycle of doubt, take God at His word, and talk back with truth.
It has been said that the eighteen inches from head to heart is the soul’s longest journey. Our head knows the good news is true, but our heart struggles to believe it, and it is in this gap that we battle to believe the promises of God. In Preach to Yourself: When Your Inner Critic Comes Calling, Talk Back with Truth, she tackles it head-on to discover how we can renew our minds to renew our lives. For every woman who struggles with repetitive, negative self-talk, this book will show you how to identify the toxic loops where you get stuck and replace them with the truth of God we can believe with our whole selves.
This is not a “try harder” reprimand, it’s a “believe better” invitation: to take God at His word when He tells you who you are. Come along and learn a simple practice to break free from the lies holding you back, and step forward into the fullness of life God has planned.
[ Our humble thanks to Zondervan for their partnership in today’s devotion ]
The post A Fix for the Disconnect Between Your Head and Your Heart appeared first on Ann Voskamp.
October 6, 2018
Only the Good Stuff: Multivitamins for Your Weekend [10.06.18]
Happy, happy, happy weekend!
Some real, down in the bones JOY to celebrate today! Links & stories this week 100% guaranteed to make you smile a mile wide & believe like crazy in a Good God redeeming everything — and that there’s love everywhere & for ((you))!
Serving up only the Good Stuff for you right here:
Mary Anne Morgan / Peaks Island
Mary Anne Morgan / Peaks Island
Mary Anne Morgan / Peaks Island
no one captures life quite like she does
8-year-old girl becomes a barber, and give back with free haircuts in her community
because we all need a friend…
this blind teen? is planning to compete in his first Ironman Triathalon
he found that doing small things can save lives #BeTheGift #TheBrokenWay
Interview: Adventurous Travel Photographer Reflects on His Most Memorable Images
Marine meets newborn baby for first time…
Seeking my mom tribe: ‘I need to know I’m not in this alone’
this young employee’s selfless compassion has changed lives
The Nester
looking for imperfectionists, cozy minimalists, autumn-appreciators, and crunchy-leaf-lovers!
strangers across the globe – make this one together
Emily Gibson / Mt Shuksan
Emily Gibson / Mt Shuksan
Emily Gibson / Mt Shuksan
parts of her world? Just too beautiful not to share…
can you even?!? sometimes we just need someone to see something in us we can’t see ourselves
it would be a humble grace to meet you at one of these upcoming events?!?
the backwards bike experience: knowledge does not always equal understanding
Fascinating research on our brains
God Will Sustain You a Day at a Time thank you, Vaneetha Rendall Risner
THIS: an immigrant-owned restaurant in DC always has its doors open for those in need
Kinda Undone: a beautiful town that believes that a simple passion done with unconditional love deserves a bit of recognition
she’s giving burn survivors their confidence back
October is coming!
Maybe in this new month, we all just need the gift of Joy… a bit of Hope? To stand together — FOR each other — knowing that an act of kindness, giving it forward, can be more powerful than any sword in starting movements that move us all toward Love.
Want the gift of light breaking into all the broken places, into all the places that feel kinda abandoned? These pages are for you. It’s possible — abundant joy is always possible, especially for you. Break free with the tender beauty of The Broken Way & Be The Gift …
And if you grab a copy of Be The Gift? We will immediately email you a link to a FREE gift of THE WHOLE 12 MONTH *Intentional* Acts of Givenness #BeTheGIFT Calendar to download and print from home or at your local print shop! Just let us know that you ordered Be The Gift over here.
You only get one life to love well.
Pick up Be The Gift & live the life you’ve longed to
What to do when sin starts rising
simplyswenkalife / Instagram
marehoops_warriorlife / Instagram
In sixty vulnerably stories, the tender invitation of The Way of Abundance moves you through your unspoken broken — into the abundant life.
Pick up your own Way to Abundance & start your journey to the abundant life
some wise words spoken by Paul Harvey more than 50 years ago: “If I were the devil…”
on repeat this week: Nobody Loves Me Like You
…so yeah, there’s a whole lot of us who are hurting over broken hearts, God, and we’re broken over hurting bodies & hard decisions & big messes & then go ahead and throw any of the headlines in, & frankly, it’s easy to be just undone around here on earth.
And Your nail scarred hands cup our faces tonight & You point to the Cross,
The Cross that redeems the rejected & remakes the undone,
the Cross that is Your way of mending our broken hearts
by breaking Your heart in two & saying: “Me too.”
No matter how we don’t understand the why of suffering,
we know that the God who went to the Cross,
He knows suffering & He suffers with us. We never suffer alone.
Whatever mess I am in… I can exhale relief: I have a Messiah who meets me in it, won’t leave me in it, and will carry me through it!
There is never, ever, ever anything to ever fear:
Our. God. is. Here.
We never cry alone.
Never, ever alone.
[excerpted from our little Facebook family … come join us each day?]
That’s all for this weekend, friends.
Go slow. Be God-struck. Grant grace. Live Truth.
Give Thanks. Love well. Re – joy, re- joy, ‘re- joys’ again
Share Whatever Is Good.
The post Only the Good Stuff: Multivitamins for Your Weekend [10.06.18] appeared first on Ann Voskamp.
October 3, 2018
When you need to know it’s Okay Not to Be Okay
I’ve wept with this woman. Prayed with this woman. Laughed loud with this woman and served alongside her. I’ve been changed by the heart of this woman for Jesus. Couldn’t love her more. For twenty years, my friend, Sheila Walsh was a keynote speaker with Women of Faith and her passionate commitment is to simply and powerfully allow the light of Christ to shine through the broken places of her story. Sheila Walsh doesn’t merely write words, she lives her words — and the Word. When things aren’t okay, I honestly don’t know a wiser, more life-giving, Jesus-clinging guide than Sheila Walsh. It’s a grace to welcome her to the farm’s front porch today…
I read a comment someone left on my Facebook page one day and it made me smile. The person had written, “I pray that one day I can be the fearless godly woman you are.”
I sent off a reply, aware that it didn’t come close to telling the whole story of what a fear-filled child and young woman I had been and the long, hard walk to begin to understand where true courage is found.
I wished I could sit with this young woman and walk her through the years and the moments that had shaped me, but where would I even start? Do photos tell our story?
I treasure an old black-and-white photo taken in my parents’ garden before my dad’s suicide.
My mum, shiny black hair falling in gentle curls onto her shoulders, sweet smile, holding my sister’s hand. Me, sitting on a blanket on the grass, my handsome dad kneeling behind me as I lean on him for support.
Fast-forward four years. Something has changed in the photo of my six-year-old self. I’m standing in a blue dress with the summer sun kissing my face with freckles. I’m smiling but there’s a guardedness in my smile. I see it in my shoulders too; no longer leaning into the photo, I’m pulling slightly back.
Suicide in a family changes everything.
What about the Polaroid taken the night I was admitted to the psychiatric hospital—pale, thin, eyes dim as if the lights had been turned off inside? Does that tell a more honest story? Or do our scars tell the story?
By this point in my life, I associated any type of pain with overwhelming loss. I wanted no more scars.
Should I start with the little indentation on my right knee? I fell off my bike when I was four and Mum had to dig the gravel out. I was so proud of that scar.
What about the scar on my upper left arm from the mandatory vaccinations every Scottish child was given in school? They called it the “bird’s nest” because it was round and had five little needles, little birds that popped up and stabbed you. I remember lining up behind my classmates in the nurse’s room. They were chatting and laughing, but I was terrified.
By this point in my life, I associated any type of pain with overwhelming loss. I wanted no more scars.
None of these pictures or scars would tell the turning point in my story.
No picture could capture that profound moment when, finally, the scars of Christ met the woundedness in me.
For that, I would have to take her to the back row of a small church in Washington, DC, in 1992. As the pastor came to the end of his message he said something that woke my attention.
He said that he knew some of us felt dead inside. I looked up. It was like he was talking to me. He said, no matter how deep the hole was, Jesus was here, that we didn’t have to get ourselves out of the hole, just call on His name and He would pull us free.
In that moment, I felt as if I was the only one in the church; and standing before me, arms open wide, with nail pierced hands, was Jesus.
The words of a hymn that my beloved nana used to sing to me washed over me in healing waves and I began to understand them for the first time:
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee;
Let the water and the blood,
From Thy wounded side which flowed,
Be of sin the double cure,
Save from wrath and make me pure.
As I left the church that morning I knew I wasn’t fixed, it was a greater gift, I was seen — seen in all my brokenness and loved.
There is no image that displays the love of God more perfectly than the scars of Jesus. The scars tell God’s story.
“That Sunday evening the disciples were meeting behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. Suddenly, Jesus was standing there among them! “Peace be with you,” he said. As he spoke, he showed them the wounds in his hands and his side. They were filled with joy when they saw the Lord!” (John 20:19–20)
But before the joy, there was heartache and questions. Nothing made sense anymore.
John records much of the final conversation Jesus had with His disciples on the night He was betrayed. He tried to prepare them for what was about to happen, but they didn’t understand.
They knew the Master but not the Masterplan.
They were singing hymns as they left the upper room and headed across the Kidron Valley. Then it all started to go wrong.
Haven’t you been there? I know I have. You’re in a great place, loving God, family intact, when suddenly something you didn’t see coming happens, and you wonder where God is, and does He see what’s going on?
It might be relational or health, finances or future plans, but whatever it is, when it hits, and it feels wrong, it’s hard not to panic.
We all know we’ll face challenges in life, but sometimes we’re hit by something that feels as if the enemy has won. That’s a frightening place to be. That must have been how the disciples felt that night.
The love of God invites us to bring our scars into the light. We don’t have to hide anymore. It really is okay not to be okay.
But as the risen Christ held out His nail-pierced hands and wounded side to His friends, they were no longer marks of death, they were signs of victory: declaring that death was overcome by the blood of the Lamb. Christ wears those scars in heaven as glorious trophies of the battle He has won.
The only wound from this earth in eternity will be the scars of Christ. If Christ has chosen to live eternally with His scars, why would we be ashamed to show ours?
I think that every time God the Father sees the pierced hands and feet of Christ, He sees you and me. The scars tell God’s love story.
Some of our scars show on the surface, but some are hidden deep inside, wounds from things that were done to us, or from choices we’ve made and secrets we’ve kept.
The love of God invites us to bring our scars into the light. We don’t have to hide anymore. It really is okay not to be okay.
Would you allow the love of God to rest upon your scars?
Ask Him to help you see them not as scars to be hidden but as glorious tattoos of triumph because you’re still here.
Our scars are proof that God heals.
Sheila Walsh is a powerful communicator, Bible teacher, and bestselling author with more than 5 million books sold. She is cohost of LIFE Today with James and Betty Robison and her Wednesdays in the Word program, with more than 100 million viewers. Walsh is a popular speaker and Bible teacher around the world, including New Zealand, Australia, and Brazil.
We’ve all experienced that moment when we wish we could start all over again. Failed marriages, lost friends, addictions, lost jobs. This is not the life we imagined. Yesterday can leave us stuck, sad, shamed, scared, and searching. Sheila Walsh wants you to face the pain head-on and then start again, from right where you are.
In It’s Okay Not to Be Okay: Moving Forward One Day at a Time, she helps you overcome the same old rut of struggles and pain by changing the way you think about God, yourself, and your everyday life. She shares practical, doable, daily strategies that will help you move forward one step at a time, knowing God will never let you down.
[ Our humble thanks to Baker for their partnership in today’s devotion ]
The post When you need to know it’s Okay Not to Be Okay appeared first on Ann Voskamp.
October 1, 2018
3 Ways to Live Happy Every Day
You’ve never met a woman quite like the one & only Alli Worthington. She’s vivacious, a flaming match, like a bit of light contained, and you can’t help but absolutely love her and want more of her brilliance. Alli and I go way back…she was one of my first friends & biggest encouragers in this out-of-the-way corner of the internet. Alli is a dear friend who bears the scars of battle. She knows the fight for our faith and the fight for our freedom well. God placed the word “happy” on her heart after a long season of battling fear that led her on an amazing journey of discovering God’s desire for us to live a life of holy happiness in Him. It’s a grace to welcome Alli to the farm’s front porch today…
guest post by Alli Worthington
Growing up, I remember being told that joy was spelled, “J-O-Y”— Jesus, others, and you.
It was supposed to be a reminder that joy comes from having the right priorities, and that’s certainly true.
But it seemed as if joy were always pitted against happiness.
While joy was godly and spiritual, happiness was shallow and selfish.
But as I kept walking with Jesus, I came to understand that seeking to follow God and seeking to be happy weren’t mutually exclusive.
I used to believe the search for happiness was a superficial pursuit, that happiness and holiness have nothing to do with each other.
But now I see that they go hand in hand.
This work of seeking authentic happiness is important, and it is holy. As we seek after the things that create real happiness in us, we find God. And when we live the life God has created us to live, securely and obediently trusting Him in all areas, we are happier.
As we seek after the things that create real happiness in us, we find God.
As I pursued this topic of holy happiness, I learned that the concept that happiness is fleeting and of the world, and joy is somehow more holy, is an idea that only became popular a little over a hundred years ago. All throughout church history this concept was unknown until very recently.
There’s nothing in the Bible that separates the concept of joy and happiness. They have the same meaning according to the original languages of Scripture. So many of the words our English bibles use like ‘delight,’ ‘joy’, and ‘gladness’ are actually synonyms for the original Hebrew and Greek words that mean happiness.
God tells us repeatedly to be happy in Scripture. Commands such as “rejoice,” “be of good cheer,” “do not be afraid,” “give thanks,” these are all ways of telling us to be happy!
Our happiness (and our joy) are tied to what we desire most. We go off-track seeking happiness when we try to find it in things of this world.
But when we desire to find our happiness in God, we access a well of joy that won’t run dry.
Scripture tells us, “Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4). I used to think that meant God would give me whatever I wanted if I seemed happy enough to Him. Now I’ve come to see that when my happiness is placed securely in God, He will be the desire of my heart.
And when He’s the desire of my heart, my happiness isn’t going anywhere.
God designed us to seek happiness in Him and to want to have the source of our happiness be in Him. As John Piper said, “God is most glorified in you when you are most satisfied in him.”
I discovered that by adding in small, simple habits in my day I became a little happier every day.
Here are three things that will build your happiness:
Focus on Gratitude
At the end of the day, I ask my boys what their three wins for the day are. I ask them in this way because when I tried to ask my sons what they were grateful each day, they looked at me like I had three heads.
But when I ask them what their wins are I trick them into practicing the discipline of gratitude with me! By looking for the wins, they are identifying the things that are good, and those are the things they are grateful for!
This is a practice of gratitude is not just for the boys, but for their momma, too!
Find your Battle Buddies
A friend told me that in the Army they have something called battle buddies. A battle buddy is someone who supports you and looks out for you in and out of battle.
Don’t we all need a couple of great battle buddies on our journey with us?
“As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” (Proverbs 27:17) Just as a blacksmith will use metal on metal to form it for its intended purpose, God will use certain people in our lives to sharpen and mold us into who he is making us to be.
Identify your battle buddies who look out for you, encourage you, and are there for you when life looks more like a battlefield than we’d like!
Talk to yourself in a manner worthy of you
Jesus says our mouths speak from the overflow of our hearts. If we truly believe we are His workmanship and are loved by our Father, our words will reflect that truth, both to ourselves and others.
The Lord has done a great work in you. Don’t let your own mouth be a tool that the enemy can use against you to steal your happiness and confidence. You are fearfully and wonderfully made-created in God’s image!
Make a promise to God and to yourself that you will only speak to yourself in a manner worthy of you.
As women of God, let’s be the ones who do the Kingdom work of fighting for authentic, holy happiness and teach our families, our friends, and our communities by our example.
Alli Worthington co-founded multiple companies and has helped individuals, small business owners, and Fortune 500 companies be more successful. Alli’s no-nonsense, guilt-free take on business, family, and balance lead to appearances on The Today Show and Good Morning America. You can tune in every week to her podcast, The Alli Worthington Show. She is the author of Fierce Faith: A Woman’s Guide to Fighting Fear, Wrestling Worry and Overcoming Anxiety and Breaking Busy: Finding Peace and Purpose in a World of Crazy.
Alli Worthington gets it. As a wife, mother of five boys, author, speaker, and entrepreneur, she knows a thing or two about being busy, stressed, and happy in the midst of a crazy world! Over the years, she’s seen how happiness gets a bad rap in Christian circles, and now she is standing up to shout the good news from the roof (or the internet, as the case may be): You are allowed to be happy! Yes, you! You can be happy right now!
Join Alli for The Year of Living Happy: Finding Contentment and Connection in a Crazy World and find the roots of your happiest life yet! With 100 inspirational devotions, beautiful art, and journaling pages throughout, this gorgeous devotional offers practical ways to make your life happier day by day.
When you order your copy of The Year of Living Happy, you will receive a free 30 Days of Happiness guided journal experience and access to her free training – Happier Every Day: 10 Simple Things That Will Make Your Life a Little Happier Every Day. Click here for more info.
[ Our humble thanks to Zondervan for their partnership in today’s devotion ]
The post 3 Ways to Live Happy Every Day appeared first on Ann Voskamp.
September 29, 2018
Only the Good Stuff: Multivitamins for Your Weekend [09.29.18]
Happy, happy, happy weekend!
Some real, down in the bones JOY to celebrate today! Links & stories this week 100% guaranteed to make you smile a mile wide & believe like crazy in a Good God redeeming everything — and that there’s love everywhere & for ((you))!
Serving up only the Good Stuff for you right here:
witold_ziomek
witold_ziomek
witold_ziomek
he traveled around the world for a year – come see some amazing wonder right here
‘Quitting was never an option’: This runner with cerebral palsy has completed over 110 races
at 106!?! this great great grandfather breaks zip line world record while raising funds for charities
He gives dogs lots of TLC to help them find forever homes
since his accident, he’s living his life in a heightened state of gratitude — and giving it forward
they’ve got some great ideas here when it comes to building affordable housing
because we’re all struggling with our own battles…
she’s fighting her depression by writing letters of love to strangers
Verses to Memorize
How To Talk with Kids about Racism… thank you, Trillia Newbell
This Is What a Great Book Does to Your Brain
The neuroscience of deep reading will make you want to curl up with a great book
Wycliffe Bible Translators, the largest Scripture-translation organization in the world, announced its 2018 #WhyBible campaign to continue promoting online discussions of how the Bible changes lives and remains as relevant as ever, even and especially in the digital age. #WhyBible will end tomorrow, September 30 – Bible Translation Day.
New this year, #WhyBible will feature a charitable giving component. For every post that uses the #WhyBible hashtag on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram on September 30, $5 will be donated to an ongoing Bible translation project in Indonesia. Each participant will also be entered into a raffle for a special prize pack.
“Communities and people groups around the world have embraced the Bible once they read it in their native languages for the first time,” Creson said. “We want to spread their stories as examples of the miraculous effects of the Bible and the importance of the Bible for all generations, in all countries.”
For more information or to sign up to receive free #WhyBible resources, visit wycliffe.org/whybible.
we can be so busy looking for love in other areas – that we forget the people who love us
who can we reach out to today?
come meet the man on a mission to help every kid in his town have a bike
so much love
how this big, happy, diverse, beautiful family with seven kids makes everything work
heart bursting: Childhood Friends Who Beat Cancer Marry in the Hospital Where They Met
YES: the power of teamwork
kinda undone: if you had knowledge of other’s experience – how would it change the way you see them?
everyone matters
yeah, THIS: sometimes the best way to get your prayers answered – is to answer someone elses #BeTheGift #TheBrokenWay
Post of the Week from these parts here
Cure for Lust of a Good Image: When Your Family Isn’t Really Who You Think
Humankind (see the world in 4 minutes)
it would be a humble grace to meet you at one of these events!?!
there is Hope with Jesus on our side
October is coming!
Maybe in this new month, we all just need the gift of Joy… a bit of Hope? To stand together — FOR each other — knowing that an act of kindness, giving it forward, can be more powerful than any sword in starting movements that move us all toward Love.
Want the gift of light breaking into all the broken places, into all the places that feel kinda abandoned? These pages are for you. It’s possible — abundant joy is always possible, especially for you. Break free with the tender beauty of The Broken Way & Be The Gift …
And if you grab a copy of Be The Gift? We will immediately email you a link to a FREE gift of THE WHOLE 12 MONTH *Intentional* Acts of Givenness #BeTheGIFT Calendar to download and print from home or at your local print shop! Just let us know that you ordered Be The Gift over here.
You only get one life to love well.
Pick up Be The Gift & live the life you’ve longed to
beautiful: 1 special doctor has restored smiles to 50 children
on repeat this week: You Say
No matter how bad today went or how impossible now feels or how overwhelming tomorrow looks?
Always — Just these three words:
God. is. Greater.
It’s going to be okay — promise.
Nothing is a surprise To God.
Nothing is a problem For God.
Nothing is a mistake By God.
Anything is possible With God.
[excerpted from our little Facebook family … come join us each day?]
That’s all for this weekend, friends.
Go slow. Be God-struck. Grant grace. Live Truth.
Give Thanks. Love well. Re – joy, re- joy, ‘re- joys’ again
Share Whatever Is Good.
The post Only the Good Stuff: Multivitamins for Your Weekend [09.29.18] appeared first on Ann Voskamp.
September 27, 2018
Cure for Lust of a Good Image: When Your Family Isn’t Really Who You Think
When our Chinese daughter blows out the pink-striped candles on her 4th birthday cake, the tendril of smoke curls up from the swirl of homemade lemon cheesecake, and I look around our backyard farm table at three Middle Eastern girls and a boy, born into the horror of Aleppo, Syria. Sham and Rose and Rama and Mohammad.
This, right here, is what it is for humanity to simply come home.
And I turn and look right into the whites of the eyes of the 3 African boys crowded in beside them, 11 year old Raphael with the cheekiness of his little brother, Mohammed, slung on his hip, and little Usman’s head peeking over the table, the kid devouring a Crispy Crunch chocolate bar, and there they all are:
a trinity of future men born into a dusty refugee camp in Osire, Namibia, — and crowded in amidst all of them, our blue-eyed kids of Dutch immigrants, all with Hebrew names, Malakai, Levi and Joshua downing a platter of burgers, our girls, Hope and Shalom, carrying out the stacks of white Corelle plates for cake — and that is the moment that the smoke clears and there it is, clear as day — what it means for all of our humanity to find family.
This, right here, is what it is for humanity to simply come home.
It’s my daughter settled on my lap, her silky black hair pulled back into pig-tails, her Asian brown eyes lit by the flicking candle light, and I am her mother but I wasn’t there when her first pulsing cord was cut, I wasn’t in the room when she first filled her lungs with the air of this earth and howled for courage to keep breathing here — I was more than 10,000 kilometres away, round the curvature of the world, stringing up wet Levi jeans on a clothesline, worn, wooden clothes lines stuck between my teeth.
Sometimes you aren’t there when a child is born into this world — but that child was born in your heart long before you can ever remember.
Sometimes you belong to each other simply because you long to be with each other.
I may not have been there the muggy late summer day when she was born and there isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t wish I knew where her first mother is, but this I know:
Losses can still win love, because His ways never lose.
I may not have there the day my daughter was born, but she is tethered to the essence of me, like an unbreakable umbilical cord that defies the sharp, serrated edge of anything.
She may not be bone of my bone or flesh of my flesh — but she is the dream of my dreams and the air of my prayers.
We belong to each like stars belong to the sky. When she laughs happy when you walk in the door, you should see how she shimmers — you can’t take your eyes off her and your heart cosmically splits like some kind of supernova of its own, and I have felt this in the wake of her laugh. I memorize her when she falls asleep in my arms, like she’s the refrain my heartbeat has finally found.
Losses can still win love, because His ways never lose.
I tuck a strand behind her ear. How is she here? How are we all here together, her and I and this family of cousins and aunts and uncles and our two refugee-newcomer families who are now family?
Why does deep joy make the heart deeply ache? (Is it because joy and ache are two arteries of the same heart — and if we’re deeply living, we feel deep joy and deep ache with each beat?)
She grins up at me, crinkles her nose, reaches up her hand and claps my cheek, like she is celebrating now and us and the home we all make for each other again and again, always coming home to being wanted.
And I nod, blink back this aching joy, look around a backyard farm table at a family of immigrants and refugees ready to feast on the grace of now and cake:
We are family not because we bear the same last name — but because we bear the image of the same God.
They all look like mirrors of glory to me, all around the table. I can’t take my eyes off them, Middle Eastern, African, Asian, European-descended North Americans. And what if —
What if we were a society that wasn’t so profoundly image conscious — and more profoundly conscious of the image of God in each other?
What if we were less devoted in projecting a certain image and were more devoted to protecting the image of God in each other?
What if we weren’t a people of image makers — and were more about seeing the Image of our Maker in people?
What if we worked less to present an image — and were more present to the image of God in each other?
Under the welcoming limbs of the backyard’s pine trees, this motley gathering of family from around the globe who’ve found home with each other, we fete a little girl born in China with birthday song and cake and she smiles shy and she’s given me this:
We are family not because we share the same nationality, but because we all share in the hospitality of God.
And family isn’t about sharing the same birth land — but about all being made out of the same dust of the earth, all moved to life by the warm breath of God.
I pass out the last of the cake to my mama-sisters from Aleppo, Syria and Osire, Namibia, and my own glorious white-haired mama and I thank God for one blazing brave China mama somewhere who not only chose life but selflessly chose to place that small life where a life of hope could find her.
And we are a whole world of people living parallel lives under the same sky, walking the same earth, touching the shores of the same seas, the same stars over all of our heads every night — and our parallel lives cross because of the Cross and we’re made to reflected glory enfolding into the strength of grace.
And this planet is our one raft in the cosmos, and we don’t push each other out of the raft, we don’t puncture one end of the raft and think we won’t all start to sink, we don’t hoard all the supplies at the other end of the raft and think that won’t be the death of us all in one way or other, but we bail for each other, we make room for each other, we hold on to each other, and we become cruciform Love for each other.
If you never let anyone different belong to you, your heart will never get to be what it longs for: the same as Love Himself.
The two Mohammads from different parts of the world run out by our twilight-still corn fields, their laughter rising across a country sky , and the little girl in my lap, our daughter born round the world, she let’s her laughter join theirs and the joining of our lives makes a home and I feel it, what we can be in this home:
We are all warming flames of glory that never blow out — we are all warming candles that never lose by lending more light, but only light more of the world.
And she reaches across the backyard farm table and, one by one, places the birthday candles into my open hand.
You find yourself at a crossroads every day — and what you need to know is the way to abundance.
How do you find the way that lets you become what you hope to be?
How do you know the way forward that lets you heal, that lets you flourish, the way that takes your brokenness — and makes wholeness?
How can you afford to take any other way?
The Way of Abundance — is the way forward that every heart longs for.
The post Cure for Lust of a Good Image: When Your Family Isn’t Really Who You Think appeared first on Ann Voskamp.
September 26, 2018
When you’re wrestling with how to Be Brave
Rachel Spier Weaver is in the business of identifying gifts. As recruiter at a Christ-centered non-profit, she has spoken with hundreds of women, many of whom have struggled to claim their gifts and whose stories impassioned her to rediscover the women in the Bible. This inspired Rachel to write Called and Courageous Girls, a children’s book series spotlighting women in Scripture who embraced their unique gifts and boldly lived out their faith. When looking for female biblical role models for her children, Rachel was struck by the bravery of one woman who is called by God to transform society. She hopes her story will inspire the next generation to dedicate their destinies to Christ. It’s a grace to welcome Rachel to the farm’s front porch today…
guest post by Rachel Spier Weaver
At vacation Bible school a few weeks ago, my four-year-old spontaneously marched on stage and joined the worship team in leading 150 adult volunteers and 100 children in worship.
Having no practice, no idea what the motions were, and zero clue what he was singing, he led with bravado, much to my seven-year-old’s chagrin.
Each evening that week, his generous teachers let him sneak up on stage and lead. He was proud of himself for his courage, and his dad and I were proud of him too (despite our chuckles and apologies).
When our family gathers to reflect on each day’s events, I regularly ask our kids, “How were you brave today?” We talk about their accomplishments, and I revel in their responses:
“I met a new friend.”
“I shared during circle time.”
“I went on the zip line.”
“I stood up on stage and led worship.”
Bravery has been revived as a cultural value.
It’s something we want for ourselves and for our children. We aspire to be noble. I have a bracelet that says “Be Brave.”
It is a gentle reminder to steel myself for the challenges facing me.
Hard conversations at work. Difficult decisions about finances. Asking for forgiveness from a friend.
In the Old Testament, God often encourages people to be brave. In Joshua chapter 1, Moses has passed away and the Lord appoints Joshua as Israel’s leader.
He commands Joshua three times in the first nine verses to be courageous. “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”
After sharing the Lord’s vision for the people, Joshua listens to their response. The Israelites echo God’s command, saying, “May the Lord your God be with you…Only be strong and courageous!”
Each time we read the word “courage,” we also read about the God who grants it.
When Deborah, leader of Israel, rallied Barak and the troops to launch into battle with Sisera, she reminded them, “Go! This is the day the Lord has given Sisera into your hands. Has not the Lord gone ahead of you?”
Can you imagine the people’s conversations? Outside their tents, the tension is palpable. Deborah stands in front of her warriors. They are ready for battle but likely terrified.
Deborah is propelling them into one of the most intense experiences of their lives.
She was responsible for providing inspiration and courage to her army.
And she did it by reminding them that the Lord went ahead of them.
God gives us courage. As much as we try to summon it, bravery doesn’t come from our own will.
When Jesus was in the garden of Gethsemane in the hour of His greatest fear, He didn’t look inside Himself or His closest advisors to conjure courage. Instead, He left the disciples, asking them to pray for Him, and withdrew to get on His knees before the Father.
Remember, brave one, your courage comes from the Almighty, who faced the cross.
Prayed.
Submitted Himself to the will of the Father.
Wept.
And then went back to his friends and performed a miracle before being beaten and killed.
Remember, brave one, your courage comes from the Almighty, who faced the cross.
The enemy cowers before the Father, who gives you courage.
Rachel Spier Weaver is a recruiter at HOPE International and has worked as a career counselor at the University of Florida and Dickinson College. She is passionate about sharing stories of women of God who led in extraordinary ways. For that reason, she partnered with Anna Haggard to write the Called and Courageous Girls series of children’s books.
Through examples of steadfast faith and—ultimately—God’s direction, the Called and Courageous Girls series invites your children to answer God’s calling to discover and use their talents, passions, and gifts to journey with Him on a lifelong adventure.
In A Fearless Leader, Deborah is an imaginative and perceptive young girl who makes good decisions in the heat of the moment. When she sees her village is about to be invaded by King Jabin and his general, Sisera, she bravely warns the people of danger, and everyone flees. But that doesn’t stop Jabin and Sisera’s vicious attacks. As Deborah grows up, she becomes a natural leader, sharing God’s will with the people and helping them solve difficult problems. Eventually, God calls her to help defeat Sisera’s army so Israel can finally live in peace.
With God’s help, we can be just like Deborah—called and courageous!
[ Our humble thanks to Harvest House for their partnership in today’s devotion ]
The post When you’re wrestling with how to Be Brave appeared first on Ann Voskamp.
September 24, 2018
What to Do When Life Doesn’t Make Sense
Suffering is rarely anticipated. In the midst of the pain, many people are left wondering where they can turn for true comfort and rest. Paul David Tripp is no stranger to suffering. In a season of thriving ministry, he found himself hospitalized with a life-threatening and ultimately life-changing illness. Today he’s taking what he learned from that experience, weaving together wise counsel and biblical insight for others deep in the valley of suffering. It’s a humbling grace to welcome Paul to the farm’s front porch today…
guest post by Paul David Tripp
It was a beautiful, comforting picture of faithful love. I didn’t ask her to do it; I didn’t know she would offer to do it.
It was much more of a wonderful portrait of her heart than it was of my need.
She did it because of what was in her, not because of what she had gotten for me.
She had put her world on hold for my sake.
In those first scary and torturous days in the hospital, my wife Luella never left my side. It wasn’t just that she was there during normal visiting hours to talk with doctors and to greet the visitors whom I was unable to greet.
She slept next to me in an uncomfortable recliner every night.
When the pain intensified, or the nurse awakened me for medication, Luella was with me.
In the morning when I awoke to face a day I really didn’t want to face, Luella was right there with me. When tears came, she was there to comfort. When I got discouraged, she was quick to encourage.
I was comforted by more than words.
I was comforted by her presence and what her presence said about her love for me.
She had put her world on hold for my sake.
I have thought many times since that Luella’s faithful, attentive presence in the darkest of days and the weakest of moments is a beautiful picture of the faithful presence of another.
God is the ultimate present one. He has invaded my life by His grace. He is with me, for me, and in me.
Levi Voskamp
The hope I have is more than a theological system or wisdom principles for everyday life.
My hope rests on the willing, faithful, powerful, and loving presence of God with me. It is the ultimate gift of gifts to everyone who walks the harsh and bumpy road between birth and eternity.
God has given us no sweeter, more beautiful gift than the gift of Himself. He is the gift that changes everything. His presence is what every sufferer needs, whether they know it or not.
I love how David begins Psalm 27, a psalm that was written during dark days in his life.
It is a psalm of trouble, but it doesn’t begin with trouble; it begins with wonderful, mind-expanding, heart-engaging, life-changing theology.
And there’s a lesson in this. It is never more important than in times of suffering to hold onto and remember the theology of the Word of God.
When you are suffering, it is vital that you preach regularly to yourself the truths that Scripture declares.
It is vital that your thinking, feeling, interpreting, and craving heart is given the wisdom, guidance, and comfort that only the theology of the Word of God can give.
Bad theology will complicate and worsen your suffering.
Bad theology will crush your hope when it needs to be bolstered.
When you are suffering, it is vital that you preach regularly to yourself the truths that Scripture declares.
Bad theology will weaken your faith when it needs to be strengthened.
Bad theology will leave your heart wondering and wandering, when it needs to be rooted and at peace.
I would ask you, when suffering enters your door, where does your heart run? What do you fill your mind with?
Let me look at the first verse of Psalm 27 with you:
The Lord is my light and my salvation;
whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life;
of whom shall I be afraid?
Notice the theology presented in this verse. David’s hope as he faces the unthinkable is not an abstract, distant, or impersonal set of ideas.
The theology that he preaches to himself in this psalm rests its entire hope on the presence and grace of a person. To leave out the “my” and shorten his declaration to simply, “The Lord is light,” would take away the personal power and majesty from the theological declaration.
In fact, look anywhere in Scripture and you’ll see that the theology of the Word of God is never presented in an academic, impersonal, abstract way.
Our hope rests in the faithful and gracious presence of the Lord with us.
The epicenter of the Bible’s theology is the story of God coming to dwell with His people and unleashing His glory for their good.
Here David celebrates the only place he can find hope—in the presence of the Lord.
To be David’s light, salvation, and stronghold, the Lord must be near.
In the pain of unthinkable things David says, “God, it’s your presence that lights my way, it’s your presence that gives me hope that I will be delivered from evil, and it’s your presence that provides refuge for me when it seems that there is nowhere to run.”
When we are facing hardship, it is vital that we preach to ourselves the theology of the presence of the Lord.
That theology doesn’t just define the nature of God’s commitment to us; it also defines who we are as children of God. Psalm 27:1 defines David’s identity more clearly and accurately than any circumstance or relationship ever could.
We were wired to get our identity vertically, because the things we look to horizontally will never deliver to us the security of identity that we find in the presence and grace of God.
Our hope is not found in understanding why God allowed suffering into our lives.
Our hope is not found in the belief that somehow we will tough our way through.
Our hope is not found in doctors, lawyers, pastors, family, or friends.
Our hope is not found in our resilience or ingenuity.
Our hope is not found in ideas or things.
Though we may look to all those for temporary help, ultimately our hope rests in the faithful and gracious presence of the Lord with us.
Paul David Tripp (DMin, Westminster Theological Seminary) is a pastor, author, and international conference speaker. He is also the president of Paul Tripp Ministries. He is the author of several best-selling books, including Dangerous Calling; Parenting; and New Morning Mercies.
Sometimes life doesn’t make sense. When death, illness, unemployment, or a difficult relationship challenges everything we thought we knew, we can feel utterly unprepared to cope. In his latest book, Suffering, best-selling author Paul David Tripp weaves together his personal story, years of counseling experience, and biblical insights to help us in the midst of suffering, identifying 6 traps to avoid—including doubt, discouragement, and denial—and 6 comforts to embrace—including God’s presence, God’s people, and God’s grace.
Exploring a wide range of common experiences, this raw yet hope-filled book will empower readers to cling to God’s promises when trials come and then move forward with the hope of the gospel.
[ Our humble thanks to Crossway for their partnership in today’s devotion]
The post What to Do When Life Doesn’t Make Sense appeared first on Ann Voskamp.
September 22, 2018
Only the Good Stuff: Multivitamins for Your Weekend [09.22.18]
Happy, happy, happy weekend!
Some real, down in the bones JOY to celebrate today! Links & stories this week 100% guaranteed to make you smile a mile wide & believe like crazy in a Good God redeeming everything — and that there’s love everywhere & for ((you))!
Serving up only the Good Stuff for you right here:
sandymajorphotography
sandymajorphotography
sandymajorphotography
astonishing perspective: she captures the world through doors and windows
20+ Funniest Wildlife Photos of 2018 Have Been Announced, and they Will Make Your Weekend
because who doesn’t need a few new good ideas?!
That note you’ve been meaning to write? Write it now.
this dancing doctor is bringing joy to those who need it most
Learn How to Draw Thousands of Flowers Using the Same Simple Technique
This Image of the Total Eclipse? Is being called “History’s Most Amazing Photo”
best idea?!? There Are Now 75,000 Little Free Libraries around the world – and they’re not planning to stop
this art conservator breathes new life into paintings by repairing, retouching, and restoring
I Will Mediate on Your in the Morning good words here
couldn’t stop watching this unique xylophone!
witold_ziomek
witold_ziomek
witold_ziomek
he traveled around the world for a year – come see some amazing wonder right here
don’t miss! Meet the Piano Man of Washington Square Park: His life goal is to bring music (and a few tears) to the masses
This 94-year-old hands out chocolate bars to strangers. And people love it
this bus pulls up with soap and hope #BetheGift #TheBrokenWay
THIS: the power of our words
How to Get MORE of Everything that Counts (Including Squid)
he’s sharing some good thoughts right here
so what do you think? can boredom really lead to brilliance?
please don’t miss? how this simple act of lifting another is changing so many lives in the small town
simplyswenkalife / Instagram
pestridgefitandsimple / Instagram
How do you live a genuinely abundant life?
In sixty vulnerably stories, the tender invitation of The Way of Abundance moves you through your unspoken broken — into the abundant life.
Pick up your own Way to Abundance & start your journey to the abundant life
life in her wheelchair has taken her to the depths as well as the skies
on repeat this week: Speak Life
… and we know it, anxiety can come out of nowhere. Get busy, get distracted, and you can forget God. Forget God, and you lose your mind and your peace. Forget God, and all you remember is anxiety.
Anxiety can give you God-Alzheimer’s. Forget the face of God, and you forget your own name is Beloved.
Beloved, you are the remembering people. Find your feet. Find His face—His broken-wide-open heart of communion.
Always remember: there can be unwavering peace today
when an uncertain tomorrow
is trusted to an unchanging God.
If we have Him today — nothing can steal our peace today.
“When you call on Me, when you come & pray to Me, I’ll listen… I’ll give you strength. I’ll help you. I’ll hold you steady” Jer 29:12, Isa 41:10 MSG
[excerpted from our little Facebook family … come join us each day?]
That’s all for this weekend, friends.
Go slow. Be God-struck. Grant grace. Live Truth.
Give Thanks. Love well. Re – joy, re- joy, ‘re- joys’ again
Share Whatever Is Good.
The post Only the Good Stuff: Multivitamins for Your Weekend [09.22.18] appeared first on Ann Voskamp.
Ann Voskamp's Blog
- Ann Voskamp's profile
- 1369 followers
