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What’s the Difference?

What’s the Difference?

Differences, we all have them. Some are visible to the eye, others lay beneath the surface, waiting in anticipation for someone to notice. We are all so different; so unique, so wonderfully made, and I would go so far as to say — extraordinary.

Hey friends, my name is Danielle (Dee if we want to be less formal) and I too, am different. For the ones who are just hearing my name for the first time, I was born with achondroplasia dwarfism. In the simplest terms, this means that my bones don’t grow very much, and I will be little for the rest of my life. Everything in my body is the same as yours, just condensed into a smaller package. I am the only one in my family with dwarfism, and this has often led me to the question: Why did God make me this way? As any “Good Christian” would do, I turned to the Bible in the hopes of finding an answer to this question. In 2 Corinthians 4:18 it says, “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” Well this doesn’t answer my question. In fact, when I came across this verse it drove my original question into the essence of what i’ll be writing about.

God how do you expect me not to fix my eyes on my physical appearance? When it seems like thats the only thing about me the world is looking at?”

STORY TIME!!

I don’t remember the exact day that I started realizing I was different. I have a younger brother and even as he grew taller than me, I don’t remember that being too alarming. He was my little-big brother, my protector, the one who could do things for me, so believe me I was fine with it. When I was around 5 years old, we were driving home from a Little People of British Columbia event – an organization for people of short stature, and from the back seat of the van I asked, “Am I going to look just like so and so when I grow up?” My mom is not someone who beats around the bush, so when her 5 year old daughter asks a very direct question about her future, there is no point in being vague. “Yup, you are” she had said. For a moment I was silent, I guess processing what this meant, but who knows. After a moment I replied, “Okay”, and that was the end of it. My mom tells me I never asked the question again.

Another time we were in the car, and as she parked she heard a dramatic sigh come from the backseat, “What’s wrong?” she asked. Silence filled the air as she awaited my response, then I replied with, “I’m just preparing for everyone to stare at me when I get out of the car”. Just like when your child falls and scrapes their knee, and you aren’t supposed to show them it’s a big deal, my mom never showed me how profound, serious, and sad that statement was. “Yup, you ready for it?” she asked me. To which I took a deep breath and replied “Yeah I’m ready.”

I tell you these stories not to make you sad, or to throw myself a pity party, but rather I tell them because I believe there is a profound freedom that comes when we acknowledge our situations, and allow God to use them in the way he’d like. Because, if God is the true Creator of all things, then he has created all of you. Now I don’t know why some of us seem to have it a little harder in certain areas than others. This isn’t a “my difference is worse than yours” debate, but if we are to believe that God is the Creator of all things, then we’ve got to believe that He will work some type of purpose into all of you.

I didn’t have to love that I was going to be stared at, nor did I have to love my mom’s answer that I look different. All I had to do was acknowledge it was there, and make a decision to get out of the car. You may be asking yourself now, “how do I acknowledge my difference?” Well, how often do we walk past a mirror and look at our appearance? I would bet, that every time we see ourselves in the mirror, we are taking notice of something about ourselves. Is it your height? Your weight? Maybe your hair colour? Skin colour? The way your outfit is on fleek!? I don’t know if people still say ‘on fleek’, but you get the picture. I’m going to be bold and suggest that we look at ourselves a lot more than we’d ever admit. In that case, in just this one example of looking in a mirror, we’re actually acknowledging what makes us different, a lot more than we realize.

Still with me? Because now it’s one thing to acknowledge the existence of something, but it’s a whole other thing to let God use it for good! So bringing it back to what I mentioned earlier, that can be a tough thing to wrestle with — you feel like the parts of you that make you so different, are the only parts the world is looking at.

Now I’m feeling like we need some good news!

True freedom comes when we are able to surrender to the fullness of who we have been created to be — this includes our unique differences. Giving God our differences, and laying them down, brings freedom. We can surrender our minds, our thoughts, our hearts, our dreams, relationships, finances, you name it! Albeit, have we ever thought what would happen if we surrendered the parts we wish were different? The parts of us that make us unique, the parts of us that stand out a little more, or maybe they are hidden beneath the surface. Differences arent a mark of an imperfection, rather a unique signature from your Creator — a one of a kind, beautiful mark that claims I am yours, and you are mine.” And if we are truly going to walk out our life’s purpose on earth, we must begin to see our differences as God’s signature that help’s to unlock our true freedom. We can’t change how we look, or the life we’ve been given, but we sure can choose how we live in it. Just like those field trip permission slips we had to get signed in school— we’ve got God’s signature, now its your turn to hand it in. You are His ability to bring the kingdom of heaven down to earth and to shine his light

in the places that do not yet know who He is – that is your purpose. We fix our eyes on what is unseen because our freedom comes from what is hidden in eternity.

You are so special to God, every part of you is special. I’ve spent a lot of my life learning how to surrender my dwarfism — trusting that my disability can be used for good. That God has created all of me, and perhaps my dwarfism is what God wants to use. Some days it’s easy, some day’s I can’t bear the thought of trusting God with it. It’s a process, but nonetheless a process worth doing.

Probably you: “Alright Dee…. I know what makes me different, what do I do about it?”

Well, well, well, let me tell you!

  1. Acknowledge what makes you different.

In no way does that mean you have to love it, or that you need to have it all figured out — just acknowledge and accept that it’s there. If we aren’t willing to accept what makes us different, accept our situation, then we won’t be able to lay them down.

  1. Lay it down.

The truth is, our differences can be heavy! The world is heavy, and it’s heavy to carry your difference alone. But thank goodness we have a God, who sent Jesus to do the one thing we couldn’t do, and who came to carry our burdens for us. For example, “God, I lay down ______ today. Thank you for carrying my difference.”

  1. Walk through the door.

Take a step of faith, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, God will give you the strength to move forward in freedom from the differences we carry.

So if you’re still with me, acknowledging our differences reveals the door, laying them down unlocks the door, and before you feel as if you cant possibly walk through that door alone, it says in 2 Timothy 1:7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.” Friend, he walks through that door with you. You’re not alone, and walking through that freedom door, is a lot lighter when we’ve laid down the heavy load of our differences.

As Christians, we have a unique opportunity to partner with God, to spread the message of Jesus, and shine his light while on earth. In order to fully participate in this, we’ve got to trust God with every part of us — differences and all. If God is who he says he is, and he is the Creator of all things, then rest assured that he has purposefully, wonderfully, carefully, and lovingly, created ALL of you.

Your difference is safe with the God who created you.

My name is Dee, I’m a born and raised Canadian currently living in Montreal. I’m living the student athlete life, currently in University doing a double major in Linguistics and Theology, and swimming for Team Canada. Recently competed at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, and I have a passion for encouraging people to embrace their unique differences. I’ve got a youtube channel called This Little Light, and you can usually find me drinking an iced coffee and making short jokes. Keep up with me via Instagram @dee_kisser
Photo by Sophie Becquet – sophiebecquet.com
5 Ways to Silence the Lies in Your Head

5 Ways to Silence the Lies in Your Head

Sitting outside on a warm spring morning and reading through my journal-turned-book-I-didn’t-mean-to-publish helped me see how far Christ has brought me in my journey, but honestly, I also saw how much further I still have to go. As I paused on the short poems I’d written, they told a vivid story of the storm that had been going on inside me back then. I remembered the fear I felt, deep gut-level fear of what would happen to me when people found out that I spent time in a psychiatric hospital. I wrote,

“Today I am afraid.

My enemies are many.

They march up to my door

and blow with all their might.

They take my name and tar and feather it

for all the world to see.

I stand and watch.

They whisper in my ear,

“It’s all over. The curtain’s coming down.

The crowd is going home. The lights are going out.”

I remember feeling that way. Mental illness, particularly in the Church, held so much stigma. We have come a long way since then and have a longer way to go, but when I was hospitalized, I didn’t know of one other Christian who struggled with depression. As far as I knew, I was the only one who was failing God and falling apart. For me, it was the perfect storm. My greatest fear crashing into my most deeply held belief.

Don’t let anyone see the real you or they will leave.

I’m too broken to be loved.

I wonder what those deeply held beliefs are for you? We all have them. They were usually etched into our souls when we were young. They’re not all negative beliefs; many of the beliefs are the strong foundation stones that set us up for healthy choices later in life.

When you look for a husband for example, if you were raised by a dad who loved you well and spoke words of life over you, you’re less likely to fall for someone who tears you down. That message would sharply contradict what you know to be true and how relationships should be.

Sometimes you might be blinded by love but you have a much better chance of choosing someone who is healthy and supportive emotionally if you had a loving dad rather than a father who belittled you.

If you were raised to believe that you are smart and gifted and that God has an amazing plan for your life, then you won’t quit the first time someone says no to you. When you want to join a team, or go to a particular college or apply for a job, if the initial responses are negative you’ll try until you succeed.

Those kinds of deeply held beliefs are like a balloon that lift us up.

But when the messages are negative, however, they are like weights that pull us right back down to earth the moment we try to rise.

You’ll never amount to anything.

You’ll always be overweight.

You don’t deserve to be happy.

You were a mistake.

There’s something wrong with you.

You look awful in that.

Those kinds of messages have loud voices; they’re hard to ignore. So how do we counter something we’ve believed for a long time? How do we silence the lies? Here are the five things that have helped me silence the lies in my head.

Studying God’s Word. I never let a single day go by without reading God’s truth. I read it out loud. I choose a verse and meditate on it during the day. I read what God says about my life no matter how I might feel at that moment. If your deeply held beliefs tell you that you’re not worth loving, that you’ll never change, then find some go-to verses that confront those lies.

Here are a couple of my favorites.

“For the mountains may move and the hills disappear, but even then my faithful love for you will remain.” (Isaiah 54:10)

My very favorite, read-it-every-day passage:

“And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38–39)

Whatever your particular struggle is, find truth in God’s Word and read it over yourself every day as often as you need to silence the lies.

Prayer. I wrote a whole book about prayer called Praying Women in 2019 as I recognized this was a weak area in my life. I pray when I first get up in the morning. It’s more of a “Good morning, Lord,” than anything else. It’s my way of greeting a new day in God’s presence.

Then I have times when I’m specifically praying and interceding for a particular person or situation, but I talk to my Father all day long. When I’m in the car, waiting in the grocery line, when I’m happy, when I’m sad, I talk to the Lord.

Worship. I have a worship playlist on my phone. I’ve chosen songs that have deep spiritual truth, songs that remind me of the unfailing love of God. I worship along when I’m having a good day or a bad day. When I feel myself sinking I listen and allow the words to wash over me.

Thanksgiving. There is great power in gratitude, in giving thanks for God’s faithfulness and love. When life is hard though it’s challenging to be thankful. That’s why I think of thanksgiving as a choice, a discipline. Every day I thank God for five things. Some days those are things like a significant answer to prayer. Other days it’s something as simple as our older dog, Tink, sleeping through the night instead of needing to go out five times.

Repentance. During the pandemic and quarantine of 2020, I discovered a whole new discipline I hadn’t considered in dealing with the impact of negatively held beliefs. I had to call my broken belief system what it was. Sin. I had to embrace a whole new way of living that was not a once-for-all decision but a daily commitment to repentance. Repentance is an old fashioned sounding word but it has a very simple, powerful, life-changing meaning.

In the Old Testament there are two Hebrew words used to help us understand repentance. The first is the word, nacham. This means to turn around or to change your mind. The second is the word, sub. It is used hundreds of times in the Old Testament and is translated by words like turn, restore, or return. When you come to the New Testament the Greek word that is translated repent is metanoia, which literally means to change your mind.

When lies play on repeat in my mind, when I choose to believe them over what God’s truth says about me, when I overreact because something someone said or did triggered a wound caused by one of those lies, it’s sin. We don’t like that word in our culture. Yet the stark, unswerving message of the Word of God is that we are all sinners, every single one of us.

I wonder if the reason these lies, these negatively held beliefs, are so prominent in our minds is because we have not allowed salvation to do its full work. Let me explain what I mean. When we’ve embraced a life of faith we know that our sins are forgiven. We are no longer sinners; we are sinners saved by grace. While that is gloriously true I think we forget the full reach of what sin really is.

In his masterly work, The Reason for God, Timothy Keller quotes Simone Weil,

“All sins are attempts to fill voids. Because we cannot stand the God-shaped hole inside of us, we try stuffing it full of all sorts of things but only God may fill it.”

I’ve known that quote for years but I hear it differently now than I used to. When I examine my own life, I see clearly that even though I gave my life to God when I was eleven, I’ve resisted letting Him fill all the voids, the broken places, the fear-filled places, the tearstained places. The places where these lies and beliefs were born. This was not an intentional resistance, just a broken understanding of how great and wholly invasive God wants to be in our lives. He wants to be our everything.

Let’s let Him. When lies run rampant through our thoughts, let’s pause. Let’s counter them with God’s Word, prayer, worship, thanksgiving, and repentance. Let’s let God fill the voids. Let’s let Him be our everything.

Sheila Walsh is a Bible teacher and bestselling author with more than six million books sold. She is cohost of the television program “Life Today,” airing in the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Australia, with almost one billion potential viewers daily. Calling Texas home, Sheila lives in Dallas with her husband, Barry; her son, Christian; and two little dogs, Tink and Maggie, who rule the roost. Her latest book, Holding On When You Want to Let Go, is available now.

Lessons From A Baby Turtle

Lessons From A Baby Turtle

This past weekend, my bestie Kelsey and I went for a walk at a popular park in Nashville. Just as we were beginning our walk, I saw her leap midair in excitement, yelling, “TURTLE!” We looked down to see a baby turtle, the size of a quarter, right at our feet. 

Kels and I just paused and stared at it for a while – admiring his cute little head and getting way too close to it. Come to think of it, this little guy must have been scared out of his mind. 

Because we were way too close for his liking, the turtle started to move away from us toward the grass. He was a long way from home. The grass looked like it could swallow him whole, and at the pace he was going, it would take him a long time to get to the river. 

Kels felt some sympathy for the turtle, which I deeply respect. “Oh my gosh, should we move him closer to the water? It looks like he is about to go into this wilderness!” She said as she crouched down by the turtle, looking at him with kindness. 

I, on the other hand, was already on my merry way – ready to continue the walk. My Apple Watch timer was on and I did not want to pause it because of a turtle who lost its way.

“I think we should just let nature run its course,” I responded. (Yes, looking back, I realize this was a very insensitive remark.) 

Just when I was about to keep walking and hope Kelso would follow, a couple came up to the turtle and took sympathy for it too. 

The guy looked at us and said, “Usually with turtles, they turn in the direction they want to go.”

The turtle had his eyes on the water. Yet he was far away. This is what led us to the grand finale, our new friend picking up this little guy, carrying the turtle daintily in his hand, and bringing him within feet of the river. 

What would’ve taken the turtle hours just took him about 30 seconds with this man, who picked him up and put him exactly where he needed to be. He did not have to walk through any large pieces of grass to make his way to the place of life and abundance. It was done for him automatically. 

GOD WILL MAKE A WAY 

Isaiah 43:19 says:

 “Forget the former things;

do not dwell on the past.

 See, I am doing a new thing!

Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?

I am making a way in the wilderness

and streams in the wasteland.”

We, like this turtle, move pretty slow on our own. What could take us months or years can take God just a snap of his fingers. 

When we are faced with a wilderness, a difficulty, an obstacle, we can choose to walk our way through it alone. We can choose the option of striving. In this turtle’s case, striving would have looked like taking forever to go through the tall grass, just hoping he’d make it to the water.  

Or, we can accept help from the One who can make a way where there is no way. Who can get us through the wilderness and provide streams in the wasteland, just like that. 

 Ι don’t know what wilderness you find yourself in front of today – what looks like it is just way too difficult to walk through. You have two options. You can choose to walk through it yourself. Or you can choose to rely on God, and let Him take you there. You can choose to rely on self or you can choose to rely on the Lord. 

And let me just reassure you – going by yourself is a much longer route than letting God take you there for you. What could take you ten years can take God the snap of His fingers. He is the best person for us to go to, because He can always do what we cannot. 

ARE YOU STRIVING OR ARE YOU RELYING ON GOD?

Whenever I am faced with a big project, or a big goal, or a big dream… I can either try to get there on my own. Or I can try to get there with God. 

I can always tell if I am relying on my own strength if I am exhausted, anxious, stressed, or staying up till obscene hours of the night. 

But when I rely on the Lord to get there – I am comforted with so much more peace. What used to stress me out is actually so much easier. Because if He’s the one responsible for making a way, it’s not all on me. What a relief that is.  

TURN IN THE DIRECTION YOU WANT TO GO

The turtle didn’t ask to be picked up, nor did the turtle work to be provided for. All he did was turn in the direction that he wanted to go. 

My dear friend, you don’t have to strive. Wherever it is you want to be, you don’t have to get there on your own. In order for God to do what only He can do, you need to allow Him to do what only He can do. All you need to do is focus on where you are looking.

You don’t have to know “how” you’re going to get there. Let go of the strategies and what has been done before. He is doing a new thing! All it requires is for you to turn towards HIM, and seek Him. Fix your eyes towards Heaven and rely on Him to take you to the next destination. 

And just before you start to walk into the wilderness alone, the grace of God will pick you up and put you exactly where you need to be. Without you even seeing it coming, you’ll be provided for abundantly. 

God can do what we can’t. It’s about time we turned towards the direction of Jesus and watch Him do what only He can do. The water will sure taste good. 

Ashley Hetherington is an author, content creator, and lifestyle blogger behind The Honey Scoop, a platform designed to add a sweet scoop of encouragement to your day. Through her Bible studies, books, and online content, she helps thousands of women grow their faith with biblical truth and practical application. Ashley has a degree in Journalism and Interactive Media Studies from Miami University. Ashley enjoys reading books, asking the question “why?”, and drinking too much coffee. She hopes to lead you closer to God and closer to the person He created you to be. Build your faith through her latest Bible study, Beauty for Ashes, which takes women on an 8-week journey to finding healing and freedom in the Lord.

Running to a New Pace

Running to a New Pace

Do you ever feel like you’re depleted of energy and lacking motivation? Are you totally burnt out? You’re not alone, friend. It is no surprise that a study by Gallup reveals 76% of full-time workers experience burnout.

I’ve had my fair share of crash and burn moments. The culprit of most of these moments was that I simply didn’t want to slow down or put aside self-created goals and expectations.

Once I determined my final destination, there was no stopping until I reached it. I have sacrificed my health, relationships, and joy at the expense of reaching something I decided I needed to achieve.

Can you relate?

It is story time – let’s virtually travel back in time to Lausanne, Switzerland together.

You’ve now been teleported with me to a lively, French speaking city nestled on Lake Geneva. Picture yourself in a beautiful vineyard looking at a crystal-clear lake that leads to snowy mountains and a sneak peek of Evian, France.

We are at the Lausanne Half Marathon on my twentieth birthday: October, 26th, 2014.

Let’s just put it this way: I cut some corners when training for this race. I didn’t exactly prepare my body or focus on the nutrition my body needed because at the end of the day I was thinking about the medal and how cool it would be to say I did the race.

Running on an apple and croissant, I started the race at an eight-minute mile pace. Three miles in, I wasn’t feeling so great.

I didn’t want to slow down or listen to my body. I was going to finish this race and stick to the unrealistic pace I had set for myself.

Let’s fast forward this race a bit. The finish line was finally in eye sight and the strangest thing happened. I straight up passed out.

The video from the race shows me falling and totally unconscious just steps before the finish line. Paramedics put me in a wheel chair and pushed me to onsite help.

I woke up two hours later to French speaking doctors where I mumbled one of the only French phrases I knew (I may have also cut some corners in my French class, too.) “Je suis étudiante,” which means I’m a student.

I’m sure the doctors found this fact to be less than helpful and looking back myself, it is quite hilarious that this was the one thing that immediately came to mind to share.

To finish up the story, once I gained consciousness, I ended up walking to the metro to head back to Pepperdine’s study abroad housing.

This moment quickly made me realize that running another half marathon wasn’t in the cards, but I never slowed down or questioned my pace outside of the race. I was still my own pacemaker.

I spent the next few years of college burning the candle at both ends. After graduating college in April of 2017, my husband and I got married in June and we moved to Washington D.C. to start our careers.

My first job started the day after we arrived at our seventh-floor, five hundred square foot apartment in Arlington, Virginia. This pretty much set the tone for the rest of my career. I’m four years post-grad and have had a total of nine different roles.

My life was starting to look a whole lot more like a game of Chutes and Ladders than a life of surrender to the One who created me and you.

At just twenty-six, I was burnt out, exhausted, and wishing for retirement. My life was full of discontentment, hurry, and fear. I mentally felt like I was right back at the Lausanne Half Marathon.

I feared I would fall behind.

I questioned who I really was.

I was anxious to reach my next goal. 

I didn’t have time to truly seek and listen to God.

Do you find yourself in the same place? Do our stories share some similarities?

About six months ago, I realized that something was going to have to change and I started trying to get to the root of the constant burnout I faced.

Why was I pushing myself to perform a specific way? Where did I even get the idea that this was the pace I needed to go at? How did I come up with this list of expectations?

You see, it boiled down to putting my worth in titles. It is not a coincidence that the first thing I told the medical crew was that I was a student. The habit only continued through post-grad. My title at work quickly became my identity.

There was only one way to fix this. I knew I needed to truly surrender and find my identity rooted in the ultimate pacemaker: God.

Ready for a challenge? I want you to truly start believing that your identity is first and foremost being a child of God.

God calls us His children throughout the Bible. God uses the humble and what the world may consider lowly to glorify His kingdom. Children ask for help, love on others, easily trust, and giggle with joy. He knows we are frail, yet gives us a position of righteousness.

Your current title, where you’re from, how much money is in your bank account, or what you’ve accomplished during your lifetime cannot make you deserve this title more than the person next to you.

Contrary to culture, a purpose filled life isn’t always about climbing to the next step on the ladder. A purpose filled life is one that is okay with finding a chute that takes you to what the world may deem as a lower place in order to bring glory to God’s kingdom.

As we get to know God, we learn that when we have nothing left to give, He gives us everything we need. God doesn’t operate on the currency of time and we don’t have to live up to the worldly expectations of success.

No amount of rest can put a stop or delay the plans He has for you.

The overachiever and passionate person you are may not be super cozy with the idea of rest, but friend it is essential that you slow down to rest when burnout sets in so you can find renewal from God.

What if we become so busy with our day-to-day plans and the constant hustle to do more that we miss the small moments that change everything for His kingdom?

Culture tells us that busyness is significant. God tells us that all who are weary and burdened can come to Him to find rest (Matthew 11:28-30).

Let’s talk about the hats you wear for a second. God created rest so that we can experience a renewal that allows us to wear our different hats a little more intentionally and serve those around us in the way we were designed.

Even Jesus chose a moment of solitude at times so He could renew His mind and spend time with God. When we treat ourselves like a machine, we forget to unplug and ask God for His direction. We can get so caught up with busyness that we forget we have unlimited access to the One who intentionally created us.

You aren’t running what might feel like a half marathon you haven’t trained for alone. God is by your side and He will give you strength throughout your race. He is mindful of your needs and is not limited by your weakness. You are His child and He loves you.

1 Corinthians 9:24-25 NIV says, “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.”

Don’t let the world deceive you. Your final destination isn’t that job title, buying that house, hitting that six-figure salary, driving that car, marrying that person, or taking that vacation. You are running your race not for some cheap medal, but to bring God glory, disciple others, and live an eternal life with Him.

When you start to get burnt out with busyness, re-prioritize, spend time in His word, rest, and don’t grow weary. Regardless of where you are or where you think you should be, your purpose is incomparable and God has you there for a reason.

Keep showing up and surrendering your daily race to Him, friend! Nothing satisfies like Jesus.

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” (Galatians 6:9)

Here are a few journaling prompts to help you unpack what is weighing you down and overcome the burnout you are facing:

  1. What is happening in your life that only God could orchestrate?
  2. What fills your plate? Why did you take on each responsibility?
  3. Prioritize what is on your plate. What can you stop doing? How can you create a lighter load and trust God with what you can’t continue to take on?
  4. How can you incorporate a better balance with the hustle and rest so you can live out God’s plans for you?
  5. How can you seek God’s direction each day?
  6. What are some ways you can add rest into your routine?

Hope Reagan Harris is a wife, dog mom, iced vanilla latte drinker, and most importantly a Jesus seeker. She strives to encourage those around her on their everyday journey with God. Her first book will be published with DaySpring on March 1, 2022. She’s on a mission to point others to Jesus so they can dig into the Word and start understanding how seen, known, and loved they truly are. You can become virtual friends with Hope on Instagram @hopereaganharris!

Dare to Be: God is Able. Are You Willing?

Dare to Be: God is Able. Are You Willing?

I dare you.

Do you remember the first time you heard those words?

We have all been dared by someone at some time. Perhaps someone at school dared you to be mischievous. Or maybe someone dared you to push beyond your previous achievements in a physical challenge.

We all respond differently to a dare. Some see it as an opportunity to prove themselves; others hear it as a challenge to their competence. Yet it’s often the I dare you moments that push us beyond where comfort could keep us and the familiar would fence us in.

Such moments seem to appear more frequently when we are young, as part of our regular interactions with friends. As we get older, these conversations become less common; we become too mature to entertain something that seems so childish. But what if discarding the I dare you moments means we are keeping our potential hidden away within us? Perhaps the very thing we thought to be immature is what we need for our life to mature. What if the presence of the dare could open new doors for you?

When we read the Bible, we get a front row seat to many I dare you moments of the past. God’s Word is the record of those who went before us, the ones whom God used to forge the future through acts that were not for the fainthearted. The consistent theme of these accounts is a willingness to dare to go beyond the usual or normal: Moses before Pharaoh; Daniel in the lions’ den; the disciples leaving behind all they knew to follow a man they had only just met.

Our present faith was shaped by those who dared in the past. Now it is our turn to dare to go farther and shape the future.

Perhaps it’s time we all got back to the place of daring. A journey awaits those who, with courage and willingness, take the first steps on an uncharted path. For so long we’ve been safely managing our destinies, but it’s time to make friends with the discomfort that comes when we choose to make God’s words our security. The farther we go on the I dare you adventure with God, the more we discover His expansive capacity, His power and unfathomable ability.

The more we see the One who works for us and in us—and who longs to work through us—the more we come to know His faithful and steadfast nature that never fails us.

Where fear has closed the door, we need the challenge of I dare you to open our lives to possibilities once more. Where we have held back because of doubt, we need to dare to trust and step out. Where we have stopped daring because we don’t want to face failure, we need to allow the dare to deepen our learning and understanding.

Several years ago, some dear friends invited my husband and me to join them and a few of their friends—whom we had never met before—for a weekend of adventure. I was unsure about the invitation; I am much more of an introvert than the friend who was inviting us, and I didn’t know how adventurous I would feel in a house full of strangers. However, we decided to take up the challenge, and I dared to say yes. It was while we were away that I found myself going on my own journey of daring to be.

One afternoon we had been out on the water paddle boarding. As we came back to the dock, some of the group started to climb up a hillside to a diving ledge and leap off into the water below. I was very sure this was one activity I had no interest in doing. And then someone said these words: “I dare you.”

My immediate internal response was, No thank you!

But then I began to think, When was the last time I took a dare?

This dare wasn’t going to harm me, but it would stretch me. I am not a fan of heights—but what if this dare could help me face a fear that needed to be challenged?

As I started the ascent, I was so nervous and yet determined. I was reminded of something I had forgotten, a feeling I had left back in my youth—that nervous energy that stirs you to be a bit braver, a bit more courageous. I had my new friends at either side of me, holding my shaking arms as I stood on that board for well over ten minutes, trying to talk myself into jumping off. Everyone around me was cheering me on.

After what seemed like forever, I remember walking to the end of the board, holding my nose, and very ungracefully taking a leap into the water below. As I hit the water, everyone started applauding. I was so thankful it was over, but I had done it! Not that long before, I wouldn’t have considered it a possibility.

But I had leapt, and I had landed. Perhaps it’s time for you to start ascending into the dare that God has waiting for you. Perhaps it’s time to face a fear or remove that area of limitation, to take the leap so you can land somewhere new. This book was written for you, so that you will hear a voice cheering you on—just like the voices of my new‑found friends around me as I was on the ledge that day.

The very thing you are seeking could be on the other side of your daring. The leap you most fear may just be the leap you most need.

Excerpted with permission from Dare to Be by Charlotte Gambill and Natalie Grant, published by Harvest House Publishers, Eugene, OR 97408.  Copyright 2021, Charlotte Gambill and Natalie Grant.  www.harvesthousepublishers.com

Natalie Grant is an eight-time GRAMMY® nominee and five-time GMA Dove Awards Female Vocalist of the Year. She has garnered more than 500 million streams and multiple number #1 albums and singles on the Billboard charts. A respected author and philanthropist, she is the cofounder of Hope for Justice, a nonprofit organization fighting human trafficking with 32 offices across 10 countries and 5 continents that has helped more than 100,000 children in the past year.

Charlotte Gambill has an infectious love for life, a deep love for people, and a zealous love for God’s house. Her passion is to build the local church across the earth, to see people reach their full potential, and to develop and strengthen leadership. Known for her practical, humorous, and passionate application of God’s Word, she is an author, speaker, and mother. Charlotte, who leads LIFE Church, UK in England with her husband, Steve, has authored more than ten books.

Made Whole: Feeling Fulfilled Without Food

Made Whole: Feeling Fulfilled Without Food

Pounds. Ounces. Measuring cups. Tablespoons. Teaspoons. Since I was a child, I’ve been measuring my life in pieces. I’ve struggled with weight since childhood. And I’m not talking about feeling bloated after a burrito. I’m talking about being obese and weighing more than my father at the age of 12. Life felt so out of control and in pieces that the only thing I knew was to pick up the pieces of life and run really hard.

By the time college came around, I became an expert at running with my hands full of the pieces of my life. It was a time of reinventing myself and shedding my shame and my weight, which interestingly enough, existed in the presence of each other. The obese little girl was a distant memory and the shadow of the girl who strode onto campus conveniently stuffing the broken pieces of her life in a designer book bag.

College was a chance to reinvent myself. No one knew I was an illiterate child who shared a bedroom with my sisters and snuck food into closets while no one was looking. No one knew I was poor or made fun of because of where I lived or the color of my skin. No one knew I witnessed the prejudice against my father and his lingering accent. It was a chance to be who I dreamed of being: perfect.

Never to be thought of as the stupid kid ever again, academic excellence was the bar. From color-coding my notes, study groups, re-writing my notes, and note cards, I was obsessed with academia. If the letter A was an item, it was the hidden treasure I sought out.

But my manic behavior didn’t stop there. I became obsessed with dieting and an allusive number on the scale. I became fixated on controlling every aspect of my life. It was my goal to never be made fun of again and to find clothing that was not in the full-figured women’s section of department stores. Never again would I need to wear a plus-size forest green jumpsuit with elastic waistband and faux gold buttons (aka my Easter outfit circa 1993).

As a grown adult, I can’t even begin to recall how many diets I’ve been on. Seriously, it’s embarrassing. The Orange Peel Diet (boil 30 orange rinds for five hours in two gallons of water and drink the tea for the next 48 hours); The Soup Diet (boil every green vegetable in a cauldron of water and eat it for eight days straight); The Meat Diet (the diabolic travesty of my life); The Vegan Diet (I gained weight); The Liquid Diet (I ran to the restroom every 30 seconds); The Pills-from-Mexico Diet (I not only lost weight, I lost sleep, hair, and control over my sweat glands). Sadly, the list goes on.

Unless you’ve struggled with an addictive or obsessive behavior yourself, it’s difficult to understand the pain. Controlling a diet or eating habits may seem easy to some. You know, just simply put down the food. But someone telling me to stop eating or stop obsessively working out or stop color-coding my notes was like telling the sun not to rise. No matter how hard I tried, it was impossible.

So I held on to control like a cobra grasping its prey. I lost 45 pounds, I had a stellar GPA, I had the best clothes, my work was excellent, my professors loved me, and my scholarships kept coming in. I, I, I. My, my, my. Me, me, me. I had become the captain of the ship, the driver to my destiny, the god of control.

Others probably thought I had my life together, but I knew it was a façade. Deep inside I feared one misstep would cause a trapdoor to open and a massive boulder to fall on my head. One mistake would remove the favor in my life and reveal the frightened girl who simultaneously controlled everything and nothing, and the pieces of my private life would be spilled on the floor for everyone to see.

Here’s the truth: you will have moments where you feel like your life is in pieces.

You know all the pieces once made something beautifully whole, but right now? Right now it feels like puzzle pieces you’re forcing to fit together, but refuse to match, leaving you with what feels like empty holes that feel impossible to fill.

And it’s that empty feeling that drives us to fill what we can with what we know: food.

If you’ve ever wrestled with food or food addiction, you might have found yourself saying:

I feel like I’m missing something.

I want to feel complete.

I feel broken and cracked.

I want to feel whole. 

I’m so empty.

If I could stop _____, then I would feel okay. 

For women unaware they are addicts to food, suffer from disordered eating, and exercise control of their emotions by binge dieting, I’m here to tell you a sobering truth: we are hungry for things food cannot fill. What feels like hunger pains are actually soul cravings. 

And sadly, an empty soul cannot be filled with ice cream.

When food/porn/television/alcohol/sex don’t take the emptiness away (like we believe it will), the belief is more will make it better…

One more serving of food

One more hour of work

One more drink

One more episode

The completion of your life isn’t going to be filled binging, purging, or withholding. The broken pieces of our life are only made whole and complete through the love of Jesus. Paul the Apostle wrote to the Colossians and reminded them that in Him you have been made complete (Colossians 2:10). Our desires claim to satisfy us, but only God can make us full. Why? Because food isn’t the real problem, emptiness is.

Jesus has come to life and life to the FULLEST (John 10:10). I wish there was a magic pill I could give you or some new simple answer to those of us who struggle with disordered eating. But this is what I’m learning and want to share with you.

We need to find fullness in God before we feel the fullness of food. 

We will mess up and make mistakes. But know this:

No matter what your past holds, it can’t hold you.

You are not who you are when you are weak.

You are not who you are when you fail.

You are not who you are when you sin.

You are a child of the Most High God.

As you begin to put the pieces of your life and issues with food back into place, let me encourage you that being made whole is not only possible, it’s the essence of who Jesus is and what He came to do.

Jesus came to make us whole. Jesus can make us complete. When God looks at you He does not see you in the weakness of your failures, but in the fullness of His purpose He picks you up and reminds you to keep going.

This post was taken from our LO sister workshop: “The Powerful Workshop”! To learn more from Bianca, Shelley Giglio, Alex Seeley, and more (all include video teaching from each contributor!), click HERE and join our community today!

As both a pastor and author who has been in ministry for more than 20 years, Bianca inspires people to live with passion. Her leadership at The Father’s House Orange County has allowed her church to reach people all over the world. As the founder and president of the nonprofit, In The Name of Love, she is committed to serving the incarcerated and equipping them to discover freedom despite their surroundings. 

Bianca describes herself as a passionate, Jesus-loving, Bible-teaching, book-writing MexiRican. Experience her energy in her best-selling book, Play with Fire and her most recent book, How to Have Your Life Not Suck: Becoming Today Who You Want to Be Tomorrow, which explores how to win at work and navigate through life’s many decisions.

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