Ann Voskamp's Blog, page 12

Kindness to an Enemy? It’s Complicated. Start Here:

How can you show kindness to an enemy? There isn’t a cut-and-dry answer to this question. I hold Gavin Ortlund in humble esteem and when I held his latest book in hand I was overwhelmed with gratitude for the the way Gavin has wrestled through the messy nature of relationships with others and shares how Jesus is the only answer for all the muck and mire of life together in the body of Christ. It’s an absolute joy to welcome Gavin to the farm’s table today…

Guest post by Gavin Ortlund

Kindness is complicated.

It is not formulaic.

It’s often difficult to know how kindness relates to other virtues and what it even looks like in the complexities of real life in the modern world, including the role kindness plays in our disagreements.

Several years ago I started a ministry on YouTube.

Over the years I have had the privilege of being in dialogue with all kinds of different people, and I have learned a lot along the way about how disagreement can go well or go poorly.

Sadly, it’s very easy for it to go poorly! And I have certainly made a lot of my own mistakes along the way.

Perhaps my deepest conviction resulting from these experiences is that kindness in dialogue is powerful.

“…kindness does not mean the absence of discernment.“

In my time on YouTube, I have imperfectly but sincerely sought to exhibit kindness to others. I’ve also gotten to know many sincerely kind people from other viewpoints. However, what do we do when others return our kindness with cruelty? When it comes to showing kindness to someone who has proven themselves to be an enemy, a clarification is absolutely necessary: kindness does not mean the absence of discernment.

What Kindness Is Not

Kindness is not being a doormat. Kindness is consistent with toughness and shrewdness.

Therefore, when the disagreement you are facing is with an evil person who is seeking to harm you, it is right to protect yourself. You matter to God. You should take all reasonable steps to take care of yourself (as well as those in your care), and this is not at odds with kindness.

Kindness is not at odds with getting a restraining order or blocking someone on social media or withdrawing from a relationship. Sometimes these are necessary steps, for all parties concerned. 

Kind Non-Engagement

Wishing people well does not mean we must always maintain a relationship.

The necessity of non-engagement and withdrawal comes up often in Paul’s letters to Timothy and Titus. I think of this as the spiritual discipline of ignoring people.

It sounds strange, but it is biblical: “As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him, knowing that such a person is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned” (Titus 3:10-11). Jesus gives a similar commandment to those he sends out: “If anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town” (Matthew 10:14).

This is a lesson that many of us are slow to learn, but it is so important. There are evil people in this world. We should be kind but not naïve. There is a time to turn away.

Again, consider the wisdom of Jesus’ words: “I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves” (Matthew 10:16).

[image error]Kindness That Discerns

If you are experiencing a difficult disagreement and you are not certain whether or not you should persist in it or withdraw, here are some questions that might be helpful to consider:

• Does this person’s behavior suggest that engaging with them has a realistic chance of being productive?

• Is addressing a disagreement likely to create further harm?

• Do I have any formal obligations that require me to resolve this difference, or can it be left unresolved without negligence?

• Could a season of waiting or reflection be beneficial before working through a particular disagreement?

Often it helps to involve wise friends who can help you think through the best approach. This is not formulaic or easy. Remember that God is a loving Father, who cares for you.

When Kindness Is Met with Malice

What do we do when our kindness is met with malice? 

We know that we are called not to retaliate, and we know that we may need to disengage from that person—but now what? How do we endure the unkindness of the world without being tainted? 

The only answer is Jesus. Jesus has a special place in his heart for those who are being maligned. 

The people discarded and despised by our world are especially precious to him. We can go to him, finding strength in his promises and his presence.

We have every reason to follow Christ in practicing kindness to those around us. When you are reviled, do not revile in return.

Bless those who curse you.

Keep an open heart, even in bitter disagreement. Wish well to all.

This is what Christ can do in and for you.

This article is adapted from Chapter 1 of The Art of Disagreeing by Gavin Ortlund

*Please note that the full chapter goes into more depth about what kindness looks like when you are met with malice. Learn more about how to disagree with courage and kindness like Jesus, avoiding divisive arguments, here. *

Gavin Ortlund is a pastor, author, speaker, and apologist. He serves as President of Truth Unites and Theologian-in-Residence at Immanuel Nashville.

Gavin is the award-winning author of Why God Makes Sense in a World That Doesn’t and Finding the Right Hills to Die On.

A fellow of The Keller Center for Cultural Apologetics, Gavin is married to Esther and they have five children.

He wrote The Art of Disagreeing because he has been grieved about the lovelessness in the church today — and I cannot recommend this book more highly.

He hopes this book will give readers realistic pathways forward for navigating disagreements in their lives. This is important because Jesus taught that the world will recognize we are his disciples by how we love each other.

{Our humble thanks to The Good Book Company for their partnership in today’s devotional.}

So This is What’s Been Happening (Or How to Live Your One & Only Life )

I’ve been on lamb watch, watching for signs of new life, the first 10 days of the new year.

The new year’s only 11 days old, when our family patriarch , my husband‘s beloved father, departs from life on this earth.

Life is this long waiting and a short blink — and just what you do with the time in between. It’s strange how that is: When the short dash of a beloved’s life ends, a heart fracture from missing them, cracks and begins. 

I’m kneeling in the straw of a tiny barn, beside a swollen-with-life mama sheep on the frigid, cold 12th night of January, when I help her slip-deliver a steaming wet lamb into the world. She contracts, and there’s a second pair of feet, and I grab hold, and pull, and there’s gasping for air of this earth to fill lungs, and there’s an unexpected doubling of fresh life curled in barn straw. I help each lamb’s gangly weakness find their legs, find their mama’s thick colostrum, to gulp down all the milky warmth.

Late after lambing, I come in through the snow, under a studded blanket of silvery stars.

Come to pray over our youngest little girl who’s already slipped under quilted blankets of her own. And I pray over her the words I’ve prayed for more than a decade or two, prayed over her six older siblings, framed words that hung in hallway of the farmhouse that my husband grew up in, that framed print that his Dutch farming father had walked past, and literally had walked out, every day for decades, and I kiss his granddaughter’s forehead, as I pray those same words like a benediction of life over her:

“Only one life, twill soon be past, 

Only what’s done for Jesus will last…”

And I stroke back her long black hair: 

“Live for Jesus, Child… so live for Jesus, so live with Jesus.”

When I turn out the last light, I linger there beside the very same faded words that I found in a flaking gilded frame at a thrift store.

Only one life, twill soon be past… Only what’s lived with Jesus will last.

I had picked up the frame when my eye caught it at the thrift store, reading once again those words that had meant much to me as a teen, and a first-generation believer, when I first read them hanging like a heartbeat in my in-laws home. Words the generations before had faithfully lived by. Words I wanted framed in our own farmhouse, for our children and grandchildren and all the generations to come to live by as their own mission and vision.

I had flipped the thrift store frame over and could barely read this faded pencil scrawl, “Isobela… July 3, 1945, With love, Mom and Dad.” Isobela’s mom and dad had the same prayer for her as Mom and Dad Voskamp had had for their family. Then in the bottom corner, in the same penciled handwriting, Isobela’s mom had written: “Bought in a bookshop in Harrisburg, Virginia.”

But here the print was, thousands of miles away, more than 70 years later, in a thrift store with a price tag on it of $9.99. Was Isobela still alive somewhere — now more than 70 years old? What had she done with her one and only life?

I’d carried that vintage thrift store print home and hung it right there under under the aged and antique frame of another thrifted print I’d found, of the tried and true Beatitudes. And there the two lines hung in their frame, like an underlining of the framed Beatitudes above:

“Only one life, twill soon be past, 

Only what’s done for Jesus will last…”

The newborn twin lambs aren’t a wobbly and very green 12-hours old when we gather as a family, sons and daughters and daughters-in-love and a few wee grandchildren, in at our 129-year-old stone church to wash the old worn floors for a funeral of our family patriarch who’d walked all the days of his life with the Lord whom he loved.

We are but dust and there is but little in life that will actually last and all the broken shards of our lives can be made into a mosaic of grace. 

We scrub. And we sand and paint. 

And we move and build and stain.

We set out candles and there are lights and love that can never be extinguished.

It’s almost midnight when I stand on tip-toe to dust every one of the old stained-glass windowsills. We are but dust and there is but little in life that will actually last and all the broken shards of our lives can be made into a mosaic of grace. 

Come early the next morning, after I’ve hayed and grained and hauled water to the new mamas and their lambs, we sort through stacks of yellowed photographs that a life collects. And us, all his descendants, frame up grinning snapshots of one man’s sacred and gifted life — from burly boyhood back in the Netherlands, to fresh fatherhood in a new country, with his own brood that grew to 9, to a brotherhood of daily Word-keepers and faithful prayer-warriors who believed that in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Daughter-in-loves arrange bouquets of blooms that a Dutch man loved. 

When the people come, hundreds of them filling a 129-year-old church, for a 90-year old man, the space between us all, and under those sanctuary’s old vaulted beams, fills with stories.

The sanctuary’s full of stories of the nearly two and a half decades that the Dutch farmer and his wife invited for Good News Bible Club, a club grew to more than 75 kids over 20-some years, welcomed into their farmhouse every Friday night, week after week, year after year, to share the good news of Jesus. A whole generation, a whole community, welcomed into their farmhouse and the heart of Jesus who is the Life.

A life is always well-lived when it’s lived through Life Himself. 

A young twenty-something nurse drives more almost 2 hours out from the city in  a snowstorm because he’d been her favourite— always so full of real life, always so genuinely loving.

And then there was all the folks who came because they were impacted by the more than two decades of Tuesday nights of opening up he and Mom Voskamp, opening their farmhouse for a prayer meeting to pray for missionaries all over the world because Dad and Mom Voskamp genuinely believed it: Prayer isn’t the least we can do in the world, and prayer isn’t the only thing we can do in the world, but prayer is the most we can do to genuinely impact the world. 

Lives are touched when we kneel down and prayerfully keep touching the hem of Jesus’ love. 

And as I watch a lifetime of folks, farmers and nurses and builders and mothers and salt-of-the-earth families, come through those big red doors of the old stone church to pay their condolences, to offer their nodding thanks, everything for me is brimming and blurring, as I’m witnessing the humble miracle of an honest life well lived: 

You get a life more to the full, when you give more of your life away. 

In Christ, when you pour your life out — you end up being soul-nourished for forever. 

What ends up being the most life-giving — is giving love, and more love, to everyone in your life. 

Let Jesus love you to life — and your life and love will never, ever end.

Let Jesus love you to life — and your life and love will never, ever end.

Grandchildren and great-grandchildren sing. We all stand for his favorite hymn: Count your blessings, name them one by one. A video plays of him reciting Psalm 23. We smile and wipe our cheeks with the back of our hands and reach for each other’s hands. 

A life is always well-lived when it’s lived through Life Himself. 

It’s the next week, when the lambs are just starting to frisk and spring dance in the barn, when my husband’s big brother messages us out of the blue in the middle of the afternoon:

“You know — Dad’s funeral was a reminder for me of that plaque Mom had in the farmhouse at home:

“Only one life, twill soon be past…. Only what’s done for Christ will last…. For me to live is Christ.“

How many countless people across the community, who had been invited into the farmhouse across the decades, had read those words in that little framed plaque? 

I look up — and there’s that thrifted print hanging with the same words on our farmhouse wall, whispering how to live your one and only life in a way that will actually matter in the end. 

Let Jesus love you to life — and your life and love will never, ever end.

And after such a tender, heart-enlarging week, I look down and open up the very first page of  “Loved to Life” that’s just about to be released into a whole heart-tender world, and there it is, the dedication of the book, a prayer and singular heartbeat for generations:

“Only one life, ’twill soon be past,

Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Live for Jesus, live for Jesus. He came to give us life, 

the realest Life to the full.”

I run my hand slow across the page. 

The Love you’ve been looking for your whole life — He is looking for you, to love you to life — and life to the full.

Those imprinted words are more than a dedication — they are words to dedicate your life to. Words that can become the story of your only life. 

Only a life that’s lived with Jesus — is Life at all.

Only a life that lets itself be fully loved by Jesus — can fully experience actual life.

 I leave the book open to those words.  

The Love you’ve been looking for your whole life — He is looking for you, to love you to life — and life to the full.

And I head out to feed mama sheep with new lambs… all our days now, on a love watch, a life watch, watching for Love Himself who comes as a sign of new life, to change the coming year.

Come Find the Love You’ve Been Looking Your Whole Life ForCome be Loved to Life

40 Days with Jesus.

A 40-Day Pilgrimage with Jesus through the book of John, to journey to the Cross for Easter.

Only one life, twill soon be past…

only a life lived with Jesus will last.

Come — 40-Days with Jesus isn’t too much, & it’s just right to be Loved to Life, & change your one & only life.

How To Stop Letting Fear Call the Shots: Breaking the Grip of Fear

Riley Kehoe is no stranger to fear: At 10 years old, she survived the 2004 Southeast Asian tsunami in Thailand which killed 230,000 people. That traumatic event was just the beginning of her story of learning to move from fear to bravery, one small step at a time. I’m humbly grateful to welcome her to the farm’s table and share a piece of her heart with us here today…

Guest Post by Riley Kehoe

Fear often feels like an immovable wall, a looming shadow threatening to keep us from the life we’re meant to live.

But what if fear is more than an obstacle?

What if, behind its façade, lies a gift waiting to be unwrapped?

Growing up, I experienced fear in some of the simplest, most unexpected moments.

Birthdays in my family were grand affairs filled with joy, balloons, and laughter. The kitchen was transformed into a festive wonderland with streamers and the smell of French toast, eggs, and bacon wafting through the air. Yet, amid all the celebration, there was one tradition I dreaded.

At the end of the day, my mom would take a knife and pop every single balloon. The sound terrified me. Even as I grew older, this irrational fear followed me. The sight of a balloon was enough to make me uneasy, the thought of one popping even more so.

Years later, when I was 18, this fear reared its head in a painfully embarrassing way.

“I began to see that the more we expose ourselves to our fears, the less grip they have on our lives.“

I was at a party, trying to gather the courage to talk to a boy I had liked for years. After summoning every ounce of bravery I had, I finally walked over and started a conversation. But then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw someone holding a balloon and a knife. With one swift motion, they popped the balloon, and I panicked. Without a word, I turned and bolted out of the house, got into my car, and drove away.

Later that night, the boy texted me asking, “What happened? Where did you go?” I was so mortified by my reaction that I couldn’t bring myself to reply. I felt defeated, frustrated, and, most of all, tired of letting fear control my actions.

That’s when I decided enough was enough.

I began a small but significant ritual: buying balloons for friends’ birthdays. Blowing them up was terrifying at first—I barely inflated them to avoid any chance of popping. They were tiny, drooping balloons, more comical than celebratory. But each time I faced my fear, it lost a little of its power over me. I began to see that the more we expose ourselves to our fears, the less grip they have on our lives. Fear thrives in avoidance; confrontation is its kryptonite.

This lesson extended beyond balloons. Growing up, I had a passion for public speaking. I would line up my dolls and preach sermons to them, complete with altar calls. But as I got older, fear began to choke that dream.

I’ll never forget the day in high school when I was asked to read aloud in class. My hands shook as I stared at the book, unable to get a single word out. My classmates’ laughter and the teacher’s impatient sighs only made it worse. I sat down, humiliated, vowing never to let myself feel that way again.

Looking back, I see how fear isolated me. It told me I was the only one who struggled, that my stutter and nerves made me unworthy of the calling I felt so deeply.

But fear is a liar.

When I finally started sharing my struggles with others, I realized how universal fear is. We may not all fear the same things, but we all know what it feels like to be held back by it.

Courage isn’t the absence of fear; it’s the decision to act in spite of it.

Every time I chose to buy a balloon or stand up to speak, I chipped away at fear’s control over my life. Each act of bravery, no matter how small, brought me closer to the life I knew I was meant to live. 

“Courage isn’t the absence of fear; it’s the decision to act in spite of it.“

Yes, God tells us “do not be afraid” hundreds of times in the Bible. But when I read those words, I don’t think He expects us to live a life completely free of fear (although, wouldn’t that be incredible?). Instead, I believe He’s asking us to stop letting fear sit in the driver’s seat—making the decisions, setting the course, and calling the shots. God wants us to hand the wheel to courage. “Have I not commanded you?” He says in Joshua 1:9, “Be strong and courageous.” Notice, this isn’t a suggestion—it’s a command.

Friend, fear doesn’t have to write the final chapter of your story. In fact, it’s often the prologue to something incredible.

Behind every fear is a chance to grow, to connect, and to find joy. Let’s unwrap those gifts together. Fear often shows us what we really care about.

Make the choice today:

Fear doesn’t get to call the shots anymore.

Decide to move forward, even if it means doing it scared.

Courage will meet you there.

Riley Kehoe is a speaker, writer, and influencer. Born in London and raised in New Zealand, Riley has a master’s degree in global leadership from Fuller Theological Seminary. A sought-after speaker and active blogger, Riley has been featured on a TEDx Talk and many media outlets including CNN and  The History Channel. She and her husband live in Nashville.

In Three Seconds of Courage, Riley tells the remarkable story of how she survived the 2004 Southeast Asian tsunami and learned that small acts of bravery can change your life in ways you can’t imagine. A decision made in just three seconds can mean the difference between a life of isolation and one of connection, between playing it safe and taking a bold step forward, between being self-focused and reaching out to help others, between holding a grudge and offering and accepting forgiveness. Her book will inspire you to push past your comfort zone, look beyond your own life, and act courageously for the good of those around you.

Learn more about Riley at RileyWithCourage.com or follow her on Instagram @rileywithcourage.

{Our humble thanks to Baker Books for their partnership in today’s devotional.}

Only the Good Stuff: Multivitamins For Your Weekend [01.25.2025]

Happy, happy, happy weekend!

So we are diving back in with Multivitamins for our Weekend! So many of you have asked for the return of the weekly multivitamin email, and we’re so with you — because who doesn’t need a bit of good news? We are figuring it out here, a bit of happy work in progress, but we are so excited for what is to come!

Let yourself smile, be crazy inspired, laugh, love & really live the gift of this life
just a little bit more this weekend…

Serving up only the Good Stuff for you & your people right here

waking to the wonder of simple days right here…

This is the creativity of Our God!

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Because we all could learn a little more about thankfulness!

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This is so good!

Redeem the Drive Time: Audio Resources for Families by Betsey Childs Howard

My kids and I are HUGE audiobook fans and what better way to use car ride for building Christ centred kids! Imagine having the whole body of christ Around the World All together? Join us at Gather25!

I’ll be joining in, Lord willing, from Cluj, Romania, one of the global gatherings — are you in with us, for this historic gathering?

The Word became Flesh and Dwelt Among us — and people are hungry for more of the Word! The Must Listen for Your Weekend: Tee Up this Five Star Podcast for Errands Or Chores This Weekend Click here if you want a truly profound listen & one genuinely soul-enlarging conversation! On Repeat this week! Perfect start to the Year!The most heartwarming tribute- to his Dad

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The most tear jerking story! The love of one brother for another #BeTheGiftThis nurse saw what it meant to “BE THE HANDS AND FEET OF JESUS“ So moving! Some Baby joy for you today! The Cutest!!

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Ok, and maybe just one more?

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“Let’s Get Coffee: Navigating the Existential Angst of Loneliness” Such a good read! You don’t want to miss it! Another song on repeat this week! Post of the Week From Around These Parts:You Gotta Save This: About Resolutions When It’s Hard to Keep going (How to Get through 2025)

This is one of my most favorite stories I have ever, ever heard — one story that has deeply shaped our whole family….

This inspirational story is a must read: Don’t leave the internet without reading this one man’s story On The Book Stack at the Farm

Uniquely You, by best-selling authors Sally Clarkson and her son, Nathan Clarkson, is filled with biblical and life-learned wisdom for helping kids become and enjoy being the person God has designed them to be. Parents discover the unique personalities, learning, and love languages of their children. The Clarksons help you imagine discipline and dreams that fit your unique kids.

In a world that’s desperate to ignore the pain of rejection, Loyal in His Love: An Invitation To Be Held By Jesus When Others Let You Go, reminds us that each devastating moment of rejection is an opportunity to build a bridge that will lead us into hope and transformation. Jesus lived a life and death marked by rejection. Yet we remember him for his compassion and generosity, We can be remembered that way too. Tabitha’s newest book isn’t just another Christian self-help book.It’s space to truly see yourself in your hurt and let the Lord in.

The Courage For Life Study Bible for Women and the Courage For Life Study Bible for Men equip men and women to find the courage to embrace their God-given call. These Bibles have 1,464 inductive Bible studies—that’s a Bible study on every page of Bible text! They provide practical guidance to help you pray, observe, interpret, and apply (P-O-I-A) God’s Word in your everyday life! They also feature 82 profiles of courageous, faith-filled women or men whose stories will inspire you to say yes to God so that you, too, can experience a more courageous and purposeful life.Finally, these Bibles include section and book introductions as well as hundreds of brief invitations to let God’s Word correct worldly lies.

This is the Year I purpose to…

 Simply click here for all of these free printables for 2025, plus a whole library of free tools For Your Soul Care:

Pssst… Did you Catch a Peek of my newest book That finishes the story The Greatest Gift began: Come be Loved To Life

A 40-Day Spiritual Pilgrimage following Jesus, through the Gospel of John & to the Cross, into the Fullest Life

This coming year, take a 40 day journey, from barely getting through — to passionately living the fullest life. Come be Loved to Life

Imagine how a 40 Day Pilgrimage with Jesus, walking intimately with Him through the Gospel of John, through Holy Week, to Calvary’s Tree will actually give you LIFE!

Who doesn’t want to be loved to life? So here — is your invitation to continue the journey from Christmas to the Cross and into abundant life, for the 40 days leading up to Easter: Pilgrimage with Jesus, through the whole of His life, as told in the Gospel of John, and deeply experience the rest of the story of Jesus, experience His signs and wonders, discover the seven I Ams of Jesus and intimately experience the love of Christ. Hang 40 ornaments on an Easter tree, tracing the path from the wood of the manger to the wood of the cross, and finally to the empty tomb, where we experience the rising life, and life to the full!

Discover more of the heart of Jesus each day, and experience these 40 original woodcut illustrations, all available as free, evocative, downloadable ornaments, for your own Easter Tree, that illustrates more of the life of Christ, the rest of His story: His love, His sacrifice, His resurrection — each corresponding to that day’s devotion from Loved to Life.

If you’ve loved the tradition of decorating a Christmas tree with ornaments that beautifully tell the story of how, right from the beginning, all the stories of the Old Testament have been anticipating Jesus’ birth, you’ll cherish celebrating Easter by decorating an Easter tree—a tree that completes the New Testament story of Jesus’ life and His love, sacrifice, and resurrection — to give us life.

These — along with so many other free gifts (!!) are yours, as our sincere thank-you, when you pre-order Loved to Life

Pre-Order Loved to Life & Get All Your Free Thank You Gifts HereDo you want to join the team? Want to join the launch team? Thank you Jesus!Holy Forever

You will be playing this one all day

Take minute to slow down this weekend:

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. 

Courage to Answer God’s Call: Saying Yes to God

Even when the call is clear, it can be hard to say yes to God when others may be saying something different… Ann White knows this struggle, but she also knows the sense of peace that comes with focusing on God’s voice amid the conflicting voices surrounding us. Whether speaking at a national conference, helping women in South Asia, teaching at her local church, or praying with her family, Ann is passionate about helping people find the courage to embrace their God-given gifts. Ann has dedicated her life to equipping women and men with the courage to say yes to God’s call. She is an internationally known author, speaker, TV host, and passionate Bible teacher; the founder and CEO of Courage For Life; and a wife, mother, and grandmother. She is also the general editor for the Courage For Life Study Bible for Women and the Courage For Life Study Bible for Men. It’s a joy to welcome Ann to the farm’s table today…

Guest Post by Ann White

It was the first day of class, a class that had outgrown my home, and had expanded from Wednesday evenings to Sunday mornings. A class that eventually grew into multiple classes, where individuals and couples eager to dive deep into God’s Word could gather together and learn from the Bible.

A passionate Bible teacher, eager to share what she was learning from Scripture and excited for the opportunity to challenge women and men to take their love for God and his Word to an even deeper level—that was me.

I’d spent countless hours praying and preparing for this class. Yet I was completely unaware that some people were opposed to my teaching a Bible class.

When I reached my classroom early that morning, Bible in hand, I noticed a sign next to the door that announced the title of the class and the name of the teacher—or, in my case, teachers. What?

I was shocked to see that my husband was scheduled to teach this class with me. That was the first I’d heard of it!

My initial thought was Someone had better tell him, because he has no clue. He wasn’t even going to be there. Nevertheless, the sign for my class read, “Teachers: Mike and Ann White.”

I often cross paths with courageous Christian women, gifted by God and passionate about serving Christ, who are unfortunately discouraged from—or even denied—leadership positions.

“Men and women working in harmony—a godly formula that boosts the spread of the gospel and, I firmly believe, is not only supported fully by God’s Word but also exemplified in the life of Christ.“

I think this is one reason I have such great affection for the women I lead, disciple, and serve alongside both in the United States and in South Asia. I have great passion for these women’s ministries and leadership roles, and I applaud them (and the men who stand firmly by their sides) as they preach the gospel, teach the Word of God, and birth churches throughout their communities and homelands.

Men and women working in harmony—a godly formula that boosts the spread of the gospel and, I firmly believe, is not only supported fully by God’s Word but also exemplified in the life of Christ.

When I have a question about my faith, the first place I turn is to God in prayer and in His infallible Word.

As I asked God for wisdom about how to respond to my situation, He reminded me of several passages in both the Old and New Testaments where God and his faithful followers placed women in leadership roles—including women who had the courage to speak and teach God’s Word.

Women like we read in Scripture, God’s very Word: Deborah, “a prophet who was judging Israel” (Judges 4:4); Priscilla, who (alongside her husband, Aquila) was one of the apostle Paul’s “co-workers in the ministry of Christ Jesus” and who “took [Apollos] aside and explained the way of God even more accurately” (Romans 16:3; Acts 18:26); and Lydia, the apostle Paul’s first European convert, who led her entire household to faith in Christ and opened her home as her city’s first Christian gathering spot, bringing many others to faith in Jesus (Acts 16:11-15, 40).

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As I have read, studied, and taught God’s Word for more than 20 years, I’ve been consistently reminded that from the very beginning of time, women have played a central role in God’s plan of salvation for the world.

Throughout Israel’s history, the life of Christ, and the advancement of the early church, women have contributed significantly to the growth and progress of God’s Kingdom. And they still play a very important role today in the advancement of the Christian faith.

“Sometimes just saying yes to God even in the midst of fear, confusion, or conflicting ideas is the most courageous thing we can do.“

Maybe you aren’t called to teach and preach—but God is calling each of us to fulfill our God-given potential to help build his Kingdom.

Sometimes just saying yes to God even in the midst of fear, confusion, or conflicting ideas is the most courageous thing we can do. Is anything holding you back?

If so, I want to encourage you today to set aside any internal voices of doubt, and believe that God has not only prepared you for His calling — but will also empower you, through His Spirit, to do His will.

Let today be the day you take practical and courageous steps toward accomplishing all God has called you to do through Christ, in Christ, for the glory of Christ!

The Courage For Life Study Bible for Women and the Courage For Life Study Bible for Men equip men and women to find the courage to embrace their God-given call. These Bibles have 1,464 inductive Bible studies—that’s a Bible study on every page of Bible text! They provide practical guidance to help you pray, observe, interpret, and apply (P-O-I-A) God’s Word in your everyday life! They also feature 82 profiles of courageous, faith-filled women or men whose stories will inspire you to say yes to God so that you, too, can experience a more courageous and purposeful life. Finally, these Bibles include section and book introductions as well as hundreds of brief invitations to let God’s Word correct worldly lies.

In addition, you will have access to the fully female-voiced Courage For Life audio Bible and over 27,000 additional study notes and resources through the free Filament Bible app.

{Our humble thanks to Tyndale for their partnership in today’s devotional.}

Feel Like Too Much? Not Enough? The Key to Moving Forward

Tabitha Panariso is deeply committed to offering more than just pithy platitudes to cover our suffering. As someone who’s traversed the darkness of rejection and abandonment, she grew tired of quick fixes that allowed her to avoid her pain and instead, learned to look for a steady hand to guide her through it. That hand belonged to Christ, who invited her to see rejection not as an end – but as merely a beginning. And, through Christ, was able to find healing, wholeness, and unrelenting courage to continue to love those who inevitably would disappoint and fail her. It’s a joy to welcome Tabitha to the farm’s table today…

Guest Post by Tabitha Panariso

The tendons in the backs of my legs groan and buckle under the weight of my expectations.

I can feel every ache of my body as I run on our cheap treadmill in our unfinished basement. Anxiety bubbles under the surface of each loud breath I take. Is my body capable of this? My arms feel heavy as I move them up and down.

I feel weak.

This task I signed myself up for seems impossible. 

We’re deep in the throes of a Colorado winter.

Sometime at the advent of the New Year, I had decided this was the year I would run my first half-­ marathon—13.1 miles of just my body and me making amends for all the hurt we had caused each other. United once again. For good.

Through Covid, I had gained the weight not just of the countless quiches I’d eaten, but of a broken heart finally making its presence known. Its cries had gotten loud, pleading for me to take notice of its pain. But it had been too hard to listen, so—­ like with my phone and the spotty cell service in the forest near my home—­ we became disconnected. 

Pride had blocked any attempts my body had made at reuniting with my heart and soul.

“Rejection made me afraid to embody all that I was. But in resisting, I became more of a walking shadow than a light on a hill.”

If I spent too long paying attention to the undercurrent of belief that fed my anxiety, it would become too much. I found myself asking, Am I not enough? Am I too much? Why do I always feel as if I am lacking?  

Rejection had made its mark on me, and instead of fighting it, I succumbed—­ my perspective of myself dwindling into regular plays of passive self-­ hatred. I didn’t have much to hold on to in January. I was still reeling from losing my friends, and I felt lost all over again. 

So many significant people had rejected me that I began to reject myself. And while I had done much work to heal, I began to hide under the idea that I was just fine on my own.

On my own, I thought, I can fully heal again. There could be no tenderness there. Vulnerability wasn’t allowed. I had to harden myself and make a way through this life avoiding the possibility of hurt. Oh, how could God make me so incomplete? So weak? I vowed never to feel such lack or disappointment again. 

Yet this posture did nothing but usher in more of what overwhelmed me. Instead of taking the risk to see my life filled with goodness, I could only ever see emptiness. 

“I had to come to the end of myself to meet myself and to see God again—­ to live a faith embodied life not just in my strength, but in my weakness too. “

I had limited the work God could do. I let Him into only the parts of my healing I felt I could control or grasp. As long as I could come out looking like I had it all together, I would let God heal me.

Somewhere in the trenches of my faith I thought this was what it looked like to be a good Christian. I didn’t realize I’d only ever known disconnected faith, one that left my body out of the equation. I only let God into the parts of my life that had already been made complete, made perfect. 

Rejection made me afraid to embody all that I was. But in resisting, I became more of a walking shadow than a light on a hill. 

I had to lay it all down. I had to come to the end of myself to meet myself and to see God again—­ to live a faith embodied life not just in my strength, but in my weakness too. 

But how could I do this? You might be wondering the same thing.

It starts with not only admitting our fragility but leaning into it. 

Jesus demonstrated the nature of humility in His life by His mere presence—­ His willingness to come to Earth and be one like us. But we also see it poignantly in the death of his friend Lazarus, a man whom Jesus loved. 

Twice Jesus said to those who sent for Him and to Mary wept for her brother that Lazurus would not stay dead. For God’s glory, Lazurus would rise to live once again. Although Christ had the confidence of one who knew the plans of God, he was moved by Mary’s grief at her brother’s tomb. 

“…it’s in our humanity that we find our humility. “

Jesus wept. 

These two words convey the heart of the Man of Sorrows, well acquainted with suffering, unafraid to feel the weakness of the mortal human body, its bounded and limited life, and aware of how quickly this life can be taken. Spurgeon taught, “He wept to baptize our prayers unto God.” He wept to show us that we can do the same. 

Christ instructs us in how we can live in this finite world. Though we know death is not the end for us, we can still be attuned and present to the groans and aches this world compels in us. Jesus was not ashamed of His humanity, and neither should we be. In fact, it’s in our humanity that we find our humility. 

“His tears did not minimize God’s glory. And neither do ours.“

Our tears reflect this.

We offer our weeping in surrender and trust that Christ meets us in the valleys just as he carries us to the mountaintops.

We so easily spurn our weakness, compartmentalizing our pain and our lack.

From this pride, we speak in platitudes.

We convince ourselves that rejection doesn’t hurt. We pretend that we’re content with being redirected elsewhere. We declare that something else will come along. We are desperate to prove ourselves and to prove God. Yet even God did not hurry to do so. Jesus had no need to defend His Father by policing Mary or His grief.

His tears did not minimize God’s glory.

And neither do ours. 

Tabitha Panariso regularly reflects on the unseen things that happen in our everyday lives and writes about them. Her work as a Christ-Centered and Trauma-Informed Therapist (MA, LPCC) allows her the privilege of walking alongside those who are navigating the dark and as Christ has done for her, offers a steady and kind hand to cling onto. In both her practice and writing, Tabitha explores how our psychology, spirituality, and theology are all intricately intertwined.

Tabitha is a wife and mom and lives in Colorado Springs with her husband and three kids. She feels most like herself in the mountains.

In a world that’s desperate to ignore the pain of rejection, Loyal in His Love: An Invitation To Be Held By Jesus When Others Let You Go, reminds us that each devastating moment of rejection is an opportunity to build a bridge that will lead us into hope and transformation. Jesus lived a life and death marked by rejection. Yet we remember him for his compassion and generosity, We can be remembered that way too. Tabitha’s newest book isn’t just another Christian self-help book. It’s space to truly see yourself in your hurt and let the Lord in.

{Our humble thanks to Zondervan for their partnership in today’s devotional.}

Taking My Children Out Of The Box: Accepting Their Unique Design & Why It Matters Eternally

These days, there are a million people with a million opinions on a million different things. It can be difficult to know whose voice and opinions we should trust, especially with a subject so important and eternally significant as raising children. Sally Clarkson has been a voice for mothers for over thirty years. It’s clear that Sally’s value on uniqueness, modeled after how she saw God love all of His children, works. Together with her son, Nathan Clarkson, Sally co-authored Uniquely You: Exploring Your Child’s Extraordinarily Distinctive Design.In the book, they highlight the beauty of every child’s individuality—whether it’s their personality, love language, skills, learning style, or more—and offer insight into how understanding and nurturing each child’s uniqueness is key to their growth and success. Below is a heart-touching excerpt from the book encapsulates the messages they hope to explore in both emotional and practical ways. It’s a joy to welcome Sally and Nathan to the farm table today…

Guest Post by Sally Clarkson and Nathan Clarkson

Thirty years ago, I was exhausted to my toes. A respiratory virus had slowly moved viciously through our family, leaving us tired and ragged.

Every night had left me caring for a different child and the sleeplessness had left me listless and drained.

Somehow, three-year-old Nathan had avoided the dreaded plague, and for a moment, I believed against hope that all might be well, until, suddenly, he started to cough.

As the illness descended upon Nathan, my husband, Clay, offered to take the other kids out to church. Fatigued, I stayed home with Nathan to keep him company and see him through the illness on my own. I felt insufficient to the task, introverted, and just wanting to retreat into my own quiet solitude for a moment of respite.

“I feel so close to you, Mama. I wish we could spend more time talking together. I just have lots of things to say! Thank you for listening to me.”

As I sat down on the couch, Nathan came bounding in with a smile and sat next to me. Pressing down the exhaustion, I turned to him and asked him what he wanted to do.

“Let’s talk!” he proclaimed. And for the next forty-five minutes, that is precisely what we did.

I entered into every little dimension of his universe: from his observations and interests to his perspectives on other children, to his cherished delights and genuine concerns. I listened attentively, giving him dedicated eye contact and rubbing his back gently while he chattered on.

Soon, the busy line of conversation trickled as he began to grow tired. As his energy slipped away, he looked at me with earnest and said, “I feel so close to you, Mama. I wish we could spend more time talking together. I just have lots of things to say! Thank you for listening to me.”

” I realized in that moment that I was his confidant, and that in opening up to me, he was allowing me to access a genuine and sincere part of his personality. “

With those words, my mama heart melted, and I saw, perhaps for the first time, the real Nathan underneath the incessant wiggles and disruption. I saw, as if in an epiphany, the truth about Nathan. He is a verbal processor.

For Nathan, what he still desires more than anything is to be heard, to be allowed to speak his thoughts in relationship with those whom he most loves. I realized in that moment that I was his confidant, and that in opening up to me, he was allowing me to access a genuine and sincere part of his personality. 

I thought of how his Sunday school teachers told me with exasperation that he constantly needed to be hushed; and I realized just how counterproductive and wrong that attitude was. They presumed he was rebellious and attempted to subdue something that was never meant to be suppressed in him. It was to Nathan’s glory, and essentially to God’s, for him to be able to communicate and open up about the world of words and ideas constantly bouncing around in his head.

If I was to truly love him, I needed to make space to hear his words and to affirm them. There would always be time for training, which we did on a continual basis, but I needed to see that his bursting heart was good. 

This is a crucial part of our responsibility as parents: to accept the reality that each child is made uniquely with their own capacities, personalities, interests, strengths, and weaknesses. Our children are their own special stories, books waiting to be opened up and read with interest.

You and I as parents are the readers, the ones who might take the time to dive deep into the whole story of their creative individuality. The book of every child is its own genre, and each child has different “characters” that make up their inner world. Just as it delights you and me when someone takes the time to understand our inner workings, so too will your children come to life when you delve into their special narratives. 

To achieve this insight requires a special investment of time and energy on our part, a willingness to develop habits of observation, and the patience to allow those aspects of our children to emerge so that we can engage with them in a meaningful way.

“The effort we develop in gaining a vision for the uniqueness of our children will in time pay dividends, drawing them closer to us, and allowing us to be set up for success in how we help them be the best version of themselves. “

It is understandable that we often feel tired and simply want to get on with our lives; and yet if we don’t take the time to understand, to study and learn each child’s “bent,” we are inviting more conflict and misunderstanding in the future. The effort we develop in gaining a vision for the uniqueness of our children will in time pay dividends, drawing them closer to us, and allowing us to be set up for success in how we help them be the best version of themselves.

I won’t lie to you: learning the inner workings of your child has been a lifetime project and has stretched me more than I could ever have imagined. And yet the process has given me a depth of insight and compassion, not only for my children but also for other people in my life as well.

There is no formula for discovering the dimensions of each of your precious ones; it is a long-term process of trial and error. But the more you listen and observe, letting them communicate themselves to you in their own way, the more you will become an expert in understanding each of your children. You will become a trusted interpreter of them, helping them understand themselves, their family members, and the world around them in a way that strengthens them and helps them thrive.

Every child is designed uniquely by God, and He has entrusted you with His special creations. Over time, we can move away from seeking to mold our children into our own image so they’re easier to manage, and instead, learn to see them as unique, creative expressions of God’s design.

They are fearfully and wonderfully made by Him!

Through patience and commitment, we will eventually reap a harvest. Today, I encourage you to begin the journey of discovering the individual wonders of each one.

Sally Clarkson is a beloved speaker, mother, mentor, and bestselling author of over twenty books who has spent three decades encouraging and supporting Christian women. She hosts the popular podcast At Home With Sally, which inspires countless listeners around the world. She lives between the mountains of Colorado Springs and the cobblestone streets of Oxford, England. Learn more about Sally here: www.SallyClarkson.com

Nathan Clarkson is an award-winning film and television actor, a bestselling author of numerous books, a hit indie-filmmaker, and a podcast philosopher on The Overthinkers. Nathan lives between the lights of Los Angeles and the streets of New York City. Learn more about Nathan here: www.NathanClarkson.me

Uniquely You, by best-selling authors Sally Clarkson and her son, Nathan Clarkson, is filled with biblical and life-learned wisdom for helping kids become and enjoy being the person God has designed them to be. Parents discover the unique personalities, learning, and love languages of their children. The Clarksons help you imagine discipline and dreams that fit your unique kids.

Our kids have a designed place in God’s story. Uniquely You is the guidebook for partnering with Him in the journey of discovering their unique roles. Your kids will say with confidence and joy, “I am the only me!

{Our humble thanks to Moody Publishers for their partnership in today’s devotional.}

Only the Good Stuff: Multivitamins For Your Weekend [01.11.2025]

Happy, happy, happy weekend!

So we are diving back in with Multivitamins for our Weekend! So many of you have asked for the return of the weekly multivitamin email, and we’re so with you — because who doesn’t need a bit of good news? We are figuring it out here, a bit of happy work in progress, but we are so excited for what is to come!

Let yourself smile, be crazy inspired, laugh, love & really live the gift of this life
just a little bit more this weekend…

Serving up only the Good Stuff for you & your people right here

Meg Loeks

Meg Loeks

Meg Loeks

amazing ways of seeing with the phenomenal photographer, Meg Loeks

waking to the wonder of simple days right here…

The Best way to Start 2025:

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Absolutely Wowed!! Crazy Talent!

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KINDNESS THROUGH LETTERS

This is the absolute sweetest act of kindness to spread the love of Jesus — #BeTheGift

You don’t want to miss the real encouragement of this one:Imagine having the whole body of christ Around the World All together? Join us at Gather25!

I’ll be joining in, Lord willing, from Cluj, Romania, one of the global gatherings — are you in with us, for this historic gathering?

The Word became Flesh and Dwelt Among us — and people are hungry for more of the Word! The Must Listen for Your Weekend: Tee Up this Five Star Podcast for Errands Or Chores This Weekend Click here if you want a truly profound listen & one genuinely soul-enlarging conversation! Mesmerizing & You Can feel the Wonder of It!

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On Repeat this week! Perfect start to the Year!Something fun to Begin 2025: Seeing Possibility!

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Katie Davis Majors’ life story- fostering over 40 children!!

I deeply love this rare wonder of a woman, have visited her in her home with her children and husband, & counted her a humble, cruciform friend for the last decade — & she’s deeply impacted me, discipling me in countless ways!

You would not believe what they did in 48 hours! Absolutely astonishing!! New Year Creative Journaling Inspo!

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This One illustration Profoundly Changes How You see What is Important in 2025

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Sanctification is slow: THIS!!!“Next Year, New You” CLICK HERE FOR A GOOD SOUL PONDERING This Choir will blow your mind! Wildly TalentedPost of the Week From Around These Parts:You Gotta Save This: About Resolutions When It’s Hard to Keep going (How to Get through 2025)

This is one of my most favorite stories I have ever, ever heard — one story that has deeply shaped our whole family….

This inspirational story is a must read: Don’t leave the internet without reading this one man’s story On The Book Stack at the Farm

Delighting in Jesus

In Delighting in Jesus, Bible teacher Asheritah Ciuciu invites you to lift your gaze from your to-do list and get to know the One who spun the stars and knows you by name. You’re invited to rediscover joy and hear God’s gentle whispers in the midst of life’s noise. Through simple yet profound rhythms, this book offers a path back to peace and delight in Him.

Gifts & Gratitudes

Gifts & Gratitudes is a completely fresh, new way to engage gratitude! This truly unique format allows you to express your gratitude for your gifts with three spacious lines per day for you to reflect on the day’s blessings, and then each new day, you turn to the next day’s page. At the end of the month, you get to return to the beginning of the journal again and jot down the blessings for that date of the next month — and see the gifts from this day on the month, on all the previous months! 

Sacred Prayer

In SACRED Prayer, Ann shares her own personal prayer practice to journey with you to discover the power and beauty of prayer and intimacy with God:

When we retreat from the world to pray, to wait, to hopein God—we find true and beautiful perspective for our souls. Real prayer isn’t about changing God’s mind, but about finding God’s heart, and letting His heartchange our minds!

This is the Year I purpose to…

 Simply click here for all of these free printables for 2025, plus a whole library of free tools For Your Soul Care:

Pssst… Did you Catch a Peek of my newest book That finishes the story The Greatest Gift began: Come be Loved To Life

A 40-Day Spiritual Pilgrimage following Jesus, through the Gospel of John & to the Cross, into the Fullest Life

This coming year, take a 40 day journey, from barely getting through — to passionately living the fullest life. Come be Loved to Life

Imagine how a 40 Day Pilgrimage with Jesus, walking intimately with Him through the Gospel of John, through Holy Week, to Calvary’s Tree will actually give you LIFE!

Who doesn’t want to be loved to life? So here — is your invitation to continue the journey from Christmas to the Cross and into abundant life, for the 40 days leading up to Easter: Pilgrimage with Jesus, through the whole of His life, as told in the Gospel of John, and deeply experience the rest of the story of Jesus, experience His signs and wonders, discover the seven I Ams of Jesus and intimately experience the love of Christ. Hang 40 ornaments on an Easter tree, tracing the path from the wood of the manger to the wood of the cross, and finally to the empty tomb, where we experience the rising life, and life to the full!

Discover more of the heart of Jesus each day, and experience these 40 original woodcut illustrations, all available as free, evocative, downloadable ornaments, for your own Easter Tree, that illustrates more of the life of Christ, the rest of His story: His love, His sacrifice, His resurrection — each corresponding to that day’s devotion from Loved to Life.

If you’ve loved the tradition of decorating a Christmas tree with ornaments that beautifully tell the story of how, right from the beginning, all the stories of the Old Testament have been anticipating Jesus’ birth, you’ll cherish celebrating Easter by decorating an Easter tree—a tree that completes the New Testament story of Jesus’ life and His love, sacrifice, and resurrection — to give us life.

These — along with so many other free gifts (!!) are yours, as our sincere thank-you, when you pre-order Loved to Life

Pre-Order Loved to Life & Get All Your Free Thank You Gifts HereThank you JesusFor the First Time Ever: A Free Livestream From our Historic Stone Church, The Village Table: A Conversation with Internationally Esteemed & Beloved Teacher, Jennifer Rothschild! This Tuesday!

Jennifer, featured on The Today Show, Dr. Phil, and Good Morning America, has been a featured speaker for the nation’s largest conference for women, Women of Faith, on the platform with Women of Joy, Lifeway Women Live, and Extraordinary Women and is the author of 20 books and Bible studies with combined sales over one million units, including the latest video-based Bible study, Heaven: When Faith Becomes Sight and the best-selling book, Lessons I Learned in the Dark.

You really want to save your FREE seat here! Jireh | Elevation Worship & Maverick City

You will be playing this one all day

Take minute to slow down & take some time to reflect on 2024 and set some goals for 2025

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. 

You Gotta Save This: About Resolutions When It’s Hard to Keep going (How to Get through 2025)

Right about now is when it starts to get even harder to put one step in front of the other toward those hopes of yours.

Because it’s now the second week of January.

And the research says that “80% of people forget their resolutions by January 12,” and the health app Strava, analyzing more than 98.3 million uploaded data points, even goes far to dub January 19, just around the corner, “Quitter’s Day.”

You don’t have to work to become someone better to get to be loved — you’re already loved, so you get to become the someone you were always made to be.

And sure — there’s a part of you that does really want do that thing in the New Year, who wants to go to bed earlier, pray far more often, get outside and move your body, sort through the closets, tackle the garage, the piles of paperwork, write that book, do that project that you’ve been saying forever that you’re really going to do — that big thing that feels like an impossible thing.

And there’s another very real and honest part of you that really doesn’t want to do any of that at all — for a myriad of very valid and tender reasons.

Wherever you land, it’s true, and deep relief: You’re not under any obligation to prove your worth — you’re under a reign of grace and underneath everything are God’s everlasting arms. You don’t have to work to become someone better to get to be loved — you’re already loved, so you get to become the someone you were always made to be.

You get to do hard and holy things because they are the next thing —- to get to the most fulfilling things.

You get to do hard and holy things — because there’s no other way to get to the happy and holy things.

You know, we wrote it up there on the chalkboard in the kitchen years ago, and we all memorized it, because it’s true, and it’s hard, but there’s a brave hope in it:

Life holds Pain — and you get to choose what kind of pain you hold: either the Pain of Discipline or the Pain of Disappointment.

Life holds Pain — and you get to choose what kind of pain you hold: either the Pain of Discipline or the Pain of Disappointment.

Nothing happens without discipline. No music gets played without discipline. No games get won. No finish lines get crossed. No freedom gets tasted. And you want that freedom. 

And yet honestly? Forget “New year, New resolutions, New you.” What we need more than possessing a bunch of resolutions in hand, is to actually be a person who is resolved.

What you need more than splashy resolutions, is steady rhythms.

Which has me returning again and again this second week of January of that old cahoot who ran in his rubber boots.

Weren’t too many of anybody at all who believed the old guy could at all.

What you need more than splashy resolutions, is steady rhythms.

The kids and I read about the old guy one night after supper years ago as the dishwasher moaned away, crumbs still across the counter.

How the old guy ran for 544 miles — straight. Let that sink in. His name was Cliff Young and he wasn’t that young anymore. He was 61 years old. He was a farmer. Our boys had smiled big.

Mr. Young had showed up for the race in his Osh Kosh overalls and with his workboots on, with galoshes over top. Just in case it rained.

He had no Nike sponsorship.

He had no wife – hadn’t had one ever. Lived with his mother. Never ran in any kind of race before. Never ran a 5 mile race, or a half-marathon, not even a marathon.

But there he was standing in his workboots at the starting line of an ultra-marathon, the most gruelling marathon in the world, a 544 mile marathon.

Try wrapping your head around pounding the concrete with one foot after another for 544 endless, stretching miles. They don’t measure races like that in yards – but in zip codes.

First thing Cliff did was take out his teeth. Said his false teeth rattled when he ran.

Said he grew up on a farm with sheep and no four wheelers, no horses, so the only way to round up sheep was on the run. Sometimes the best training for the really big things is just the everyday things.

 Sometimes the best training for the really big things is just the everyday things.

That’s what Cliff said: “Whenever the storms would roll in, I’d have to go run and round up the sheep.” 2,000 head of sheep. 2,000 acres of land.

“Sometimes I’d have to run those sheep for two or three days. I can run this race; it’s only two more days. Five days. I’ve run sheep for three.”

“Got any backers?” Reporters had shoved their microphones around old Cliff like a spike belt.

“No….” Cliff slipped his hands into his overall pockets.

“Then you can’t run.”

Cliff looked down at his boots. Does man need backers or does a man need to believe? What you believe— is what is actually backing you.

The other runners, all under a buffed 30 years of age, they take off like pumped shots from that starting line. And scruffy old Cliff staggers forward.

He doesn’t run. He shuffles, more like it. Straight back. Arms dangling. Feet awkwardly shuffling along.

Cliff eats dust. For 18 hours, the racers blow down the road, far down the road, and old Cliff just shuffles on behind.

What you believe— is what is actually backing you.

Come the pitch black of night, the runners in their $400 ergonomic Nikes and Adidas, lay down by the roadside to sleep, because that was the conventional plan to win an ultra-marathon, to run 544 straight miles: 18 hours of running, 6 hours of sleeping, rinse and repeat for 5 days, 6 days, 7 days.

The dark falls in. Runners sleep. Cameras get turned off. Reporters go to bed.

And yet — through the black night, one 61-year-old man, far, far behind the others, keeps shuffling on, one foot in front of the other.

Cliff Young ran on through the night –and you better believe it: There is a Light that shines in the darkness, and the darkness does not master it and the dark of discouragement that threatens doesn’t master the blazing light of Jesus at the center, the night of impossible that plunges you deep into hopelessness doesn’t go deeper than the love of your Jesus already for you, and there is no place His light won’t go to find you, to save you, to hold you.

Darkness can never travel as fast as Light. No matter how bad things get, no matter how black the dark seeps in, no matter the depths of the night — the dark can never travel as fast as Light. The Light is always there first, waiting to shatter the dark.

You can always hold His Word like a ball of light right there your hand, right up there next to your warming heart and you can always count on it: Jesus is bendable Light, warmth around every unexpected corner.

The darkness doesn’t understand the light, doesn’t comprehend the light, doesn’t get the light, doesn’t overcome the light, doesn’t master the light.

Cliff Young runs on through the dark — because he didn’t know you were supposed to stop.

He had no idea that the accepted way professional runners approached an ultra-marathon race was to run 18 hours, sleep 6, for 7 days straight. But Cliff Young didn’t know that. He didn’t know the accepted way. He only knew what he did regularly back home, the way he had always done it: You run on through the dark.

The race isn’t won by the big resolutions, but by the slow and steady rhythms. A steady rhythm outruns all the splashy resolutions.

Turns out that when Cliff Young said he gathered sheep around his farm for three days, he meant he’d run across 2,000 acres of farmland for three days straight without stopping or sleeping, without the dark ever stopping him. You gathered sheep by running through the dark.

So along the endless stretches of highway, a tiny shadow of an old man shuffled along, one foot after another, right through the heat, right through the night. Cliff gained ground.

Cliff gained ground because he didn’t lose ground to the dark. Cliff gained ground because he just kept on pressing through the dark.

And somewhere at the outset of the night, Cliff Young in his overalls, he shuffled passed the toned runners half his age. And by the morning light, teethless Cliff Young who wasn’t really quite that young at all, he was a tiny shadow — far, far ahead of the professional athletes.

For five days and fifteen hours, and four minutes straight, Cliff Young ran, never once stopping for the dark – never stopping until the old sheep farmer crossed the finish line – First. He crossed the finish line first.

Beating a world record.

By two. whole. days.

The second place runner crossed the finish line 9 hours after Cliff Young and that steady slow shuffle of his.

Cliff Young

The enduring shuffle of doing the next hard and holy and small thing — will win everything in the end.

That shuffle of Cliff Young would become known worldwide in running circles as the “Cliff Young Shuffle” — or the “Ultra Shuffle,” the unconventional way you run an ultra-marathon. A way of moving that can keep on going and going, a way of running that doesn’t over-expend energy, “that allowed runners to maintain a steady pace for long distances without exhausting their leg muscles.”

How do you do the Young Shuffle? After analyzing Cliff Young’s unconventional shuffle that won ultra-marathons of hundreds of miles, running experts concluded: “To do the Young Shuffle, you maintain a relaxed posture, keep your knees low, and shuffle your feet along the ground in a smooth, gliding motion. It’s less about speed and more about efficiency and endurance.”

The point is: The race isn’t won by the big resolutions, but by the slow and steady rhythms. A steady rhythm outruns all the splashy resolutions.

If you don’t overstride – you can overcome.

The same sure and steady rhythms, day in and day out – the making of the bed, followed by the opening of the Word, followed by the journaling of the heart, followed by the moving of the body — just this enduring shuffle of doing the next hard and holy and small thing — will win everything in the end.

Habit stacking — a daily rhythm of one small thing that always follows the next small thing — is it’s own kind of ultra-shuffle that wins the race.

The Young Shuffle is proof : If you don’t overstride – you can overcome.

Because: Resolutions won’t get you out of January — only a sacred, steady rhythm of grace can go the distance.

If we need to be more resolved then we need resolutions, the greatest resolve is to be re-solved and solved again by the only solution to every problem: grace.

Grace to get up again. Grace to begin again. Grace to run through the dark again, grace to stack the habits again, grace to still be accepted and loved again and again and again, grace to still just keep shuffling on, held by Love Himself who promises to carry you the whole way through.

When they handed old Cliff Young his $10,000 prize , he said he hadn’t known there was a prize. Said he’d just run for the wonder of it. Said that all the other runners had worked hard too. So Cliff Young waited at the finish line and handed each of the runners an equal share of the 10K.

While others run fast, you can just shuffle forward with perseverance.
While others impress, you can simply press on.
While others stop for the dark, you can keep on running through the dark.

And then the old cahoot in boots walked a way without a penny for the race — but with all the hearts of whole world.

While others run fast, you can just shuffle forward with perseverance.
While others impress, you can simply press on.
While others stop for the dark, you can keep on running through the dark.

The race is always won by those who have a steady rhythm that keeps running on through the dark.

Could be the year to pull a Cliff Young. 

When those reporters asked Old Cliff that afterward, what had kept him running through the nights, Cliff had said, “I imagined I was outrunning a storm to gather up my sheep.”

And in the early January that carry all kinds of challenging dark, there’s a way to rest easy, while easily moving forward.

Because right beside you is One who mastered the dark and overcame the storm to gather every single one of His sheep and now there is a Light Who shines in the darkness and there isn’t a darkness in the world that can ever overcome it.

And you can keep in step with Him, when you simply keep this steady rhythm of the pace of grace.

This May be The Year to Pull A Cliff Young Shuffle & purpose to:

… just for example — you can fill in each of these 12 prompts, just one for each month of 2025, however you are led of the Lord, so write down what works for you, such as:

January: Embrace: Imperfect.

This is The Year to be held by the arms of grace, not to any standard of perfection.

February: Engage: Silence — not screens.

This is The Year to engage silences regularly & retreat to the “back side of the wilderness.” Because when you do not need to be seen or heard — you can see and hear in desperately needed ways.

You find your true self when you look for your reflection in the eyes of souls — and not the glare of screens.

March: Be: still.

Be small. Be Loved. Beloved .

Let yourself be loved anyway He wants to love you. God is always, always good & you are always, always, always. loved.

Be still …. & know.

April: Believe: in Him for imposs-ABLE things.

Believe in Him who makes the ridiculously impossible into the miraculously possible,
the unbelievable into the you-better-believe-it,
the never into the now.
Be the brave people who pray it bold in the space between the end of one year & the beginning of a New Year: BUT GOD.

“Ours is the God who whispers: “With Me nothing, Nothing, NOTHING is impossible.“
Believe in Him for impossABLE things — because as long Emmanuel, God is with us & we are with God: nothing is impossible.

Believe in Him for improbable, implausible, impractical, impossABLE things.

May: Break: idols — or they will break you.

Break free, break out of ruts, break idols — or they will break you.

June: Daily: 3 for 10:

These 3 for 10 everyday: Word In. Work Out. Work Plan.
It’s not what you do every now and then, but what you do everyday, that changes everything.

Word in: Get into God’s Word for 10 minutes and let it get into you.
Work out: Work out. Even 10 minutes of moving is better than nothing.
Work plan: Write out the Work Plan — even just 3 things. And then just start: 10 minutes working the plan.

July: Do: Less. Pray More.

More than your doing hands, God wants your bended knees.

August: Let Go: of the Outcome.

Come completely committed to the process — and completely let go of the outcome.
In the middle of things seemingly not working out for us —- God is working out something in us.

September: Learn: Endurance.

Endure to do Hard & Holy Things. Break the idols of ease — or they will break you.

October: Live: Given.

Because #LoveGives.
Because God so loved He gave.
Because Living is Giving.

November: Give:

It
Forward
Today — 3 times a day.
Give It Forward Today & be the #GIFT — give an act of grace forward, 3 times a day. Be a #GIFTivst
It’s the Giftivists are the activists who believe that radical acts of generosity counter radical acts of inhumanity. #GIFTivst

December: Grow: Brave. Grow in Grace

Grow Brave. Grow in Grace. Which is basically the same thing.

Sooooo…. maybe take some time to pray and write down how the Lord is speaking to you about your 2025 — then slip the SOULutions into a frame or hang somewhere, to bring you back, again and again, to your Cliff Young Shuffle Year of just moving forward with grace.

Resolutions won’t get you out of January — only a sacred, steady rhythm of grace can go the distance.

Just: If we need to be more resolved then we need resolutions, the greatest resolve is to be re-solved and solved again by the only solution to every problem: grace.

 Simply click here for all of these free printables for 2025, plus a whole library of free tools For Your Soul Care:

Beginning the Year Knowing How to Hear God Whispers: Hearing His Voice in the Noise

God whispers His love into the most unexpected moments. Today, my friend Asheritah Ciuciu shares a story that will stir your heart to lean in and listen. As a Romanian missionary kid, Asheritah’s life is a testimony of God’s gentle guidance. May her words inspire you to notice His whispers in your own life. It is my absolute delight to welcome Asheritah to the farm’s table today…

Guest Post by Asheritah Ciuciu

“Go, talk to the lady at the counter.”

The whisper took my mom aback. She looked around the airport, taking in the empty chairs as tourists rushed out the revolving doors to glimpse the Acropolis and taste baklava.

She wouldn’t get to experience Athens because the lady at the counter was filling out her repatriation forms that very moment, sending her back to Romania. The secret police would be waiting at the gate to arrest her and sentence her to a life in prison—all because she followed Jesus and invited others to follow Him too.

“Tell her your story,” the whisper repeated. “I will give you the words.”

She rubbed her swollen belly, worry filling her heart. She would never see her baby girl if they sent her back; the communist prison guards would place her child in an orphanage. She’d never again see her husband and toddler son, hiding at that very moment, hoping she would make a way for their escape to Athens. She’d probably die in the frozen trenches of the Danube River, forced to work until her body gave out.

“Go, talk to her,” the whisper insisted. “Tell her your story.”

With a racing heart and shallow breaths, my mother obeyed the whisper.

“I don’t even speak Greek,” she whispered, hauling herself to her swollen feet.

“Tell her your story,” the whisper repeated. “I will give you the words.”

She stepped up to the counter.

Stories like this seem ripped from the pages of a novel, but all around the world, God’s Spirit still moves His people in ways that seem fantastical to our twenty-first-century sensibilities.

“The problem is not that God doesn’t speak to us. More likely, the problem is that we don’t stop to listen to His voice.“

Yet our own lives seem oddly bereft of such miraculous encounters with the Lord. Or are they?

The problem is not that God doesn’t speak to us. More likely, the problem is that we don’t stop to listen to His voice.

If you’ve ever felt the tension of wanting to talk to God and hear His voice but not being able to hear yourself think (let alone hear God speak!), please know that you’re not alone.

There are valid reasons we struggle to pray, but there’s one compelling reason to pray anyway: Jesus stands ready to help us.

My prayer life radically changed the moment I realized that Jesus is actually praying for me.

Hebrews 7:25 reads: “Therefore, he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, since he always lives to intercede for them” (CSB).

“If you could overhear Jesus praying for you in the other room, what would He be praying for you?“

This intercession isn’t limited to salvation; it continues through Jesus’ ministry of prayer by His Spirit: “And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because he intercedes for the saints according to the will of God” (Romans 8:27, CSB).

Pause to ponder that for a moment: If you could overhear Jesus praying for you in the other room, what would He be praying for you?

As we learn to sit with Jesus as He prays for us through His Spirit, we’ll begin to hear His still, small voice in the quiet. And the more often we hear His voice in the quiet, the more we learn to recognize His voice in the noise.

Just as I can pick up the timbre of my husband’s laugh or storytelling across a crowded room, we’ll learn to discern the whisper of our Good Shepherd in the noisiness of daily life.

Returning to the Athens airport . . .

My mother trusted the whisper even though she didn’t trust the lady at the counter.

She showed the woman a black-and-white photo of the husband and child she’d left behind, and in her broken English and French pieced together why she was fleeing communist Romania. A life of forced labor awaited her simply because she followed Jesus and invited others to follow Him too.

And that December day in 1987, a miracle happened in a small cubicle in the Athens airport. The hard heart of this airline employee softened as she leaned in. “Tell me more,” she said.

Twenty-one years later, my mother took me back to Athens to meet that same woman—Fanny—whose name I carry as my middle name. We walked the halls of the crisis pregnancy center that housed my mother in the weeks leading up to her labor, and we sat in the sacred space where a scared twenty-one-year-old pregnant girl listened to a still, small voice.

“The One who hears the cries of a lonely girl far from home. The One who softens the heart of a tired, overworked airline employee. The One who whispers into the chaos of an international airport to save a life. This is our God. “

The three of us sat around Fanny’s dining room table, enjoying an authentic Greek meal.

“I wasn’t even supposed to be there,” Fanny told me as she dished out homemade eggplant papoutsakia. “My shift had ended an hour before, so imagine how annoyed I was when my supervisor gave me extra paperwork to extradite this pregnant foreigner to her homeland.”

“But God kept you there,” my mom said, filling up the water glasses. “For me. For us.”

Fanny laughed as she put her arm around my mother. “No one else in that airport knew the people I knew and could call in the favors that I called. And that—” she said, locking eyes with me, “is how your mother came to live here for a year. That is how you were born here.”

Sitting at that table with Fanny and my mother, I felt overwhelmed by the power and tender love of God.

The One who hears the cries of a lonely girl far from home. The One who softens the heart of a tired, overworked airline employee. The One who whispers into the chaos of an international airport to save a life.

This is our God.

The One who delights in you and longs for you to hear His tender whispers guiding you in the way you should go.

In Delighting in Jesus, Bible teacher Asheritah Ciuciu invites you to lift your gaze from your to-do list and get to know the One who spun the stars and knows you by name. You’re invited to rediscover joy and hear God’s gentle whispers in the midst of life’s noise. Through simple yet profound rhythms, this book offers a path back to peace and delight in Him.

Discover the theological foundation for how we were Created for Delight. You’ll see that throughout Scripture, joy originates from God, pulses at the heart of the gospel, and is promised to us as fruit from God’s Spirit.

Want to experience this joy in community? Join the free Delighting in Jesus Online Book Club and connect with women seeking to hear God’s voice together. Sign up today at https://www.delightinginjesus.com/. 

{Our humble thanks to Moody Publishers for their partnership in today’s devotional.}