Ann Voskamp's Blog, page 73
October 2, 2020
How to Punch Holes in the Darkness Until It Bleeds Light
My friend Margaret Feinberg is a funny, beloved Bible teacher who shares a heart for adventure and will literally go to the ends of the earth to learn more of Scripture and encounter God in wondrous ways. We’ve spoken at many conferences, shared a tent in Israel, and even walked the Emmaus road at sunrise together. She shares with deep vulnerability her pain in order to reveal Christ’s presence. If you’re struggling with the mess of the moment, the darkness and pain, you’ll find a buoy of hope and a powerful spiritual practice to remind you how tight God holds you. It’s grace to welcome Margaret to the farm’s front porch today…
guest post by Margaret Feinberg
I woke up exhausted and run down.
Long before the pandemic, discouragement had descended without warning, stealing my joy and thrusting me into a crisis that left me ever-spinning over my identity, decision making, and future.
This wasn’t the type of chemically induced melancholy that could be helped by medication (which I fully believe we should take when necessary!).
“Dark days rolled into murky months until lostness and lethargy became my new normal.”
No, this was altogether different—more existential and more spiritual. Dark days rolled into murky months until lostness and lethargy became my new normal.
One day, my husband, Leif, and I lunched with one of our most matter-of-fact confidantes, Chris. He waited for until the perfect moment to stare me straight in the eyes, and drop a truth bomb:
“I don’t know how or when it happened, but you’ve made some agreements with God that just aren’t true.”
Startled by his bluntness, I recoiled and grew defensive, but he continued on.
Over the past few years, he said, my descriptions of myself, my career, my relationships, and my perception of God had morphed. Much of it came from a series of brutal struggles—a cancer diagnosis, financial woes, failed friendships, a painful betrayal, unanswered prayers—which all worked together to corrode my confidence, leaving me shaky and uncertain.
As I reflected on Chris’ words, a verse I’d loved since childhood spoke to me as if for the first time.
“If I wanted to take back my life, I needed to untangle the lies from the truth.”
“Do not conform to the pattern of this world,” Paul writes in Romans 12:2, “but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”
Chris was right.
The negative patterns emerging in my life had arisen in my mind and disempowered me as a child of God. If I wanted to take back my life and regain my power, I needed to untangle the lies from the truth.
Soon after arriving home, I locked myself in a room with paper, pen, and prayer.
There, I scribbled a list of my agreements:
I am ugly.
I am unlovable.
I am unworthy of good things or success.
I’m a fraud.
I should be further along by now.
It’s only a matter of time before the other shoe drops.
With each new entry, hot tears streamed down my face.
I had no idea how debilitating my thought life had become. I was locked in a dungeon of lies that left me alone, ashamed, afraid, trapped.
I realized that I wasn’t making agreements with God, as much as I was making agreements with the enemy, the accuser of the saints.
When we agree with something that’s untrue, that agreement shapes our lives until it becomes the standard by which we live.
One of the most destructive agreements you can make is that your current reality is all that will ever be. You’ll never escape the dead-end job, abusive relationship, or black hole of debt.
The agreement “My situation will never improve” soon becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. You begin avoiding opportunities to escape, because you’re convinced your efforts will end in failure.
You become Sherlock Holmes, collecting clues that confirm the untruth that you are forever stuck right where you are.
Before you know it, your life, your potential, and your dreams wither and weaken.
The agreement then becomes a stronghold that stands in the way of fulfilling your God-given destiny.
That’s when I snatched some paper from the printer and penned a list of Power Declarations deeply rooted in Scripture. Each one was specifically to confront the lies in my life and seem to be so prevalent in our culture today.
Starting that day, I devoted 90-seconds each morning to reading through this Scripture-based list out loud.
One by one, I rejected the lies I’d accepted as truth and made bold Power Declarations rooted in Scripture about God’s goodness, the fierce love of Christ, and my worth. With each declaration, I poked holes in the darkness until it bled light.
Seventy-two hours later, Leif said, “Something’s radically different about you—you’re lighter and freer than I’ve seen in months.”
“If the God who made the galaxies lives inside you, then you have the power—through Christ—to denounce every destructive agreement that raises itself up against the truth of God.”
Though it may sound hard to believe, taking 90-seconds each morning to recite these Power Declarations has changed my life, my outlook, my impact.
When the Accuser whispers in my ear, I shut him down with the truth of who God is, what God says, and who am I as God’s child.
I had no idea how critical these Daily Power Declarations would be for both my husband Leif and I during the pandemic.
They’ve been a lifeline to us every day. That’s why I have them tucked into the back of my Bible, on the bathroom mirror, and yes, pinned above the toilet paper roll.
I bet you’ve made some untrue agreements with God too.
Perhaps you’ve accepted the lie that your best days are behind you, that you’ve grown unattractive, that you’re a bad parent or an inadequate spouse, that your life is less glamorous than the lives of all your “friends” on social media or that this pandemic will never end.
These kinds of thoughts fuel our fears and insecurities.
But you are not bound to this agreement and can break it whenever you choose.
You have the ability to deliver a one-two power punch to any lie. The apostle Paul instructs us to “demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God” (2 Corinthians 10:5).
If the God who made the galaxies lives inside you, then you have the power—through Christ—to denounce every destructive agreement that raises itself up against the truth of God.
“The time has come for you to shake off the lies that have shackled you to shame, married you to mediocrity, and drowned you in doubt.”
Take hold of paper, pen, and prayer today. Ask God to reveal the agreements have slipped into your life and need to be renounced.
With each one, say aloud, “I break every agreement that sets itself up against the knowledge of God.”
Demolish them one at a time, take stray thoughts captive, and identify scriptures that counteract the lies. As you embark on this life transformation, grab a journal, a pen, and a few friends. Because we’re always better together.
If the Spirit of Almighty God lives inside of you, then you are a spiritual powerhouse.
God created you, called you, and equipped you. And thanks to Him, there is power for you, with you, and in you to defeat the powers that be.
The time has come for you to shake off the lies that have shackled you to shame, married you to mediocrity, and drowned you in doubt.
If you’re ready to break free from fear and take your life back, then more power to you! Let’s do this together, my friend!
Host of the popular podcast, The Joycast, Margaret Feinberg is a popular speaker whose books have sold more than one million copies.
In Margaret’s new groundbreaking devotional, More Power To You: Break Free From Fear and Take Your Life Back, you’ll launch into each day by reading the biblical affirmations aloud. Then you’ll read through the humorous, empowering devotions to discover that in Christ there’s more power for you, with you, and in you to defeat the darkness and difficulties you face. And Margaret’s has delightful gifts—the frameable 90-Second Power Declarations, an audio of the declarations, custom coloring pages, a book club kit, and more for you for free if you order your book today.
Margaret’s invitation to journey with her toward wholeness and healing should not be missed in her new book More Power To You. This is tonic for toxic times, and a field guild for the brave new world we’re living in.
[ Our humble thanks to Zondervan for their partnership in today’s devotion ]
September 30, 2020
Hard to Get Out of Bed? The Secret That Changes Everything
When I saw it plastered on a wall somewhere in the city, it brought me up short.
I stepped back a few steps, stood there in front of it like a fool farm hick.
“Why do you get out of bed in the morning?”
Blazoned across the three panels like a wakeup call:
Why do you get out of bed in the morning?
Some dare devil’s pictured on the billboard plunges off his surfboard: Fear of Failure
An astronaut lashes himself in for launch: The Need to Succeed
Some guy holds a a curling cat: The Love of Your Life
And I mean —
There’s work towering over you like a toppling avalanche about ready to bury you a couple feet deep, mocking you to go ahead and just try to get of bed. There’s bills stacked up like a deafening demand. There’s people counting on you and you’re counting on someOne stronger than you to get you through.
Why in the world do you get out of bed in the morning?
“Nothing is more necessary than finding God and falling in love and deeper into Him.”
I’m pretty sure that I don’t get out of bed in the morning for any purring feline and I ain’t got no rocket ship or a hankering to go launching off into the cosmos and, quite frankly, I’ve never quite had the gumption or the backbone to take on any looming wave while trying to balance on a defying sliver of fiberglass.
Standing there before the billboard and it’s haunting question, it comes as a beat under my feet, a rhythm down the street, the question that’s begging an answer, and I want to arrest a steady stream of blank-faced commuters and ask them if they know, want to ask of old men on park benches and kids on park swings and mamas at sinks with young ones slung up on tired hips and the brave who get out of bed and alone and face their own uphill road: Why — why do you really keep getting out of bed?
Do you find your feet because you’re driven by a relentless fear of failure or beaten down by the need to succeed or do you hit floor for the love of a ball of fur?
Nothing is more necessary than finding God and falling in love and deeper into Him.
“What you are in love with decides what you live for.”
Love decides everything.
What you are in love with decides what you live for.
What you are in love with decides what decides what you get out of bed for.
Fall in love with the Hands that shaped your heart, that cups your face, that trace your scars, that caress you with grace. Fall in love with His face in a thousand faces, in the baby that meets you at the crib rail and the teenager that doesn’t want to budge and man that find that never fails to put feet to the floor and find his Levis and the back door to brave the world for Love.
“Love decides everything — which is another way of saying, Sacrifice is the essence of everything.”
You have to fall in love because this will get you up and keep you going every day.
Because — Love decides.
And Love isn’t about agreeing with someone, it’s about sacrificing for someone.
Love decides everything — which is another way of saying, Sacrifice is the essence of everything.
Fall in love, fall into sacrifice, and you will always rise.
Go fall in love with grace and mercy and the only One who has ever loved you to death and back to the realest life — because the world is begging us all to get out of bed and sacrifice for someone hurting, for someone different, for someone forgotten or marginalized, to hold the hand of someone who doesn’t look like us, to lean in and listen to someone angry and grieving and doubting the likes of us, to give a bit of ourselves to those who feel like they aren’t given much real space at the table.
“Fall in love, stay in love, stay sacrificing, and you live the most satisfied.”
Read the headlines, read your news feed, and then defy the dark and go fall in love with kids raised in different neighbourhoods than yours, fall in love with God in the faces that tell stories different than yours, fall in love with people who think and live and walk in circles far different than yours. Sacrifice for someone so your sanity, your joy, your fulfilment isn’t sacrificed.
Sacrifice will always leave you the most satisfied.
Fall in love, stay in love, stay sacrificing, and you live the most satisfied.
What you are in love with in your life —- decides everything about your life.
Love decides everything.
The sun can rise, and we all could rise, falling around each other, falling all around, healing rising.
In all these uncertain days, you find yourself at a crossroads every day — and what you need to know is the way to abundance.
How do you find the way through uncertainty that lets you find certain peace, a way to surrender to what is, a way to live in the arms of the Good Shepherd?
How can you afford to take any other way, especially in days like these?
September 28, 2020
Even in the hardest of situations: You can’t break a woman who gets her strength from God
You’ve never met a woman quite like the one & only Alli Worthington. She’s vivacious, a flaming match, like a bit of light contained, and you can’t help but absolutely love her and want more of her brilliance. Alli and I go way back…she was one of my first friends & biggest encouragers in this out-of-the-way corner of the internet. Alli is a dear friend who bears the scars of battle. She knows the fight for our faith and the fight for our freedom well. She is bringing a message of God’s empowerment and His call for us in this season to stand strong in Him. It’s a grace to welcome Alli to the farm’s front porch today…
guest post by Alli Worthington
We’ve all been touched and deeply changed by adversity, this year, more than ever. When I feel overwhelmed, challenged, knee deep in a difficult season, I cling to the things I know to be true.
“You can’t break a woman who gets her strength from God.”
And in the season we are currently in, I know this to be true; our hearts have been fashioned to face and fight even the hardest of situations.
I also know this to be true; we aren’t alone. We have God on our side, and our strength comes from knowing He is right there with us.
You can’t break a woman who gets her strength from God.
As I cling to these truths, I trust that God is calling me to walk more closely with Him, to trust Him more deeply, and to press into the future that He has set before me. I can face the adversity of today because I know that God has a future in mind for me, an abundant, glorious future.
Joy Prouty
More Than Enough
We all share one purpose—to know Jesus and tell others about Him. That’s it. That’s our purpose.
“He’s calling us to walk in our gifts, to overcome our self-doubt, to start living out our purposes, and to stand strong.”
But our callings? Our callings are wild and wonderful and ever-changing, depending on the season of life we’re in, even difficult seasons.
God isn’t calling us to live an enough life. He’s calling each of us to live an abundant life, which is to say, a more-than-enough life. He’s calling us to walk in our gifts, to overcome our self-doubt, to start living out our purposes, and to stand strong.
Have you begun to have new dreams, even in this difficult season, — starting a business, adopting a child, starting a community garden, writing a book, launching a new initiative— dreams that seem impossible unless God performs a mighty miracle? That feeling inside you is God calling you to a new adventure, to growth, to a higher level of understanding, to your abundant, glorious future!
So what does a call to accomplish great things in the world look like? It may look like caring for your family with strength and patience in the middle of a pandemic, volunteering at church to remind hurting hearts that God loves them, penning the next Great American novel, or launching a business that will shake up an industry.
In whatever way it comes to life for you, the feeling that you are meant for more exists for a reason.
“When we are facing adversity at every turn, it’s easy to push down our dreams.”
But, when we are facing adversity at every turn, it’s easy to push down our dreams. It’s easy to store our calling in the back of the closet for another time. It’s easy to listen to the voices that tell us we can’t.
Don’t focus on the reasons you can’t. Focus on the God who can.
Stand strong and lean into God’s calling. God will give you everything you need to do what He calls you to do. Standing strong is not about striving or personal achievement, it means getting out of your own way and letting God work in and through you.
Partner With God
God is calling you to partnership in this season. It took a partnership to create the world. God spoke the world into existence while the Spirit hovered over the water. And the ark would never have been built without a partnership of carpenters, right? Even Jesus didn’t want to do His ministry without a partnership of twelve men to walk with Him on difficult days. Those same men also became a partnership of missionaries who went out into the world to build God’s church.
“Don’t focus on the reasons you can’t. Focus on the God who can.”
When we think about the partnerships in the Bible, we see that God’s story required partnerships to move it forward. You are the newest link in this chain of partnerships that will carry the kingdom of God forward.
Could it be that even through the pandemic, our God has called us into partnership and not passivity? Could it be that, even through some of the deepest and widest pain we’ve ever known, our God has drawn us closer to His heart—and our callings?
You were created to partner with God by bringing His purposes to life in this world.
The dream you have in your heart? He put it there because He chose you to partner with Him to accomplish it.
You have to accept God’s invitation to partner with Him and move out of your own way to do it. We get in our own way because of fear, insecurity, lies we believe about ourselves, and lies we believe about God.
God’s Not the Only One With A Plan
The enemy has a plan for your life too. It may have started with Eve in the Garden, but it ended with Jesus on the cross. Don’t let that truth escape you. God has invested too much in you for you to let the enemy hold you back.
Yes, the enemy will try to take you out. And no, he can’t steal you from God’s hand. But he will work overtime to keep you distracted, depressed, and disillusioned.
“The enemy will tell you that you are weak, but God reminds us that the Holy Spirit inside of us is bigger than any giant in front of us.”
Jesus won the war on Calvary, but you, sister, you are in a battle every day.
The enemy will tell you that your calling doesn’t match your credentials, but God is a God of empowerment.
The enemy will tell you that the world has changed and your dreams no longer matter, but God is not surprised by world events, and your calling remains for you to live it out.
The enemy will tell you that you are weak, but God reminds us that the Holy Spirit inside of us is bigger than any giant in front of us.
Keep doing your kingdom work, keep listening to the dream you have in your heart, and know God placed it there as a vision for the glorious future He has for you.
You are not alone.
You have the creator of the universe on your side.
God is standing on the other side of the open door to the next season of your life.
And in His hand is an invitation to a great adventure.
Alli Worthington is a author, speaker, and business coach. Alli’s no-nonsense, guilt-free take on business, family, and balance lead to appearances on The Today Show and Good Morning America.
She is the author of the new book Standing Strong: A Woman’s Guide to Overcoming Adversity and Living with Confidence. Alli knows all about the ways a woman can be hard on herself, let self-doubt hold her back, and let the inner critic tear her down. She shares a guilt-free guide to getting out of our own way, recognizing the obstacles in our path and overcoming them, and partnering with God on what He has for us in each season of life.
In Standing Strong she shares that you are stronger than you think, and you are worth more than you could ever imagine. So let go of the guilt, shake off the shame, and fend off your fears as you fight with your faith.
[ Our humble thanks to Zondervan for their partnership in today’s devotion ]
September 26, 2020
Only the Good Stuff: Multivitamins for Your Weekend [09.26.20]
This weekend? Feels like we are walking into new hope, new change, new possibility!
Some real hope in these days — for us all to the real, sustained, needed work & more of the real Kingdom of God to come into a hurting world. Links & stories this week 100% guaranteed to make you smile a mile wide & believe like crazy in a Good God redeeming everything — and that there’s love everywhere & for ((you))!
Serving up only the Good Stuff for you & your people right here:
Meg Loeks
Meg Loeks
Meg Loeksalways grateful when she shares her gift with us
View this post on Instagram
September 23, 2020
How to carry a remarkable story: The Story of Song
Just one month before the world would unknowingly go into lockdown, my daughter and I flew to Sydney, Australia to be a part of a women’s conference at Hillsong Church. Whilst there I was led in worship by Brooke Ligertwood and Ben Fielding, and hosted by Karalee Fielding, and in just a few short days that we were together, the rich conversations and meals we shared, our common love for worship and desperation to know more about our Jesus, meant that our hearts were inextricably linked in a friendship and fellowship that I am grateful to have encountered. I am grateful for their passion and heart behind their new children’s book, What a Beautiful Name, and how it will develop in children a sense of wonder about worship and spark a curiosity about the things of God in an engaging and fun way! It’s a grace to welcome Ben to the farm’s front porch today…
As a friend to many gifted preachers, I am cautious to admit this – but I cannot remember many messages that I heard in the early days of my spiritual formation.
Yet I can remember stories – and I can definitely remember songs. I have firm memories of sitting in church as a young child and wondering why the adults were singing a song about a deer and a panther? (The old hymn: As The Deer Panteth for the Water…) I remember singing ‘Majesty’, a Delirious tune at a Baptist Youth Conference and being overwhelmed for the first time by the power of corporate worship.
“What I’ve discovered, is that there is a mystery, an unexplainable beauty and a linear story that accompanies our creative gifts when we (with open hands) offer them back to God.”
And I remember thinking on lyrics like ‘Every knee shall bow at your throne…’ whilst not quite understanding the weight behind singing unto the Ancient of Days.
God is the source of creativity, He created everything with His words – and as displayed ‘in the beginning’ (John 1:1 KJV) words are used not only to communicate but to create.
It is my belief that this gifted creativity is required to capture the beauty of a move of God and to express it in ways that transcend cultural barriers, generational divides and geographical borders.
It is difficult enough to express the power of our ever present, all-knowing God with mere words, but His beauty most certainly requires art. It is so often art (beauty expressed through song and poetry, through painting and dance) that carries our story in a way that is timeless and lasting, passing from generation to generation.
Now, I must declare my bias: I am a songwriter. I’ve discovered a love for music and a deep regard for the church of God that I believe goes hand in hand with my creative calling.
To honor God and the gifts He has placed within my life – I write.
But what I’ve discovered, is that there is a mystery, an unexplainable beauty and a linear story that accompanies our creative gifts when we (with open hands) offer them back to God.
The story of song goes right back to the Exodus – the people of God on the move, literally. He parts the sea – and just one verse after his people walk across the ocean floor on dry ground, our ancient text records them SINGING. The same Exodus song echoes forward – generation to generation – carrying the story of what God has done and can still do.
From Michelangelo’s Sistine chapel masterpiece to Martin Luther’s thesis; from Johann Sebastian Bach to Handel’s Messiah, God was inextricably weaving one generation into another through art and through song.
The sermons, paintings and compositions of these artists influenced preachers and hymn writers, giving birth to some of the most distinct and important works like, ‘When I Survey the Wondrous Cross’ and ‘Amazing Grace’.
These songs tell stories of God moving in the day of their writers, slave-runners and sinners being confronted and transformed by the grace of God and gave the people of God (both young and old) a new song to declare.
Fast-forward again to a time more recent in our imaginations and these writings, sermons and stories crossed oceans and had a profound impact on a 19-year-old musician and mystic more than a century later.
Keith Green met Jesus and his life was turned upside down, in the best possible way. He became one of the most prolific and prophetic songwriters of his generation.
And it was Keith Green whose records I found as a 15-year-old boy, covered in dust and yet carefully stored in the back room of my parents’ home in the quiet suburbs of Melbourne, Australia.
“Be reminded today that the ultimate Creator, the Author and initial Artisan is writing your story and creating beauty and wonder and purpose at every turn.”
It was a pivotal time in my own youth –I was always interested in music, but it was the prophetic voice of this passionate soul that would minister to me at a defining stage of my life; at a time when I would form my own faith. I would sit for hours and hours in my room and listen to words such as:
Oh Lord, you’re beautiful,
Your face is all I see,
For when your eyes are on this child,
Your grace abounds to me
“Oh Lord You’re Beautiful” by Keith Green.
It was his songs and his story that caused me to pick up my own guitar and try my hand at writing. I can remember pretty clearly standing up in the chapel at my Anglican College, and leading my peers and teachers in simple choruses that I had learned the Sunday before in the small Baptist church my family attended.
My voice shook as I sang what would be one of the first songs I ever led corporately:
This is my desire
To honour You
Lord, with all my heart
I worship You
“Lord I Give You My Heart” by Reuben Morgan.
Songwriter and worship leader Reuben Morgan had already written so many songs that Churches all over the world were singing, and this was a favorite of mine. Little did I know that about ten years later, in 2006, I would find myself touring the world with this once in generation songwriter, whom I now call a friend, and we would one day sit in his living room and pen a song of our own: “Our God is Mighty To Save, forever, Author of Salvation, He rose and conquered the grave.”
When you think of the thousands of years, the billions of individual stories, no one could have imagined such a beautiful story.
“We carry this remarkable story. We get to tell it to our generation and the generations to come.”
No one could have fathomed the connections and synthesis between these ancient artworks, their biblical foundations and the modern hymnists they now inspire.
No one could have woven such a sacred map of calling and connection between a historic chapel painting and 21st century revival, a rehabilitated drug addict and a young boy from Melbourne.
No one, but God.
It was only a few years later I found myself writing again for our church with a dear friend of mine, Brooke Ligertwood. In a small studio office in a suburb outside of Sydney, Australia, God mysteriously anointed a session we had and again, the Gospel story would take on another melody in the form of this song, ‘What A Beautiful Name.’
To this day we could not tell you why God chose that song to breathe upon. Why it has resonated with many people in many languages, new and old alike.
What I do know, is that just as God is multifaceted – singing makes our theology multidimensional. It speaks of our experiences and our realities. It breathes hope into that that is not yet our reality and its prophecies of what is to come.
It can be as potent to a young boy sitting on his bedroom floor as it is to a Syrian refugee hearing about the beauty, wonder and power of Christ in their own language.
“Worship is a life full of curiosity and wonder of the God who has been wooing and restoring generation after generation.”
Songs mysteriously imbue our words with emotion, and they can powerfully engage the politics and the culture of our times, they can redeem the complexities of our times and offer them back as sacrifices of praise.
And so now, it is up to us. We carry this remarkable story. We get to tell it to our generation and the generations to come.
We are handed a torch to capture imaginations and propel the message forward.
Worship is a life full of curiosity and wonder of the God who has been wooing and restoring generation after generation.
My deep and personal hope is that my kids might leave church humming words that become an anchor for them at pivotal moment in their life; or that they might pick up a book or a painting and be filled with wonder and awe at this redemptive story.
So, be reminded today that the ultimate Creator, the Author and initial Artisan is writing your story and creating beauty and wonder and purpose at every turn…
Ben Fielding and his wife, Karalee, never have a quiet home. Whether the atmosphere is filled with family concerts or celebratory dinner parties, there is always a memory to be made in the Fielding household.
Ben and Karalee Fielding teamed up with Brooke and Scott Ligertwood to write and illustrate What a Beautiful Name. Brooke and Ben are singer-songwriters and part of the Grammy-winning group Hillsong Worship. When not on tour, working on an album, or leading conference worship, the two families enjoy spending time together and reading with their children.
Based on Hillsong Worship’s beloved Grammy-winning, chart-topping song , this fantastical journey of discovery is certain to inspire children who long to know more about Jesus and what draws people to Him.
Join little Oliver and his monkey pal as they embark on a quest for the name in the song Oliver’s mother sings. As they travel across land, sea, and space, they encounter beauty, wonder, and power. Each adventure in their epic journey leads them to the matchless name of Jesus—and to the realization that they don’t have to go far to find Him.
What a Beautiful Name is the perfect book for sharing with the little adventurers in your world, and its faith-filled message will resound in their hearts long after the last page is read. This book is an ABSOLUTE FAVORITE here!
[ Our humble thanks to in today’s devotion ]
September 21, 2020
I am the girl in the red cape. But I am also the wolf.
Mary Marantz is a born storyteller. One could sit and listen to (read) her words all day long. The pictures she paints are so vivid and real – they capture every one of your senses – you feel like you’re right there on that mountain with her. You’re nine years old with her, running through the briars, escaping your way out of the deep, dark woods. You’re eighteen and walking away from the only home you’ve ever known, striking out on your own to chase down achievement like it’s your oxygen. You’re a grown woman and finally finding your way back home to that mountain, to a place where you make peace with your past, with the story that built you. Her story is haunting and beautiful, captivating and raw, and through it all, dripping with grace. It’s a grace to welcome Mary to the farm’s front porch today…
My running is a girl in a red cape, barefoot and muddy, escaping her way out of the deep, dark woods.
Branches clawing at her skin, tearing at her clothes, leaving chunks and pieces of her behind like breadcrumbs. Something chasing, always chasing, close behind and closing in fast. The big bad wolf ripping at her heels.
She runs because if she stopped, she knows it just might kill her.
“It is so much easier to be admired for the pretend version of us than it is to be truly loved up close for the hard, messy, broken person we might actually be.”
When I turn to look back over my shoulder, breathless and wild eyed, I see it.
I am the girl in the red cape.
But I am also the wolf .
And that voice in my head telling me to run and not stop running. That it will never be safe for me to stop.
That voice is my own.
“She’s the most put together person in the room.”
That’s the lie we tell ourselves about who we have to be, in order to earn a spot in any of the places we walk into. Whether it’s the clothes we wear, or the house we own, or the pieces of us we so freely give away by saying yes when we really want to say no, we are all about the appearance of polished. The luster of confident and capable. Shiny on the outside.
Here’s why. It is so much easier to be admired for the pretend version of us than it is to be truly loved up close for the hard, messy, broken person we might actually be.
Shiny is a stiff-arm. A Heisman. It’s a way to keep people at arm’s length. Far enough away where it doesn’t feel like all these scars are on full display, still burning from the memory of the wounds that cut so deep in the first place. So no one can see, up close and personal, the grit we still have under our fingernails from the last time we dug ourselves knee-deep out of the mud.
Shiny is safe. Shiny is certain.
Shiny is also a cop out.
Joy Prouty
Joy Prouty“What if I told you that all along, that soft, vulnerable, delicate, partially crumbling center that makes up the core of you, that’s what people are really trying to get to anyway.”
We get really good at putting on all sorts of capes and masks to the world.
We layer on ‘more’ like a sweet buttercream frosting, don’t we? We take the parts of us that are soft and delicate. In danger of crumbling. And then we heap on more. We tell ourselves we have to do more and be more if we are ever going to be worthy. If the world is ever going to love us.
And… it’s exhausting.
And I just think that we should all agree to stop doing it. To ourselves and to each other.
Because what if I told you that all along, that soft, vulnerable, delicate, partially crumbling center that makes up the core of you, that’s what people are really trying to get to anyway.
That in this world where no one slows down long enough to really talk to each other anymore, more than anything we just want to see the real you. The one that’s hidden behind all those layers of what you think you should be. Because the buttercream just gets in the way of that.
And that’s why most of us can really only take it in very small doses anyway.
“These capes and masks we wear are not just a barrier that keep everyone else out. They are also a prison of perfection that keeps us walled in.”
It’s just far too sweet to be real.
We go out in the world and we wear the armor of the well-adjusted, the sword and shield of the over-achieved. The cape that covers all manner of our most secret identities. Brick by brick we build this facade that we think is everything the world wants to see.
But then, when we step back to admire our work, we realize it is not a monument to how far we’ve come that we’ve built, but a wall that now stands between us and other people. These capes and masks we wear are not just a barrier that keep everyone else out. They are also a prison of perfection that keeps us walled in.
And we’re suffocating.
But here’s the thing. The true connection we crave most happens face to face. It happens when the mask comes off. When the walls come down.
When we finally take off the cape and say, “It turns out I can’t leap tall buildings after all, will you still love me anyway?”
Honestly, when I really try to imagine talking to God, that’s how I see Him. He sits cross-legged on the floor across from me, way too close for comfort at first. Close enough to play the hand slap game if He wanted to, our knees almost touching.
“I hang my head low, the weight of the shame and the disappointment so heavy my heart can hardly bare it. But instead of slapping my hands away, He gently counts every hair on my head.”
He stares into my face so long and so hard, that I know He could see every flaw if He chose to, every line before it is even formed. I refuse to make eye contact. Every hard, messy part of me is there on full display. And there’s no point in trying to hide it. He knows it all.
I hang my head low, the weight of the shame and the disappointment so heavy my heart can hardly bare it. But instead of slapping my hands away, He gently counts every hair on my head.
He lifts my face to the light of His own. I feel the warmth wash over me of at once being truly known and truly loved. He isn’t going anywhere. He isn’t walking out. He won’t leave because somehow I wasn’t enough of something to get Him to stay.
He holds my hands in His, and I cry hard, bitter tears for things I haven’t yet allowed myself to grieve in a lifetime. I fall to tiny broken pieces in front of the Creator of the Universe.
Every atom spinning in the orbit of His presence. And He just leans in closer. Quiet. Listening for the words I need to say.
When I’ve told Him everything, cried for every hurt and every fear and every other way I’ve tried and failed to find belonging, He just puts a cool, comforting hand on my forehead and at once the pain begins to subside.
“That’s ok,” He tells me, “You just forgot who you were there for a little while.”
And it’s safe now, for you to rest.
Mary Marantz is a Yale Law School graduate and the first in her immediate family to go to college. She is the author of the book Dirt: Growing Strong Roots in What Makes the Broken Beautiful about growing up in West Virginia, and the host of The Mary Marantz Show- which debuted in the iTunes top 200 podcast list. Her writing has been featured by Southern Living, Business Insider, Thrive Global, MSN, Bustle, and Brit+Co.
From growing up in a single-wide trailer in the mountains of rural West Virginia to the halls of Yale Law School, Mary Marantz’s story is one of remembering our roots while turning our faces to the sky. Dirt is a reconciliation with the roots that grew her, a melody born out of the muddiest parts of her life. Mixed with warmth, wit, and the bittersweet, sometimes achingly heartbreaking places we go when we dig in instead of give up,
Dirt is also a story of healing. With gut-wrenching honesty and hard-won wisdom, Mary shares her story for anyone who has ever walked into the world and felt like their scars were still on display, showing that you are braver, better, and more empathetic for what you have endured. Because God does His best work in the muddy, messy, and broken if we’ll only learn to dig in.
[ Our humble thanks to Baker for their partnership in today’s devotion ]
September 19, 2020
Only the Good Stuff: Multivitamins for Your Weekend [09.19.20]
This weekend? Feels like we are walking into new hope, new change, new possibility!
Some real hope in these days — for us all to the real, sustained, needed work & more of the real Kingdom of God to come into a hurting world. Links & stories this week 100% guaranteed to make you smile a mile wide & believe like crazy in a Good God redeeming everything — and that there’s love everywhere & for ((you))!
Serving up only the Good Stuff for you & your people right here:
Esther Havens
Esther Havens
Esther Havenscome on a virtual tour with us? always in awe of the work that she does
because sometimes? you just need to dance
10 Bible Passages that Help Us Persevere
Study leaders, authors, and scholars share how Scripture has sustained them during difficult times.
cheering loudly for this school principal for what he’s doing in and out of school
America’s oldest World War II veteran celebrates his 111th birthday
fascinating: so who knew? Evolution of the Alphabet
this is what community does:
we circled ’round this one:
Through extraordinary computer animation, discover how the more than 18 trillion feet of DNA in your body is organized, stored and processed
thank you, The John 10:10 Project
Get the tools you need to take inventory of your feelings, know their purpose, guard your heart, and live unafraid today:
When Sadness Comes Knocking: Should we open the door?
you’re never too old… at 81? come see what she’s done!
so what do you think?!
Indoor “smart garden” lets you grow your own organic food using minimal space
what it likes to be a mom of a boy who grows up to be a man
How Will Pandemic Change Us? NIH Director Francis Collins on Fighting Covid-19
I’ve watched a few times… was deeply moved by his faithfulness and his daily commitment to this disease
Every word of this one. Thank you, Lauren Chandler: Praise Him
6 Authentic Ways to Be Generous but Not Judgmental
Beyond grateful for the life saving work of Compassion International
smiling through tears – never too young to make a difference in the world
Ever feel a bit insecure in your introverted skin?… living as who you’re created to be—not how you think you ought to be or how others expect you to be—is just too hard? This is the message we all need… the way to sustainable peace in who God made you to be:
A Powerful Manifesto for Introverts Our World Needs Now
worth pondering: our words are all we’ve got
you’ve got to meet them…just so grateful for the work of their hands
How can you and your family get involved in Bible translation? You don’t have to become a missionary overseas. All you need is a surrendered heart.
Watch this inspiring story of how God places a specific language and people group on the heart of these families. In their journey of becoming advocates for the Bibleless, their walk with God and His Word transformed their own lives.
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Christine Caine (@christinecaine) on Sep 17, 2020 at 12:08pm PDT
You Can Trust God
Welcome Home.
To a Grace Crafted Home — the kind of home you’ve always longed for.
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glory, glory, glory
Books for Soul Healing:
Joy is actually possible, right where you are.
Take the dare to discover: Life is not an emergency…Life is a GIFT. Life is too short to do anything but truly savor it — to count all the ways you truly loved.
What if Brokenness is the Path into the Abundant Life?
You don’t have to be afraid of broken things — because Christ is redeeming everything.
There’s no other authentic way forward — but a broken way — right into a profoundly abundant life.
Journey into a deeply meaningful life with this devotional and take sixty steps from heart-weary brokenness to Christ-focused abundance. The Way of Abundance — is the way forward every heart needs.
Be the Gift is a tender intivation into the next step of deeper transformation, less stress, more joy and abundantly more peace & purpose. You only get one life to love well…to Be The Gift.
on repeat: Love is a Miracle
…there’s a whole lot of unspoken broken everywhere.
And cynicism won’t heal those wounds & frustration doesn’t make you well & anger never made anyone better.
Whatever is hurting around you & whatever is broken in this ole world, the secret is:
Out-loving is the only medicine that healed anything.
“Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” 1Corinthians 13:7
What I know is this: We all carry our unspoken brokens.
And your unspoken broken will break you unless you release it.
Unless you speak it.
And maybe instead of trying to put all the broken pieces of your life together again — maybe there’s deeper peace in reaching out to give those broken pieces away?
[excerpted from our little Facebook family … come join us each day?]
That’s all for this weekend, friends.
Go slow. Be God-struck. Grant grace. Live Truth.
Give Thanks. Love well. Re – joy, re- joy, ‘re- joys’ again
Share Whatever Is Good.
September 16, 2020
A Powerful Manifesto for Introverts Our World Needs Now
My friend Holley Gerth, is a deeply wise and trusted guide into what it means to thrive as an introvert. Holley is not only a true sage, but she also lives the truth, health, and wholeness of which she writes. Her words will be a relief, an epiphany, a manifesto for any introvert. Not an introvert? Holley will give you new insight into the quiet ones you hold most dear. It’s a grace to welcome Holley to the farm’s front porch today…
Almost a year ago I walked along the paths of Rancho Capistrano in southern California. I carried my laptop bag and planned to find a quiet place to work. As I looked at the palm trees and watched turtles paddling through the ponds, my thoughts kept circling back to an offhand comment someone had made to me.
“After years of ignoring who God created me to be, of dealing with depression, anxiety, and insecurity, I felt strong and free.”
I’d come for an author retreat, and around the dinner table the night before, we’d all shared what we brought with us in our inner suitcase.
The most common answer? Exhaustion. It was an understandable one. I know it. I’ve lived it. I wanted to give it as my answer so I felt like I fit in more. But it just wasn’t true for me.
After years of ignoring who God created me to be, of dealing with depression, anxiety, and insecurity, I felt strong and free. Sure, I still pick up exhaustion and all those other things from time to time. I imagine I always will. But I no longer carry them with me.
Instead, I said that I’d gone through burnout, gotten lost from myself, and knew what it felt like to want to trade in your introvert skin. But I’d also eventually and clumsily, with a lot of help, discovered a different way to live.
After the conversation ended, someone walked up to me and said, “What I see in you is sustainable peace.” And that was the comment I couldn’t stop thinking about on my walk.
“I believe sustainable peace comes from having clarity about who we are and our unique purpose.”
I believe sustainable peace comes from having clarity about who we are and our unique purpose.
A laser is tiny but focused, and that’s powerful. Wayne Cordeiro, author of Leading on Empty, says 85 percent of what we do, anyone can do.
For example, watching television, checking social media, and attending meetings. Someone could do another 10 percent if we trained them. That last 5 percent is what only we can do. After facing burnout, making new choices about that 5 percent became a life-changing revelation for Wayne: “I had to rethink what was most important to me—what God had asked me to do—and how I would restructure my life. I had to think what my last 5 percent would include. What were the things that only I could do. . . ?”
On that afternoon at Ranch Capistrano, what only I could do at that very moment honestly felt a bit wasteful. Only I could watch a water bird fishing for dinner. Only I could stand still on the center of a bridge, ignoring the hum of hurried traffic in the distance. Only I could choose to stay in a space of sacred quiet.
I thought of one of my favorite scenes in all of God’s story with us, one that involves another moment of quiet, one that speaks to me as an introvert. The prophet Elijah is struggling with insecurity and discouragement. He feels exhausted and alone.
“Go out and stand before me on the mountain,” the Lord told him. And as Elijah stood there, the Lord passed by, and a mighty windstorm hit the mountain. It was such a terrible blast that the rocks were torn loose, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire there was the sound of a gentle whisper. 1 Kings 19:11-12 NLT
“I thought of how I’d looked for God in the wind — in activity, busyness, hustling to prove my worth.”
I thought of how I’d looked for God in the wind — in activity, busyness, hustling to prove my worth.
It almost tore my life apart. How I’d done the same through what felt like an inner earthquake, splitting my true self into pieces so I could get approval, never really feeling steady or sure. I tried fire, the flash of performance, efforts to impress.
Then came the gentle whisper.
I started finding sustainable peace, my real purpose, as I listened to the voice that tells me I am loved and enough as is, not as I think I ought to be. On that afternoon walk, I felt grateful for how far that voice had brought me.
Then I had another thought about this story, a new one, that involved not just me but all of us.
What if we, as introverts, are created to be living echoes of the gentle whisper of God? What if that’s why the world needs us to be who we are? What if that’s our powerful purpose?
Bronnie Ware lives in Australia, works as a nurse, and calls herself “a gentle rebel.” In a photo on her site, she stands in front of a tree with wrinkles through its bark, one that’s seen storms and sun. She leans against it as if she’s holding it up and bearing witness to its story. This seems fitting, because Bronnie cares for people at the end of their lives.
She’s done this for years and listened to the wisdom, clarity, and confessions that come with brevity. The most common regret expressed?
“I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.”
Living as who we’re created to be won’t always be easy. We’ll face fear and pressure, doubt and the temptation to compare, moments when our hands shake or our hearts pound. But I truly believe we’re needed more than ever before.
“I started finding sustainable peace, my real purpose, as I listened to the voice that tells me I am loved and enough as is, not as I think I ought to be.”
From now on, let’s say . . .
I’m an introvert, and
I will imperfectly
and courageously
offer my strengths of
strategic solitude,
meaningful connection,
genuine influence,
sacred confidence,
true well-being,
hard-won resilience
sharp thinking,
insightful perception,
and intentional energy
as I live with purpose
and grow for a lifetime.
Holley Gerth is a Wall Street Journal bestselling author, life coach, and counselor who’s passionate about empowering people, especially her fellow introverts, to understand who they are and become all God created them to be.
Holley’s new book, The Powerful Purpose of Introverts: Why the World Needs You to Be You, is practical, researched, and profoundly helpful. An invitation to journey with her toward genuine growth and flourishing should not be missed. It’s also a wonderful book club pick. And Holley’s new mini-course, 7 Ways to Thrive as an Introvert, is free if you order your book today.
Did you know none of us are 100% introvert or extrovert? To find out how much introvert you have in you, take Holley’s one-minute “What Percent Introvert Are You?” quiz. Your results might surprise you.
[ Our humble thanks to Baker for their partnership in today’s devotion ]
September 14, 2020
When Sadness Comes Knocking: Should we open the door?
Who hasn’t had unexpected emotions show up on the doorstep of their hearts? Elizabeth Laing Thompson is no stranger to seasons of joy, seasons of regret, seasons of heartache, and all the messes and thrills between. If feelings were weightlifters, hers would be a four-hundred-pound guy named Sven, who can pull eighteen-wheelers across parking lots with chains in his teeth. In her new book All the Feels: Discover Why Emotions Are (Mostly) Awesome, and How to Untangle Them When They’re Not, Elizabeth draws on her experiences as a big feeler to share Scriptures and strategies to help us thrive no matter what emotion comes knocking. It’s a grace to welcome Elizabeth to the farm’s front porch today . . .
guest post by Elizabeth Laing Thompson
A blistering wail pierces the night. My parents jolt upright in bed, hearts slamming against their ribs.
The clock blinks 3:00 a.m. in unforgiving red numbers. Mom and Dad sit squinting at each other, doubting their own ears. Was there a noise?
“Some days we wake up and we’re just sad. No Big Bad Thing has happened—we just feel down.”
Another scream: a muffled wail, a child’s voice. Dad flies down two flights of stairs in two kamikaze leaps. He flings open the door to find a small boy in airplane pajamas shrieking on the front mat, fists clenched, eyes wide.
Dad gapes at him. “Liam?” he asks, recognizing the three-year-old from three houses down. “Liam, buddy, are you all right?”
It was days before Mom and Dad could tell this story without twitching.
Turns out little Liam was a sleepwalker, and he’d climbed out of bed and wandered to our house, dreaming about asking my brothers to play. When he got to our door, he woke up, disoriented and terrified.
Sometimes, like poor Liam, big feelings come pounding on our doors, and they don’t really have a purpose. We aren’t sure how they got there, or why.
Some days we wake up and we’re just sad. No Big Bad Thing has happened—we just feel down.
Sadness and anxiety have come calling, and they’re standing on the doorstep, hoping we will let them in.
Joy Prouty
In times when I can find no apparent reason for my dark feelings, I find it helpful to take written inventory. I sit down with God and paper and pen and ask myself a few searching questions:
Did something bad happen?
“When we feel sad or anxious for no clear reason, we are under no obligation to hang out with those feelings long term.”
Are you anxious about something in particular?
Do you feel unresolved in a conflict with someone?
Have you committed a sin you feel guilty about?
Sometimes my investigations turn up something I need to deal with—an explanation for the feelings, an issue I can address through prayer and conversation. But other times, I find nothing. The answer to all four questions is no. The feelings may feel real, but they have no real cause.
When we feel sad or anxious for no clear reason, we are under no obligation to hang out with those feelings long term. We don’t have to invite them into our hearts.
To help the dark feelings on their way, I find it helpful to write down Scripture or words of truth and repeat them to myself until the feelings gradually give up and stop knocking.
In moments of emotional confusion, I cling to simple thoughts:
God loves me.
God is taking care of me.
God is “slow to anger, abounding in love” (Psalm 103:8).
In Christ I am “blameless and pure . . . without fault” (Philippians 2:15).
There are days to be unhappy, but today is not one of them.
There are days to be anxious, but today is not one of them.
These statements are simple, but that’s the whole point. Wild feelings respond best to simple realities.
But what about the times when dark feelings come calling and they need to come in? Many painful feelings serve a God-given purpose, and when we try to stifle them, we suffer consequences.
Sometimes, when darkness comes knocking, we need to open the door and let it in.
The Bible teaches us that there is a season for every feeling. Solomon wrote:
There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:
a time to be born and a time to die . . .
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-2, 4
I find Solomon’s truth relieving:
“All the feelings we experience—even the difficult ones—were given to us by God to help us experience, process, and learn from every facet of life.”
There is a time to mourn.
There is a time to weep.
And there is a time to let go.
In our lifetime, many different emotions will knock on the door of our hearts.
All the feelings we experience—even the difficult ones—were given to us by God to help us experience, process, and learn from every facet of life.
If we couldn’t feel guilt when we sinned, how would we ever grow? If we were incapable of grief when someone died, how could we ever heal?
But perhaps a new way of thinking can give us a greater sense of emotional control: the knowledge that we get to stand at the door and decide which feelings come in, and when.
Just because they show up doesn’t mean they get to unpack their bags for an indefinite stay. When feelings come knocking, we need to ask some questions:
Which season am I supposed to be living right now? Mourning or dancing? Weeping or laughing?
How long should this season last?
Are the feelings here for a good reason? Is this their time to visit, or did they come to the wrong house?
These are not always easy questions to answer. Dark feelings can come calling daily, hourly, or minute by minute. And sometimes, it’s not just one dark feeling but a whole posse with torches and swords.
“Whatever feelings may be knocking on our heart’s door today, let us live unafraid.”
In those times, thank God He has provided outside help: friends, therapists, mentors, counselors, and medicine. If dark feelings are knocking too often, I encourage you to call in reinforcements. Call in the SWAT team, if that’s what it takes.
But in the meantime, don’t stop putting in the work in your head and heart. Don’t stop developing mental tools and a scriptural arsenal to bolster your ability to resist, to reinforce the strength of the door to your heart. Don’t stop learning how to help yourself even as you seek help from others.
Whatever feelings may be knocking on our heart’s door today, let us live unafraid. Let’s keep the door hinges oiled, ready not just to slam shut against the night with its gloom, but to swing open to welcome the joyful feelings when daylight returns.
As Solomon taught us, there is a time for everything, a season for every feeling.
Not just mourning, not just wailing . . . but also dancing and singing.
Living life to the full. Feeling all the feels, both the dark and the light.
Elizabeth Laing Thompson is the author of All the Feels, When God Says, “Wait,” and When God Says, “Go,”. As a speaker and novelist, she loves finding humor in holiness and hope in heartache. Elizabeth lives in North Carolina with her preacher husband and four spunky kids, and they make her feel humbled but happy, exhausted but exhilarated, sometimes stressed but often silly—well, you know . . . all the feels.
Emotions―love them or hate them, we’ve all got them. And we’ve all got to figure out what to do with them. As a woman who has lived every day of her life having All The Big Feelings All The Day Long, Elizabeth knows what it’s like to live life through our emotions—and how important it is to understand, take control of, and grow from those emotions. Whether you have a sensitive soul with more feelings than you know how to name, a logical personality that doesn’t quite know what to do with feelings, or a steady flow of emotions somewhere in the middle, All the Feels: Discover Why Emotions Are (Mostly) Awesome and How to Untangle Them When They’re Not will help you identify, express, experience—and yes, sometimes wrangle—your feelings in order to live a vibrant, healthy, fruitful life for Jesus.
[ Our humble thanks to Tyndale for their partnership in today’s devotion ]
September 12, 2020
Only the Good Stuff: Multivitamins for Your Weekend [09.12.20]
This weekend? Feels like we are walking into new hope, new change, new possibility!
Some real hope in these days — for us all to the real, sustained, needed work & more of the real Kingdom of God to come into a hurting world. Links & stories this week 100% guaranteed to make you smile a mile wide & believe like crazy in a Good God redeeming everything — and that there’s love everywhere & for ((you))!
Serving up only the Good Stuff for you & your people right here:
Mary Anne Morgan
Mary Anne Morgan
Mary Anne Morganshe captures life’s moments like no one else I know
View this post on InstagramHe was just taste testing / quality control… the whole time.
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