by Sarah Tucker | Nov 8, 2019 | Sisterhood |
Note from Team LO: Here at Live Original, we put such a high value on sisterhood, unity, and relationships. It’s what makes us human, right?! So we have invited our very favorite sisters, Sarah and Gracie Tucker, to share what makes their bond special and how we can join together in sisterhood. We hope you love today’s post from Sarah and stay tuned for Gracie’s post on Monday!
Alright girlies, so here’s the thing. We get to choose a lot of things. We get to choose our friends, what we eat, who we date, who we marry, the words we use, how we spend our time… the list could go on and on. But one of the things we have absolutely no control over is our family. We don’t get to choose our parents, cousins, brothers or sisters. We don’t get to choose the homes we grew up in or the memories we were thrown into… We don’t get to choose our family.
Here’s what I love about family though, God chose our family for us. Woah. To be honest, I had never really thought of it like that until right now, sitting here typing these words. God chose our family for us, knowing that what we needed, they had.
He knew that you needed a built in best friend, someone always in your corner. Someone to play with, to giggle with, to crawl under the dishwasher door and paint your dad’s toenails with while he pretended not to notice. God knew that you needed to be stood up for when you couldn’t stand up for yourself, and on the contrary, He knew when you needed to stand in the gap for them to show yourself as courageous when you maybe believed just the opposite. God knew that you needed a hand to hold, a shoulder to cry on, a sister to call friend.
When asked to write about sisterhood my immediate answer was YES! I love my sister and could talk about her all day long! But the reason ‘yes’ jumped out of my mouth so quickly is because when I think of the word ‘sister’ and all that I would hope that relationship would embody, I can’t help but think of her. She’s kind. The kind of kind that makes you wonder how on earth is that girl so nice? She’s full of joy, carries peace, is courageous, fierce, and tender all at the same time. She’s an encourager, her words are sweet and gracious. If you can’t already tell, I think the world of this sister of mine. However, I know that none of us can be any of these things without Jesus.
Jesus. Jesus changes everything. It’s so easy to discredit the role of Jesus being the foundation of things that don’t feel super holy or important. Jesus being the center and foundation of our marriages, homes, businesses, etc. comes as a no brainer, but what about in our friendships/relationships with our siblings? People ask me all the time if me and Gracie have always been so close and I love to answer this because the answer is such a testament to Jesus in our lives. Of course we were close when we were little. In the jumping on the trampoline and playing barbies and swimming like mermaids in the pool stage, but as we got older it felt like our years multiplied. We’re four years apart but that felt like a lifetime when I was a senior in high school and she was in the 8th grade (as it would). I was a little ‘too cool’ to hang out with her which gapped the years even more, creating distance I didn’t even know I never wanted. It wasn’t until Gracie’s senior year that we became friends.
I could list a number of reasons why I think we became friends then. Maybe it was that we were on a trip just the two of us for the very first time alone or maybe it was because she had grown up and matured, or maybe it was that I decided to be nice to my little sister because I hadn’t been all that nice for long enough. Or maybe it was Jesus.
I’ll say this over and over and over again because it is SO true – Jesus changes everything. I found Jesus for myself not too long before our sister trip to Atlanta, Gracie was in the middle of discovering Him for herself, and Jesus became our common denominator.
When you know Him, you can’t help but love Him and when you love Him, you can’t help but love others… and when you love from a place of being loved by the Father, it looks a little bit different. It looks a little bit more like agape — love in the best interest of the other person. And when you’re loving from a place of being loved, encouraging words are easy to find, kindness is second nature, peace and joy are byproducts. It’s easy to cheer your sister on when you know and take hold of the truth that what God has for her doesn’t take away from what God has for you. There’s no room for comparison or jealousy, bitterness or envy. you know (because you know Jesus) that when God is being good to your sister, it’s not God not being good to you. Trusting that when God made _____________, He knew you needed her. And that she needed you, too.
Sisters, your sisters need you. To call out the good, to call out the gold inside of them. To speak life into things that may seem dead to other people, but because you know her, the halls she walked as a child, the things that wounded her, things that made her tick the way she ticks, you have the ability to speak life back into. To point her to Jesus in ways no one else quite could. We need you to be our friends, we need you to be our home.
I get to choose a lot of things in life, but thanking God today that I didn’t get to choose my sister. She’s what I didn’t know I needed. The imago Dei (image of God) to me.
If you’re reading this and you’re not a sister, take this to heart for a friend. Because here’s the cool thing — once Jesus is the common denominator, we’re all sisters.
We’re all daughters.
Let’s be friends.
Challenging each of us, myself included, to treat your sisters like friends (no matter what the age/stage gap is) and our friends like sisters. Lend a hand, be a shoulder to cry on, a sister to call friend. We need each other ❤️
Sisterhood.
Where heaven meets earth.
Sarah Tucker is the owner of Imago Dei in Franklin and Nashville, TN, where the heart behind the shop is to point people back to Jesus and serve as a reminder to everyone who visits that they are made in the image of God. She loves drinking coffee, long country drives, and spending time with her friends and family! Follow Sarah on Instagram @sarahatucker
**We at Live Original absolutely LOVE Imago Dei. Everything from the clothes to the heart behind the store is dear to our hearts. Check out their website HERE!
by Sarah Tucker | Sep 25, 2019 | Featured, Life Advice |
God BE.
God will be good to me in 2019. I wrote a little post and shared it on Instagram back in January of this year and just this week, felt Holy Spirit bring it back to mind.
“God will be good to me in 2019. Repeat after me… God WILL BE good to me in 2019. God has been good to me (you) and God will never stop being good to me (you). I keep hearing “I see your goodness, here” over + over again in my mind. I hear it in my head until it goes to my heart and I live out of the revelation that God’s goodness is HERE. It’s here in the mornings, sitting with my bible open in front of me and a coffee in my hand with the sun peeking through the window behind me. Driving into work, it’s in the strangers eyes smiling back at me at a red light. His goodness is wrapped into the really high highs and the really low lows + every moment in between. The moments we can’t contain the laughter coming out of us and the ones where our hearts physically hurt and we don’t know when they’ll stop. Yesterday I ran into a friend of a someone that broke my heart in 2017, that God spent almost all of 2018 healing (like open heart surgery healing, y’all, making my heart whole❤️), so that in 2019, I could run into him without looking around and wondering if they were together, I could be okay if they were, and I could keep on walking on incline with a sweaty face and a soft heart, and I could say ohhh my God, I see your goodness here. That our eyes would be opened to see the goodness of God. That we would have softened hearts to not reject what He’s doing (like giving us a new heart, that we wouldn’t reject the new heart He’s trying to give us and make out of us and use in us for others, for His glory). That we would be able to in the small, normal, day to day moments see His goodness and in the moments that feel like lifetimes, see His goodness. That we would see His goodness in the pain and in the joy. That our eyes would have a permanent filter through which we see. God is good + God BE good. That we would stop second guessing Him because He’s shown us who He is before and He hasn’t changed, His nature is good. To the core of who He is, good. You see, I can see His goodness here EVEN WHEN and even still, because I know who He is. He’s revealed Himself as kindness in all that He does. He has been good, he is good, he will keep being good to me. Trustworthy in all He promises. Faithful in all He does. And if you can’t see his goodness yet, you can see His goodness in the fact that He’s still working and moving and you will, oh love, you will. And that, that is good.
This year will not be perfect, we can all let that expectation go. But I promise you this, you will see the goodness of God.. Woven into every single day, wooing your heart back to His. God is good. God is good to you. God uses what’s not been good, for good. In everything. I can see your goodness here.”
And in the sweetest, still, small voice I heard, “Don’t forget love, God BE good to you.”
How could I forget?
God be good to me.
I know I probably sound a little grammatically incorrect right here, but let me explain. Be, by definition – and boy oh boy do I love looking up definitions of words – means to exist. To occur, take place, occupy a position, stay in the same place or position, come, go, having the state, quality, identity, nature, or role; amount to, represent, or consist of — God BE. God doesn’t change and so, good is who He is. It’s all that He does, it’s His very nature. It’s what He comes and goes in, all that He amounts to, it’s the characteristic that He occupies. You want to know what good is? Good is God. God is good. God be good to me. God be good to you.
So here’s the thing, It’s so easy, and sometimes so much easier, to toss our hands in the air and call it quits on our goals, the things we’d hoped for, and the dreams we had for the year once October rolls around and they’re nowhere in sight. It feels like there’s not enough time left, too much to do, too much to un-do, not enough money, too far in, no way out. October, while personally the beginning of my absolute favorite season, can sort of bring a damper to the end of a year if you let it. **If you let it.** Don’t get me wrong, this (well, fall, if Tennessee will ever get it!!) is my favorite season!! The chill in the air, the leaves falling and bustling on the ground, Silk almond milk pumpkin creamer (can I get an AMEN and thank you Jesus!?), football on Sunday afternoons, fires, smores, loved ones (like LOVED ones, not just talking family here) gathered around a table, twinkly lights, and all things cozy fill my heart. I LOVE it. So it’s not that I don’t love these next few months of the year, it’s just that sometimes these next few months feel like the hardest. However, this year feels different. I’m not quite ready for it to end because I know God isn’t done being good to me yet. God has been good to me this year. God is being good to me right now. He is not finished being good. And so today I choose to lean into His goodness. I choose to have eyes that see and a heart that receives. I choose to lay down my expectations of what I think GOOD should look like and trust what God sees as good. Trust that God BE good. In all that He does, every part of who He is. Good.
In the past few years I have opened a business, got my heart broken, had God put it back together. I’ve lived at home, moved out, moved back home, moved out, met my best friends, switched churches, etc… I’ve experienced the highs and lows that come along with opening a business. I’ve learned a lot. I’ve laughed a lot. I’ve cried a lot. I’ve had Bell’s Palsy, many sleepless nights, and hives that covered my entire body lasting for weeks at a time. I’ve had to surrender things and people I thought I wanted, thought I loved, and I’ve had to be okay with not getting what I had thought that I’d needed out of them. I’ve been obedient to things God has put on my heart and haven’t been obedient to others. I’ve written bits and pieces of what I hope to one day be a book in notes on my phone so I don’t forget the ways and places and days that I found God. Or rather, God found me. The past few years have been transformative and hard and good.
He was with me there and He was good to me then.
In the next few years, I hope to open more businesses. I hope to see Imago Dei all over the US, with stories upon stories of how they were met by the spirit of God the second they walked in. Coming in one way and leaving more free with more joy, more peace, feeling more loved and seen by the Father… seeing themselves a little bit more made in the image of God than they did before they walked in. I would love to fund orphanages and missions and other people’s dreams and watch and take part in the things that God is breathing His very breath of life into. I want to be so generous it doesn’t make sense, whether I have or have not. I would love to have written a book (or books) on God’s faithfulness and goodness and kindness, His generosity and love, His redemptive power and ability to restore back to better than before and have it published and in the hands of young girls and ladies who need to hear what I needed to hear as I’ve walked through the same things the little bit of life that I’ve lived. I hope to be married and starting a family. I’d love to live in the country across from a field of cows as a stone of remembrance of how God saved me – so much better Your way – and heck, have a pond for fishing and green house for pretty flowers and such. I want to see my parents’ in their dream home, my best friend’s children grow up, my brother and sister in law live close by. I want to see freedom, deliverance, abundance, and joy in areas I haven’t seen them in before… I’d love to see a lot of things, y’all, but none more than I want to see the goodness of my Father. I don’t want to miss Him here looking for Him ‘there’.
I know for me, the beginning of a year can look a whole lot like this. Looking back on past years, you don’t have to dig too deep or go back too far to be reminded of the good and the bad, the highs and the lows, the spotlight moments and the ones no one knows about but you, head on your pillow with a snotty nose and wet pillowcase. Am I right? We know what’s behind us and we can only hope and plan and make goals for what we’d like to see ahead. Hello, New Year’s Resolutions. But months, like years, are just periods of time God graces us with. Can’t go back and can’t skip ahead. He was with us then and He’ll be with us (because He already is) there, but the only place we are with Him is right now. Let’s be with Him. Let’s not miss Him being good to us now. Today is not the final day and God’s not finished with you yet. So you may not be where you hoped you’d be on September 25th, 2019 when you thought about this day nine months ago, but that’s okay, me either. Ohh, but something’s shifted on the inside of me and I hope the same for you… Hope’s not dead and the year isn’t over.
This year feels different.
In the middle of playing the name game of what the past few years have looked like, what the past few months have looked like, what I hope for the next few years to look like or what I feel the last few months of this year should look like, let’s take a second and look at the right here, the ‘right now’. We can’t go back and we can’t jump ahead into what’s not yet come. We can’t anticipate what a year is going to look like or what years to come will actually look like, but we can anticipate the goodness of God. Seeping into every area of our lives. Painting it pretty. Bringing color and life into things that felt dead and dull. We can choose today to see His goodness here. Right where we are.
He’s with us and being good to us in the healing of our hearts, the redeeming of our stories that He’s so beautifully orchestrated. The country drives with the windows down and music up as the weather starts to cool in the evenings. He’s with us in the waiting as we so joyfully celebrate our friends and stand beside them in their weddings. In the endless amounts blobs of thoughts and words, the book in my notes, He’s being good there. He’s being good to us in our apartments and rental homes. Good to us when the business ideas are still in a prayer journals. When things you had lined up fall through. God is being good to us when our heart breaks and aches and we don’t see an end to the feeling. He’s being good as we frantically hop in the car to drive five hours when we find out our first nephew is about to be born. Being good to us as we’re walking around with our moms, coffee in hand, peace in heart. Painting white walls in an old factory warehouse with no AC, He’s with me. Sitting in an attic of girls worshipping on a Monday night and walking through a creek on a Saturday morning because something in me needed to. With me. Being good to me. Loving me.
Shifting my eyes and setting my heart today. God has been good to me and He will be good to me and He’s being good to me right now. Thankful that where there is breath, there is hope, and where there is hope, there is life.
Look around. God’s being good to you.
God’s being good to me.
Sarah Tucker is the owner of Imago Dei in Franklin, TN, where the heart behind the shop is to point people back to Jesus and serve as a reminder to everyone who visits that they are made in the image of God. She loves drinking coffee, long country drives, and spending time with her friends and family!
Follow Sarah on Instagram @sarahatucker
by Sarah Tucker | Jul 29, 2019 | Featured, Life Advice
My sheep hear my voice, I know them, and they follow me.
“Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.” John 10: 1-5
Jesus. The shepherd of our souls. The GOOD Shepherd of our souls.
So the past few weeks I have not been able to move past this — Jesus is our shepherd.
I don’t know about you, but for me, Psalms 23 is life to my soul. I read it and am reminded of anything I may have somehow forgotten. Jesus. My Lord. My best friend. My Shepherd. With Him — I always have more than enough. The one who offers a resting place for my soul. Leads me besides still waters. Jesus. He restores and refreshes. He leads me along his footsteps of righteousness, conquering my fear and leading me through. My strength. My peace. My Jesus. With me always. Ever near. I am not alone.
Something I LOVE about God is that when He knows our heart needs to GET something (come to have or hold something, when we need to receive it), He has a way of making sure that we do. We’ll read it four different times in four different places, it might be the underlying message in a sermon you listen to one night or the first song that comes on in the morning. For me, this theme—Jesus being my Shepherd—was one of those things. Sometimes I genuinely wonder how I miss such extravagant truths hidden in such simple words for so long? Holy Spirit, would my awareness of you be heightened, open my ears, open my eyes. You have my heart.
Hear me out, I’m no farm girl here. I’ve never wrangled a chicken or caught a goat by it’s back leg at family thanksgiving. But here’s what I’ve gathered about sheep and their shepherd and the pen and it’s gate. The sheep’s pen is where the sheep rest. It’s where they abide with Jesus as their keeper. It’s the place they stay until they hear Jesus calling them out by name. Their name. He knows your name, friends. The narrow gate is the place in which the shepherd lays across in the night working as their protector. He doesn’t move when fear or opposition come or when wolves encroach to scatter the sheep. He stays. In the morning, He calls them by name, He guides them out, He goes before them. The good shepherd.
I love how this paints the most beautiful picture of Jesus as our Shepherd. I love how Jesus tells us that anyone or anything that tries to get to us without coming through Him, the gatekeeper, reveals himself as a thief. — Ahh! How much does that change everything? I know, for me personally, I can look back at things or experiences in my life and know that had I just paused long enough to listen to the voice of my Shepherd, I could have saved myself so much heartache, regret, time, wondering, wandering, and even shame. Because anything that comes from Jesus, must first pass through Him. Our gatekeeper. I would have stayed and invited Holy Spirit in. I would have asked, does the voice that I’m hearing (the voice that I’m about to follow) sound like that which would lead me to greater faith, greater hope, and greater love? Or does it sound like the voice of a stranger? One of temptation, fear, doubt, striving? One of never enough, always lacking, is God really that good? Do you actually trust Him? So many times I wish I would have sat in the pen a little longer. Sat and waited until I heard Jesus Himself calling me out by name.
The sheep recognize His voice because they KNOW His voice, and to know His voice, we must know Him. The more we know Him, the more we know what is NOT Him. Beloved, if what you hear leading you out or coming against you is not that of faith, hope, love, truth, life, or peace, it is not the voice of our Shepherd.
How do we know Him? We know Him by spending time with Him. The sheep walk with Him; they sleep in the same place as Him; they look to Him first thing in the morning; they hide themselves IN Him, the only One who can truly keep them. They look to Him for their every need and they follow Him wherever He leads. We know Him by remaining in Him and spending time in His presence. We know Him by reading His word. By directing our thoughts and our hearts attention and affection towards Him before anything else, inviting Him into our days, to lead us and guide us, to walk with us, to hold our hands, and to carry our hearts in His. In the morning when I rise, give me Jesus. We know Him by His voice. He calls us by name, and we follow Him.
The sheep follow Him wherever He leads and they RUN away from the voice of a stranger.
Jesus. He calls us by name. Daughter. Son. Deeply loved. Highly favored. Redeemed. Treasured. Warrior. Faithful. Beloved. But the enemy of our souls also has a name for us. It may sound something like nobody, useless, unworthy, unseen, liar, cheater, slut, coward, sinner, you name your lie __________________.
Ohh, but we are (cause sometimes you have to SAY it first even if it may not be YET) a sheep, people, who know His voice. We know which name to answer to and we run from the voice of anything but Jesus. We cannot be unnamed by Him. Let’s not be a people who are more familiar with the voice of a stranger than the voice of our Papa God! Holy Spirit, we need you. I up my expectation to hear Your voice.
Here’s the thing, and this is where I land — if He wouldn’t lead me there, I don’t want it. I know that anywhere my Jesus leads me is good for me because He is a GOOD Shepherd. So much better than I even think He is. He makes me lie down in green pastures and leads me beside still waters. And if He’s leading me from where I am to a new place, to new ground, then the green pastures must be greener, and the streams, even stiller… even if it’s hard, even if it’s messy, EVEN IF… I will follow Him where He leads me.
Because if He’s not there, I can’t stay. I go where He goes. I hear His voice, and follow Him.
I will follow Him where He leads me.
I will follow Him where He leads me.
I will follow Him where He leads me.
Jesus, I will follow you wherever you lead me.
My Jesus. My best friend. My love. My saving grace. My protector. My defender. My redeemer. My guide. My peace. My joy. My lifeline.
That we would be like a sheep.
And like a sheep needs a Shepherd,
I am LOST without you God.
I love the way that TPT has John 10:10 written… “the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. Everything in abundance, more than you expect.”
“Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing His will, and may He work in us what is pleasing to Him, through Jesus Christ, to him be the glory for ever and ever. Amen.” Hebrews 13:20
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. We invite you in to the place that we’re standing. Lost without you, desperately in need of you. While yes, this is so simple and elementary and we’ve heard it a thousand times, I pray that after today for some reason, it just sits differently… that knowing that Jesus is our shepherd goes from something that we know in our heads to something that we KNOW in our hearts. That we close out of this page having received revelation of His goodness. His kindness. His sovereignty. His all-knowing, all-purposeful, all-loving self. That we know Him as our shepherd and that from here, everything changes — Jesus knows us and we know Him. Just as our Father knows Him and He, His father’s heart. Because don’t we know? Jesus changes everything. I trust you, Jesus. I trust that you are a good Shepherd of my soul. That you know what you’re doing in me. I yield myself to Your heart, I yield myself to Your voice. Oh, Holy Spirit, that we would be a people who know and love Your voice. That don’t listen and, in fact, RUN from that of a stranger. You know what we want, but even more than that, you know what we need. Help us to discern what’s good between what’s best. That we would be Your people, who after hearing Your voice, obey, and follow You with all that we are, no hesitation. You walk with me and go before me in the darkest of valley’s and the highest of mountain tops. I know I am not alone. I trust that you are aligning my steps, going before me and hemming me in behind. I will follow you where you lead me. No if’s and’s or but’s about it, because I KNOW the goodness of your heart. Life with You — our Shepherd, what a sweet one.
Sarah Tucker is the owner of Imago Dei in Franklin, TN, where the heart behind the shop is to point people back to Jesus and serve as a reminder to everyone who visits that they are made in the image of God. She loves drinking coffee, long country drives, and spending time with her friends and family!
Follow Sarah on Instagram @sarahatucker
by Sarah Tucker | May 20, 2019 | Featured, Relationships, Testimonies |
This past September, my sister and I hopped on a plane to Boston to meet a guy she had been talking to for months leading up to this point. He had tickets to a Kenny Chesney concert and my parents sure weren’t letting my nineteen-year-old sister travel alone to meet some guy she met on Instagram (laughing emoji here), so off we went!
From the second we landed in Boston to the time we boarded our 5 AM flight headed back to Nashville, I had never seen anyone take care of anyone the way that he took care of us. US. I was included in that. LOL. Can I get a heyyy from all the third wheels out there?? “Heyyy!” Just kidding, it wasn’t a third wheel situation at all. I couldn’t believe that I didn’t know him and like it was nothing, he took care of me, too. His brother also happened to be in town that weekend, so we all hung out, had the best time at the concert, danced around, and played games, ‘cause what better way to end a night than a classic game of act it out?
I watched and listened those few days as we all got to know each other better. The way he talked about God, his family, his life… I couldn’t believe it. He was great. They both were, really.
I laid my head on that pillow in their apartment in little town, Massachusetts and felt shame cover me like the blanket I was laying under. God had healed my heart of the hurts I’d felt in the past. He’d made me new, I knew I was forgiven, and His love had made me whole, but I had never felt shame before. Not like this, anyways.
I’ve always been one to know who and whose I am and when it comes to obvious attacks of the enemy, well, the enemy can just go back to where he came from. Shame was new to me though. I’d never felt this before and because it was new to me, I didn’t even know what it was or how to fight it off. I found myself laying in that dark room (don’t we know that dark rooms need light and light brings truth, and truth, freedom) entertaining thoughts about myself that were simply not true. I found myself making agreements to things like, these are good guys, they would never like a ‘you’. Like a ‘me’ had something wrong with it.
I know it sounds silly and saying it out loud really makes it sound silly, but I’ve had sex before and in that moment, for the very first time, I felt ‘less than’ because of it. I felt unworthy of a good man and unworthy of love. Like the fact that I’m not a virgin anymore takes away my value. I found myself believing the lie that a good Godly man was for my sister, but not for me. And isn’t that such a trick of the enemy to tell you what God has for someone else, He doesn’t have for you. El Shaddai. God of MORE than enough.
S-E-X was a dirty word that was meant for marriage. Don’t have it. Why? No one told me and I certainly didn’t ask. All I knew about sex was not to have it. I think in the “don’t have sex till you’re married” talks, we miss the heart of the God. It’s an avoided subject because it’s uncomfortable. Parents don’t always have the answers and kids are afraid to ask. Afraid to ask who they should be asking, anyways. (Your friends in the locker room and at slumber parties are not the people you should be asking/talking about sex with, unless what they have to say lines up with what God has to say about it). The why matters. It’s the very reason to wait.
What I wish 17, 19, 22-year-old me knew, was that no good thing does He withhold. God doesn’t say to wait for marriage because He’s mean or thinks it’s a fun game of survival of the fittest. It’s not punishment, it’s protection. God designed sex, it’s a great thing inside of marriage, but outside of marriage, it’s detrimental to our souls. It creates a playground in our minds and hearts for the enemy to wreak havoc. It gives him a foothold. It steals from us. What was meant to bring life, literally and figuratively, outside of the confinement of marriage, brings death. Death to our hearts, death to our spirits, death to our hopes and death to our expectations.
So here I am, a girl who’s had sex when it “meant nothing” and also when I thought I was in love and it “didn’t feel wrong” and I’m telling you, ohhh my heart, don’t do it… don’t miss God’s heart for you in it. It eventually all comes back around. The hurt comes back around and this hurt is a hurt we were never intended to feel. We were never meant to walk in a room and our hearts drop down to our stomachs because of a soul-tie we were never supposed to have. God has better for us than that.
We have to trust the heart of the Father but in order to trust His heart, we must first know His heart. God’s heart is always always always for us. In every aspect of our lives, especially when it comes to relationships, His heart for us is best. He knows who we need, what we need, and when we need it.
When you entertain and make agreements with lies of the enemy, you hear things like you’re not good enough, not worthy enough, dirty, and used. But when you invite Jesus into the dark, when you invite in truth, when you turn the light on, you hear His loving thoughts towards you. You are covered by the blood of Jesus. You are fully known and deeply loved by Love himself. Not only did Jesus die for our sins, but he died for our shame, too. And because Jesus took my shame, when I feel it being thrown on top of me, my fight back, my declaration is this — That is not who I am.
Because who we are is not defined by what we’ve done, but what Jesus did. It is finished. I am free, I am righteous, and because of Jesus, I am right with God.
For months after that trip, my sister and I would receive group texts from this friend of ours with nothing but words of truth and encouragement. How when he sees us or thinks of us, pure hearts and souls come to mind. That nothing we do or say makes him think this way, but the way Jesus radiates from us.
For a good while, I thought he was just throwing my name in the message line because I was the sister, but time after time, I heard Holy Spirit whisper to my heart, this is how I see you. What this person doesn’t know, and may not ever know, is the weight that his words carried, how they touched my heart, how they led me to His. Those texts sent calling out the good, calling out the gold inside of me, whether I believed it at the time or not, brought healing to my heart and restored my soul. I believe God used this experience, those texts, this friendship, to show me and remind me how HE sees me. He doesn’t see me the way that I see me. He doesn’t love me the way that I see fit or worthy of love. He sees me as His own. He loves me as His own. He gave His own for me, and even still, He would do it all over again.
When I thought, “You’re just saying this because you don’t know who I really am, you don’t know what I’ve done,” I heard God assure my heart. This is how I’ve always seen you, this is who you are.
A year and a half later, sitting on my bedroom floor with tears streaming down my face, Jesus healed my heart again. God showed me this picture of Jesus holding a cup of my tears. All the tears shed over all the hurt that came along with not trusting and doing what I thought I wanted. Taking the cup, Jesus poured them over my heart. And for the very first time, the salt didn’t sting.
Let him touch you. Even in–especially in– the places that hurt. The places that feel dark and covered in shame. The ones that leave you paralyzed feeling everything but the truth.
Jesus’s blood, it covers us. Pure. Holy. Righteous. Loved. Worthy. Treasured. Forgiven. Redeemed.
He sees you. He’s always seen you. He loves you, always has and always will. No more and no less. Let the light in, friends.
He is your redemptive story.
I had to learn it the hard way. I didn’t know the “why” and now I do… My prayer in sharing this, even if it’s just for one of you, is that you don’t have to learn it the hard way. And if you’re like me and you’ve crossed a line you wish you hadn’t, that you leave this page feeling so loved, so forgiven, so worthy, so redeemed.
I hope my story leads you to the Father’s heart for you. That He meets you where you’re at and speaks right to yours. Father I thank you. I thank you for your goodness. I thank you that you use it ALL and turn it into good. I thank you that even when we mess up and turn from your ways and do things our own, that you don’t change. You don’t withhold, you stay the same, your love remains.
Thank you for picking up all of the pieces of this broken heart and redeeming them. For bringing them–bringing me–to yourself. Thank you for the freedom that following You brings.
In all of this, in Him, what I’ve lost is restored.
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.
Romans 8:1-2
Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. Romans 8:5-6
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. John 3:16-17
Sarah Tucker is the owner of Imago Dei in Franklin, TN, where the heart behind the shop is to point people back to Jesus and serve as a reminder to everyone who visits that they are made in the image of God. She loves drinking coffee, long country drives, and spending time with her friends and family!
Follow Sarah on Instagram @sarahatucker
by Sarah Tucker | Feb 25, 2019 | Featured, Life Advice |
God is good.
Often times, I’ll pull out my notes on my phone and scribble down incomplete thoughts, words I feel like the Lord is writing on my heart, sometimes even just one word, or things or places or ways I saw God that day. Things I don’t want to forget. Always with the intention to go back and write more about it or ask God what it means or why He said it. But also, often times, I don’t. Often times I forget. So in thinking and praying about what to write here, I heard God tell me to go back and look at my notes. So I did. And on December 18th I have a note that says ‘God is good’. That’s it.
Simple. Profound. True.
We all know what the word “is” means and how to use it, right? Actually, I think the truthis we know what it means and how to use it before we really know what itmeans and how to use it. (Y’all rolling with me here?) The word “is” actually means “be.” And, by definition, the word “be” means to exist, to occur, to take place, to occupy a position in
space, to attend to, to come, and to go. It’s having the state, quality, identity, nature, orrole as something or someone. God IS good. God BE good. Everything God does, everything He is, everything He allows will be used for, every place He inhabits, His very nature, who He is… good.
Oh my heart! So true. I don’t remember where I was or what I was doing when I wrote “God is good” in my notes, but for some reason at 8:42 in the morning, I wrote it down so I wouldn’t forget. And friends, don’t we all need to remember, to not forget, that God is good. I grew up in a church where we repeated this phrase to the preacher, “God is good, all the time. All the time, God is good.” As I’m sure most of you who grew up in a church going home did. And I get it. I really get it. God IS good. But what I also know, is that really and truly, we need this reminder. Especially when so much of everything around us is trying to convince us otherwise. It’s something we need to say and repeat and let fill our minds and our hearts until we believe it to be true to the very core of who we are. So then we act out of the belief that God is good. So that our very lives look different, so they looklike God is good. Before “good” is visible to our natural eye.
I want my life—my actions—to reflect my belief that God is good even when–especially when–my circumstances don’t necessarily say so. When my heart is heavy, when my eyes, tired, when my mom is sick, my dad out of work, or maybe working too much, my sister is lost, a relationship broken. When all last resorts have been exhausted and there’s no more money in the bank or gas in the tank. When I don’t feel like putting my feet on the floor to face one more day. The list could go on and on, you fill in your own blank here… It’s in those times that I want to know and want others to see– taste and see–that God is good. To know that God “be” good and all He does and who He is, “is” good. Even in the midst of whatever it is you’re
walking through or feel “stuck” in, others can see you and think, “Man, God is good.” Not because everything is perfect, not because everything seems perfect, not because of anything on the outside, but because of the way you reflect the image of the Father even when…even still.
That your heart may be broken, but you still choose to love others with your words and with your actions.That even when you have bills up to your stuffy nose, you still tip the waiter well. Even though you’ve been waiting on ‘the one’ for years and all your friends are getting married and you feel skipped over, you still celebrate them and you celebrate them well. When you didn’t get accepted into the school of your choice, you still trust and know and rest assured that God’sin that. There’s a reason and He’s there and all over it and for you and working behind the scenes in ways you may never know. When your doctor tells you there’s no way you’ll carry your own baby, but you continue to faithfully show up and serve in the kids church even though it hurts, believing that God is not a cruel God who would ask you to do something that blessing isn’t on the other side of. That even though you can’t see it ten fold YET, you still tithe 10% because you know that God is your provider. When God asks crazy faith of you, to step out and do something that doesn’t make sense, and quite literally may look stupid, that you do it and wholeheartedly obey because Him asking you is reason enough. When God tells you to put an end to the relationship you’ve been living in, you do it with sweaty palms and a lump in your throat and a broken heart, knowing that God isn’t a God who withholds good things from His children.
In all of those things, with a decided, joyful heart, with kind eyes and gentle words, you
do what God asks you to do. Your feet firmly planted in faith. Your arms raised high in
reckless abandon. Your heart surrendered at the feet of the One who blesses, not for
blessing, but because you know the One who is the blessing. Because you know the One who’s very being is good.
What if we really did know before we thought we knew that God is good? And what if our lives reflected the goodness of God in the most simplistic, beautiful way?
And what if we know before we think we know, before we see it, before the miracle, before the breakthrough, before the healing, before the relationship, before the restoration, the job, the promise fulfilled…the goodness of a loving Father.
Sarah Tucker is the owner of Imago Dei in Franklin, TN, where the heart behind the shop is to point people back to Jesus and serve as a reminder to everyone who visits that they are made in the image of God. She loves drinking coffee, long country drives, and spending time with her friends and family!
Follow Sarah on Instagram @sarahatucker
