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...

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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...

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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…”

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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…

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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.⁠..

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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…

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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…

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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

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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…

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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…

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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…

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When What God Is Asking You to Do Feels Like More Than You Can Handle  

When What God Is Asking You to Do Feels Like More Than You Can Handle  

We each have callings and assignments, and God invites us to participate in various projects or ministries with Him. Our initial response may be excitement: “Yes, I’ll partner with you God!” But once we start the process, we may begin to think it’s more than we can handle…

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You may be Qualified, but are You Called?

You may be Qualified, but are You Called?

Have you ever had someone ask you to fill a role or do a task, and because you were capable, you felt you should say yes? If you're like me, you want to be helpful and make the most of the opportunities God has given you. But how can you know if an opportunity is actually from God? Just because we can meet a need, does that mean we should? 

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When Your Calling Seems Beyond Your Capacity, Your Qualifications, or Your Connections

When Your Calling Seems Beyond Your Capacity, Your Qualifications, or Your Connections

What dream has God placed in your heart? Is it so big or beautiful or power-packed that you wonder how it will ever come to pass?

It seems that God loves to draw us into things that stretch us beyond what we think we are capable of. Think Abraham and Sarah having a child, Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt, or Gideon rescuing his country from the Midianites.

All these people questioned their ability to fulfill the call on their life…

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Ten Attributes of a Calling

Ten Attributes of a Calling

What is a calling?

It’s a term we hear tossed around frequently, but what does it mean, really?

The dictionary defines calling as “a strong inner impulse toward a particular course of action especially when accompanied by conviction of divine influence.”

Leadership expert Michael Hyatt asserts that it is comprised of four factors: It comes from outside yourself, it’s unique to you, it’s something you want to do, and it’s optional...

 

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