The entire thing is He loved me first. And even wh The entire thing is He loved me first. And even when our surroundings are burning or when all we see is rubble, there is an unseen Kingdom to serve, a Family to be part of, and a powerful Love to give and receive. 

Every week it seems I’m inspired by a comment a friend and pastor made years ago — “Don’t be afraid to talk to someone about the truth of Jesus. Think of it as joining a conversation God might already be having with that person.” 

May we be conduits of that strong, courageous, welcoming, comforting, healing, transforming, sustaining, peacemaking, eternal Love. Or as Bernice King said, “Love puts in work.”
Call it ‘a Sunday stroll in Appling.’ Call it ‘a Sunday stroll in Appling.’
“God is always coming to you in the sacrament of “God is always coming to you in the sacrament of the Present Moment. Meet and receive Him there with gratitude.” Evelyn Underhill 

Such brokenness we see, such pain, such fear. Attend to Jesus — Lord, Savior, King — with all your honest thoughts and feelings, and let His power and love change you. Let Him form and re-form you into a help for the hurting, a bright spot for those in the dark, a presence for others to rest in. A ‘little Christ’ on the earth.

 ^ what I’m rehearsing to myself
Living life with the Holy Spirit — “you fulfil Living life with the Holy Spirit — “you fulfill the will of God through the inner influence of His Spirit instead of the outer influence of the law of God” (David Guzik).

This took me probably 15 years of following Jesus to grasp. It felt too easy, my willpower was my measuring stick, and the freedom was terrifying. 

But alas, God’s way is the best way, and there is no substitute for the Holy Spirit. I can’t muster spiritual fruit, but His goal, thankfully and marvelously, is vineyards and vineyards.

May we surrender this work to Him.
“The deeper our faith, the more doubt we must en “The deeper our faith, the more doubt we must endure; the deeper our hope, the more prone we are to despair; the deeper our love, the more pain its loss will bring: these are a few of the paradoxes we must hold as human beings. If we refuse to hold them in the hopes of living without doubt, despair, and pain, we also find ourselves living without faith, hope, and love.” Parker J. Palmer
I pose to you what the Holy Spirit posed to me rec I pose to you what the Holy Spirit posed to me recently: What if you made choices out of fear of missing out on God instead of fear of missing out on what others deem significant?

In all honesty, FOMO sneaks up on me not along paths of a friend’s travel adventures or home decor or even if friends hang out without me. My FOMO animal comes in the form of popular and effective Christian voices. Because of technology and social media, I have access, though not complete (because we’re not actual friends), to their lives and ministry, their work and the personality they choose to share online. While a good thing in many ways, it stops being good when it becomes an avalanche I can’t keep up with but am afraid to stop.

// new blog post: FOMO on God //
zoom zoom zoom zoom
Like Anna plays in my presence, like she comes to Like Anna plays in my presence, 
like she comes to me when she gets hurt,
like she wants to be held when she’s sick,
like she unashamedly + honestly feels any and every range of emotion with me, 
like she never corrects or censors or judges herself before coming to me, 
like she trusts me to love and care and accept her always... 
so it can be and is for me with God my Father. 

What a delightful way to be with Him! Don’t hold back — disappointment, confusion, happiness, sadness, longings. Give Him access to you, as you are right now, and find rest and love for your soul.
Just a girl bumping her New Years’ goal of wakin Just a girl bumping her New Years’ goal of waking up early to February as she reaches her 10th day of coronavirus quarantine.

I’ll keep the details to myself, but I do have to acknowledge the generosity and availability and kindness of our family and friends. They’ve brought us meals, groceries, medicine, and @maghjohnson, IN MICHIGAN, sent us a Door Dash gift card for a pizza. I could cry over the love. @audreyhealy5 @kgmartin521 @ansley.c.evans @nm_wilson @klb418

Also, even though today was the first day I had the energy to walk it, I’ve never been more thankful for our long driveway. Sunshine is the JAM. 

To everyone who has had COVID or will get it, our experience will of course be different, but— solitary, friends, solidarity. And grace upon grace.
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faith · 01/25/2014

The thing about beauty…. for me.

I am currently studying the book of Esther, with a group of women I have come to treasure, and this week’s pull-out for me is something about beauty. Like almost every other female on this planet, I too have found myself seemingly stuck in a battle over outward appearance. And you can say some circumstances that have danced through my life in the last few years have made winning that battle more difficult. Discouraging, but far from impossible. Hallelujah for the grace of God. After wrestling with God continually about not wanting physical appearance to become an idol in my life — not that I’ve reached the end or will never deal with comparison again (I’m human) — I feel as though I have finally reached a true resolution. A resolve that carries me through almost every day. The place God would have me stay and confidently stand.

“Let beautiful young virgins be sought out for the king…  Let them be placed under the care of Hegai, the king’s eunuch, who is in charge of the women; and let beauty treatments be given to them.” Esther 2:2-3

This is a study compiled and given by Beth Moore, and she makes an intriguing comment: “In Persia, and in culture today, beauty was something you did, something you do, not something you are; that’s why you feel like it’s never enough.” Going along with the study, she then states,

“It’s tough being a woman in a world where beauty is a treatment.”

This struck me, because she’s right. Our culture has conditioned the achievement of beauty to be an act of changing something about yourself: styling your hair a particular way, working out for a slim figure, wearing makeup that enhances or hides, etc. Don’t get me wrong, I like my hair to work a particular way, I enjoy exercise, and (while I’m not as intense about it) I do like wearing makeup.  But even more than those things, there is something deeper I want to embrace. I long to make beauty something I am, something I embody and express, not a reason to physically alter myself. I want beauty to be in my encounters with people, in my decisions, in how I approach life. I think this is the kind of beauty that lasts. This beauty is sincere. This beauty breathes hope, joy, and life.

This is why I would want to be thought of as beautiful: because of who I am, heart mind and soul — in Christ. Now, don’t think I’m a crazy extremist. I am human, after all, and desire to be thought of as beautiful by those that truly love me, but I don’t want even those people (those wonderful people), or this culture, to be the dictator of how I perceive and define myself… or how I perceive and define others!

Colossians 2:10 says that in Christ I have been made complete. Glory, glory. Just like this, how my hair looks at this moment, what kind of clothes I wear right now, etc — I am complete. The people in my life who think I am beautiful are gifts of joy God grants. :)

The second thing I have realized recently, and this came in a comment made by a friend of mine (a mom of three young kids to be exact). She said, in a matter of words: The natural way of life, reality, is that we age. I don’t understand why women want to avoid this at all costs. I’m okay with aging, that is how life goes. Of course I take care of myself now, to be healthy, but life is meant to be lived. That living also means aging.” This mindset was so lovely to me, and I admired it in her. She has a great point though. It’s pointless to try and stop aging… it does happen. So age well, don’t hate it when it happens, it’s representative that you have lived. Make it beautiful! That’s also what she was getting at. There is beauty in getting older: you experience more life, usually you gain more family, you grow closer to the heart of Jesus, and you develop a wisdom that can be poured into younger hearts. I think this is wonderful. I don’t want to be afraid of aging, for fear that I won’t be beautiful anymore. Reality is: we will age. So then I must ask: how do I want to serve and honor Jesus? How do I want to love and serve people? With a soul filled to the brim with Jesus. And the way my soul becomes full of Jesus is by choosing to love and make him Lord of my every day.

I am my beloved’s, and his desire is for me. Song of Solomon 7:10

And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us…. Psalm 90:17

In: faith · Tagged: faith, learned, me

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The entire thing is He loved me first. And even wh The entire thing is He loved me first. And even when our surroundings are burning or when all we see is rubble, there is an unseen Kingdom to serve, a Family to be part of, and a powerful Love to give and receive. 

Every week it seems I’m inspired by a comment a friend and pastor made years ago — “Don’t be afraid to talk to someone about the truth of Jesus. Think of it as joining a conversation God might already be having with that person.” 

May we be conduits of that strong, courageous, welcoming, comforting, healing, transforming, sustaining, peacemaking, eternal Love. Or as Bernice King said, “Love puts in work.”
Call it ‘a Sunday stroll in Appling.’ Call it ‘a Sunday stroll in Appling.’
“God is always coming to you in the sacrament of “God is always coming to you in the sacrament of the Present Moment. Meet and receive Him there with gratitude.” Evelyn Underhill 

Such brokenness we see, such pain, such fear. Attend to Jesus — Lord, Savior, King — with all your honest thoughts and feelings, and let His power and love change you. Let Him form and re-form you into a help for the hurting, a bright spot for those in the dark, a presence for others to rest in. A ‘little Christ’ on the earth.

 ^ what I’m rehearsing to myself
Living life with the Holy Spirit — “you fulfil Living life with the Holy Spirit — “you fulfill the will of God through the inner influence of His Spirit instead of the outer influence of the law of God” (David Guzik).

This took me probably 15 years of following Jesus to grasp. It felt too easy, my willpower was my measuring stick, and the freedom was terrifying. 

But alas, God’s way is the best way, and there is no substitute for the Holy Spirit. I can’t muster spiritual fruit, but His goal, thankfully and marvelously, is vineyards and vineyards.

May we surrender this work to Him.
“The deeper our faith, the more doubt we must en “The deeper our faith, the more doubt we must endure; the deeper our hope, the more prone we are to despair; the deeper our love, the more pain its loss will bring: these are a few of the paradoxes we must hold as human beings. If we refuse to hold them in the hopes of living without doubt, despair, and pain, we also find ourselves living without faith, hope, and love.” Parker J. Palmer
I pose to you what the Holy Spirit posed to me rec I pose to you what the Holy Spirit posed to me recently: What if you made choices out of fear of missing out on God instead of fear of missing out on what others deem significant?

In all honesty, FOMO sneaks up on me not along paths of a friend’s travel adventures or home decor or even if friends hang out without me. My FOMO animal comes in the form of popular and effective Christian voices. Because of technology and social media, I have access, though not complete (because we’re not actual friends), to their lives and ministry, their work and the personality they choose to share online. While a good thing in many ways, it stops being good when it becomes an avalanche I can’t keep up with but am afraid to stop.

// new blog post: FOMO on God //
zoom zoom zoom zoom
Like Anna plays in my presence, like she comes to Like Anna plays in my presence, 
like she comes to me when she gets hurt,
like she wants to be held when she’s sick,
like she unashamedly + honestly feels any and every range of emotion with me, 
like she never corrects or censors or judges herself before coming to me, 
like she trusts me to love and care and accept her always... 
so it can be and is for me with God my Father. 

What a delightful way to be with Him! Don’t hold back — disappointment, confusion, happiness, sadness, longings. Give Him access to you, as you are right now, and find rest and love for your soul.
Just a girl bumping her New Years’ goal of wakin Just a girl bumping her New Years’ goal of waking up early to February as she reaches her 10th day of coronavirus quarantine.

I’ll keep the details to myself, but I do have to acknowledge the generosity and availability and kindness of our family and friends. They’ve brought us meals, groceries, medicine, and @maghjohnson, IN MICHIGAN, sent us a Door Dash gift card for a pizza. I could cry over the love. @audreyhealy5 @kgmartin521 @ansley.c.evans @nm_wilson @klb418

Also, even though today was the first day I had the energy to walk it, I’ve never been more thankful for our long driveway. Sunshine is the JAM. 

To everyone who has had COVID or will get it, our experience will of course be different, but— solitary, friends, solidarity. And grace upon grace.
Supplies of water, sustenance and shade in the wil Supplies of water, sustenance and shade in the wilderness are impossible without God. Miracles of change and help.

“The poor and the needy seek water, but there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst. I will answer them. I am the Lord, the God of Israel. 

I will not abandon them. I will open rivers on the barren heights, and springs in the middle of the plains. I will turn the desert into a pool and dry land into springs. I will plant cedar, acacia, myrtle, and olive trees in the wilderness. I will put juniper, elm, and cypress trees together in the desert. 

So that all may see and know, consider and understand, that the hand of the Lord has done this, the Holy One of Israel has created it.” Isaiah‬ ‭41:17-20‬ ‭CSB 

It is the Spirit of God who changes hearts.
It is the truth of God that transforms + renews minds.
It is the Son of God who leads the way.
It is the love of God that heals and calls. 
It is the power of God that does the impossible.
It is the presence of God that makes a difference.

So I pray. Faithful to what + who He puts before me. Trusting Him to be faithful in being God.

So we pray.

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