Ann Voskamp's Blog, page 46
August 14, 2022
Walking in The Middle of Joy and Pain
We often measure our lives by stages, keeping record of the past chapters while writing the new ones we are living. Shelly Calcagno was in the middle of raising her teenagers, entering the stage of life that begins to bring more freedom, when her mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease. This began The Longest Goodbye journey in her life, a chapter that has spanned almost a decade as her family has watched their beloved wife, mom and grandma slip away. Shelly made the choice that in the middle of her drawn-out grief, she would keep looking for hope. Determined that the love her mom had always given so freely to her, would become the catalyst for love and honouring her back, even through the hardest of days. It’s a grace to welcome Shelly to the farm’s table today…
It’s still fresh in my heart—the trauma of hugging her in the doorway of her new home, as strangers wheeled her away. The world was shut down because of Covid, so we couldn’t even go in with her. I wanted to scream out, “That’s my mom! You don’t know her; she belongs to us. She’s the most beautiful person in the world. You’d better take care of her. She’s gentle and kind. She likes to be warm. She loves her tea. Put a scarf around her neck. Make sure she’s okay . . . ” I hugged my brothers and sobbed and sobbed that day, and many days since.
“The pain of great love is when you have to let go.”
I’m grateful I can go see her now. I’m grateful for the care she is receiving. But I hate to leave her there. My dad and I both wait until her eyes close before we whisper goodbye. We don’t want her to see us walk away, but eventually, we have to go. Each time, as I drive out of the parking lot, I whisper, “Bye, Mama” as I pass by her window, and I cry all the way home.
These have been the hardest of days for us all. The pain of great love is when you have to let go. I know we still have her, and she’s here with us. I’m so grateful for that. But she’s not at home anymore, and I want her back. Some days, I want everything back.
Often, I close my eyes, and I’m standing on a thin and shaky wire. With one wrong lean or step either way, I might come tumbling down. I remember being a little girl at the circus, under the big top tent, watching the tightrope walker put on a show. I hold my breath and shovel popcorn into my mouth with my sticky cotton-candy hands, unable to look away as she walks across the skinny, bouncy rope in her battered and dusty ballerina-like shoes. There is tension in the air as she takes each step.
Would she do it? Can she make it across?
In that case, she did. The small-town crowd cheered, and we all marveled at her skills. Ironically, as the most unbalanced, least-flexible, stunt-like person around, I relate to tightrope walkers everywhere. While I’m not suspended one hundred feet in the air (thank goodness because I’m afraid of heights), the balancing act for me most days is this continual space between joy and grief. I think I live there now; it’s pretty much my home. And I try not to fall off in the middle. Happy and sad. Past and the future. The joys of life, mixed with all the hard things. In the middle of all that life has brought with my mom, I’m living those happy days, too.
Our son is getting married soon. Recently, we had a family celebration for him and his beautiful fiancée. He is the first of the next generation in our family to get married—our firstborn, the oldest grandchild in the beloved line of cousins—soon starting a life of his own. My heart was so happy. I held back tears as I snapped some pictures, remembering all the friends and family at different stages of his life. Another milestone in the journey of letting go. From little boy to soon-to-be husband.
“Like the tightrope artist trying to make her way across to the other side, I was walking the line between joy and grief.”
The celebration was wonderful. I was filled with joy; laughs rang out; memories were shared; and there were smiles all around. In the middle of it all, though, I was walking that thin and shaky wire. Like the tightrope artist trying to make her way across to the other side, I was walking the line between joy and grief. With every hug, smile, and congratulations, I missed my mom, and I wanted her there. She would have been all over that day. She was with us when Noah came into the world and took his first breath, and she never stopped caring for him or loving him as long as she could express herself.
In all the celebrations we have had lately, I imagine her there with her big smile. “Grandma’s treasure is getting married,” is what she would say. Instead, she was at her new home, a celebration happening that she didn’t even know about.
My heart can’t process that she won’t be at his wedding. I can’t have her beside me, beaming in pride. I want her to help me with my dreaded dress- shopping and tell me how to wear my hair. I want her in the pictures; I want to see her with all her family gathered around. In the middle of my immense joy, I feel this deep grief. But I just keep on balancing and making my way across that shaky rope.
“The middle. The tightrope. The balancing. By grace, that’s the space where we often must live. And it’s often the place where we learn to grow.”
Here’s the thing about longest goodbye journeys—and perhaps most paths that we walk in life. If every day was filled with only sunshine and roses, it wouldn’t be very realistic living. And if we only dealt with sadness and pain, we’d never be able to get up and face another day.
The middle. The tightrope. The balancing.
By grace, that’s the space where we often must live. And it’s often the place where we learn to grow.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 reminds us that there is a season for everything under the sun, and how we walk each season is significant. I don’t like it, but I’m learning to embrace it. I’m navigating how to draw from both so I can keep my balance and find the moments of value in the center of it all.
I went to visit my sweet mama after the wedding shower, after our day of celebration. More than ever, I’m keenly aware of the pictures of family behind her on the wall in her new home, showing how life is moving forward. It’s like a slow-motion picture, blurring around her. It moves; more photos are added as life keep happening; but she stays still.
But she’s here, and that is enough for my heart. So, I held her hand, and I told her through my tears and soaked mask all about the shower and her beautiful grown-up grandkids and the people she loves and who love her. She’s happy and smiley as I talk, and I see that as another love gift from God. I feel seen and loved by her and by Him.
When I got married, sunflowers were my obsession. Before I went to see her, I bought a big bouquet of them and put them in her room on her windowsill. I held them right up to her face, and she smiled her big smile. And all felt okay again.
I haven’t fall off the wire. Working on my balance, even through the shaky days, I’m trying to keep in the steady center.
Gathering up joy in the moments.
Shelly Calcagno is a writer, blogger and content creator. She has written and produced several animated series for children and specializes in curriculum development. She is the host of A Space for Grace Podcast, and the author of The Longest Goodbye: A Family’s Hope-Filled Journey Through Alzheimer’s. Alzheimer’s disease affects almost fifty million people worldwide. It touches people across every walk of life. So, how do millions of people figure out how to love as they let go? The Longest Goodbye is a collection of stories and moments not just about the clinical side of memory loss–but the emotional heart journey. It is a story that shows how joy and grief are often intertwined and wrapped up together in the glorious mess of life.
The Longest Goodbye encourages readers to remember the ones they love while they are still here and to intentionally celebrate and live through the pain and hard days. It’s filled with tears, hope, and bitter-sweet moments all held together by the beautiful love of a mother and daughter holding onto a life filled with memories, while learning to let go and say goodbye.
August 13, 2022
Only the Good Stuff: Multivitamins For Your Weekend [8.13.2022]
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:
Warren Keelan- Photographer
Warren Keelan- Photographer
Warren Keelan- Photographer
Warren Keelan- Photographer
Warren Keelan- Photographerjust taking a moment to marvel!
View this post on InstagramA post shared by JENESSA WAIT | faith and encouragement
(@jenessawait)
God will *never* leave you or forsake you!
THESE reminders to hold onto when you’re feeling anxious.
in the midst of war, what these ones are doing to love extravagantly…this is beautiful
feeling undone by rapidly changing circumstances? this will encourage your heart
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Supreet Sahoo (@supreet_sahoo_)
now this is amazing! *God’s creation really is breath-taking*
now this is a must-read! what this woman does after having *six* brain surgeries is really phenomenal
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Emilee Kurt (@emileekkurt)
cultivating contentment? *now this is a game-changer!*
this powerful song for -right now-
“God I’m yours
And You are mine
Let my restless soul
Be still and know
I am leaning on Your everlasting arms“
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!
have you ever heard of “Book Towns”? this is so cool!
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Amy Gannett | Bible Study Schoolhouse (@amycategannett)
some great ideas to make your Bible-reading come alive!
View this profile on InstagramGemma Wright (@greenrabbitflowers) • Instagram photos and videos
*oh, just look at all this beauty!* God made such glorious things!
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Terri Gorton Fullerton (@terrigfullerton)
…yes, THIS. learning to live a cruciform faith.
…words for our hearts to linger long on…
“It doesn’t take a trophy to make You proud…
I’ll never be more loved than I am right now…
Jireh, You are enough
And I will be content in every circumstance
Jireh, You are enough”
View this post on InstagramA post shared by The Daily Heartwarming (@thedailyheartwarming)
what happens when you can finally see all the colors… and his comment at the end? PRICELESS.
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Danielle Craig | Podcast Host (@mrsdaniellecraig)
People care. People see. People are *full* of God’s light and goodness.
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Upworthy (@upworthy)
you can’t miss this! simply the SWEETEST.
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Kim // Bible Journaling (@radiatingchrist)
cool way to add extra notes right into your Bible
Gray hair is a glorious crown… Getting older is truly a blessing. Here’s how to do it well…
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Good News Movement (@goodnews_movement)
oh oh! this brotherly love – isn’t this every mama’s dream?! tears.
– well this is just simply adorable –
what a breath-taking landscape. travel with us here this weekend?
glory, glory, glory
~ 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.
PICK UP YOUR COPY OF WAYMAKER
PICK UP YOUR COPY OF WAYMAKER“When the race is complete,
still my lips shall repeat:
Yet not I, but through Christ in me!“
deep breath. whisper it to your soul:
I don’t have to perform for Him today. I am sung over today.
*He performs His love for me.*
I am delighted in. I am rejoiced over. I am loved on.
Today, I’m listening everywhere for His love song over me.
“The LORD your God is with you,
the Mighty Warrior who saves.
*He will take great delight in you;
in His love He will no longer rebuke you,
but will rejoice over you with singing*.”
~ Zephaniah 3:17
[y
ou can find this post and other encouragement
in our
Facebook
community … will you come join us?]
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 12, 2022
The War for Your Worth: How to Find Your True Identity
Brittany Maher is a writer & digital artist with a heart for the lost, and Cassandra Speer is a speaker and author whose heart is driven by the desire to write words that offer solidarity, peace and hope that soothe weary souls. Together they lead Her True Worth, a growing online community of women discovering their true worth in Christ. In their new book, Her True Worth: Breaking Free from a Culture of Selfies, Side Hustles, and People Pleasing to Embrace Your True Identity in Christ, Brittany and Cassandra deliver a powerful call to women to break free from the bondage of false identities and discover their true worth in Jesus Christ. It’s a grace to welcome Brittany and Cassandra to the farm’s table today…
Guest Post by Brittany Maher & Cassandra Speer
We love superhero movies. They are exciting, action-packed, and filled with courage and adventure. Most superhero origin stories reach a pivotal point in the film where the main character finally realizes their full potential when they discover who they truly are—their true identity.
Take, for example, Diana Prince, also known as Wonder Woman. In the story from DC Comics, Diana was a mighty warrior from the society of women known as the Amazons. Diana considered herself to be just like the other Amazons when really, she was so much more. She wasn’t just a strong, beautiful, fearless warrior; she was the daughter of a god. But because she didn’t know her true born identity, she wasn’t able to step into the power she was born with.
“You can have all the power in the world, but if you don’t believe it, you will never walk in it.”
If you don’t know you are Wonder Woman, you won’t be Wonder Woman. You can have all the power in the world, but if you don’t believe it, you will never walk in it. You won’t try to fly, block bullets, or save the world.
A similar principle is true for us. If we don’t know who we are, we will not walk in our God-given potential and purpose. We are born with an identity given to us by God. We are daughters of the Most High God, the Creator of heaven and earth. He is the Alpha and Omega, the King of glory, yet He calls us by name and His thoughts are vast about us. (Psalm 149:17)
With every superhero story, there is a supervillain who is actively working to destroy the world. Wonder Woman’s arch nemesis in the 2017 film Wonder Woman was Ares, the god of war, the son of Zeus and her half-brother. Ares was an egotistical, bloodthirsty maniac bent on destroying humanity at any cost. Sound familiar?
“Every single day, we are at war for our worth.”
Our status as daughters of the King gives us our identity, but it also presents us with our adversary.
Every single day, we are at war for our worth. The devil viciously attempts to rob us of our identity because we pose the greatest threat to him when we know who we are in Christ.
The Enemy is our greatest identity thief. Jesus said of him, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10 esv). The enemy of our souls will stop at nothing to eradicate what God is doing in us and through us. And most of the time, in our experience, the first place he tries to attack is our identity. Identity is where everything about us begins and is rooted from. Without identity, we flounder.
“God gives us our identity through Christ, breathes life into our lives through His Word, and gives us hope for a future secure in Him.”
He aims to steal our identity by tempting us with a counterfeit. Kill our relationship with God. And destroy our lives and our future. Whereas God gives us our identity through Christ, breathes life into our lives through His Word, and gives us hope for a future secure in Him.
The two of us are wives, mothers, daughters, sisters, aunts, friends, writers, and more. Our identity characteristics may be how others view us or how we’re positioned in society, but they aren’t who we are.
Neither of us were born a wife or mother. We didn’t come out of our mother’s wombs as writers. These are simply roles and activities we’ve acquired over time. But our most fundamental identity, that both of us share, is that we are uniquely and intentionally formed in the image of God. We are His daughters.
Each of us are fearfully and wonderfully made. That is how God describes us in Scripture (Psalm 139:14). That is the core of our being. Beloved.
When we function from that identity, everything beyond that is just an identity characteristic—a role or activity that could end or change without making us lose our identity, or undermine who we are in God.
It’s important to note that in order to truly know and understand who we are in Christ, we must first confront the truth of who we are not.
We are not:
Our past mistakes.
Our failures.
Our roles and responsibilities.
The amount of likes on our selfies.
Our successes.
Our following on social media.
Our wins.
Our pinterest-perfect life.
Our flaws.
Our trauma.
Our looks.
The amount of praise and affirmation we receive from others.
“Who we are and where our worth lies is simplified into this one definition: Jesus Christ and what He did on the cross for us.”
Who we are and where our worth lies is simplified into this one definition: Jesus Christ and what He did on the cross for us. We know that we are worthy to God because He paid the highest cost for our salvation: the life of Jesus Christ.
But, we are forgetful. Heck, half the time we can’t even remember what we had for breakfast. And if the two of us are being honest, we don’t always remember our worth to God or who we are in him.
Because we are so forgetful, it’s critical to speak his truth over ourselves and apply his Word to our lives daily.
If we are living our lives with our worth and identity up for grabs, then anything that comes along our way that feels satisfying in the moment will pull our attention and tempt us to place our worth in it.
Counterfeit identities aren’t just an epidemic in the world around us but also in the online world, too. The devil is all up in the digital details. Social media is a perfect example of the wrong thing to place your worth in when used unhealthily. The likes, the comments, the follows/unfollows. It all feeds our desperation for affirmation yet at the same time serves as a harsh avenue for rejection. When we log on social media from a heart posture of comparison, jealousy, envy, and worthlessness – then the “scroll” becomes a highlight reel that states the obvious that we are falling short in comparison to the lives of these people who are putting their best foot forward in that space. If we fall prey to the desire of trying to keep up with the ever-changing opinions of others, we will always be chasing a moving target.
This is why it is so important to be rooted, grounded, and anchored in the truth of who God says that we are.
This is who God says we are:
Fearfully and wonderfully made. (Psalm 139:14)
God’s masterpiece and crowned jewel of creation. (Ephesians 2:10)
Made in God’s image. (Genesis 1:27)
Forgiven. (1 John 1:9)
Redeemed by God through Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 1:7-8)
Called by name, not called by our sin. (Isaiah 43:1)
A new creation–the old life is gone. (2 Corinthians 5:17)
Greatly loved by God. (Romans 8:31-30)
His child. (1 John 3:1)
An heir with God and co-heir with Christ. (Romans 8:17)
A member of God’s family. (Ephesians 2:19-22)
Blessed. (Philippians 4:19)
Chosen, and set apart for God. (1 Peter 2:9)
His treasured possession. (Deuteronomy 14:2)
Precious to God. (Isaiah 43:4)
“rest in the truth that you no longer have to work for your worth, but rather live from it.”
Rest in these truths, friend.
And also rest in the truth that you no longer have to work for your worth, but rather live from it.
The pressure is off. We can’t earn or work to obtain our worth or our status as daughters of God. God has already determined that through His Son.
Lord, help us to not forget who we are and whose we are.
photo credit: Brittany Maher
Sister, we don’t want to become like the man described by the apostle James who looked in the mirror but forgot what he looked like as soon as he walked away because he didn’t do what the Word says (James 1:23–24).
“We have to be hearers and doers, putting his Word into action every single day.”
You see, most people look in the mirror for a purpose—to comb their hair, brush their teeth, or make sure they don’t have toilet paper on their shoe—not just to stare mindlessly at their own reflection. Likewise, a healthy Christian reads the Bible not just to store up facts and knowledge that they’ll never put to good use, but to take action. We have to be hearers and doers, putting his Word into action every single day.
When we apply God’s Word in our lives it becomes heart knowledge, not just words written on a page. We must immerse ourselves in God’s Word daily so that we can write it on the tablet of our hearts and live from His truth. (Proverbs 7:1-3)
Even in the face of the Enemy’s lies, because let’s face it – he is always speaking lies and screaming accusations at us – we can keep our perspective clear. Even in the midst of adversity.
Life will try and beat the truth out of you—or, rather, the Enemy will try and beat it out of you through your circumstances. And we’re here to encourage you to throw some punches right back at the devil. You hold the authority in Jesus’ name, friend! Pick up your sword (the Word of God) and dispel the lies once and for all. He can’t win. He may be vicious in his attempts, but he will never hold the victory. Jesus does.
Though the battle rages on, we proclaim victory from the trenches in the mighty name of Jesus. It is finished! (John 19:30).
Remind yourself every day of this simple yet powerful truth that your true worth isn’t based on you or your circumstances. It’s not something you can work for, achieve, or accomplish. It’s not found in your status, appearance, social media following, or relationships. It’s found in one thing and one thing only: Jesus.
After years of working in the beauty industry, Brittany Maher and Cassandra Speer became disheartened by the false, contradictory messages about what defines a woman’s worth. They saw women who were lost and wandering, endlessly seeking security and approval. So they made it their mission to help Christian women uncover their valuable identity in Jesus Christ.
In Her True Worth: Breaking Free from a Culture of Selfies, Side Hustles, and People Pleasing to Embrace Your True Identity in Christ, Brittany and Cassandra reveal what God intended our identity to be in the beginning, how sin corrupted it, how Christ has redeemed it, and how to live securely in that identity. They remind us that, ultimately, our true worth is found in Him.
Let Her True Worth be your guide as you discover the woman you were meant to be.
[ Our humble thanks to Thomas Nelson for their partnership in today’s devotion ]
August 8, 2022
God Makes Good Bodies: Do Our Souls Know It Well?
Tara Sun has built a community around loving and living God’s Word. With daily devotionals, podcast episodes and other resources, Tara loves putting her arm around her online friends, gently encouraging them to keep walking faithfully. She thoughtfully breaks down God’s Word into understandable, relatable pieces, while also showing her beautiful creative side through her digital art. It’s a grace to welcome Tara to the farm’s table today…
Resentment and embarrassment flooded my heart as I looked around the room at a half a dozen beautiful bridesmaids.
Like an all-out assault, my thoughts fired relentlessly at me.
“Oh, to have her tiny waist!”
“I wish I had her long legs.”
“Gosh, why is my chest so big compared to hers?”
“They all fit so much better in their dresses.”
It was the day that two of my childhood friends would say “I do” and enter into God’s beautiful covenant of marriage. My husband was the best man, and I was the matron of honor. Now, don’t get me wrong. There was nothing that could steal my joy for my friends, the beautiful summer day, or the sheer display of God’s glory through marriage. But man, did the enemy try hard to even steal tiny pieces of it.
While the photographer snapped pictures of the bridal party before the ceremony, I hid my insecurity behind a camera-ready smile. I tried to angle my beautiful, cascading bouquet of flowers over my midsection – one that had just birthed my beautiful baby boy four months prior. I tried to angle my body inwards to hide my chest that had grown exponentially from my new role as a nursing mother.
During the ceremony, I hid myself under an oversized jacket. (On a ninety-degree day of all days.) But the jacket wasn’t to make a fashion statement. It was a body shame covering.
“Fearfully and wonderfully made”, as the Psalmist said, is one that I have never really, truly understood until a few months ago. After nine months of pregnancy came the culmination, the crescendo, of that beautiful journey. An hour of pushing and out came the most beautiful dark-haired baby with the world’s shiniest eyes.
I was told that postpartum would likely be a rollercoaster of a ride, but I didn’t understand that until it began. Suddenly, my chest was constantly engorged and enlarged from the milk that would nourish my baby. Suddenly, my stomach was saggy and stretchy, speckled with brilliant red stretch marks.
I preached the message, “You are fearfully and wonderfully made in God’s image!” but barely believed it myself.
My saggy skin. My mushy belly. My engorged chest. It all felt less than wonderful.
But after my best friend’s wedding, I had enough. The fact that I covered up my body in shame with a denim jacket in ninety-degree weather was enough. I ran to my Bible and poured over Psalm 139 again.
For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. (Psalm 139:13-16)
King David was a remarkable man. Not only was he one of history’s greatest kings and rulers; he was also a shepherd, soldier, poet, husband, and father. While he could have easily claimed that is what made him “awesome” and “wonderful” (NASB), he drew this simple, yet powerful conclusion.
He was fearfully and wonderfully made, not because of anything he had accomplished. Not because of his marvelous writing skills, musical talents, or excellent strategy as a soldier king.
“David could declare with all confidence in the world that he was fearfully and wonderfully made because of Who he was made by: God and only God.”
No, dear one.
David could declare with all confidence in the world that he was fearfully and wonderfully made because of Who he was made by: God and only God.
The Psalmist had seen enough of God, so much so that it ignited his admiration of the work of God, and ultimately, drew him to a holy reverence for the Worker Himself.
And what he said next is a marvelous thing.
Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.
This phrase stopped me in my tracks.
My soul clearly did not know this well.
You see, dear friend, the truth of the matter is, when we resort to shaming our own bodies, our souls truly do not know this truth well. Perhaps our souls do not even know this truth at all.
“True freedom from body shame comes by knowing that God Himself is wonderful and worthy to be feared and honored.”
True freedom from body shame comes by knowing that God Himself is wonderful and worthy to be feared and honored. When we believe this essential truth about our Creator with every fiber of our being, we can begin to teach our hearts to believe that our Good Creator does not make mistakes. He makes good creations. He breaths out only goodness of life.
He is intentional with every stretch mark, every dimple, and every curve.
Dear friend, we are not fearfully and wonderfully made because of our pant size. What makes us fearfully and wonderfully made is not whether we feel confident in a bridesmaid’s dress or not.
We are priceless, valuable, and loved – knitted intentionally and purposefully together because of God.
When our eyes are ever fixed upon the Rock of our Salvation, we can properly affix ourselves. When our eyes gaze upon His incomparable glory and splendor, we can gaze upon ourselves and others in the light of this unwavering truth: We are fearfully and wonderfully made.
“Do our souls know it well? Do we believe that God calls us beloved, with no strings attached?”
Do our souls know it well? Do we believe that God calls us beloved, with no strings attached? With no weight or pant size requirement? With no need to cover up our bodies in shame or embarrassment?
When we stand in proper awe of the Lord, when we stand in proper view of the reality of our Savior, we can stand in thankfulness and contentment for how we were created. Bumps, dimples, curves, saggy skin and all.
The world says confidence comes from “having it all together.” From fitting back into your jeans pre-pregnancy. From having a full, thick head of hair. From parading around your long, lean muscles that are “body goals.”
But I say confidence comes from knowing that you are held by God. True confidence comes from knowing that we are fearfully and wonderfully made, no matter what we look like. True confidence comes from knowing that we do not have to be a certain dress size to fulfill the great calling of our Great Savior. True confidence comes from knowing that we are God’s workmanship, created for good works in good bodies.
“For everything comes from him and exists by his power and is intended for his glory. All glory to Him forever! Amen.” (Romans 11:36 NLT)
“In the fear of the Lord, one has strong confidence, and his children will have a refuge.” (Proverbs 14:26 ESV)
I don’t know about you, dear friend, but I don’t want to look back on my life and resent my body. I don’t want to waste another day wishing away the stretch marks that gave me my baby. I don’t want to wish away my tiger stripes that is evidence of a miracle God fulfilled through my womb. I don’t want to let silly, trivial, outward expressions of beauty to cultivate an inner spirit that is less than beautiful.
Wonderful are Your works, O Lord. Help our souls to know this well.
Tara Sun is an upcoming author (coming in 2023) and online community builder. Her podcast, Truth Talks with Tara, is dedicated to helping us know, love and live God’s Word. She’s married to her high school sweetheart and is a new mom, as of March 2022. Her ministry is just getting started. You can follow along with her over on her Instagram or on Tara Sun Ministries.
August 6, 2022
Only the Good Stuff: Multivitamins For Your Weekend [8.6.2022]
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:
Meg Loeks – Photographer
Meg Loeks – Photographer
Meg Loeks- Photographer
Meg Loeks – Photographer
Meg Loeks – Photographerher shots… always make me want to look at the clock less and my people more
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Courtney (@notestothewild)
just look at all this beauty! who loves August?!
who would you be if all the normal markers of your identity were stripped away?
a soul-stirring read + something to meditate on in the quiet.
all is inherently sacred. interesting read on the importance of living a consecrated life!
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Ann Voskamp (@annvoskamp)
Even now, the waves that are in your way can be the way to Him.
oh this song!
“Let Him turn it in your favor
Watch Him work it for your good
He’s not done with what He’s started
He’s not done until it’s good…
FEAR IS NOT MY FUTURE – You are“
View this post on InstagramA post shared by ♡Luna☆Owl♡ (@lulumoonowlbooks)
for all of the book & beauty lovers! this feed is filled with whimsical animated bookish scenes…just for fun!
Grace CaseJoin along with us collecting handcrafted heirlooms from around the world and
supporting artisans from around the world – delivered right to your doorstep!
The theme of each Grace Case is the best surprise, but we’re so excited about this absolute BEAUTY of this next one that we can’t resist giving you a tiny glimpse & hint of what’s to come:
and the very best part?You get to change the lives of sisters around the world!
YOU DONT WANT TO MISS THIS! RESERVE YOUR GRACE CASE TODAY!View this post on InstagramA post shared by Good News Movement (@goodnews_movement)
oh what a *special* surprise for this Grandma – tears!
digital flower art? how delightful is this?!
do you need courage today? THESE WORDS during the fight for her life
<simply stunning>
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Holly Robinson Peete (@hollyrpeete)
oh my. that God has written each individual life story for a reason.
what this mama says 🙌🏼 🙌🏼🙌🏼💛💛💛
what a good reminder for us all, to pray for one another –
PLUS you can send a free ecard to someone who needs encouragement here…
< this might be just what your weekend needs >
grab your cup of coffee and exhale – remember His new mercies every. single. morning.
You Want The Fog Of Life To Lift? Start Here.…living with so many question marks?
This story-this time-deeply moved me, changed me.
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Home Decor Inspiration ♡ (@my_homely_decor)
< God’s creation bursts forth! this is so gorgeous!! >
how inspiring are these youth? what they are doing to love in war zones – amazing.
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Nouveau Exposure Apparel (@nouveauexposure)
sunshine joy right here! hand all those worries to Jesus – He’s got this!
what this mother-daughter duo achieve… SO MUCH FUN
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Frank And Oak (@frankandoak)
*gather the kiddos for this one. this is just too cute!*
On the Book Stack at the Farm
Read Christie Purifoy‘s recent post:A Garden Maker’s Creed: How to Make a Garden and Tend Your Soul
Read Eugene Peterson‘s words in this recent post: How You Get To Be Set Free, Especially Now
Read Clarissa Moll‘s recent post:Resilience and Resurrection: God’s Gracious Gifts in Grief
sit by the river for a while and let God’s truth wash over you + still your soul.
For every person who is walking a hard way, through the fog of life, 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.
PICK UP YOUR COPY OF WAYMAKER
PICK UP YOUR COPY OF WAYMAKERthis. just deeply special, and moving.
.
…you’re giving when you’re exhausted & you’re loving large —
& it doesn’t matter what anyone else says: *THAT* is success:
Success is simply faithfulness.
Success is not giving up.
Success is just showing up.
Success is simply bending down & serving another.
“Want to stand out? Then step down. Be a servant.” Matthew23:11MSG
And it’s true…when life looms large —
small acts of grace can erupt as the greatest change in another place.
He’s in you and makes you a city on a hill so you get to be part
of the welcoming beacon and answer to the world’s weariness.
Because we’re not really here to help ourselves to more —
we’re here to help others to real life.
Never doubt it: The way to break into the abundant life is to live broken —
life’s not about choosing a lifestyle, but a way to serve.
[y
ou can find this post and other encouragement
in our
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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 5, 2022
You Want The Fog Of Life To Lift? Start Here.
Maybe weary parts of me wanted to disappear?
And that’s one of the reasons why we flew to the those islands at the top of the world that tend to disappear?
They have 37 words for fog in the Faroe Islands, for fog that makes all things disappear, fog that enshrouds all that is in mystery, fog that blankets the steep grass roofs and sheep winding up sheer mountain sides hanging over the silver sea.
For a handful of days, the Farmer and I watch out our wee cabin’s kitchen window overlooking the bay, watch the waves roll in from the ocean, watch fog roll in too, settle in and obscure everything.
There is what the Faroese call mjorkakov, a very thick fog, and then mjørkatám, the hazy fog, and pollamjørki , the low-lying sea mist that seems to be pulled in by the relentless gunmetal North Atlantic waves, and wreaths along shoreline and the edges of hope, stirring all over again this wild belief, that mountains can move, that mountains can rise, and what is in the way can lift, and float in mid-air.
“Well…. I think instead of adventuring out, I think we just wait it out — just wait till this fog lifts.” I turn the kettle on, wait for the water to roil with a mist of its own.
Plan in pencil. Only God writes in stone.
We are witnessing it on the Faroes at the top of the world: Unbelievable sights surrender daily to unscripted skies. Fickle northern waves swirl surround these islands, endlessly changing, and so fickle, untamed weather swirls around everyone, endlessly changing.
This is what they call the Land of Maybe.
Maybe there will be visibility, maybe there will pea-soup grey, maybe there will be sunlight, maybe there will only be the thickest mist.
Maybe there is actually only one land that any of us live in: The Land of Maybe.
The language always spoken in the Land of Maybe is simply Let Go.
Maybe we will get to live out our days laughing loud and lingering long and happy around tables in the deepening golden light, or maybe…. maybe we will ache and howl at the moon as our hearts break. Maybe we’ll get to live, to go, to comeback, to rise, or maybe…. maybe we do not.
Plan in pencil. Only God writes in stone.
Open hands is what opens doors.
The Faroese descendants of the ancient seamen who’ve weathered through fog and storm and unknown here at the top of the world for centuries, they testify:
The only way to survive is to surrender. Open hands is what opens doors.
The Faroe Islands — all of life— is not a place you can make go your own way.
You cannot bend all the bends in your road to your own will and way.
The Farmer stands at the window watching the mountains slip invisible under the sea-mist. Just waiting till the fog lifts, all the waiting, with bated breath, I’ve lived this:
Just wait till the news (from them, or on the channel) changes.
Just wait till the forecast (from the doctor’s, or on the radar) changes.
Wait for the fog to lift, and you can be left waiting for the weight of the world to lift.
Just wait till the trajectory (of our people, of our own lives) changes — just… wait till the fog lifts. And yet: Waiting for the fog to lift, can get you down.
Wait for the fog to lift, and you find time keeps moving on, waiting for no one.
Wait for the fog to lift, and you can be left waiting for the weight of the world to lift.
Wait in life’s waiting room, and you can miss your only life. I have lived this too.
I hold my steaming cup of coffee there at the window, lean against the Farmer.
The fog of life is won by those who make every moment a little win.
Maybe that’s what I have felt, since before the pandemic, since all kinds of loss and trauma and grief came crashing in ways I never would have imagined, maybe what I’ve felt is what the Faroese call, hjallamjørki, a belt of fog, come in on the ocean — or maybe more like floki, a bank of fog — that makes me somedays want to disappear and withdraw, and other days make me anxious to find my way out of the strangling tight belt of disorienting grey.
Loss and living into the unknown can be exhausting. Will our people make it, will our hearts survive, will things go from hard — to our worst nightmare?
The fog of life is won by those who make every moment a little win.
“Let’s just go,” The Farmer zippers up his jacket. He’s the kind of man born ready and willing, boots on and double knotted.
Stillness is a posture of the soul, not a paralysis of one’s life.
We are always called to the paradox: Sojourners on the Way, we are called to be these strange pilgrims who live the paradox of an interior soul stillness, waiting on the Lord, while we keep putting one step in front of the other, following the Lord, wherever He leads.
On one hand, we wait — and with the other, we work. And the Lord tells us what belongs in the waiting hand and what belongs in the working hand.
Stillness is a posture of the soul, not a paralysis of one’s life.
The Farmer and I set off in the curling fog, wind our way slow around the islands of the archipelago and these 18 northern islands connected by more than 22 tunnels, slipping under mountain and sea.
The Farmer turns us around a corner and into the shrouded side of the mountain, through the tunnel, we go, like Levite priests slipping behind the veil, believing there’s a way through every fogged mystery.
Your fog can feel like forever — but move forward, and your fog can be gone.
Through the dark, through the dark, through the endless claustrophobic tunnelling dark — and then the surprise of abruptly coming out into glorious warm light. Thick fog one second, brilliant sunlight the next.
Your fog can feel like forever — but move forward, and your fog can be gone.
It’s always tempting to think that the way it is where you are, is the way it is everywhere.
But in a moment, turn around, turn a corner, turn down a tunnel, turn and just move forward, and the fogs in the Faroes can shift and a shaft of beaming light can dapple and dance on North Atlantic waves, bathing a shore-clinging village in a ring of light, and maybe it will all stay, or maybe the fog will move in and envelope all over again.
Move a bit, and everything shifts. The way you want, can be just one step away.
But, always: Move a bit, and everything shifts. The way you want, can be just one step away. Fog lifts when we risk and move our feet.
We hurt our own world when our thinking is global: when we think: “It will always be like this, no matter how much time passes, no matter what happens, no matter what I do, the way things are now, is the way things will always be.”
But every moment of our lives change, when we begin to think more momentary.
Just at this time — there may be fog here, but move forward, and there won’t be fog there.
The way things are in this moment, are not the way things will be if you keep moving forward.
Just at this time — this relationship, this work, this dream, is a fog of confusion, but take the steps you need to, move forward, and eventually, you’ll be surprised how there won’t be fog like this.
Just at this time, this is what I need, just at this time, things need to be this way, just at this time — there may be fog here, but move forward, and the weather changes up there.
The way things are here, is not how they are everywhere.
The way things are in this moment, are not the way things will be if you keep moving forward.
Finding a way through, is like crossing a river, from stone to stone: You have to let go and leap if you’re ever going to make it to the other side.
The Farmer turns toward me, grinning, his face bathed in sunlight.
“Guess the fog isn’t quite as thick as you think, the tunnel isn’t as long as you once thought, and light is, in many ways, a whole lot closer than you imagined, eh?”
I nod, reach for his hand. Move forward — the end of your fog is closer than you think. And you’ve got to keep moving forward, before the conditions even seem to make sense to move forward.
Finding a way through, is like crossing a river, from stone to stone: You have to let go and leap if you’re ever going to make it to the other side.
Unless you are willing to move ahead in unfavourable conditions, you can’t truly know the favour of God. Favorable conditions aren’t guaranteed — only the favour of His unconditional love.
When he and I turn to look at the way the light shimmers like hope across the water, we can see the light appearing and moving too along the shore, bathing all these places that had once disappeared in this golden grace.
The light always just keeps bravely moving too.
When you want to know & see signs of His loving-kindness…
When you’re looking for love, and Love Himself looking for you…
When you’re walking through a bit of a fog and you need to know you’re not alone…
For every person who is walking a hard way, through the fog of life, 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.
Gr ab Your Copy of WayMaker — and begin the journey you’ve secretly been hoping for.
August 4, 2022
Resilience and Resurrection: God’s Gracious Gifts in Grief
Clarissa Moll and I connected after her husband and my father died suddenly and unexpectedly. As we’ve walked the road of grief together, Clarissa has offered companionship and comfort in the darkness that often enshrouds life after loss. Her story is both heartbreakingly honest and deeply hopeful, a balance that’s often hard to strike in a culture that doesn’t know what to do with death and sorrow. It’s an honor to invite her to the farm table today …
On one of our favorite family hikes in Washington’s Cascade Mountains, there’s a turn in the trail that always gives me pause. After almost two miles of walking through towering western red cedars and Douglas firs, a space opens up on the northerly side of the trail. For the first time, your gaze can rise beyond the trail at your feet to the expanse beyond. Through a frame of trees, the sky expands and you see verdant, forested mountains, layer after layer on to the horizon.
Whenever we get to this spot on the trail, I insist on a stop. A rocky ledge juts out between the trees, and I climb over, take a seat, and catch my breath—only to have it taken away again. The slog of the trail feels so different up here, high above the rest of the world, surrounded by mountain majesty. If the most beautiful views are found at the hardest climbs, I daresay, this trail is worth every footfall.
The old gospel hymn assures us, “It will be worth it all when we see Jesus. Life’s trials will seem so small when we see Christ.” But when you’re in the slough of grief, truth is often obscured by the muck and mire of sorrow. It might even feel cliché.
“Hope, for the Christian, is everything.”
When your eyes are so trained on the rocky, rooted trail before you, it can be hard to hear that you need to lift your eyes to look for more.
But for the believer, the hope of the gospel shapes our grief. It is the lens through which we view death. It colors our sorrow and infuses our sadness with persistent joy. It reminds us that the flourishing we pursue in this life is only a foretaste of all that is to come. Hope, for the Christian, is everything.
“The power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead is accessible to us now through his Spirit. The new life that awaits us has already begun.”
N. T. Wright tells us, “God’s plan is not to abandon this world, the world which he said was ‘very good.’ Rather, he intends to remake it. And when he does, he will raise all his people to new bodily life to live in it. That is the promise of the Christian gospel.”
This is the truth in which we stand. Moreover, it is the truth we are living into each day. The power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead is accessible to us now through his Spirit. The new life that awaits us has already begun. As Romans 13:11 says, “Salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.”
Because this truth enlivens us, we can be assured that flourishing awaits those of us who grieve, not just in the future but here and now. Just as our redemption began the first moment we believed, our new life after loss has already begun. It is our calling, then, to step forward and take hold of it with passion and purpose. With grief as our companion, we can live with joy as we eagerly await the fulfillment of God’s promises, knowing that the inauguration of his good and peaceable kingdom has already begun. Our feet are already pointed toward home.
“flourishing awaits those of us who grieve, not just in the future but here and now.”
How do I know this? I see it on the hikes I take with my children, and I read it in God’s Word. God has built all of creation for resilience, and resurrection is always his gracious pleasure.
Resilience is built into every cell of our bodies. Just as your body can repair from the physical stress of grief, your heart can also repair from the emotional toll of acute sorrow.
As comforter and guide, the Holy Spirit supports you as you engage in the rebuilding work that God has laid before you. Each day we live with grief, we can access “his incomparably great power,” says the apostle Paul to the Ephesians.
The same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead can raise you from the dead too.
“God delights to make dead things alive again. He can and will do it for you, too.”
If you’ve felt like a part of you died after your person’s death, I hope this comes as amazingly good news. God delights to make dead things alive again. He can and will do it for you, too.
Our loved one’s death transforms us in the very hardest ways and in beautiful ways too. Parts of you died with your person’s death, parts survived, and—amazingly—parts have been born.
Each day is worth facing because a risen Jesus offers you not only resilience after loss but grave-defying restoration.
You can love life after loss. In grief and joy, God offers you a life made new, full to overflowing with his goodness.
“The empty tomb does not negate the graves we stand beside in this life, but it does transform them.”
When I talk to grieving Christians, they’ll often tell me, “I don’t know how someone could do this without Jesus.” And I have to agree.
The empty tomb does not negate the graves we stand beside in this life, but it does transform them.
As Paul reminds the Thessalonians, “We believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.”
In the end, we can embrace grief’s companionship because of the empty tomb. When we’re aching and exhausted, the empty tomb reminds us that transformed bodies await us. When we feel the piercing loneliness of sorrow, the empty tomb assures us that death will lose its sting.
For the Christian, the empty tomb is the hinge pin of our hope in grief. Resurrection awaits those we love, and it awaits us, too. And though at times you’ll find it hard to believe, this hardest path you’ve ever walked will lead you home.
Clarissa Moll knows the landscape of loss all too well. Her life changed forever in 2019 when her husband, Rob, died unexpectedly while hiking―leaving her with four children to raise alone. In her debut book, Beyond the Darkness: A Gentle Guide for Living with Grief and Thriving after Loss, Clarissa offers her powerful personal narrative as well as honest, practical wisdom that will gently guide you toward flourishing amidst your own loss. Sorrow is a dark and painful road. You don’t need to walk it alone. This book is a practical, soulful guide for the hardest path you’ve ever walked.
Award-winning writer and cohost of Christianity Today’s “Surprised by Grief” podcast, Clarissa Moll helps bereaved people thrive after loss. Her writing appears at Christianity Today, The Gospel Coalition, RELEVANT, Grief Digest, and more. Connect with Clarissa at www.clarissamoll.com or on Instagram.
August 1, 2022
How You Get To Be Set Free, Especially Now
One of the most laying-low, transformational experiences of my life was to lean in and work over 18 months with John Blase and Eugene Peterson on the 25th edition of the Message Bible, to sit with Eugene and his wife Jan, and to be a hushed witness to the grace of Christ in this lifelong pastor, scholar of biblical languages, and translator of The Message Bible. Eugene was keenly aware of how easy it is to feel lost while reading the Bible. To help his congregation he wrote insights on Scripture and introductions to every book. He continued, writing contemplative readings and community-themed articles to ensure readers knew that God does not stay aloof, but moves into the neighborhood. I deeply, deeply loved Eugene and it’s an absolute grace to welcome the words of Eugene to the farm’s table today…
Every Christian story is a freedom story.
Each tells how a person has been set free from the confines of small ideas, from the chains of what other people think, from the emotional cages of guilt and regret, from the prison of self, separated from God by sin. We’re free to change. The process of that change is always a story, but it’s never a neat formula.
“We live in a world where we’re free to change.”
That is Paul’s way.
When he tells us we’re free to change, he doesn’t give us a formula; he tells his story. Paul’s story is remarkable but by no means exceptional.
Similar stories are created and lived daily all over the world and have been ever since the Lord said to Abram, “Leave your country, your family, and your father’s home” (Genesis 12:1).
Each time such a story is told, it adds to the evidence that we live in a world where we’re free to change.
“God has had plans for us from before our birth. He has never been apart from us.”
In the story of the changed life, nothing is wasted. Our former lives—in Judaism, in paganism, in secularism, in narcissism—are raw materials used in the work of art that is freedom. We don’t begin to be in relationship to God at the moment we become aware of it. God has had plans for us from before our birth. He has never been apart from us. That which took place in the years before our acceptance of Christ’s love is not rejected but used.
Nothing is wasted in the life of faith.
Change penetrates every part of our selves and our history, not just the “spiritual” parts, not just the good parts.
The inferiorities we feel, the inadequacies we sense, the sins we regret, the differences that make us feel like outsiders—these are all included in our story of freedom and are transformed into Christ-affirmed features that express the power and glory of God. As changes take place, we find that we’re free to adore, to pray, to believe, to take time to get things right, and to listen again and again for the freedom-creating Word.
Every Christian story needs to be shared with others. Every story is different. Yet every story is the same.
In the telling we recognize the common plot of God’s grace setting us apart, personally calling us and revealing his Son to us.
We also recognize the great care with which He respects and uses every individual feature of our bodies and emotions and minds so that each story is totally fresh and original.
“In the story of freedom, God is always the subject, humans, always the object.“
In the story of freedom, God is always the subject, humans, always the object. If we’re to live free, it will be because of God’s actions, not because of our own will or disposition or politics or intelligence.
Three instances in Paul’s opening lines in his letter to the Galatians show God to be the subject and humans to be the object:
(1) Paul is made an apostle by God;
(2) Jesus is raised from the dead by God; and
(3) we are rescued from this evil world we’re in by God.
Something is done to us, for us, before we do anything. We are acted on before we act. Life isn’t naturally produced by us; it’s supernaturally provided for us.
Your story—as well as Paul’s story and my story—is a freedom story.
What are some prisons the Holy Spirit has released you from in the past? Is there some area of your life that isn’t free? A tendency towards legalism or conforming to the expectations of others?
“God did not coerce us from without but set us free from within.”
Through Jesus, Paul learned that God was not an impersonal force to be used to make people behave in certain prescribed ways, but a personal Savior who set us free to live a free life. God did not coerce us from without but set us free from within.
And a new week begins… and everything rises with a prayer of freedom-
Dear Lord Jesus,
Thank you for all the freedom stories in the Bible.
Thank you for the freedom that Paul experienced in you
and for the freedom I’ve also experienced.
Help me to never go back to the bondage that once enslaved me,
whether to some moral bondage,
some ideological bondage,
or some theological bondage.
Help me to understand that although there are many ways to be enslaved,
there’s only one way to be set free,
and that’s by the power of your Spirit.
Use Him, Lord, to liberate me
so that I might not squander your hard-fought gift
or my heartfelt story
.
This edition of the Bible remains open on my desk always.
Eugene H. Peterson (1932–2018) was a pastor for thirty years, as well as a theologian and scholar of biblical languages. The author of more than thirty books, he is best known for The Message, his translation of the Bible into contemporary, poetic language. His ministry as a pastor and his writings on theology and spirituality have shaped generations of Christians — myself so included.
The Message Devotional Bible sets you on a path to consistently practice resurrection, or as Eugene called it, a long obedience in the same direction.
This beautiful Bible includes over 600 scriptural insights, 52 contemplative readings, 9 neighborhood-themed articles, and hundreds of questions for reflection.
Find your way in Scripture and discover a personal God who not only delivers us but settles in and among us. Take a look inside this Bible or learn more at messagebible.com.
[ Our humble thanks to Tyndale for their partnership in today’s devotion ]
July 30, 2022
Only the Good Stuff: Multivitamins For Your Weekend [7.30.2022]
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:
Anna Cosper – Photographer
Anna Cosper – Photographer
Anna Cosper – Photographer
Anna Cosper – Photographer
Anna Cosper – Photographertaking some time to stop and smell the flowers wondrously seems to give us time
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Vacations | Travel | Nature (@planetfervor)
some good glory to start off our weekend!
so many butterflies they make the branches bend! God’s Kingdom reminds us that there is
always, no matter what, HOPE
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Kristin Nave (@shelovesbible)
the beautiful, captivating story of the Bible – what a reminder!
what these ones are doing to ensure little ones have this necessity :)
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Rachel Flores (@flourishflores)
You are beautiful just because: He made you!
what this young girl is doing with tea & books? to help disadvantaged kids?
you don’t want to miss this one!
< oh what a breathtaking collection of animal families around the Earth! >
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Hope Rises Network (@hoperisesnetwork)
what this quarterback does when he meets these kids in need! #BeTheGift
who doesn’t want a weekend stroll through a sunflower field? because yep, taking the time to smell the flowers seems to give us more time!
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Kim // Bible Journaling (@radiatingchrist)
now this we are 100% into! what an inspiration to feast on God’s Word,
ingest God’s Word, live God’s Word
it’s never too late! you’re never too old!! just look at what this 98 year old did?!?
hey? what if all sought to live fully, joyfully who God really made us? oh what a sweet joy.
“I’ve got peace that makes no sense
So, I won’t be going under
I’m not held by my own strength
‘Cause I’ve built my life on Jesus
He’s never let me down
He’s faithful through every season
So why would He fail now”
When it Seems God Doesn’t Hear Your Prayers
The reality of this literally changed my life and nothing has given me real hope like this has
you’ve just got to read the sacrificial, over-and-above love this son gives his mom battling a tumor
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Дарья Берестова. Фотошкола Краснодар + онлайн. Топ-фотограф. (@dariaberestova)
daisies and ducklings? big ol’ smiles over here!
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Upworthy (@upworthy)
i just can’t stop thinking about it – if we all dreamt outside the box like these guys,
what brilliant things could we think up to make others day and show them radical love?
out of the ashes comes new life. HOPE! you gotta see what this young man did!
Don’t want You to miss this!
Christmas in July —their very best sale of the year!
Be prepared to have the most meaningful Christmas and Easter….
All beautiful resources on sale from The Keeping Company to help us keep company with Jesus!
PICK UP BEAUTIFUL RESOURCES FROM THE KEEPING COMPANYView this post on InstagramA post shared by Good News Movement (@goodnews_movement)
YOU can be the GOOD news for someone too! let’s be Good News people!
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Courtney (@notestothewild)
rest your head in a field of flowers – enjoy this lovely weekend & our Good & Kind Creator
there’s something so deeply special about Japan – come with us for a view of this beautiful land?
Need Some Real Hope?
Real Hope Ammunition For Your Hard BattlesHow do you live through this hard thing — that’s effecting everything? How do you keep finding a way forward — without losing your hope along the way?
How do you keep taking one step after another — when you want to be on another road?
GRAB SOME AMMUNITION FOR YOUR HARD BATTLE HERE For Our Tender places, For our Hard Stories, For All of Us looking for More than a Way Through, but a New way to actually Be, a New way of Life
PICK UP YOUR COPY OF WAYMAKER
PICK UP YOUR COPY OF WAYMAKER“I will lift my eyes to the calmer of the storm!”
this right here! put your eyes on Him. no matter the hard, look Up.
…so, honestly, it turns out, everywhere we turn,
that hopes & plans & people can let us down,
and You, Father, are beckoning to all of us:
“The name of the LORD is a strong tower;
the righteous run into it and are safe.” Proverbs 18:10
People will fail us sometimes —
but You never fail anyone, anytime, Lord.
People aren’t ever strong towers —
You alone are, Lord.
“Don’t be anxious or get discouraged.
God, my God, is with you in this;
He won’t walk off & leave you in the lurch.
He’s at your side “
1Chron.28-20 MSG
“Stay alert, with your eyes wide open in gratitude.” Col.4:2 MSG
No matter what’s coming at you this week, the thing is:
No amount of regret changes the past,
No amount of anxiety changes the future,
Any amount of grateful joy changes the present.
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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.
July 29, 2022
When it Seems God Doesn’t Hear Your Prayers
A lady flat-out told me, and I can’t forget it, and I think of her again and again, that she doesn’t know how she’s going to live through what she’s going through.
What if you’re looking for light at the end of a tunnel — that turns out to be a cave with only a dead end?
A friend whose oldest son drove down the road only to lose control on loose gravel and lose his ability to ever walk or speak again? The very same friend whose husband now just walked out and left her high and dry after 30 years of sleeping spooned together side by side under cotton sheets?
She tells us that lump she found? Is breast cancer. So she has no idea if she can take that full-time career position she just found — but there’s only her to keep the fridge full now.
What if you’re dealt bad hands — and they seem to come from the hand of God?
Joy Prouty
Joy Prouty
Joy Prouty
Joy Prouty
Joy Prouty
Joy ProutyAnd how many times has the farmer called to tell me what I didn’t want to hear?
Like to call to say that those pregnant clouds, heavy with rain, that we were all begging to deliver us into relief from this drought, their dark bellies rolled right on past his parched fields — and left a thousand acres of his corn out there dying of thirst.
What if your begging please — feels like ignored pleas?
What if you’re right parched and God keeps right on passing you by?
What if it feels like your prayers aren’t falling only on deaf ears — but a hard heart?
What if your begging please — feels like ignored pleas?
I once sat on the roof of the Upper Room in Jerusalem, sat on the rooftop over the room where Christ sat with His people for the Last Supper, sat looking out past the Western Wall and the Temple Mount, toward the Garden of Gethsemane, I pressed open the pages of His letter to us and choked up as I read it aloud, read some of His last words to His gathered followers:
“I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word….
I am praying for them.” John 17:6-9
The One who breathes stars breathes prayers for you, the One whose words spoke the world into being uses priceless words over your being, the One who made time, lives beyond time, controls all of time, uses all of His time to pray for you, because you are priceless to Him.
And I broke like clouds over parched places and rained relief.
“I am praying for them.” – Jesus
Though you think no one is praying with you, the Ultimate One is praying for you.
The One who brought you into existence is carrying you in prayer when that existence is brutally hard.
The One who breathes stars breathes prayers for you, the One whose words spoke the world into being uses priceless words over your being, the One who made time, lives beyond time, controls all of time, uses all of His time to pray for you, because you are priceless to Him.
Your prayer warrior is more than any warrior — He is the king of Kings and He has already won.
Jesus lives to endlessly, relentlessly and flawlessly pray for you (Hebrews 7:25), and your prayer partner is the One who possesses all power, and what He is praying for is your protection (John 17:11), your interconnection (11), your God-satisfaction (13), and your always-sanctification. (17-19).
Jesus is praying for your holiness because He knows holiness is your ultimate happiness.
Jesus is praying that you’ll be set apart from what threatens to take part of your heart.
Because He knows: When you just want Him — then you always get just what you want.
Jesus is praying that you’ll be brave when you’re about to break, that you’ll turn from what’s tempting, that you’ll stand against what’s strangling, that you’ll escape into Him instead of trying to escape in a thousand unfulfilling ways.
Hard times don’t need to understand what God’s doing — like they need to know God’s standing with us, that He’s kneeling in prayer for us at all times. Nothing makes you more fiercely brave than knowing Jesus is fiercely praying for you.
Nothing makes you more fiercely brave than knowing Jesus is fiercely praying for you.
Jesus has set aside all of forever to pray that you may be set apart now.
What could matter more? Jesus is praying right now that the Spirit comforts you, strengthens you, anoints you with fresh oil of brave joy.
We can get through anything because Jesus is seeing us through, carrying us through, praying us through. And when we’re struggling to pray, it’s Jesus Himself Who prays for all we’re struggling with. There are arms that won’t let you go, there are plans that won’t abandon you, there are prayers that won’t fail you.
The hand of God finds yours.
We are never alone in the dark — but finally alone with Him.
“Father, I ask that you allow everyone that you have given to me
to be with me where I am!” (John 17:24)
The dark gives way to warming light, because there it is, what breathes blazing hope into any blackness:
Jesus won’t get off His knees until you are in His arms.
The Light carries you especially now.
When you want to know & see signs of His loving-kindness…
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.
Gr ab Your Copy of WayMaker — and begin the journey you’ve secretly been hoping for.
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