What I Prayed When I Was Crying Out to God to Rescue Me

What I Prayed When I Was Crying Out to God to Rescue Me

Are are you feeling stuck in a wilderness season and crying out to God to rescue you from your sorrow and distress?

Maybe there’s a dream that your heart aches to see fulfilled, yet it feels so far out of reach. Maybe like I did, you’re pleading with God to see your sorrows, feel your pain, and save you from your distress.

If so, I want to encourage you…

Read More

Has Life Put Your Goals on Hold?

Has Life Put Your Goals on Hold?

Maybe life has been happening to you, too—you have a family member who needs extra support, your body needs to rest or recover from an illness, or the demands of work have overwhelmed your schedule. 

If, as a result, you’ve been feeling discouraged about how life has been slowing, or even halting, progress on your goals, I just want to remind you that, to use Harper’s words, “It’s okay to take longer than you planned to finish the thing.”

Read More

Hearing Pastors Say This Created So Much Fear in My Relationship With God

Hearing Pastors Say This Created So Much Fear in My Relationship With God

Have you ever heard a Christian leader/speaker say something like, “The last thing I wanted was to be a missionary (or pastor, etc.), so of course that’s what God called me to…” Then smile wryly and declare that “God sure has a funny sense of humor!”?

I heard this multiple times when I was growing up, and it always sounded to me as if they were saying God was going to call me to do something I wouldn’t like (like go to Africa)…

Read More

I Was a Mess—Until I Realized This...

I Was a Mess—Until I Realized This...

...There was actually a good reason for my distress: I was trying to fit into a role I wasn’t meant for. Once I recognized this reality and adjusted course, the emotional storm inside settled down.

Since then, I’ve learned that as uncomfortable as it is, anxiety is a signal worth paying attention to. 

Sometimes it signals an underlying medical condition, an unhealthy work environment, or unresolved emotional wounds or trauma...

Read More

When You Can’t Stop Thinking About Your Mistakes

When You Can’t Stop Thinking About Your Mistakes

...You can be sure that next time, I’m going to make sure my lighting is better and my earrings match. But I’m also doing my best to break up with the idea that perfection is what gives my work power. Because it’s not by might and self-striving but by God's Spirit that the work He’s given me to do will be accomplished...

Read More

What Makes Your Heart Sing? What a Robin Can Teach Us About Our Callings

What Makes Your Heart Sing? What a Robin Can Teach Us About Our Callings

Imagine a robin who decided her beak was better used for digging holes than making music—what a waste it would be! What a loss of a gift that reveals God’s glory and brings joy to so many!

It might be a silly example, but we often neglect our gifts in a similar way. We decide it doesn’t matter what we want—as long as we’re doing something “practical” or “productive…”

Read More

You Might Be Afraid to Leave Because of What You Could Lose…But What Is It Costing You to Stay?

You Might Be Afraid to Leave Because of What You Could Lose…But What Is It Costing You to Stay?

I had put a lot into growing and developing my career and leaving it would come at a loss.

But my career was also costing me: It was draining my joy and sapping my energy, which impacted my marriage and held me back from following God’s call to write…

Read More

When What You Want Is Exactly What You Need

When What You Want Is Exactly What You Need

When you want nothing more than to take an afternoon nap, maybe it’s because that’s exactly what your body needs to strengthen itself and carry on.⁠

When your job is sucking your soul dry and you want to make a change, maybe it’s because your job is a poor fit for your gifts and personality and a career change is exactly what your soul needs to flourish.⁠..

Read More

When Your Path Feels Erratic: Trusting the Mysterious, Wild Leading of the Holy Spirit

When Your Path Feels Erratic: Trusting the Mysterious, Wild Leading of the Holy Spirit

Don’t worry if your course isn’t conventional or doesn’t make complete sense. God knows exactly what you need for the next leg of the journey, and the experiences that come with today’s twists and turns just might provide the tools you need to navigate tomorrow’s temptations, challenges, and opportunities…

Read More

Slow and Steady Wins the Race: Encouragement for When Your Dreams Hit a Detour

Slow and Steady Wins the Race: Encouragement for When Your Dreams Hit a Detour

Through the example of the tortoise, I felt God encouraging me that when it comes to my personal race, particularly the part of my race that pertains to book publishing, being the fastest is not what matters most. What counts is faithful perseverance…

Read More

All Things Beautiful in His Time: Hope in Seasons of Waiting

All Things Beautiful in His Time: Hope in Seasons of Waiting

The Bible says that God makes all things beautiful in His time (Ecclesiastes 3:11). So if it’s not beautiful, it’s not the end. Your time is coming. Hold on to the hope we have in Jesus, the Author and Perfector of Our Faith, the One Who shed His precious blood to bring us shalom

Read More

Jesus Said No to People Pleasing—And Why You Should Too

Jesus Said No to People Pleasing—And Why You Should Too

While we tend to equate saying yes with being “loving” and saying no with being “unloving,” in actuality, declining a request is not necessarily unloving. In fact, when it paves the way for obedience and enables us to accomplish our individual callings, it can be the most loving and godly thing we can do…

Read More

7 Tips to Help You Achieve Your God-given Goals

7 Tips to Help You Achieve Your God-given Goals

…The plethora of books, courses, and coaching programs aimed at helping us achieve goals reveals that I’m not the only one who has struggled with moving forward in the goals I’ve set. It seems that, no matter how good our intentions, even our most worthy goals are often met with resistance…

Read More

When You Worry About How God Will Provide for What He’s Called You to Do, Remember the Ravens.

When You Worry About How God Will Provide for What He’s Called You to Do, Remember the Ravens.

My home lies under a flight path used by a group of local ravens. In the mornings, they fly south over my house, heading toward the city, where they scavenge for food. Come evening, they return north to roost.

One day, I was watching the ravens fly by, and the word "provision" came into my mind. I was a little surprised since this was not a word I normally associated with ravens…

Read More