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:
oh my — take a moment to inhale this beauty
– what a rich & meaningful time together –
…oh I needed these very words this week!
Why Christians Should Read Old Books – THIS!
“Books allow us to see the world through so many other people’s eyes.”
“Kindness Can Have Unexpectedly Positive Consequences”
This is just way too good– we can’t help but smile. A real MUST READ this weekend!
“Jesus it’s an honor to cast down these crowns
What a privilege to lay my life down
Cause I know that all that I’ve gained will fade
But you will remain”
Post of the Week From Around These Parts
You get it: Loss is part of living, & all of us, & everyone we know, is walking through some kind of loss.
But how do we mark the hard anniversaries of loss — so that we actually heal a bit more?
I’m over here facing a brutally hard anniversary of loss this week… & the 4 parts of this ancient Jewish tradition is a tried & true way to face & mark hard anniversaries.
Worth saving & passing on this Jewish tradition — because we all have hard anniversaries that can actually become candles to warm us through our darkest valleys…
Dear You Marking That Hard Anniversary:
Ohh, this is just happy, happy, happy!
Why indie bookstores are making a massive come back in the UK and how they’re coming back so purpose-full.
…on the beauty in brokenness, and these words are just a soul-refreshing feast
This right here is all we really need for God to move mountains…
tips to increase our understanding of the Bible… yes, please!
Lemonade on the Porch: The Gospel in a Post-Christendom Society
“But for most people, these “God-shaped holes” in the soul—for meaning, beauty, love, truth, identity—are not so much an argument as an existential problem. On the church porch they get to see how Christianity gives unparalleled resources for them all.”
Oh this is just way too cute!
The Library at Home – this! What a phenomenal idea!
“My parents insisted on reserving an entire room in our small house for books. Reading expanded my world and shaped my future.”
these choirs tackling loneliness — and what a beautiful way to be the gift, to be the hands & feet of Jesus
Post of the Week From Around These Parts
You know, really, this turns out to be the most important question you can ask yourself every day & I can’t stop thinking about it (it’s changing things for me as we flail on) — because, no matter what, in the midst of all our hard impossibles, you absolutely cannot afford to lose hope:
The Most Important Question To Ask Your Soul Everyday
So You don’t Lose Hope
too much cuteness!
Beware of the Birds: How Satan Sabotages Sermons
“As the preacher begins to scatter the good seed of God’s word about the congregation, it meets the path — the hard and trampled, unplugged and unhumbled heart. Disinterest, distraction, carelessness, laziness, ignorance all keep the seed out.”
Our Big Problem is Not Misinformation; It’s Knowingness
“Knowingness, then, might be a way to manage the flood of information. There is so much we might know, that we perhaps ought to know, that it’s often easiest just to act as if we do.”
Great reminder for our weekend…
One of the best Mother’s Day Gifts I’ve Ever Received:
Give Mom A Beautiful Way to Place Everything Into God’s Hands
Nothing could be more powerful than giving Mom a visual way to pray for her family, with photos & Scripture tucked into wooden prayer hands… because there’s no greater gift than communion with God.
With several of these wooden prayer hands throughout our home, this is a gift that changes generations… and impacts all of eternity:
It’s just so full of glory–come along with us?
“Hallelujah
I’ll live my life in remembrance
Hallelujah
Your promise I won’t forget“
[from our Facebook community – join us?]
End of the week,
and no matter what hard thing you’re facing
or how much it feels like God doesn’t hear your prayers,
this is what you need to know:
Jesus is praying for you. (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.
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.
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.
