Happy, happy, happy weekend!
Do you sometimes feel at the end of your rope? Looking for a fresh start — or wishing for a do-over?
Let’s embrace something new together.
We’re adding a special touch to our weekly Multivitamins – think of them as Supplements for the Soul. In this space each week, we’ll delve into small yet impactful insights and mental models that embody perseverance, renewal, growth, and redemption. Together, we’ll learn and rejuvenate, preparing to meet the upcoming week with renewed hope and peace.
And that’s not all – we’re bringing you some real, down in the bones JOY to celebrate today! 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 right here:
ahhh… this winter beauty and stillness
Some really crazy captures —
and God cares for the least of them! How much does He care for us!
Supplements for the Soul – Rest in Him
The year is 1911.
The cold is unforgiving, the kind that bites through to the bone.
The journey starts roughly 900 miles from the southernmost point on Earth.
Two men, Scott, an Englishman, and Amundsen, a Norwegian, prepare to embark on a daring 900 mile race to the South Pole. Both are burdened with thousands of pounds of supplies and equipment essential for their journey.
It is a brutal and unknown journey.
Remarkably, both Scott and Amundsen reach the South Pole; Amundsen achieved the feat first and successfully returned.
But Scott never makes it back.
While there were several factors contributing to their disparate outcomes, one stands out: Amundsen’s disciplined approach to rest on the return journey.
After reaching the pole, Amundsen and his team were determined to return swiftly, not knowing if Scott would reach civilization first and overshadow their achievement. Amundsen’s unwavering discipline on the return trip resulted in consistent 15 to 20-mile marches and then rest, regardless of the weather conditions. Even if the weather was perfect — resting after their 20 mile march was more perfect.
This practice, later popularized, as “The Daily 20 March” by Jim Collins in ‘Good to Great,’ was a key factor in Amundsen’s survival. But what it really actually underscores is more than daily productivity, but ultimately the importance of rest in the midst of daunting challenges.
When we face chaos and disaster and daily pressures, we are also called to rest, and we have an advantage that, as best as we know from his logs, Amundsen never seemed to draw upon.
While not easy, we possess an unlimited resource that Amundsen lacked—the ability to find rest in faith in Christ.
Even Christ’s disciples struggled with resting in faith. In Mark 4, a life-threatening storm on the Sea of Galilee, have the disciples, in desperation, waking Jesus from sleep, fearing they will drown.
Jesus then rebukes the wind and the sea, and the storm turns to a dead calm; waves that seem to promise a watery grave give way to a glassy sea of calm.
And He turns to them, and says, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
And He also calls us.
Saying: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
In the midst of our marches through the storms, the cold, and the treacherous terrain of life, we are called in faith to rest in the Master; to find rest in the Master of the storms, the Master of the North and South Pole, and the Master of every journey in between.
This week’s Supplement for the Soul: Every day, rest first in Christ, then do your 20 mile march & then rest. Leaving the rest to Christ — always resting in Christ.
A timely reminder in the middle of things of what really matters!
On The Book Stack at The Farm
Read Faith Eury Cho’s recent guest post:
4 Gifts the Presence of God Gives your 2024, Especially in Your Wildernesses
Read Sarah Molitor’s recent guest post:
How God’s Word Can Transform Our Words And The Lasting Impact of Memorizing Scripture
Read Hannah Kuhn’s recent guest post:
Want to Feel Seen, Heard, Loved, & Wanted In the Midst of Rejection & Fears?
Read our son, Caleb Voskamp’s recent guest post:
Radically Flip the Script: A Gratitude Journal’s Guide to Joy in January and Beyond
Have you ever seen anything so ready to goooooooo!
Some truly beautiful churches made this list!
(Let’s maybe all create a little more beauty to reflect His Glory)
I mean, sometimes you have to put your heads together to figure something out!
Sometimes – you just have to – confront the monsters in you life head on!
Young or Old –
Sometimes you just have to dance!
Maybe it’s time to plan a field trip to San Francisco? A new exhibition features the sketches and drawings of Renaissance artist, Botticelli.
“Most of these Old Masters are perceived as very remote and unapproachable, but through their drawings we can have a much more direct and fresh understanding on how they were thinking, how they were designing, how they were articulating their memorable compositions.”
– Furio Rinaldi, the exhibition’s curator
Brought tears and a smile…
…we can all choose to be a “Dave”
Ready for a totally new way to embrace the power of intentional daily gratitude — in a way like you never have seen or known before- that can be started at any point in the year?
Ready for a gratitude journal with totally new way to embrace the power of intentional daily gratitude — in a way like you never have seen or known before?
And we have a small collection of Gratitude Mugs that are the perfect complement to your Gratitude Journal, and a way to start the day with a gentle reminder of gratitude.
Join us in a fresh & entirely creative, year-long reflective Gratitude Journal
Aren’t they just the absolute cutest?
For your new year, from my heart to yours:
Stories that Loan Strength,
that are Signposts that Point to the Light…
Books for a Better Year…
It’s healing good to be on The Way with you…
WayMaker:
Finding the Way to the Life You’ve Always Dreamed Of
One Thousand Gifts:
A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are
The Broken way:
A Daring Path to the Abundant Life
The Way of Abundance:
A 60-Day Journey into a Deeply Meaningful Life
Be the Gift:
Let Your Broken Be Turned Into Abundance
Yes — isn’t that what we all want to hear ……
[from our Facebook community – join us?]
…if we’re honest, it can feel like life’s got us in a really hard place right now —
but on the inside, where God is making new life, we’re free.
It can feel like we’ve lost —
but not a day goes by without His unfolding grace that. makes. us. win. this. race.
It can feel like the night has won —
but nothing can ultimately steal us from the One Who is.
He held us, when we didn’t want to hold on,
He loved us, when we couldn’t love ourselves,
He carried us, when we didn’t know how to carry on.
Today *whenever* you feel like you may break, God will help you up, God will hold you up. God’s within. Bravely let Him carry you on.
The bottom line, and the finish line, is simply this:
The God who has carried you till now can be trusted to carry you till you’re through this mess you’re in… right through to the very end — which, then, on the other side, will be a perfect, forever beginning.
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.
