Ann Voskamp's Blog, page 28

Even the Worst of Us Gets an Invitation

Bible teacher Kat Armstrong is back to spark your holy curiosity. Instead of zooming in on one verse she guides us through the storylines and themes of scripture to see how the Bible is a literary masterpiece. Strengthen your faith through story today. It’s a grace to welcome Kat back to the farm’s table today…

Guest Post by Kat Armstrong

My husband, Aaron, sold cars right out of college and into the early years of our marriage. We don’t miss the late nights on the car lot or the ups and downs of commission-based living, but we sure do miss the demo cars––nicest rides of our lives.

When we’d tell our friends and family what we were up to, we got a lot of confused looks in response to Aaron’s profession. Sometimes we could tell that people were trying to fix their faces so their disapproval wouldn’t show. Because people in the car industry couldn’t be trusted.

The car industry looks different twenty years later, but people often still stereotype those who work in the car industry as untrustworthy. We might feel the same way about politicians and attorneys. And yes, like all industries, these professions could use some reforms.

I don’t want to diminish those issues. But sometimes a person’s job title overshadows their humanness.

Instead of a job being what someone “does,” the caricature of their position defines who they are.

In the first century, tax collectors fell into dehumanizing stereotypes too.

Here’s what we know about tax collectors during the time of the New Testament from Jeffrey E. Miller’s entry “Tax Collector” in The Lexham Bible Dictionary (2016):

If you need a redo, a total overhaul of your life, you’re in good company.

Tax collectors were “someone responsible for collecting taxes and tolls on behalf of the Roman government.”“Tax collectors earned a profit by demanding a higher tax from the people than they had prepaid to the Roman government. This system led to widespread greed and corruption. The tax-collecting profession was saturated with unscrupulous people who overtaxed others to maximize their personal gain.”“Since the Jews considered themselves victims of Roman oppression, Jewish tax collectors who overtaxed their fellow countrymen were especially despised. Jews viewed such favor for Rome as betrayal and equal to treason against God. Rabbinic sources consistently align Jewish tax collectors with robbers.”“The Jews hated paying taxes to the emperor and harbored a deep resentment for those who collected taxes from them.”

In Jesus’ time, tax collectors were hated, judged, and considered traitors. They were least liked by the religious elite and were considered unclean and unrighteous sinners. That’s why Jesus’ invitation to Matthew—to join Jesus’ inner circle as a disciple—is so astonishing.

Matthew, a tax collector, was minding his business when Jesus approached, invited him to follow Jesus, and welcomed him as a disciple. Matthew was a man who likely carried a lot of shame and experienced a lot of rejection because of his job. And yet, he ended up leaving behind the security of extortion and taxation to start a new life.

Even the worst of us get invitations to follow Jesus. The only question is whether we will say yes.

If you need a redo, a total overhaul of your life, you’re in good company.

Even the worst of us get invitations to follow Jesus. The only question is whether we will say yes.

When Matthew heard Jesus’ call to join his mission, he stood up and moved toward Christ. He not only stood up for Christ—he stood up for himself, perhaps for the first time taking faithful steps to move forward in his life. For too long, he’d settled for advancing the cause of Rome. Not anymore.

Matthew left his post to be near his Savior.

His past informed but did not define his future. It’s the same for us.

Soon enough, Matthew would witness the taxing sacrifice Jesus was willing to make to pay off all our debts. Jesus would offer his own life to save ours.

Matthew left the tollbooth with the One who could pay all the tolls and destroy all the booths. Jesus, the only person not taxed by corrupt powers, chose to pay the full and ultimate price for our salvation.

Matthew’s life was never the same after he chose to leave his tollbooth and follow Jesus. But there’s also something that never changed about Matthew. He never dropped the title “tax collector.”

In his own Gospel account, Matthew refers to himself as “Matthew the tax collector” even after coming to faith in Christ (Matthew 10:3). His new identity was in Christ, but I’m curious if Matthew considered his previous profession a part of himself. Not the whole. Not his identity. But a part of his past that he embraced without shame.

He’d been forgiven and welcomed into Jesus’ inner circle, befriended, and loved unconditionally by his Savior. Matthew was secure in his new identity as a child of God, and his role in life was simply a part of his life.

His past informed but did not define his future. It’s the same for us.

God defines our identity, not what we do or what we’ve done.

There is always time to put your faith back together. The Storyline Bible Studies follow a person, place, or thing to thematically guide you to a cohesive understanding of the Bible. In Sinners, we encounter God’s compassion and witness the counterintuitive ways he uses “sinful” people to achieve righteousness outcomes. Each Storyline study is five weeks and pairs with its thematic partner. Get free guides for small groups or teaching and watch Kat talk about each study at The Storyline Project.

Kat Armstrong is a sought-after Bible teacher and innovative ministry leader. She holds a master’s degree from Dallas Theological Seminary and is the author of multiple books including the Storyline Bible Studies. She is the cofounder of the Polished Network, and you can connect with her on your social media of choice.

[ Our humble thanks to NavPress for their partnership in today’s devotional. ]

How Do You navigate Change & Transitions

When our farm girl, our sixth, packs her bags to leave just past midnight, none of us say it, but we all know: this is a bit of a dry run for what’s actually coming.

What no one tells you as you become a mother, that as the labor never ends, neither do the transitions. Changes are rapid & the intensity unexpected & you have to remember to breathe.  

This time, she’s catching a red-eye flight to Nicaragua to work alongside the local church for the next week.

But come the end of month, she’ll packs her bags for the last time, to catch her dad and I waving in her rearview mirror as she turns at the end of the farm laneway and heads off to university for the next four years. Sure, we know, she’ll be come home to visit…  

But when a child moves away from home only to return a visitor, there’s a missing ache that comes home to roost much like a permanent guest in a parents’ emptying nest.  

I help her pack dresses for Nicaraguan church and she asks me if she can borrow a belt for her pants and if I think this white-T goes right with a sunny bright gingham, and how did we get here so fast?  

She will be our sixth to take wing. 

At first, there was the just wave of kids off to university, then there were vows and wedding aisles, and then came house warming gifts and permanently empty rooms here, and now I bravely laugh that we need an old house like an accordion: expanding in celebration when they all come home, contracting in a chorus of comfort  when they all depart and we feel the ache again.

When I first became a mother — the very last part of active labor, with all of the contractions, was the most intense and painful — the stage referred to as transition.  

Come September, we will contract from a rowdy family of 9 about splitting this old farmhouse at the seams,  and transition down to a wee family of 3, with only one little 9-year-old daughter kissing us good night and crawling into bed here under our roof.

“Through every transition, your work is to find a position that lets you hold  interior calm and stillness.“

I remember reading, as a first time mother,  preparing to labor and deliver  how “for many women, the transition phase is the most challenging part of labour, as the rapid changes and intensity of labour at this time, leave not much relief from pain and discomfort between contractions. This can make it very difficult to remain calm and focused.”

What no one tells you as you become a mother, that as the labor never ends, neither do the transitions.

Changes are rapid and the intensity unexpected and you have to remember to breathe.

When she hauls her carryon up the stairs just before midnight, I ask her if she has her passport tucked away safe, and if she has a sweater for the plane, and she has a grin and a hug for me and she’s tucked perfectly safe in my arms now for 18 years and here we are holding on and letting go and this is the only way we can carry on.

Through every transition, your work is to find a position that lets you hold  interior calm and stillness.

I stood long at the window staring out into the dark after she was gone.

Michael Guerra

“The way you win the race, is to know when to transition to stillness. In the whirl of change: The posture of interior stillness is a posture of strength.“

I’d watched it just the week before, an Italian bicyclist, Michael Guerra, while pedalling down a hill, calmly, mid-race, unclip his shoes from his pedals, and move himself into a horizontal, planking position, feet now still and straight out behind him, like the stillness of a soaring wing.  

From whatever the the posture on the seat, to whatever the strategy of shifting gears, physics in cycling can determine a win or a loss. While other cyclists madly expended energy and pedal wildly on, Guerra transitioned to the stillness of a stretched out posture of surrender — and that position of stillness turns out to be far more aerodynamic.  And Guerra ends up surpassing furiously pedalling cyclist after cyclist. While Guerra’s upper body and arms are in similar positions as that of other cyclists, it’s the fact that the pedalling cyclists cannot create more energy than the drag of their legs…  But Guerra knew how, at just the right time:  

Moving to stillness, finding a position of surrender — erases all drag and resistance.  

“Interior stillness means you’ve stopped resisting transition, but are insisting on transformation. “

It’s counter-intuitive and paradoxical, but fighting forward, pedalling hard, pushing furiously — can actually be creating drag and resistance.

When the race shifts, and the pace picks up going downhill — transitioning to stillness is the most efficient way to win.

 The way you win the race, is to know when to transition to stillness.

Yet not to be fooled: Guerra’s posture of stillness, planking horizontally over the seat of his bike, is no easy, amateur position to maintain, but takes discipline, muscle, fortitude, focus and practice.

In the whirl of change: The posture of interior stillness is a posture of strength.

When you still… God moves  painful transitions into personal transformation.

Interior stillness takes great interior strength — but gives you great strength for your exterior world.  Your exterior strength is in your interior stillness.

Because when you are still in your soul, you are in a posture of surrender to receive the power of God in your life.  Interior stillness means you’ve stopped resisting transition, but are insisting on transformation.

When you still… God moves  painful transitions into personal transformation.

The centre of the hurricane is still always still. Through every transition, if you stay centred on what is central, you can still stay steady and strong.

I listened to a man last week talk about finding his way through a completely disorienting, upending life transition and he said the only way through was to stay in the eye of the hurricane.

It’s true, and you can feel it: The centre of the hurricane is still always still.

Through every transition, if you stay centred on what is central, you can still stay steady and strong.  There is a centre that is the unmoveable core of the cosmos:  “Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret…” Ps. 37:7

I do not want to count how many days there will still be left in August, after our farm girl returns from Nicaragua, or how many days are still left before she packs up for university, carrying that last box out the door. 

I don’t want to focus on what’s shifting and changing and slipping away forever.  After more than two and a half decades of mothering, I still feel it— how these very last parts of active labor can be the most intense and painfully bittersweet — all these stages of transition.

“You will handle change as well as you’re still rooted in an unchanging centre. “

And, like labor, the way to transition and deliver, is to surrender to whatever comes.

And the life-transitions keep coming, and I keep trying to remember to breathe with just that one line:

You will handle change as well as you’re still rooted in an unchanging centre. 

How do you navigate changes and find the way through transitions…. and lean into the life you’ve always dreamed of — and trust that it’s not too late?

How do actually practically find way to still…. to live out a life of interior stillness in the midst of change and whirling storms —and stay centered on what is central to be steadied and strong?

What does it personally look like to form your mind, your days, your life, into the deeply meaningful, cruciform love of Jesus and let God love you in the ways He deems good and best?

What does it powerfully look like to have a new way of life, a new way of being that rests fully in the hesed lovingkind ways of God — especially now?

The practical tool to begin true life-transformation for a different way of life start here: WayMaker

How (Your) Simple Kindness Is Part Of Saving The World

I’ve always appreciated the authenticity of Anne Graham Lotz and Rachel-Ruth Lotz Wright, whether they are writing about their family, their spiritual lives, or their own struggles. Today this mother-daughter pair urge us toward kindness—kindness beyond fear or anger or hurt. Most of all, kindness in each other’s weaknesses, kindness in a messy, muddled world. It’s a grace to welcome Anne and Rachel-Ruth back to the farm’s table today…

Guest Post by Anne Graham Lotz and Rachel-Ruth Lotz Wright

You may have heard of Corrie ten Boom, who, along with her sister, Betsie, was arrested for hiding Jews during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands.

When the sisters were taken to the Ravensbrück concentration camp, Corrie was able to smuggle in a small bottle of vitamin drops. Knowing that they would be malnourished from the small “meals” the guards gave them, Corrie and Betsie put a drop of vitamins on their piece of bread each day. The other women around them were growing weak, so out of kindness the sisters began to share their drops with others, even though they knew that their small bottle would not last long.

More and more women came for drops, and yet the bottle never ran out!

God supernaturally supplied them with vitamin drops for everyone as long as needed.

What do we learn from that story?

We should never withhold kindness from others, even if it looks like we will lose out. 

We should never withhold kindness from others, even if it looks like we will lose out. 

Consider what Jesus told His disciples: “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all” (Mark 9:35). I don’t know about you, but I struggle to live this out consistently. I strive but fall short so many times.

I’ve often come to the end of the day and realize there were many moments when I could have served someone with kindness even in the simplest ways and yet I didn’t. 

My brother Jonathan has been a great example to me.

In the months after I had two heart attacks, he came to my house on multiple occasions to sit with me so that I would not be alone. Sometimes he’d show up with lunch or a chai latte without me even asking for it. 

I remember one day, I just couldn’t seem to get warm. I got up to get something and when I came back, Jonathan was standing in front of the fireplace holding my blanket up so that the fire would warm it! When I sat down, he brought it over to me and laid it on my lap! I was in tears at his kindness. 

Jesus is higher than any ruler or principality. And yet this divine, all-powerful King got on His knees and washed His disciples’ dirty, grimy, stinky feet!

Jonathan has plunged my toilets, scrubbed my floors, changed my light bulbs, and even brought a weather strip for my drafty front door and applied it without being asked. I’ve never met anyone who enjoys serving more than Jonathan, and who does it with such humility. There is never a job too big or too menial for him. He continually anticipates how he can be kind to others, including strangers. 

As we were growing up, my dad repeatedly emphasized that our lives are never about “us.” We need to be others-focused. He frequently quoted Matthew 20:28 to us: “Jesus did not come to be served, but to serve.”

Jesus…who created the universe, put the planets in place, knows all the stars by name, created every cell in our complex bodies, knows our every thought before we think it, determines the times and the seasons…Jesus is higher than any ruler or principality. And yet this divine, all-powerful King got on His knees and washed His disciples’ dirty, grimy, stinky feet!

Jesus told His disciples, “I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you” (John 13:15).

How can any of us think we are too educated, too important, too clean, too “above” serving, if that’s what Jesus did?

We are to value others above ourselves, having “the same mindset as Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5).

When Jesus returns, will He find you doing whatever needs to be done, regardless of your position or what the task is? 

In these last days, the enemy is on a mission to discourage and defeat us as never before. He can do it in subtle ways, causing little irritations that wear us down until we are short-tempered, impatient, and unkind.

While writing this I feel the Holy Spirit convicting me of a pattern of unkindness with someone who has hurt me deeply in the past.

Somehow in my mind, I’ve justified my lack of warmth because of the deep wounds I’ve suffered. I’ve told the Lord multiple times, “She doesn’t deserve it.” But I also have told Him I am sorry and I’ve asked Him to please help me be kind to those whom I sometimes feel deserve a good smack!

I am convicted about my less-than-kind perspective as I consider how, in His kindness, Jesus has saved me by His grace, redeemed me by His own blood, and will one day return to take me to His heavenly home! 

As things deteriorate around the world economically and in other ways, we will have more and more opportunities to share God’s kindness with those around us.

Has God blessed you with finances? Give!

Do you know someone who is sick? Make a meal for them.

Is someone you know in tough circumstances? Send them an encouraging text or offer the gift of your time. Have a boss or coworker or family member yelled at you? Respond with patience and look for a way you can bless them. 

Carefully consider your interactions each day, with your family and friends, with your coworkers, with your neighbors, with the checkout cashier and your fellow drivers. How can you interact with kindness to each one?

When Jesus returns, will He find you doing whatever needs to be done, regardless of your position or what the task is? 

 On this day, identify a specific situation in which you can serve someone else with kindness, especially someone who has not shown kindness or a servant’s heart toward you. Then do it!

Anne Graham Lotz—called “the best preacher in the family” by her father, Billy Graham—is an international speaker and the bestselling and award-winning author of numerous books, including Jesus in Me and The Light of His Presence. Anne is the president of AnGeL Ministries in Raleigh, North Carolina, and the former chairperson for the National Day of Prayer.  

Rachel-Ruth Lotz Wright, Anne’s daughter, serves on the board of directors for AnGeL Ministries and teaches a weekly, international, online Bible study to thousands of people in addition to chairing the prayer team that undergirds her mother’s ministry. Rachel-Ruth and her husband, Steven, live in Raleigh, North Carolina, with their three daughters. 

Their latest book, Preparing to Meet Jesus, is an incredible 21-day challenge to move from salvation to true TRANSFORMATION! A powerful read, based on the 21 characteristics of the life of Rebekah, that the Father desires to be found in the Bride of His Son. Useing each of these characteristics as the basis for a twenty one-day challenge, with prompts for reflection and prayer, to prepare you for the critical moment of the “first look,” so that you are transformed into a beautiful “Bride who has made Herself ready” (Revelation 19:7).

[ Our humble thanks to Multnomah for their partnership in today’s devotional. ]

Only the Good Stuff: Multivitamins For Your Weekend [8.5.2023]

Happy, happy, happy weekend!
Come along with us here because who doesn’t need a bit of good news?

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:

Lucy Hunter – Photographer Lucy Hunter – Photographer Lucy Hunter – Photographer Lucy Hunter – Photographer Lucy Hunter – Photographer

Join us for a stroll through the countryside?

–glimpsing God… you’ve got to read this this one … so good for the soul–

“… we all need our own secret garden” …. Deeply inspiring

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Turning a dead tree into a small, free library? this is the stuff of happy dreams!

To help you stop diminishing your dreams and start dreaming with God again

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Astrophysicist figured this out — while studying the Bible

Needed these words this week, you too?

“You are more than able
Who am I to deny what the Lord can do“

Last Day for Lowest Prices!!
Christmas in July at The Keeping Company!

Above: Autumnal Greeting Cards

Bread of Life Bread Board

Clinging Cross for keeping in your pocket or on your desk–clinging to Him in all things

Beeswax Advent Numbered Candle
Order for your Advent needs now and get them on sale–like this numbered advent candle, the cradle to cross advent wreath, and many more!

Gratitudes & Beatitudes Year-Long Journal
& on a sale you can’t beat!

You know how much we love The Keeping Company.
Handcrafted, thoughtful, heirloom goods that point to Christ.

Today is the LAST DAY of the Christmas in July Sale.
Find the lowest prices of the year on the entire collection only until MIDNIGHT TONIGHT at The Keeping Company.

Take a look & Order All Your Beautiful, Handcrafted Goods Here

Rising power of Jesus in Hollywood? Very thought-provoking

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Ahh, these words. So soul good

This farmer’s big 50th wedding anniversary surprise for his wife! What a love!

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Well this is just way too fun!

Does God want you to be happy? A real (good) must read.

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A post shared by Kristine Koroleva (@tsarevich.golden.retrievers)

Oh this is just a good for the heart.

–  How to care for refugees & be the hands and feet of Jesus –

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A post shared by The Shade Post (@houseofculturetv)

These are the best kind of friends.

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< big smiles >

On The Book Stack at the Farm

Read Ashley Morgan Jackson‘s recent guest post Facing God in Our Greatest Fears & Unanswered Questions

Don’t miss Mike Nappa‘s recent guest post We’re Never Really Ready to Lose Someone We Love

– glory, glory, glory –

This song on repeat this week–

“I believe, Every promise that You’ve spoken
I believe, You are faithful every moment
It may look impossible, But You’re the God of miracles”

[from our Facebook community – join us?]

… so, yeah, we may not know how tomorrow’s going to go,
but we could lean on the One who always goes before us & already knows.

And, yeah, we may not have the foggiest idea how we’re going to make it,
but there’s a Hand that reaches through the fog, takes ours & He makes a way —
because that’s His name.
*He is The Way.*

And, honest, though we may be downright weary of the heartbreaks, the headlines, the hard roads,
God cups our faces: He doesn’t demand us to carry the weight of understanding everything —
He only asks we stand close to Him & let Him undertake everything.

God never lays the weight on you to be amazing.
He only invites you into the most profound choice in all the universe:
Rest.

Rest in His strength to do it,
rest in His ways above ours,
rest in Him who is with you, in you & is 100% for you.

Leave all the amazing to Him.

And His Amazing Grace finds us where we are right now and is taking us —
even right now — where we’ve only dreamed.

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. 

Facing God in Our Greatest Fears and Unanswered Questions

You’ve tried it all—saying the right words, praying the right prayers, reading the right Bible verses—and still, nothing seems to be working. You’re tired of trying. What else can you do when your faith doesn’t seem to be “working” anymore? Ashley Morgan Jackson is no stranger to this kind of spiritual exhaustion. Through a long season of enduring mental health struggles  and many hard circumstances, Ashley wrestled with God and the disappointment she felt with Him. Through it all she found that choosing to wrestle isn’t easy or quick—but it does have purpose. Now it is Ashley’s mission to share with others that when we hold on to God through our hardest seasons, we can walk away blessed, maybe not with all we want but with more of Jesus. It’s a grace to welcome Ashley to the farm’s front porch today…

Guest Post by Ashley Morgan Jackson

Anxiety filled my chest on that snowy day in Colorado. I took a deep breath and let out a familiar sigh, but I also felt a small stirring of hope. I was daring to believe that today would be different. It was January 1, and that meant new beginnings and leaving the old behind. 

Life had been so hard and far from perfect, but it seemed to have eased up a bit.

Like every year, I had written out my goals and had chosen one word to focus on. This year it was listen, and I was guardedly excited to see what focusing on that word might reveal to me in the months ahead. I was also determined that this was the year I was going to get in shape, though I sighed at the thought of that too.

If I were honest, it had been the year to get in shape and lose weight every year because I never really got around to doing it.

But I brushed off my doubts and embraced my determination.

Knowing we had no plans for the day, I decided to start the New Year off right with a workout.

Standing in my messy bedroom, I pressed play on the DVD and began working out, feeling so proud of myself for starting off on the right foot. However, when I stepped backward into a lunge, my foot landed on my son’s baby blanket, and I slipped. I fell to the floor and was immediately in excruciating pain. When I looked down at my leg, I saw that my kneecap was dislocated, stuck on the outside of my leg. I screamed in pain.

My husband, Daniel, ran into the room, his eyes wide in panic. 

“Call 911!” I yelled.

Sometimes the most honest prayers we can pray during painful wrestling seasons sound like, “This hurts. I’m tired. Please help.” 

I knew this was bad—really bad.

Daniel made the call, and the paramedics came a few moments later, rushing me to the hospital. I was deeply regretting this workout, not to mention the fact that I was wearing the least presentable pajamas I owned.

It was humiliating as well as painful.

What a start to a new year. I wanted to crumble. 

The next day, I hobbled my way around on crutches with my leg in a brace. I precariously pushed my baby from place to place on a rolling office chair until my parents arrived to help me for the day. After my parents left that evening and Daniel had returned home, I was finally in bed relaxing and decided to write a prayer about how helpless and hopeless I felt: 

Dear Lord, 

I do not understand what is happening, and I am afraid. I can no longer handle this; I feel like I am drowning! Please be for me what I need, do for our family what only you can do. All that I have to give you is a broken heart that does not know where to go from here. You say you are my strength; please be that for me today. 

In Jesus’ name, amen.

I closed my journal and rolled over to get myself out of bed when I suddenly felt a “pop.” A surge of horror rose from the bottom of my gut and out of my mouth, “No, no, no, no!”

My knee was out of its socket again.

I immediately cried out to the Lord for a miracle. Please, Lord, not again. I can’t go through all of this, calling 911, being carried down the stairs in agony, being wheeled into the hospital again. We can’t afford this. Why, Lord? Why?

Each prayer you pray, each tear you shed, each decision you make to hold on by faith when you just want to give up is a precious offering to the Lord. Keep holding on to Him.

Daniel ran into the room and looked as shocked and horrified as I was at what he saw. We both felt paralyzed, and we were waiting, hoping, crying out to the Lord to put my kneecap back where it belonged. But when no miracle intervention materialized, we went through the whole process again.

My word this year is listen, Lord. Well, I’m listening. What, Lord? What? I cannot do this anymore. I do not understand. I give up.

In my spirit, I felt Him ask, “Will you trust me, even when I say no again?”

A knowing came over me.

I was going to have to walk through this hard season I didn’t understand and didn’t want—and I had a choice to make. Would I choose to walk through it with Him or without Him?

I realized I needed a way to hold on and let go at the same time. I needed to hold on to the Lord and to the hope of what He had yet to do but to let go of how I wanted it all to play out. 

Are you in a season that feels hurtful, hard, and heavy?

Sometimes the most honest prayers we can pray during painful wrestling seasons sound like, “This hurts. I’m tired. Please help.” 

When we are struggling, we must choose to enter into the pain with God rather than trying to manage it on our own terms

And God is not indifferent to our tears; He sees and remembers each one. The promise of Scripture is that God has not forgotten us. 

The psalmist affirms God’s attention and tenderness when we are struggling:

You keep track of all my sorrows.
You have collected all my tears in your bottle.
You have recorded each one in your book.
PSALM 56:8,  nlt

When we are struggling, we must choose to enter into the pain with God rather than trying to manage it on our own terms by running away, shutting down, getting angry, or denying the reality of what we’re facing. And those options will always be a temptation when we are just so very tired of trying. 

There’s no doubt that surrender can be scary, and the moment we start taking a step toward it, our minds will begin to doubt and spiral with fears, especially about the ways we have been disappointed in the past.

But holding on to God and letting go of outcomes is an essential part of every wrestle.

Each prayer you pray, each tear you shed, each decision you make to hold on by faith when you just want to give up is a precious offering to the Lord.

Keep holding on to Him.

Ashley Morgan Jackson is an author, speaker, and social media expert. She works full-time for Proverbs 31 Ministries and has ministered to her own online community for ten years. She is passionate about women learning to let go of the lie that they have to perform for God’s love and instead realizing that they can receive His love, just as they are. Ashley is a wife of fourteen years to her wonderful husband, Daniel, and a mom to two growing boys. The family lives in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Ashley’s new book, Tired of Trying: How to Hold On to God When You’re Frustrated, Fed up, and Feeling Forgotten is the guide you need to uncover the blessings that can come from your most difficult seasons. Rich with biblical encouragement, personal story, and practical application, Tired of Trying is an invitation to wrestle―and face God in your greatest fears, pains, and unanswered questions. 

[ Our humble thanks to Tyndale Momentum for their partnership in today’s devotional. ]

We’re Never Really Ready to Lose Someone We Love

When we love deeply, we mourn deeply. When Mike Nappa lost his beloved wife, Amy, to cancer, he had moments where he wondered if he’d ever feel joy or hope again. Thankfully, his friends and family rallied around him and shared Bible verses that became a source of comfort to him in his darkest hours. Today he shares a reflection on one of those verses, Isaiah 60:20, and how it rang true to him on one particularly hard day after his wife’s death. It’s a wild grace to welcome Mike to the farm’s table today…

Guest Post by Mike Nappa

The Lord will be your everlasting light, and your days of sorrow will end. ISAIAH 60:20 NIV 

I’ve discovered that the things you really miss when you lose a loved one are the not-so-obvious ones. 

I mean, of course you miss the obvious things—her touch, her laugh, seeing her smile when you walk into the room, the warmth of her frame pressed into yours, holding her hand, the scent of her life filling your home, the gentle weight of her body sleeping quietly beside you.

But you also miss the unexpected things: 

The joy of anticipating her arrival home. 

The way her spirit filled your house when she was in it. 

The comfort of feeling obligated to someone because you just longed for nothing more than to be obligated to her.

Those little, loving obligations are what I’m missing most right now.

“The Lord will be your everlasting light, and your days of sorrow will end.” Isaiah 60:20

I find when I go somewhere, I want to text and tell her I made it there safely. But there’s no one who cares that I made it to Walmart today. When it’s almost time for dinner, I want to ask her, “What do you want to eat tonight?” But of course, no one cares whether I order Chinese takeout or have cold cereal for dinner.

I want to tell her, “Hey, I made your Academy Awards ballot today!” and, “Let’s take Friday off work and go see that movie you wanted to see” and, “I put gas in your car so you should be fine going to the airport and back on Thursday.”

And I’m realizing that the reason I struggle to write now is because, despite what I pretended, I always wrote for her.

Every book, every article, it always mattered to me because it mattered to her, because she wanted me to do it, because she thought my writing was worth reading. I have no one like that in my life now, no one who makes me want to work so, so hard to delight them with silly words strung in rows on a page. 

I have hope that someday I’ll have hope again. 

This is what I miss right now, the salvation of all those little obligations, the unfiltered joy I felt from just being able to make her happy. That, I’ve learned, is what made me happy, what gave me purpose.

It is tempting to think I will always mourn these little losses, to assume my best days are behind me and that only sorrow awaits in my tomorrows. I have believed that from time to time these past lonely months. 

But today I saw Isaiah 60:20. It felt as if I were reading it for the first time:
The Lord will be your everlasting light, and your days of sorrow will end. 

Did God really say that? Can it be true for a broken thing like me? 

I waited patiently for the Lord to help me, and he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along. PSALM 40:1–2 NLT

It has been hard for me to have any real hope for my future since my wife died. This morning, though, I read a promise of Scripture and almost believed it for myself. That feels new.

Those words from Isaiah have given me something today that seems different than yesterday: 
I have hope that someday I’ll have hope again. 

Hey, it’s a start, right?

Prayer for Today

God, You promised that days of sorrow would end. I know that takes time, but how about if You and I work toward that a little more today? Amen

It is good to wait quietly for deliverance from the Lord. LAMENTATIONS 3:26 HCSB 

I waited patiently for the Lord to help me, and he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along. PSALM 40:1–2 NLT

Mike Nappa is an award-winning, Arab-American author and editor of Christian books and ministry resources. He holds a master’s degree in Bible & Theology. He is a contributing writer for Crosswalk.com, Christianity.com, and Beliefnet.com. Mike served in ministry for years and co-authored a number of books with his wife, Amy, before losing her to cancer in 2016. He resides in Colorado, where he continues to write and comfort those who grieve. Learn more about his book, Reflections for the Grieving Soul at www.GrievingSoul.com

[ Our humble thanks to Zondervan for their partnership in today’s devotional. ]

Only the Good Stuff: Multivitamins For Your Weekend [7.29.2023]

Happy, happy, happy weekend!
Come along with us here because who doesn’t need a bit of good news?

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:

William Patino – Photographer William Patino – Photographer William Patino – Photographer William Patino – Photographer William Patino – Photographer

A saunter through the mountains is just the breath of fresh air I needed

Returning to the Love of the Book … a read not to miss.

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Great reminder to enjoy the little things.

Okay… talk about inspiring. This might just be some goals for us!

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When a 4 year old helps his sister learn how to ride a bike… I want to love like this

“It is here I rest and here I hide 
In the shadow of Shaddai “

How many days can you keep extending the same soup in Brooklyn to keep feeding folks? It’s like Stone Soup revisited! 

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This is just really the best kind of soul food for the weekend

This mailman and the surprise he pulled together for this 2-year-old delivery buddy! It just really says something to go the extra distance. #BeTheGift

They drove 2 days for ketchup chips — but it’s this man’s love for his son that’s worth the read.

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Oh to be greeted like this!

5 abandoned places reclaimed by nature — and when wild beauty takes over structural beauty, it’s really just a stunning sight.

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– Beautiful, isn’t it? –

93 years old and he did WHAT?! You just have to read this!

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Yep, yep, yep!

4000 baptized off a California beach last month, and God is up to something so sweet.

Oh! Isn’t it stunning?! Who wants to come along with us for a little glory soak this weekend?

Post of the Week from these Parts here

So you know the anthem? Well, what our American, Mountain-girl daughter-in-law didn’t know about “amber waves of grain”… until she gets it… what she had no idea about before — an epiphany from my daughter-in-law:

The Farmer’s Almanac for the Soul: How to Prepare to Cultivate the Divine in the Daily

Last Days to Get Free Audio Books

As the month ends, so does the opportunity to get free audio books from Audible — including my books as free audio books!

Free Audible = Get my books for fre e

And so many of our book recommendation posts:

How to Read More, have Daily Reading Retreats & 10 Spiritual Formation Books To Change Your Life

Parenting Hack and 10 Favourite Children’s Books

All of which is the absolute perfect opportunity for you to join us: Only available just till the end of July, Audible is offering a 3 month free trial, for new customers or past customers, and I’m crazy delighted because this means you can get any or all of my books absolutely for free 

You will be able to download one book a month for free, for three months — perfect to reorient and renew this summer!

(And if you decide Audible isn’t for you? You can easily cancel with the click of just one button, but the books are yours for free, forever!)

Our family listens to hundreds of Audible books on the farm every year as we work out in those fields of wheat and sheep , and we truly hope listening to (free!) audio books is as much a life-giving, life-transforming rain of blessing over you, as it daily is to us.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO FREE AUDIOBOOKS AS A FAMILY

Oh this song! Don’t miss this one!

“You call my name when my heart starts to wander
And You shepherd me and lead me to still waters
Let Your spirit fall, I just want more, I just want more
Jesus, be my shalom“

[from our Facebook community – join us?]

Only your Father gets to name you.
Not the father of lies,
not the kids down the street,
not the cynics in the stands,
not the ghosts from the past.

The only One who gets to name you
is the One who wrote you on the palm of His hands.

Give up the shame
and claim your truest name.

You may be hurting,
you may be scarred,
but you are the brave who are still
His Beloved.

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 Farmer’s Almanac for the Soul: How to Prepare To Cultivate the Divine in the Daily

It’s almost harvest time, here on the farm, the Farmer watching the sky, the weather, waiting every day for a dry stretch with no rain, so the wheat might dry down enough to gather in. And seeing our wheat harvest through the eyes of our Mountain Girl, American daughter-in-law? Has been a bit of epiphany for us all. So it’s a wild delight to welcome our oldest son Caleb and his lovely wife Melba, of The Keeping Company, to the farm’s wide front porch today!

Guest post by Caleb and Melba Voskamp of The Keeping Company

It was just a couple of weeks ago when I finally got it. 

I was all of 28 years old when I finally understood “amber waves of grain.” 

As a Colorado mountain girl, I am deeply familiar with “purple mountain’s majesty.” But it took a drive through the rich farmland of my transplant-home to understand the other imagery of the song. 

Just a few days prior, those fields had been lush, dark green in the summer heat. And just a few months prior, they had been tiny, pale green shoots that had somehow weathered the cold, unfriendly Canadian winter. Now, those same fields flowed from citrine to amber to butter-yellow, billowing and rolling like a sea of molten gold.  

But, the story actually begins almost a year ago – 300 days ago, in late September, summer soybeans were harvested and the ground prepped for planting wheat carefully saved from last year’s harvest. The wheat was planted where soybeans had grown because crop rotation minimizes disease and cultivates nutrients and better soil for the crop.

As soon as the soybeans are harvested, every hour matters to then turn around and plant the wheat crop in that same soil. The rule of thumb is every day the planting of the wheat is delayed means a potential 1% decrease in yield. 

So there, in the last week of September, as summer waned and the crispness of early morning fall air hinted at the coming chill of Canadian winter, the Farmer planted field upon field of wheat into soybean stubble. The sprouts shot up, and the hills were colored spring-green, and – honestly? – this mountain girl was confused by how such tiny, delicate sprouts could weather the harsh, gray, winter days and the biting, blinding snow of the Canadian winter.

But, this is what a farmer does.

A farmer carefully chooses seeds, carefully prepares soil, carefully rotates crops, carefully times planting, and carefully tends fields, carefully trusting that God will faithfully protect the tiny shoots and graciously provide a rich harvest many months – even seasons – away.

Reflecting on the Farmer’s journey, I was struck by a connection – God calls us all to be farmers, as demonstrated by the many parables He uses throughout the Bible, likening the Kingdom of Heaven to a field ripe for harvest. Each one of us is tasked with preparing for harvest, nurturing the seeds of faith and goodness in our own lives and the lives of those around us.

The world is often rocky soil, choked by thorns, not predisposed to yield a bountiful harvest. These images are not just a physical reality but a spiritual one. Ever since the fall of man, the words “By the sweat of your brow you will eat your bread” (Genesis 3:19) have become a constant reminder of the toil it takes to cultivate both a physical – and a spiritual –  harvest.

What if we embraced, wholeheartedly, the challenge to nurture faith in a world characterized by strife and discord?

Creating fertile ground for faith is no easy task. It requires thoughtful labor, dedicated patience, careful tending, and the trust that though hardship is assured, God’s goodness will prevail. Whether you are walking this season of life alone, raising a family, an empty nester nurturing hearts through your faith community, or in any other season of life, cultivating a rich environment for faith to grow is a constant and vital calling. 

What if we all cultivated faith-filled traditions that glorify God and invite us to commune with Him daily, traditions that act as fertilizer to enrich the soil of our hearts, homes, and communities, making them conducive to the growth of faith?

What if we embraced, wholeheartedly, the challenge to nurture faith in a world characterized by strife and discord? What if each of us, every individual, every family, and every community had the potential to blossom in faith when provided with the right nurturing environment?

Give Thanks Always Mug The Clinging Cross

Nurturing faith looks different for each of us; some of us are called to the mission field, some of us are missionaries in our own workplace. Some of us nurture families within our own humble homes, and some of us are called to nurture in Christ-focused ways throughout our communities. 

But all of us are called to nurture the seeds of faith, because every seed contains the promise of a beautiful harvest – a harvest not measured in bushels but in the richness of faith-filled lives and the joy that comes from glorifying God.

All of us are called to nurture the seeds of faith, because every seed contains the promise of a beautiful harvest – a harvest not measured in bushels but in the richness of faith-filled lives and the joy that comes from glorifying God.

What might it look like to cultivate a place where faith can flourish in your own lives – to plant, nurture, and celebrate each tendril of hope, turning the rocky soil into a fertile field, ripe for a bountiful spiritual harvest?

What might it mean to prepare – to prepare by cultivating space for faith to grow, to prepare by nurturing faith as it grows, and to prepare in anticipation of the harvest of glory that springs from a faithful life well-lived?

The imagery of preparing seasons in advance for a crop to grow and produce a yield is evident even in the lives of those who are not farmers. So often, all things of beauty, grace, and faith take time, and careful planning and attention. 

When Caleb prepares wooden wreaths for the Advent and Lenten season, he begins the process in the spring, sourcing wood to ensure enough cherry wood can be acquired during the summer months to support the process of creating the wreaths for the Christmas season.

The process takes weeks, even months…once the wood is sourced, it must be treated and prepared, then wreaths are carved, and then they must be sanded and stained before they can be packed. The process begins in the spring and carries on through the summer and early fall, months of planning and preparing to ensure an adequate supply, to prepare for a harvest ultimately shared in December for Advent, and again in the spring for Lent – a harvest that will last for all eternity as we keep company with Christ. 

In the end, we trust God will use our work to reap a harvest of faith and glory, for the good of His own kingdom – and for our own sanctification and growth.

In a similar manner, when I write – whether it is the accompanying Advent and Lenten devotionals, or another project – I know that I am investing in a project that could take months, or even years, to see the light of day. Like the Farmer, I know that in order for my work to provide a rich and bountiful harvest, I must invest a certain amount of time, preparation, and planning.

I learned as a young scholar – perhaps through the influence of C.S.Lewis, who spoke of his own writing in a similar way – that I write best when I can let my writing sit and marinate in my brain, subconsciously, for several months, and then come back to it to polish it. Often I will do weeks of research before even beginning the writing process, taking notes, learning, processing new information and simulating it in different ways, just as a farmer prepares for a crop sometimes even with the choices he makes with the previous plantings. 

Some of my bigger writing projects have been downright painful… But in the end, I trust God will use the writing I share with the world to reap a harvest of faith and glory, for the good of His own kingdom – and for my own sanctification and growth.

Just as a seedling needs daily care to flourish, or as a project needs time, planning, and attention, so too our individual faith needs to be prepared for, cared for, nurtured, and attended to regularly. 

How might it be possible to more deeply care for your faith? How are you setting aside time and space to nurture your own heart and relationship with Christ? How might you do the same to support those you love  – spouse, children, friends, coworkers, faith community – in their own faith?

The spaces we inhabit, the rhythms we work through, and the atmospheres we create in our homes and lives have a profound influence on our mindset and behaviors, and on the lives of those around us. 

Everything we do contributes to the ways we faithfully prepare a space for a relationship with God to grow. 

Just as the Canadian Farmer trusts in God’s provision for a bountiful harvest, we must trust that our work will, in some way, lead to a truly abundant harvest of faith. 

Just as the Farmer trusts that God will reward his hard work, attention to detail, planning, and faithful stewardship, so too must we trust that God will reward all of that in our own lives and walks with Him. 

The wheat harvest is about to begin just this week here on the Voskamp farm. 

And it’s true: all the careful planning, intentional preparation, and prayerful anticipation of  all the ways in which our lives can cultivate the grounds for faith to grow, together, lets harvest the richness of a life spent keeping company with Christ in each and every daily rhythm. 

Wanting to Prepare for a Great Harvest in Your Home this Year?

Want to plan a season or two ahead & prepare like the little Red Hen with her bag of wheat and cultivate a space in your home and heart for a rich crop of God-glorifying traditions?

 Then this just might be for you! All resources at The Keeping Company are 20-50% off today and for the next two weeks! 

Every summer, for Christmas in July, we have our best sale of the year for those planning ahead of the seasonal rush – and for all seasons!  If you are looking for resources designed to encourage you to keep Christ constantly close at hand, keeping close company with Him, look no further.

Plan ahead for all seasons of your life, with meaningful birthday, housewarming, wedding, or anniversary gifts, with these Breadboards, Bracelets, Wooden Hands, Clinging Crosses, and Hewn Crosses – and an especially meaningful Christmas and Easter, counting down the days with this unique candle light, setting out our new hand-carved Wooden Nativity Set, a rare holy-days centerpiece, and reading aloud from the much requested hardcopies of our beautiful Advent and Lenten devotionals: these gorgeous books – a true labor of love accompanied by tears of both conviction and joy –  are designed to guide you and your family through a daily walk with Christ during the preparatory seasons of Advent and Lent. 

This will be our best sale of the year! All of our beautiful, faithfully crafted, family heirlooms are between 20-50% off for the next two weeks, and we are so eager to welcome you to our humble little store. 

Only the Good Stuff: Multivitamins For Your Weekend [7.22.2023]

Happy, happy, happy weekend!
Come along with us here because who doesn’t need a bit of good news?

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:

Lucy – Photographer Lucy – Photographer Lucy – Photographer Lucy – Photographer Lucy – Photographer

A saunter through the mountains is just the breath of fresh air I needed

This amazing woman who has fostered 81 newborns over three decades.
Just wow! #BeTheGift

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The science of gratitude & anxiety — & when science backs up what the Bible has already said? This is just the best!

30 family photos over 30 years — & just to watch your own family age & grow. This is touching, & sobering.

Now this is just fun! Watch 57,000 beluga whales migrate off the coast of Canada.

“Joy comes, tears fall
I’m learning there is beauty in it all…
Oh, God is good“

this teacher’s surprise for her student–#BeTheGift

The extraordinary power of hope and what we all need to learn from 13 year olds!
“Here’s the wild thing about hope: it doesn’t require concrete proof – just belief in what’s
possible.” #WayMaker

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Oh my! This wildly kind man, just out there trying to encourage people who otherwise want to give up. What an inspiring, gift of a man. #BeTheGift

When a brave 11-year-old boy rings a neighbor’s doorbell looking for new friends–and how 70 million have rallied on this boy’s behalf?! Astounding! You just have to read this one!

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– Finding & making beauty in the most unlikely places –

Post of the Week From Around These Parts

In all the aching world, what words can possibly soothe a mess of looming fears?
What lines can untangle a knotted ball of tightening worries?

We’re all facing all kinds of big challenges & hard things.
This is for someone who’s sorta craving real comfort — or to offer some bonafide comfort to people you desperately love:

When You (& Your People) Need Comfort & Courage & a Real Hero for Your Story

To gather courage–a heart read from me to you–for your weekendOne Parenting Hack I Discovered with My 7th Child

So. Our first child was born in the spring of 1995.
And our 7th child was born at the end of summer of 2014…
Which means a few months every year, our 7 children span, from oldest to youngest, across a whole 20 years!

And this parenting hack for our 7th child is a game-changer… that’s changed the days for all of us:

Don’t miss this one glorious, brilliant parenting hack

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– just too sweet –

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If you need a chuckle this weekend… this one’s for you. :)

from Christine Caine on prayer — and anything Chris writes, we sit intentionally and listen…
when someone talks to God as their best friend and without all the church-talk. Now this is just really, really good.

Hoping to make new friends at church? We could all use this refresher sometimes.
A really great, super practical read…

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Ohh this fluff ball! Who wants one?! Do we need one on the farm?!

On The Book Stack at the Farm

Read Alicia Britt Chole‘s recent guest post:
The Night is Not Your Enemy

Read Caleb & Melba Voskamp‘s recent guest post: Want a Uniquely Fresh, New Way to Practically Start a Habit of Gratitude & Transform Your Life?

Glory, glory, glory! Take a moment to breathe this beauty in.

“When my troubles are a little too heavy
Who I can turn to, to share the weight?
Who can I turn to, I turn to You“

[from our Facebook community – join us?]

It’s not that things aren’t going to go sideways,
It’s how you go His ways afterward.

Repentance is rerouting toward Home.
It’s never too late to turn around toward Him and Home.

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. 

One Parenting Hack I Discovered with my 7th Child

Our first child was born in the spring of 1995. And our 7th child was born at the end of summer of 2014, and for a few months every year, our seven children span, from oldest to youngest, across a whole twenty years. 

Our second to last child announced in the kitchen just yesterday morning that she has just over 31 days left with us —  before she packs up her bags and books and heads to university for the first time. When your heart stretches to bring a child into the world, your skin thins, and you feel all the love and loss in the world so much more deeply. 

“Turning pages is turning to meet a good friend.“

Then our girl, she’d grabbed a pen and sat down at the kitchen table and wrote it down: 

31 Memories I Want to Make This Last Summer at Home

And I grinned as she numbered out her list:

Read a book high up in a tree –preferably in bare feetAfternoon bookstore date with MamaRead a book all day at the beach. 

“When reading is  your favorite pastime – you enter into other lives and gain more time.“

She’s not wrong:  Turning pages is turning to meet a good friend. 

She’d looked up at me standing there in the doorway with a cup of coffee:

“You know what, Mom? Some of my very best memories of my whole childhood have been listening to all the stories, reading all the books.”

And I’d nodded smiling. When reading is  your favorite pastime – you enter into other lives and gain more time.

Much has changed in the more than 2 and a half decades since our firstborn started reading books— both in how I parented, and the tools I had access to, as we raised readers who are always in the middle of a good book.

When you are always in the middle of a book – you are always between a rock and miraculous place. 

When you are always in the middle of a book – you are always between a rock and miraculous place. 

While our little Shiloh and I curl in to read books, she now, at any time – while she draws, or builds, or plays, or works away – she can simply says, “Alexa, read my book” —- and she listens to stories for hours, as the Alexa device plays her next favorite Audible read. Literally, she listens to audio books for hours every single day, as stories expand her world and imagination for all that can possibly be. 

This is no small thing: The National Literacy Trust’s research review concluded that “listening to a human voice can elicit a stronger emotional response than reading a written narrative or watching a film, indicating that audiobooks have the potential to support a child’s emotional intelligence.” 

Not only that, but “7 in 10 (69.5%) children and young people said that listening to audiobooks makes it easier to understand the content of a book. This number is even higher for boys (71.7%) and children who receive free school meals (74%).”

The girl has a rhythm, a habit she pulls on like her own most comfortable clothes: 

every morning, she asks Alexa to read to her while she eats breakfast — often while holding the hard copy of the book. every late afternoon, after much of the whirl of the day and learning, when she’s ready for a reset and rest, she relaxes with a long listen to a whole audio library of classic literature – so many of them available absolutely free on in the Audible Plus library — all that whisk her away to imagined worlds and all kinds of fictional adventures that will frame her childhood with wonder.  every evening, after her and I read together, and pray, and I tuck her in, she always then asks Alexa to read her audio books, stories always snuggling her into sleep. 

To be between a book’s covers is always to be under a cover of comfort. 

Even when we pack up for any overnight trips or hospital stays – she’s the one who always packs up her little Alexa device, to plug in and listen to her audio books, wherever she tucks in for the night. 

“Mama, I just really love listening to words when I fall asleep… stories make me feel safe.” 

She’s speaking my language:

To be between a book’s covers is always to be under a cover of comfort. 

Like Charles Baudelair said, “A book is a garden, an orchard, a storehouse, a party, a company by the way, a counselor, a multitude of counselors.”  

Some of her absolute favorite audiobook listens are: 

The Secret Garden

Can count how many times she’s listened.

“If you look the right way, you can see that the whole world is a garden.” 

“She made herself stronger by fighting with the wind.” 

― Frances Hodgson Burnett

Listen as an Audiobook

The Long Winter

This one is on current repeat the last few weeks — she likes listening to it in the summer heat ;)!

“Laura felt a warmth inside her. It was very small, but it was strong. It was steady, like a tiny light in the dark, and it burned very low but no winds could make it flicker because it would not give up.” 

― Laura Ingalls Wilder

Listen as an Audi obook

Little Pilgrim’s Progress

A family favourite we all so love.

“In His arms, He carried a little lamb. It was tired and had laid its head upon His shoulder, and He was looking down at it with gentle, loving eyes… The good Shepherd heard its cry and He never rested until He found it, and then He brought it home in His arms.” 

– John Bunyan

Listen as an Audiobook

Understood Betsy 

All of ours have loved this one.

“A dim notion was growing up in her mind that the fact that she had never done a thing was no proof that she couldn’t.” 

― Dorothy Canfield Fisher

Listen as an Audi obook

James Herriot Treasury for Children

This is one of her go-tos at night — this is the most delightful listen!

“He had enjoyed all the animals on the farm and often helped his father with the cows and calves and pigs but spring was his favorite time, when the lambs where born.” 

–James Herriot

Listen as an Audi obook

Wind in the Willows 

Again and again, she returns to this one!

“Take the adventure, heed the call, now ere the irrevocable moment passes! ‘Tis but a banging of the door behind you, a blithesome step forward, and you are out of the old life and into the new! Then some day, some day long hence, jog home here if you will, when the cup has been drained and the play has been played, and sit down by your quiet river with a store of goodly memories for company.”

– Kenneth Grahame

Listen as an Audi obook

Heidi

A five star listen in every way.

“I’ll always say my prayers . . . and if God doesn’t answer them at once I shall know it’s because He’s planning something better for me.”

– Johanna Spyri

Listen as an Audiobook

Peter Pan 

A wondrous childhood listen.

“It is not in doing what you like, but in liking what you do that is the secret of happiness.” 

– J. M. Barrie

Listen as an Audi obook

The Child’s Story Bible

I read this one aloud to all our children, but she loves to just let this one play aloud while she plays — steeping in God’s story throughout the day. One of the very best story Bibles, with rich truths made very accessible.

“When did God begin? And who made God? No one made God and God did not begin God has always been, forever and ever and ever, God has lived God never had a beginning and this life will never end.

If you were to take a cup and dip water out of the big wide and deep ocean you could dip and dip and dip but you could never dip the ocean dry. Your mind is like a cup and God‘s life is like the big deep ocean. You cannot dip the ocean drive with a little cup and you and I, with our little mind cannot understand God‘s life, which never began and will never end.”-Catherine Vos

Listen as an Audi obook

Paddle to the Sea

She loves holding our very worn copy and following along as she listens. A must listen for childhood!

“You, Little Traveler! You made the journey, the Long Journey. You now know the things I have yet to know. You, Little Traveler!”

– Holling C. Holling

Listen as an Audi obook

The Chronicles of Narnia

Can anyone listen to this series too often?

“No great wisdom can be reached without sacrifice.”

“Adventures are never fun while you’re having them.”

“But courage, child: we are all between the paws of the true Aslan.” – C. S. Lewis 

Listen as an Audi obook

Wonder is everywhere you look – and it’s wondrous books that train you how to look. 

Filling our days and homes with audio books matters for a myriad of reasons, not the least of which are, as the Book Trust notes:“It’s proven that in households where children hear fewer words, their literacy levels at age 5 are lower than those who have been exposed to a higher number of words, impacting on longer-term literacy and ability. 

Audiobooks help solve this problem by exposing children to a wider vocabulary, that in turn, helps with pronunciation, improved comprehension, and increased exposure to different cultures.”

But even more importantly? 

If a poverty of imagination bankrupts hope – then a lifetime of depositing good stories into our imaginations enriches us with hope. 

Wonder is everywhere you look – and it’s wondrous books that train you how to look. 

And our last 2 girls and I?

We’ve made a date to make memories and get lost together in books!

Listen to Free Audio Books this summer!

Make this the summer of memories that will last a lifetime — a summer of listening to stories!

Classic Children’s Literature! Help your children fall in love with books, whatever their age!

I can’t encourage your family enough to take advantage of this life-expanding parenting tool of a whole library of audiobooks, so many of them available absolutely free on in the Audible Plus library !

Audible is offering a 3 month free trial, for both new customers or past customers, which means you can get any of these books, (or all of my books absolutely for free), or listen to millions of other books that are available to you with this free offer!

Click here to get the free trial & free audio books

You will be able to download one free book a month, for three months — perfect for your own reading retreats this summer!

(And if you decide Audible isn’t for you? You can easily cancel with the click of just one button, but the books are yours for free, forever!)

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO FREE AUDIOBOOKS AS A FAMILY