Ann Voskamp's Blog, page 45
September 3, 2022
Only the Good Stuff: Multivitamins For Your Weekend [9.3.2022]
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:
Marcin Zajac- Photographer
Marcin Zajac- Photographer
Marcin Zajac- Photographer
Marcin Zajac- Photographer
Marcin Zajac- PhotographerSunrise, sunset… declaring His steadfast love in the morning and His faithfulness by night
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Paul Nicklen (@paulnicklen)
oh the symphony of these beluga whales! you just HAVE to catch this this weekend!
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Project Made New (@projectmadenew)
good news for your heart – no matter what, who, or how: He is in control.
wow! how these ones are providing food to the needy in a very unique way.
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Kristi ♡ Mama discipling her children (@startwithoneverse)
oh this sweet thing! < heart burst >
don’t miss this great parenting hack! your kids are gonna *love* this
pause and listen this weekend with us?
this song has helped powerfully moved our hearts to worship our good, good King this week.
“El Shaddai Prince of Peace
Emmanuel Here with me
Your Name is great
And greatly to be praised”
“I am the Bread of Life” Bread Board
The Keeping Company makes beautiful heirloom pieces for your family to keep for generations. Their collection, including this beautifully handcrafted bread board, is carefully designed to bring beauty into your everyday life, inviting families to keep joyful, grateful company with Jesus throughout their busy lives. A portion of all profits are also used to fill mangers around the world, wherever aid is most needed. Their hope is to provide beautiful handcrafted gifts for your home while also providing God’s hope to those who have little.
Pick Up Yours at The Keeping Company
the science behind how worship actually rewires our brains AND binds us together
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Good News Movement (@goodnews_movement)
okayyy these are just the best back-to-school photos we’ve ever seen
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Suzanne Stabile (@suzannestabile)
– YES. an ah-ha moment for sure. –
a prayer for all the classroom heroes
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Baby Reels (@babyreels_)
this one has us ALL smiling huge and giggling along :)
…to break from the hurry and rest this weekend…
Post Of The Week From Around These Parts
Waiting for the right time — can feel like everything is going wrong.
And hoping can feel so much like hurt.
This is meant for someone right now, a lifeline in the midst of hard times:
Essential Secrets On How to Wait Well
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Wildroots Farm LLC (@wildrootsfarmllc)
you just have to see this summer feast!
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Author – Supporting Alzheimer’s Caregivers & Families (@shellydcalcagno)
ohhhh! it’s dahlia season at the farm! hands up if you’re enjoying these friendly flowers!
– this brave hero saved his mama –
a week full of Mondays? yeah, we’ve had those too…
On the Book Stack at the Farm
Read Toni Collier‘s recent guest post: Prayer is Not a Formula: The Power of a Broken Prayer
Read Lore Ferguson Wilbert‘s recent guest post:The 1 Question That’s Everything: What’s in Your Hand?
Read Rich Villodas‘s recent guest post:Soul Fragility: How Being Rooted in God’s Love Leads to Wholeness
oh the glory found here! what a reminder of who our God is
come along with us on this peaceful glory soak this weekend?
The WayMaker makes a way to you — to profoundly grow you.
For every person who is walking a hard way and looking for a way through, WayMaker is your sign, that there is hope, there are miracles, & that everything you are trying to find a way to,
is actually coming to meet you in ways far more fulfilling than you ever imagined.
PICK UP YOUR COPY OF WAYMAKER
PICK UP YOUR COPY OF WAYMAKER
“I’ll find a way to praise You
From the bottom of my broken heart
‘Cause I think I’d rather strike a match than curse the dark
Yeah, I’ll find a way to thank You
Though the bitterness is real and hard
‘Cause I’d rather take a chance on hope than fall apart”
It’s going to be okay today — promise.
Nothing is a surprise To God.
Nothing is a problem For God.
Nothing is a mistake By God.
*Anything is possible With God.*
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.
September 1, 2022
Essential Secrets On How to Wait Well
Waiting for the right time, can feel like everything is going wrong.
The sacrament of waiting can feel the hardest of all.
You can bet on it these days, every morning when we rise and look at the calendar, we think: How long, Lord, how long?
How long till parts of our story turn around, how long till our tender hearts mend, how long till there’s healing in a deeply fractured world, how long till we all get to breathe even a little bit easier?
The sacrament of waiting can feel the hardest of all.
They say waiting is the drumming of impatient fingers.
Or the unbearably slow watching of the face of the clock, the long sitting in front of indifferent calendars that have minds of their own, and you keep hoping for something to heal the hurt in your heart.
Hoping can feel so much like hurt.
Hoping can feel so much like hurt.
But, the brave and battle-weary will flat-out tell you:
If you’re waiting in front of a stretching calendar, waiting beside a hospital bed for any kind of stirring, waiting for the word you need to finally turn off this endlessly-stretching dead-end road, waiting for change that is moving slower than old molasses frozen in the depths of December, you know waiting isn’t an uninvolved twiddling of thumbs because you have felt it:
Hope is a buoyancy — and waiting is what splits you wide open to fill with the rising waters, so everything can rise. So you can rise.
Hope is a buoyancy — and waiting is what splits you wide open to fill with the rising waters, so everything can rise. So you can rise.
Waiting isn’t passive — waiting is passion: waiting is loving long enough to suffer.
Waiting is the patience of the long suffering of letting go. Letting go of the plan, the dream, the map, the vision. Letting the ground of things, the things that you made your ground, letting them give way.
Waiting is a letting go to let something grow.
Waiting is a letting go to let something grow.
The combine is waiting out in the farm shed, waiting for the wheat harvest to come.
The Farmer stands at the front window in the early morning light, waiting for any rain clouds to move in from the west.
His Bible is open on the sill, like it’s a rail shielding him from the edge of things in a world that’s tilted in all kinds of ways. Our early hours can all be the same, day after day, before the throne of grace: our hands may seem tied, but our knees never are.
His eyes hardly ever leave the sky. Will we get enough sun, enough rain, will we get enough of what we need? Frost will be here by early to mid-September. You only have so many days to grow a crop, to grow hope.
And those empty squares on the calendar are always harshly blunt. I try not to think how so much of this year has been waiting. Hoping. It can feel like hope is running out.
His eyes looking toward the west, over the wheat, the Farmer speaks soft:
“This is not about us growing a crop — but about God growing us.”
All this waiting isn’t destroying us — the waiting is growing us.
The waiting is widening us — so Hope is never running out — but more hope in Christ is running in.
Waiting isn’t loss — it’s enlarging.
The longer the heart waits, the larger the heart expands to hold the largeness of the abundant life.
The waiting is widening us — so Hope is never running out — but more hope in Christ is running in.
Nothing is lost in the waiting process — because waiting is a growth process.
I turn toward the sky and feel it:
Nothing is lost in the waiting process — because waiting is a growth process.
Waiting is gestating a greater grace.
Waiting is the sacrament of the tender surrender, the art of a soul growing large.
Because the waiting process is a growth process, the secret to waiting with hope, is the same way any plant grows toward hope:
Water with the Word,2. Turn toward the Son,
3. Root the soul deep in Christ (with the praise music cranked, with jotted down verses, with meditating and memorizing Scripture)
4. Get all your nutrients from daily paying attention to all the ways He loves you, instead of paying attention to all the ways life hurts you.
5. Stretch outward, stretch out your roots toward Christ and community, stretch out into a lived-posture of connected cruciformity,
The waiting process is about how we embrace a growth process.
And it’s true, even here:
Life has no waiting rooms — life only has labor and delivery rooms.
Waiting rooms are actually birthing rooms and what feels like the contraction of our plans can be the birthing of greater purposes.
All our waiting for more — is growing us into more.
The Farmer only pulls on his farmer’s cap when he heads to the barn, out past his waiting fields, out to his waiting mama sows. His head’s bowed low into gusts of wind blowing in, and God’s ways coming down.
Waiting is the sacrament of the tender surrender and this is the art of a soul growing large.
Every waiting moment is heavy with the weight of glory and all our waiting delivers a fuller life.
Waiting for a way for a hard story to turn around?
The WayMaker makes a way to you — to profoundly grow you.
For every person who is walking a hard way and looking for a way through, WayMaker is your sign, that there is hope, that there are miracles, and that everything you are trying to find a way to, is actually coming to meet you in ways far more fulfilling than you ever imagined.
Grab Your Copy of WayMaker — and begin the journey you’ve secretly been hoping for.
August 29, 2022
Soul Fragility: How Being Rooted in God’s Love Leads to Wholeness
When our uncommonly wise and anointed friend, Rich Villodas invited me to write the foreword for his latest book, Good and Beautiful and Kind, every page of wisdom kindled a longing in my spirit—a reminder that we have, indeed, lost much goodness and beauty and kindness in recent years. Maybe you, too, feel almost a physical ache for wholeness to return to our communities, churches, and hearts. As I read every page of this astonishing book, I just deeply appreciated how Rich doesn’t give us more to do as we seek healing but less. Less to defend. Less to protect. Less to prove. As Rich reminds us, how good God is to ask us to be true to who we are as His beloved so we can live in freedom rather than behind our walls. It’s an absolute grace to welcome my brilliant friend, Rich Villodas, to the farm’s table today…
One reason the world remains deeply fractured is that there’s too much to defend. This is particularly true within us. The interior walls we build are too deep and too high to root us in love.
Why do we have a hard time navigating conflict?
Why do we find it excruciating to receive criticism?
Why are we filled with anxiety over the disagreements we have?
Perhaps it’s because we have constructed a life that needs constant defending.
It’s something I’m familiar with. I remember my first time preaching at New Life. Pete Scazzero, who was the senior pastor at the time, called me aside in the church lobby after I delivered my sermon. Just prior to our conversation, I was shaking hands with congregants and hearing delightful words of encouragement.
“Pastor Rich, thanks for that word,” one had said.
“God spoke right to my heart, pastor,” said another.
I was feeling pretty good about my twenty-eight-year-old self, when Pastor Pete called me to the side. Evidently, he had a post-service practice of reviewing the sermon. The goal was to help strengthen it for the following service.
When he called me, I noticed he had a legal pad with all kinds of notes scribbled on it. I had a sense something was coming. I was on edge.
“Great sermon, Rich. Way to go,” he said. “Do you know what you can do to strengthen it for the next service?”
I defensively thought, Do you know what you can do, bro?
“Humility is not just doing a lowly task; it’s a life committed to the hard task of lowering one’s defenses.”
What was happening in me? In that moment, my guard went up. My defensiveness was clear as day—to me at least. Pastor Pete would go on and give poignant tips for taking the sermon to the next level. I took down some notes but was still bothered. My lack of humility in this moment made it difficult to connect with him and see his feedback as a gift.
You see, humility is not just doing a lowly task; it’s a life committed to the hard task of lowering one’s defenses.
When we envision humility, we often think about taking on menial duties no one else wants to do. And, of course, that’s a facet of it. We have in mind someone who doesn’t seek the spotlight but shines the light on others. Again, another good image of a humble life.
But the angle of humility that we desperately need for our fractured world is seeing it as the ability to live freely from protecting the false self—living free from the defensiveness that closes us in on ourselves. The fractured relationships we experience emerge out of our inability (or our refusal) to lower our defenses. Instead of seeing companions, we see competitors. We view people who disagree with us as threats to be eliminated.
“The walls we build are for one reason: to protect the false self.”
The walls we build are for one reason: to protect the false self.
The false self is a term many use to describe the identity we construct that conceals the true self found in Christ. Thomas Merton wrote in New Seeds of Contemplation, “My false and private self is the one who wants to exist outside the reach of God’s will and God’s love—outside of reality and outside of life.”
In his book The Deeper Journey, Robert Mulholland, Jr., described his false self as, “a control freak that manipulates people and situations to protect it from disturbances to its status quo.”
“The true self is the place within us where we are found securely wrapped in God’s love and have no need to project or protect it.”
While the “the false self . . . is offended (about every three minutes) because it is fragile, the true self, on the other hand, is unoffendable.”
The true self is the place within us where we are found securely wrapped in God’s love and have no need to project or protect it. The true self finds its identity in something much deeper than human words of approval or criticism. The false self is incapable of this level of freedom, but it is where most of the world lives from.
Humility, then, is the ongoing commitment to live from the true self. Not an easy task, I know.
I’m reminded of this difficulty on a regular basis as a pastor. While some might assume—because I’m a pastor—that I’m emotionally centered, eager to be present with others, and not easily affected by criticism, I know the truth (as does my wife) of my “soul fragility.”
Soul fragility shows itself when you get an email from someone who wants to discuss an important matter and your interior walls go up five seconds into reading it.
Soul fragility is present when a blind spot of yours is identified by a friend and you emotionally move away from that person as a result.
Soul fragility happens when someone on social media disagrees with your post and you go ahead and mute or block them without even entertaining what they are saying.
Every time our false self is threatened, it reveals the fragility we carry.
“Humility is the antidote to soul fragility.”
Humility is the antidote to soul fragility.
Or said another way, fragility can be a doorway to humility. Our fragility is one of the most important signs that the false self is running the show.
And when we allow ourselves to be led by our fragility instead of protecting it, we open ourselves to a way of life marked by internal freedom, no longer governed by the words and actions of others. This is what Jesus offers us in his most important sermon.
Jesus, the perfect personification of the humble life, calls us to live in the humble way of God’s kingdom, a way marked by poverty of spirit. This way forms us toward wholeness.
Poverty of spirit is language Jesus gives in the Sermon on the Mount to describe our utter dependence on God. Truly, our lives are found to be rich in him to the degree that we recognize our inner poverty.
The poor in spirit are those who refuse to build a life apart from the love of God. Poverty of spirit is living detached from the incessant need to cling to things that prop up our false self. It’s the gradual movement toward a nonreactive and carefree existence, living freely from the depths of God’s acceptance.
Rich Villodas is the author of the award-winning book The Deeply Formed Life and the Brooklyn-born lead pastor of New Life Fellowship, a large, multiracial church in Elmhurst, Queens, that has more than seventy-five countries represented in its congregation.
In his latest book, Good and Beautiful and Kind, Rich eloquently guides us back to the example Jesus offers of being both strong and tender enough to tear down walls of hostility and find true wholeness and healing in today’s world.
This world is tearing itself apart, and the impact on our bodies and relationships is overwhelming.
But Rich knows the ways you can experience real peace, joy, and love right here and now, and he shares how in this bold new book, Good and Beautiful and Kind.
[Our humble thanks to WaterBrook for their partnership in today’s devotion ]
August 27, 2022
Only the Good Stuff: Multivitamins For Your Weekend [8.27.2022]
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:
Jessica Walker- Photographer
Jessica Walker- Photographer
Jessica Walker- Photographer
Jessica Walker- Photographer
Jessica Walker- PhotographerWalk by the water with me? Squeezing the last little bit out of summer with these stunning shots!
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Upworthy (@upworthy)
“Daddy’s got you.” YES HE DOES! Always!
one of the most beautiful parts of social media
how this little girl’s life was saved because a bunch of strangers decided to love BIG
after one whole year in the hospital – the best reunion for this mama and her kiddos!
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Good News Movement (@goodnews_movement)
what this 92-year-old accomplished? cheering wildly over here!
oh THIS! when women thrive & step into what God’s called them to we all win
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Ally May | Christian Creator (@allymaylovesjesus)
10 ways to deepen our relationship with God – YES please! we’re all ears over here!
“Just knowing you’re mindful of me
Just knowing you call me your child
It’s flooding my soul
With unspeakable hope
Thank you Lord that it’s me on your mind”
The hands come with five 4 x 4 inch prints. Each card has a print of a beautiful watercolor painting on the front, with a prayer and a verse on the back of each card. These hands provide a daily reminder of Christ’s encouragement and the power of prayer when displayed on a desk, bookshelf, or bedside table.
Pick Up Yours at The Keeping CompanyView this post on InstagramA post shared by God Behind Bars (@godbehindbars)
oh the joy when you discover God’s love & mercy. *happy tears*
12 powerful affirmations to encourage your kids young or old
a man on mission with a street-side book kiosk & coffee to help his people heal in war-torn Syria
you don’t want to miss this one!
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Upworthy (@upworthy)
< ohh alllll the happy! >
diagnosed with cancer, how this woman is giving beyond herself to love other patients – simply astounding
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Hope Rises Network (@hoperisesnetwork)
now these are the kind of friends we all want to have!
Post Of The Week From Around These Parts
Only a few more weeks technically left of summer now.
Only a string of days left of sweet corn and swimming suits
and bare toes and zinnia bouquets and light like this in their hair
and all the days are adding up to make years.
But, you don’t miss a beat when thankfulness is the beat of your heart.
Read the Full Post here:
How to Squeeze More Summer Out of the Last Weeks Before Fall:
The Easy Plan
Don’t forget your FREE Printable!
a true feast for the eyes! a whole feed of nothing but beautiful & happy photos
truly inspiring! this boy with autism opens a cafe that now helps others with disabilities.
love, love, love this!
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Maya Hanisch Studio (@maya_hanisch)
this art that show off God’s creation – stunning
an “only-God” transformation on this one! wow!
View this post on InstagramA post shared by PianoCraves / Daily Piano Content! (@pianocraves)
a good dose of JOY is always good for the heart!
“The broken ones get a little more whole
Weary ones get a little more hope
Lonely ones find a little more home
Nobody leaves the same”
aching for an exhale of peace + beauty? we’ve found you the perfect thing.
enjoy these moments from our kind & beautiful Creator this weekend
that there is hope, there are miracles, & that everything you are trying to find a way to,
is actually coming to meet you in ways far more fulfilling than you ever imagined.
PICK UP YOUR COPY OF WAYMAKER
PICK UP YOUR COPY OF WAYMAKERthis version…oh my.
“and anytime I don’t know what to do,
I will care all my cares upon You”
…yeah, you’ve got a million things coming at you,
but you only pass by this way once —
so we’re not letting everything just pass us by.
No way, we’re not letting the to-do lists
blind us to noticing good things,
no way we’re letting the calendar race us
past real little wonders,
no way we’re letting the schedule anesthetize us
to being awed by all these small glories.
“I thank you, High God—you’re breathtaking!
I worship in adoration—what a creation!” Ps.139:14
No way, it’s not happening today:
We’re not letting the routines anesthetize us
to routinely being filled with awe.
We’re not letting the everyday routines
numb us out to the MIRACLE of LIVING every day…
That’s all for this weekend, friends.
Go slow. Be God-struck. Grant grace. Live Truth.
Give Thanks. Love well. Re – joy, re- joy, ‘re- joys’ again
Share Whatever Is Good.
August 26, 2022
The 1 Question That’s Everything: What’s In Your Hand?
I have long, long, long loved this woman very deeply. Lore Ferguson Wilbert lives on the edge of a river in New York, in small black house with a screened-in porch. She hasn’t always lived there, but it is the place she’s landed and feels most at home in. She has been writing publicly for 22 years, beginning on the cusp of her twenties—amidst grief, suffering, loss, and doubt. Writing, she says, has been her best form of sanctification, and I have returned so often to so many of her words as a lifeline. Writing publicly, she also says, has also been her best form of humiliation and, as she so gently and beautifully offers, when 22 years of your life are saved for anyone to see, it’s obvious when you’ve gotten a lot of things wrong. Still she practices, still she writes, and I savor her words. It is such a grace to welcome Lore to the farm’s table today…
Guest Post by Lore Ferguson Wilbert
What’s in Your Hand?
“The humble understanding of yourself,” Thomas a Kempis wrote, “is a surer path to God than the deep inquiry into knowledge.”
“Few of us venture deep into the stories of how we hold what we hold within us.”
Understanding ourselves is, in a sense, a gateway to deeper spiritual formation. Personality tests, Enneagram numbers, acronyms—these all can help us understand how we function best in the world. But few of us go beyond the gate and into the ways we became who we are or what made us this way. Few of us venture deep into the stories of how we hold what we hold within us.
We would all rather talk about what we should do with the thing in our hand, not just what it is and how it came to be there.
In Exodus 3, we find Moses. Having fled Egypt after murdering an Egyptian, he is now in Midian, shepherding the sheep of his father-in-law. Moses is up in the hills of Horeb when we find him struck speechless by the sight of a burning bush.
God finds him here and gives him a directive: you’re the one for the job. But Moses fumbles about with self-doubt, a list of all the reasons he should be disqualified: “What if they don’t believe me?” he asks. “What if they don’t listen to me?”
I sympathize with Moses. I understand these sorts of questions.
They are the kind that rumble through my brain and heart with the regularity of my morning tea or afternoon slump, which is to say daily. And when they do, I lean on affirmations from the past or encouragements from yesterday. I ponder my personality and gifts and strengths, the reasons I could be the person for the job.
The thing about Moses, though—the baby spared from Pharaoh’s massacre, gathered from the rushes and reeds, raised among kings—is that he was given every opportunity to be anything he could want to be except the thing he actually was.
And when the opportunity came for him to be the Hebrew he was, it went sideways. It ended in murder. He had to flee to the wilderness, wear rough linens, serve someone else’s land and goals, and care for livestock. When God asks him, “What’s in your hand?” and Moses looks down at his hands, the staff isn’t there because of all the things that went right in Moses’s life, but because of all the things that have just gone wrong.
Changes the way we see what’s in our hands, doesn’t it?
Instead of searching for the gifts that make me special, I begin to see the crosses that I’ve carried, the weights that have pulled me down, the fears, doubts, questions, and struggles I’ve weathered.
When God asks what’s in your hand, he is asking, “What did you not expect to carry into this life?”
“What heartbreaking proof do you hold that your life did not go as you planned?”
Maybe it’s the lineage of your family. Maybe it’s the color of your skin. Maybe it’s the place where you live or the church you call home or the home you call home. Maybe it’s your age or your gender. Maybe it’s all the things you’ve never done and wanted to do. Maybe it’s your empty nest or maybe it’s your full one. What is it? What’s in your hand?
What heartbreaking proof do you hold that your life did not go as you planned?
———
I used to dream of marrying young, my body fertile and my husband strong, of having hordes of children and grandchildren, of reading books to them aloud while they tangled in patchwork blankets at my feet. I dreamed of hanging their little outfits on clotheslines next to a front porch surrounded by lilacs. This was a real dream of mine. I’m not ashamed of it. Dreams come in all shapes and sizes, and for a time, this was mine.
Instead, I married in my mid-thirties to a divorced man, and we’ve lost pregnancy after pregnancy until my reproductive system is almost too geriatric or too broken or too fragmented to keep trying.
“This was not the story I wrote for myself.”
This was not the story I wrote for myself.
This is the shepherd’s staff in my hands. This is the gnarled piece of wood I hold. This is the given life, not the chosen one.
Yet, along with the grief that hits at times, I have learned that God uses what’s in my hand still. He has not given me the life I envisioned. Sometimes he surprises me by how he uses our childlessness to make a space for others or how he uses our grief to make space for another’s grief. When our grief is palpable and present, mourners find their way alongside it sooner or later.
What’s in my hand?
Nothing a personality test or spiritual gift examination or personal evaluation of my strengths would list. Nothing to brag about. Nothing that impresses anyone much. In my case, the thing in my hand is actually nothing. It’s an absence, an emptiness, a lack where I thought something would one day be.
What’s in your hand?
What cross are you bearing?
What unexpected parcel of your story comes to mind?
What are you holding that you never wanted to hold?
What story are you sharing that still shocks you that it’s yours?
What takes you into the wild places alone?
What comes to mind when you stand before the burning bushes of your life?
Whenever I picture Moses, I see him with a shepherd’s staff. Despite a season of shepherding that barely lasts a chapter in Scripture, I cannot unsee the staff he uses to astound the Pharaoh in Egypt, split the Red Sea, break water from a rock, and help the Israelites win against the Amalekites. He, as a picture of Jesus, is a shepherd of the people, an advocate of their Father in heaven, a messenger from God. The prince turned shepherd used what was in his hand to do the bidding of his true Father.
What is the unlovely thing about you? The thing you begrudge?
That’s it. That’s the answer to the question.
Lore Ferguson Wilbert is the founder of Sayable.net and the author of Handle with Care, winner of a 2021 Christianity Today Book Award. She has written for Christianity Today, Fathom magazine, and She Reads Truth and served as general editor of B&H’s Read and Reflect with the Classics. Her newest book, A Curious Faith: The Questions God Asks, We Ask, and We Wish Someone Would Ask Us invites readers to go beyond pat answers and embrace curiosity, rather than certainty, as a hallmark of authentic faith. Reflecting her own theological trajectory toward a more contemplative, expansive faith, Lore invites readers to foster curiosity as a spiritual habit.
August 24, 2022
How To Squeeze More Summer Out of the Last Weeks Before Fall: The Easy Plan (with Free Printable)
Only a few more weeks technically left of summer now.
Only a string of days left of sweet corn and swimming suits and bare toes and zinnia bouquets and light like this in their hair and all the days are adding up to make years.
And only a few more days till our youngest daughter starts back to reading and writing and arithmetic, and our oldest son heads out the farm laneway, turns and waves, and drives down our gravel road, off to Colorado for his wedding, a handful of days here in the last weeks of summer, before we stand on the front porch and wave goodbye, as the minutes slip away, and everything changes again.
“You don’t miss a beat when thankfulness is the beat of your heart.”
You don’t miss a beat when thankfulness is the beat of your heart.
You only get 18 summers with your kids — or maybe not even.
18. Or less.
Three of our 4 sons have about flown the coop, up and gone, calling another door home. All our time together, it all went by in a blink. Why did I think it somehow wouldn’t?
There are days when I have to blink back the brimming regret of the days we didn’t take off more for the lake, didn’t take more time to make a memory that would make a bunch of love that would last beyond time, didn’t light one more campfire and roast just a few more melting s’mores.
Before the sun even comes up this weekend, the first one of September, the clock ticking so loud in my ears — there’s this rolling over in the morning toward the Farmer, this desperate murmur in his ear:
“Only a few more days left of summer —- what are we going to do?”
The Farmer doesn’t even open his eyes.
“Be grateful. We are going to be grateful.”
And he draws me so close the words brush my ear, those words of every soul whisperer, and you never miss a beat when thankfulness is the beat of your heart.
“It’s never the wasting of time that hurts so much as the wasting of our intentions.”
And before the sun goes down, a bunch of the kids carry corn cobs up to the side porch and we sit there in this circle husking and I keep looking round at their sun-kissed faces, that’s all I can think, my hands all full of these husks:
It’s never the wasting of time that hurts so much as the wasting of our intentions.
There are corn husks and silks all over the porch. Who cares what the calendar says?
Calendars can con: there are really only as many days left as you actually really choose to live.
In the end, everyone ends up at the end of their lives — but only a few live the whole expanse of their life.
And come evening, after everyone leaves the dinner table, I’m still sitting there —
eating the last of chocolate crumbs right off the plate.
Free Printable of the Seize-the-Last-of-Summer Plan
Just do two a day:
1. Make a fruit pie
2. Eat under stars
3. Walk through the woods, some trees, long grass
4. Dip both feet in water
5. Sing hymns around flame {choice: candles or campfire}
6. Lick drippy ice cream
7. Find a swing and swing high
8. Pick a bouquet of wildflowers : set in sill. Or #BetheG.I.F.T. and give it away.
9. Play one game of anything out on grass {frisbee, baseball, soccer, croquet, volleyball}
10. Eat something fresh {from the garden or the market or your mother’s}
11. Lay down on grass, look up and watch clouds for five minutes
12. Dance. Dance on the beach, on a porch, on your toes, dance on until something in you feels lighter.
13. Open a window. Listen to the world. Slow. Still. Pray before that open window.
14. Sit with someone you love and watch the sunset. Say it out loud: Thank you.
Click here to Print your Free Seize-the-Last-of-Summer Plan :14 Simple Memories to Make Anywhere in the Last Few Weeks of Summer
{Looking forward to seeing your photos on Facebook or Instagram of your own
#SeizetheLastofSummer #1000gifts}
Maybe in this season, we all just need the gift of Joy… a bit of Hope?
To stand together — FOR each other — knowing that an act of kindness, giving it forward, can be more powerful than any sword in starting movements that move us all toward Love.
The way forward — is always to give forward.
We all only get one life to love well — and being a gift with you gives reviving joy!
August 22, 2022
Prayer is Not a Formula: The Power of a Broken Prayer
Toni Collier is the founder of an international women’s organization called Broken Crayons Still Color, which helps women process through brokenness and get to hope. She is a speaker, host, and author of Brave Enough to be Broken, in which she shares her personal story of brokenness and provides you with a biblical roadmap to guide you on your healing journey. Toni is teaching people all over the globe that you can be broken and worthy and unqualified and still called to do great things. She doesn’t want you to just face your demons, she wants you to quash the illusion of your brokenness so you can live the most colorful life possible, on and off stage. It’s a grace to welcome Toni to the farm’s table today…
I went over to a friend’s house to congratulate her after finding out she was pregnant. Her daughter burst out of her room and said, “Yay! I prayed for a whole year for a baby sister and God gave me one!” My daughter Dylan overheard, and on the car ride home asked me, “Mom, if I prayed for a year for a baby sister, will God give me one too?” Another kid? I almost spit my chai latte out.
Her innocence made me think of all my prayers for the things I longed for. The moments when I’d seen a friend get something I wanted and a longing rose up in me, the moments I pleaded for God to take the anxiety that plagued me at night away and the times my prayers were just broken cries for comfort. Those prayers were the ones that just needed breakthrough, healing and with-ness.
“God wants nothing more than for you to talk to Him.“
I replied to her, “Well, babe, God wants you to bring all your prayers to Him, big or small. And He loves us so much that He gives us the ones that He knows are good for us and doesn’t give us the ones He thinks won’t be good for us. God wants nothing more than for you to talk to Him.”
She smiled, and later in the ride I heard her whispering to God with her eyes closed. She was leaning into the awe and wonder of a big God that answers prayers–even the small, broken ones.
“When we realize we’re not the author and finisher of our stories, we want to connect with the One who is.”
Part of what it means to be broken human beings is the realization that there’s someone greater than us at work, hovering over us and guiding our prayers towards our good. When we realize we’re not the author and finisher of our stories, we want to connect with the One who is. We want a relationship with the Creator. Not only the One who created the world but the One who knit us together cell by cell in our mothers’ wombs.
Prayer is how we do that. But often prayer is mistaken as something else.
Prayer is not a magic formula. It’s not intended to be done and then, poof, everything we want or don’t want will magically appear or disappear.Prayer is not our duty to God. It’s not something that can be checked off a list. As an achiever on the Enneagram personality spectrum, this has been my greatest struggle. I want to perform my way through life. I can attempt to place my value in how much I can get done, and I must be actively aware that I tend to do that with prayer as well. Prayer is more about being than doing.Prayer is not meditation. There’s nothing wrong with meditation. It can bring real peace and rest to our bodies. But prayer is much more than that. Prayer is about connecting to the Source of everlasting life, joy, and purpose. It is intentional shalom and focused presence.“Prayer is about bringing our surrendered brokenness to a whole God who is the glue to our shattered existence.“
Prayer is about bringing our surrendered brokenness to a whole God who is the glue to our shattered existence. It doesn’t require a strategy or a set of rules to follow because God is more interested in our heart towards Him than our ability to say the “right” things to Him.
God wants us to show up as our authentic selves. While He knows everything, He delights in hearing about the things in our lives that scare us and confuse us. He loves to hear our longings for wholeness, for healing and even for new baby sisters.
So, start praying honest prayers full of raw emotion. He can handle it. He marvels at the beauty of our feminine hearts that become completely surrendered and willing to be held in His hands through prayer.
“God wants us to pray in intimate spaces with sincere and even broken hearts.“
Matthew 6:5–6 says, “When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door, and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”
God wants us to pray in intimate spaces with sincere and even broken hearts. And, just like we feel more connected to our friends when we share our deepest thoughts, feelings, and experiences, when we do that with God, we become more connected to Him.
None of us are perfect. And that is okay! Trauma, abuse, childhood wounds, and toxic relationships have broken us. But there is no shame in brokenness. In fact, it’s in our brokenness where the healing power of Jesus comes to find us.
Brave Enough to Be Broken: How to Embrace Your Pain and Discover Hope and Healing is Toni Collier’s personal story of brokenness, and it is a biblical road map you can use to heal from the pain, the shame, and the regrets that have tried to steal your joy, so you can rest in the unconditional love, healing, and hope of Jesus. Toni knows that many of us feel the pressure to be perfect when what we really want is the freedom to be broken. She invites you to lean in with her as we explore our brokenness together and discover the light of Christ ushering us to a new day of healing. Redemption will look good on you.
Visit ToniJCollier.com/Brave and download the first chapter now.
[ Our humble thanks to Nelson Books for their partnership in today’s devotional ]
August 20, 2022
Only the Good Stuff: Multivitamins For Your Weekend [8.20.2022]
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:
Kyle Campbell- Photographer
Kyle Campbell- Photographer
Kyle Campbell- Photographer
Kyle Campbell- Photographer
Kyle Campbell- PhotographerView this post on Instagram
oh my! now THAT’s a work of art.
some real tools for us all growing in prayer
“Prayer can never be in excess.” -Charles Spurgeon
View this post on InstagramA post shared by TANJUNG LESUNG TRIP (@tanjunglesungtrip_)
– sending love to you & your home this lovely weekend –
100th great-grandchild?! this woman’s life is deeply rich
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Allison Byxbe (@allisonbyxbe)
wow – the real questions on pain & finding God
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Shemane Nugent (@shemanenugent)
I confess, watched this 3 times, and choked up every time
The Grace Case
In a wild world,
this is the realest reality:
The only way to still stand
through it all is to make
time to simply be still.
Stillness takes time to learn
how to practice,
and the theologian of old,
F.B. Meyer wrote,
“We must cultivate the habit of
stillness in our lives, if we would
detect and know God.”
Still —
and let go of what has hold of you.
Still —
and let it all fall away
so you can see the Way Himself,
who is your Way.
Still —
and let go of all your control
and rest in how
your very own kind Father
is in control.
with all this beautiful goodness when you sign up for the Grace Case before August 1st!
Join along with us collecting handcrafted heirlooms from around the world and
supporting artisans around the world – delivered right to your doorstep!
travel 2000 lightyears in 60 seconds — just look at our universe! unfathomable beauty from our glorious God
ever wanted to find a life verse? this is your guide.
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Loving CeCe Winans (@loving_cecewinans)
“The light shines in the darkness. It doesn’t matter what trial you find yourself in…” -CeCe Winans
…some great encouragement right here…
remembering a life well-written…
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Joe Dombrowski (@mrdtimes3)
Kids howled with laughter over this one, and every teacher and every Mama nodded wildly
*put this song on repeat for your weekend*
View this post on Instagram
after 63 years?! < tears >
Post Of The Week From Around These Parts
Who dares to believe:
The second act of your life can be the best act,
if you live as a verb, active, with agency.
And yet, honestly? It can feel like:
The older you get, the more invisible you can feel.
How do you grow older and not begin to feel invisible?
This is the plan:
Feel Invisible? How to Grow Older, Have a Stronger Second Act, & Live the Hagar Principle
Catch All The Wisdom HEREView this post on InstagramA post shared by Cute Animals (@cuteanimalshot)
– sometimes we just need some lighthearted joy & a reminder to not take everything so seriously –
THERE IS ALWAYS JOY TO BE FOUND
oh these first-time parents! laughter sure does make tough parenting days much, much easier!
when you’ve waited most of your life for just one thing – what a surprise!
View this post on InstagramA post shared by couples!
(@relationships.usa)
dare you not to cry on this one
View this post on InstagramA post shared by The Daily Heartwarming (@thedailyheartwarming)
oh tears! what a special moment.
“When my mind is like a battlefield
And my heart is overcome by fear
And hope seems like a ship that’s lost at sea
Peace, holds me when I’m broken
Sweet peace, that passes understanding
When the whole wide world is crashing down
I fall to my knees
And breathe in Your peace”
Read Brittany Maher & Cassandra Speer‘s recent guest post:The War for Your Worth: How to Find Your True Identity
Read Shelly Calcagno’s recent guest post: Walking in The Middle of Joy and Pain
Read Joanna Weaver‘s recent guest post:What To Do with Not-So-Great Expectations In Marriage
oh goodness – the beauty of this place is take your breath away glorious.
Maybe, just maybe, you need a little exhale of this beauty and peaceful music for your weekend?
~ that the is hope, there are miracles, & that everything you are trying to find a way to,
is actually coming to meet you in ways far more fulfilling than you ever imagined.
PICK UP YOUR COPY OF WAYMAKER
PICK UP YOUR COPY OF WAYMAKER“I’ll be your shield when you don’t feel like
You’ve got strength enough to fight
I’ll stand by your side
I will carry you
When the waters rise
When your hope runs dry
I will carry you”
..yeah, do I get it.
It can be hard to hold on when you don’t feel held.
So when it’s hard to hold on?
You just keeping holding on to Christ.
When it’s hard to hold on, no one holds on to what is hipster.
They hold on to Him who is holy and healing.
When it’s hard to hold on —
we don’t hold on to trendy, we hold on to the True Vine,
we don’t hold on to the prevailing and popular
because we need to hold on to the
Prince of Peace and the true Perfecter of our Faith.
Believe it:
it’s the beliefs we hold, that hold on to us —
even when we’re struggling to hold on.
And we can always keep holding on
because our God can always be counted on.
The art of living lies in the balance of holding on —
and letting go because He’s holding on to to you —
He’s holding on to everything.
Because the thing is?
The art of living is about holding on to His promises —
and surrendering to His plan.
Hold on to His promises.
Let go into His plan.
Just keep holding on…
because we are the ones always held.
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.
August 19, 2022
What To Do with Not-So-Great Expectations In Marriage
When God gave Joanna Weaver a vision of the man she would marry and that man eventually proposed, she was certain it was a match made in heaven. Because they both loved Jesus and felt called to ministry, she was confident their marriage would be a wild success. But eight years after marrying her pastor husband, Joanna found her heart growing hard and her love growing cold as the disillusionment of unmet expectations ate away at her soul. Joanna’s story is full of hard-won wisdom, and it is a grace to welcome her to the farm’s table today…
The Oregon night lay thick above me, studded with diamonds dancing amid the dark pines. Though I stood at a distance, I could feel the bonfire’s heat as orange-red flames sent sparks upward. Shadowy shapes moved around me, drifting slowly toward the fire then back again, but I barely noticed. All my attention centered on one thing. The crumpled piece of paper I held in my hand.
Victory Circle—that’s what they’d called the event during morning announcements. A unique and memorable way to end a week of kids’ camp, they’d said. A way to nail down what God had been speaking to young hearts.
“Get a piece of paper and write down something you need to commit to the Lord, then toss it in the fire at Victory Circle after the service tonight,” they’d told the campers, inviting those of us who served as counselors to participate as well.
My cheeks flushed with the fire’s heat but also with the memory of the one-sided conversation I’d had with the Lord that morning as I walked back to the cabin after worship.
“Oh, Jesus, it’s so wonderful to be in right relationship with you,” I’d whispered. “I can’t think of anything I need to surrender tonight. But if there is, please let me know.”
It was a dangerous but glorious prayer. For out of that invitation to examine my heart would come an encounter with God that would transform my life—and my marriage—forever.
Photo: Joanna Weaver
As I opened my Bible for quiet time later that afternoon, I was shocked to find a piece of paper listing all the ways my husband needed to change. All the reasons our ministry wasn’t thriving. All the ways he’d let me down. Though I remembered writing the list, I was certain I’d thrown it away.
“I had a decision to make. Would I hold on to my expectations? Or would I entrust my husband—and myself—to God alone?”
Give it to Me, Joanna. The words came soft and low to my spirit as I stood by the fire that night. But objections flooded my mind as my eyes filled with tears. How could I let go of what felt like legitimate concerns? What if John never changed?
I had a decision to make. Would I hold on to my expectations? Or would I entrust my husband—and myself—to God alone?
….In some ways, expectations are a necessary part of life. As students we need to know what the teacher requires to get a good grade. As drivers we need to know the traffic rules to keep ourselves and others safe. As employees we need to know what time to show up for our job and how to do the work. Healthy expectations form the basis of society and give shape to useful and happy lives.
But less healthy types of expectations often lay below the surface of our hearts, causing us to act and overreact when people don’t do things our way. Formed by our past experiences, temperament, family of origin, and the culture we live in, expectations can be so ingrained that we rarely recognize them.
“we assume that everyone sees life the way we do. That they think like us, share our priorities, and navigate life’s difficulties as we do. It’s a rude awakening when we discover they don’t.”
Instead, we assume that everyone sees life the way we do. That they think like us, share our priorities, and navigate life’s difficulties as we do.
It’s a rude awakening when we discover they don’t….
When I entered marriage and ministry at nineteen, I arrived with a boatload of expectations. Because John and I shared the same values and had so much in common, I was certain we were bound for marital bliss. Because we both loved Jesus and had natural giftings, I expected our ministry to be a wild success. Filled with affirmation. Approval. Applause. Everything my Flesh Woman [that is, my lower nature] so desperately craved.
When those expectations weren’t fulfilled, naturally I set out to change my husband.
If he would just do this . . .
If he would stop doing that . . .
If he would be more like that person, then we could have that kind of success . . .
But instead of appreciating my help, God clearly told me, Get your hands off My man, Joanna. Changing John isn’t your job. It’s Mine.
“it turns out that God’s more interested in building His kingdom in us than He is in building His kingdom through us.”
Looking back, I can see that God frustrated my expectations for the simple reason that He wanted to get His hands on me. For it turns out that God’s more interested in building His kingdom in us than He is in building His kingdom through us.
That night beside the fire, the Holy Spirit whispered to my heart: Stop praying, “Lord change my husband,” and start praying, “Lord, change me.”
It remains one of the most important instructions that I’ve ever received. I tremble to think of the beautiful marriage—the beautiful life—I almost missed.
Had God not demanded my list of grievances and had I not surrendered it to Him, John and I would have ended up as married singles. Appearing united on the outside, but, on the inside, living as far apart as two people could be.
I’m so grateful God didn’t let us settle for that….
Standing in the shadows of that long-ago bonfire, I watched as children and adults stepped forward and relinquished their burdens to the flame. But my expectations had become so embedded, I felt that throwing my wadded-up list into the fire would be like casting my very self into the blaze.
Finally, after everyone left, I stepped out of the darkness.
Tears running down my cheeks, I tossed the list into the flames. But instead of catching fire, the paper ball bounced off a log and rolled to the side. I used a stick to push it toward the blazing embers, but still it wouldn’t ignite.
Suddenly I realized that there was something deeper going on. My expectations had become a stronghold, a place where Satan felt comfortable and where Flesh Woman ruled and reigned.
This fresh awareness of the spiritual battle made me determined to relinquish the list more than ever. Pushing it deep into the fire, I prayed, Lord, I don’t want these expectations anymore. I give You my husband, along with my hopes and my dreams. Even if nothing changes, I trust You, God.
“As I surrendered my idea of how things should be, God was able to replace it with something far better.“
As the paper finally began to burn, God began to rewire my soul. Though it didn’t happen overnight, He began the process of restoring my marriage and renewing our love.
As I surrendered my idea of how things should be, God was able to replace it with something far better.
John and I celebrated our fortieth anniversary recently, and I can tell you that marriage can grow and change and there’s the hope that things can get sweeter and sweeter.
Especially when we get our eyes off people and place them solely on the Lord. Following David’s beautiful advice in Psalm 62:5 (NKJV):
My soul, wait silently for God alone,
For my expectation is from Him.
Joanna Weaver is the bestselling and award-winning author of Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World, Having a Mary Spirit, Lazarus Awakening and the devotional, At the Feet of Jesus. A pastor’s wife, mother of three, and avid Bible teacher, Joanna loves speaking to women about the powerful freedom that is found in making Jesus Lord and trusting him for things bigger than themselves.
Living in a fallen world, hard things happen. People wound us. Friends let us down. Without realizing it, our trust issues with people can become trust issues with God. In her newest book, Embracing Trust: The Art of Letting Go and Holding On to a Forever-Faithful God, Joanna shares her own journey to a deeper trust in God that’s led to deeper joy and peace. For its only when we embrace trust, that we fully embrace God.
[ Our humble thanks to Revell for their partnership with today’s devotion ]
August 17, 2022
Feel Invisible? How to Grow Older, Have a Stronger Second Act, & Live the Hagar Principle
This week? I begin.
This week I begin, my very first days, of my very last year of being in my 40s.
And I dare to believe: The second act of your life can be the best act, if you live as a verb, active, with agency.
And? When we know there isn’t much time, we make much of the time right now.
“Remembering that our days are short is what expands our joy in today.”
Remembering that our days are short is what expands our joy in today.
I water the explosion of rocket snapdragons in the picket fence flowerbeds, and peer-inspect the citrus tree, begging for any new growth.
I pull red root pigweed out of the rambling roses. I slice sun-warm tomatoes from the garden.
I keep thinking:
Maybe only about 21 Christmas mornings left now… maybe only about 21 Thanksgiving dinners left now. How many more springs will I plant seeds for a summer harvest of echinacea and ruby-red tomatoes?
And there is that one woman that is walking with me through the questions, that one woman I sit with every morning when I open my SACRED journal.
Hagar.
“Where are you coming from — and where are you going to?”
Hagar, the woman whom God asked, “Where are you coming from — and where are you going to?”
How can we see our way to a meaningful life, if we don’t make time to be reflective? The second act of our lives can only be better if we reflect on it longer than a hot second.
You have to reflect on The Hagar Question to find the answer to your one life:
“Where are you coming from — and where are you going to?”
So as part of my morning routine, as my daily rule of life, a SACRED way of life, every morning, I pick up my pen, press open a new blank page and journal, and sit with The Hagar Question, be like Hagar who located her soul on the journey, assessed the journey she had forged, the trajectory she was on, what the landscape was behind her — and scanned the horizon ahead, determined the route forward, set her intention and direction for all that is to come.
“Taking the time to write, to actually dot our i’s and cross our t’s, is what literally gives us new eyes, new insights, because what is life and writing but re-vision.”
Taking the time to write, to actually dot our i’s and cross our t’s, is what literally gives us new eyes, new insights, because what is life and writing but re-vision.
And I can see:
Where I’ve been coming from — is a nest feeling emptier and prayers feeling fuller. I’m coming from crow’s feet and deep laugh lines and a face wearing its age brazenly.
I’m coming from: Jesus does not have a timeline for my perfection, but Jesus throws me lifelines for my ongoing sanctification.
I’m coming from: Time keeps moving on, and I keep moving my body to not just keep moving the stress through, but to keep my brain moving.
I am coming from fresh courage: Never be reactionary but visionary.
And I have a vision of where I want to be going to:
Refuse to take offence when you can take joy.
Fulfillment in the soul, comes from focusing not on all that is large, but on all that is small.
“What will heal the broken parts of you is not beating yourself up more, but letting Jesus break His heart of love over those parts more.”
Forget whether if less is more — or if more is more.
Bottom line, always is:
Simply enjoying is more.
Wellbeing is never about wealth, but always about the health of all being well with your soul.
Taking captive every thought and making it obedient to Jesus is about every thought being held by Love and moving with Love.
Nothing stops feeling overwhelmed like pausing to see how God sings a love song over you, sings a love song because of you, His arms under you.
What will heal the broken parts of you is not beating yourself up more, but letting Jesus break His heart of love over those parts more. Imagine that.
Literally keep imagining that.
I lay my pen down.
This act of sacred journaling, of asking the soul The Hagar Question —“Where are you coming from — and where are you going to?” — is the act of discovering your real life — and the best second act.
If you only have 1 year left, 10 years left, 20 years left, what would you start doing right now?
“Unless you intentionally take time to reflect on your end, you can miss what you need to start.”
Unless you intentionally take time to reflect on your end, you can miss what you need to start. Death ends our story here — but reflecting on our death changes our story for forever.
Hagar wasn’t a woman of positioned or power, but Hagar was a woman of profound perspective.
This woman of profound perspective — is the first and only one in the whole of the Hebrew Bible who personally names God. A woman, the only person who names God: El Roi — the God who sees me.
“I have seen the God who sees me.”
Did Hagar give God the name El Roi, the God who sees me — because she was a visionary woman, a woman who literally had the vision to actually see how a woman is seen by God?
Or — did Hagar give God the name El Roi, the God who sees me, because she felt so invisible and really unseen to the people all around her?
It can happen, and you can feel it every time you blow out another round of birthday candles:
The more life you have lived, the less seen you become.
“The older you get, the more invisible you can feel.”
The older you get, the more invisible you can feel.
It’s a strange thing to realize that all the images around you are saying that only youthful is beautiful, that it’s time for you to cover your greys, cover your fine lines, cover yourself up into, ultimately, invisibility.
It’s stranger yet: When we don’t see ourselves reflected in any images around us, our invisibility can grow into our identity.
Every single one of us is born into this world longing to be recognized, to be seen.
And when we all come into the world looking and longing for someone who is looking and longing for us — the possibility that we grow into invisibility is deeply disorienting.
And yet: How do we actually want to be seen?
“When we see ourselves as subjects in our own lives, we live as verbs, women who have agency in our stories.”
There is a difference between being seen merely as a beautiful object, to ogle and use — and being seen as a bountiful subject, full of agency and interiority.
When we see ourselves as objects to be evaluated in other people’s lives, we never feel truly seen, but we actually objectify ourselves, and let ourselves become passive tools that are used or removed.
But: When we see ourselves as subjects in our own lives, we live as verbs, women who have agency in our stories. Second acts can be far more secure, steady, stronger, and seen than first acts.
You have God sitting in the front row, His eyes never leaving yours, Him fully attentive to your every brave move. You don’t have to do one thing to get the love of anyone — the eyes of God are fixed on yours, smiling delight in you, smitten with you. He who sees every hair on your head and sees the smallest sparrow, He sees all of you.
And He says the story of history wouldn’t be complete without you, and He sees you as the perfect verb He needed, to write this singular, stunning part of the story.
“God sees your second act as one of His greatest acts.”
God sees your second act as one of His greatest acts.
I gather rattling seeds from the lupins in the garden, check on how the foxgloves are setting to seed.
I walk through the garden growing older and into a tender kind of beauty at the end of the summer, and there is a way to walk through life, grow older beautifully, and be a Hagar who keeps asking where she’s been, where she’s going and being like the woman, the only person in all the Hebrew Bible God who names God: I have seen the God who sees me.
Visionary women have the vision to truly see the God who truly sees them.
Visionary women know:
You don’t have to be seen as young to be seen.
Wherever you have been, you are seen — and wherever you are going, you are seen.
No woman has to ever fear being invisible because she is always deeply seen by God.
And I pick a handful of delicate roses, rambling whites and barely peaches and a few miniature yellows, for my old wooden bench where I pick up a pen and journal, and I think about that, about opening the Word and seeing God and being seen, and I see it again, in countless ways, the way to begin a stronger second act:
The way you slay invisibility is with intimacy.
Intentional intimacy with God, with our people, is what intentionally slays all our invisibility in the world.
And in the evening, in the cool of the day, I walk in the garden and into the beginning of a second act of stronger, deeper intimacy with the One who deeply sees.
Want to a sacred way of life that lives out the Hagar Principle?
When you feel invisible & are longing to be seen…
When you’re looking for love, and Love Himself looking for you…
When you’re walking through the dark and you need to know you’re not alone…
For every person who is walking a hard way and looking for a way through, WayMaker is your sign, that there is hope, that there are miracles, and that everything you are trying to find a way to, is actually coming to meet you in ways far more fulfilling than you ever imagined.
Grab Your Copy of WayMaker — and begin the journey you’ve secretly been hoping for — and the strongest second act.
Ann Voskamp's Blog
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