Ann Voskamp

Be At Rest

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“God is at work. He does not slumber.
Christ intercedes. He does not fail.
The Spirit comforts. He does not forsake.
Be at rest. Be at peace.
Your name at the end of the day is Beloved” (Ann Voskamp).

You and I can be at rest and have peace, even on those Mondays when our devices aren’t working, when our circumstances don’t cooperate with our plans, and when fear and anxiety seem to have the upper hand in our thoughts.

We can rest because we know that our identity is not what we do but who we are. Or whose we are.

All the diplomas and titles and honors and rewards in the world count for nothing apart from Christ, and nothing is lost if you lose everything and still have Jesus.

That is peace. That is rest.

 

There’s Always Something

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Absolutely. There truly is always something to be thankful for.

Today, my list includes a good church service at The Church at Avenue South that saw the dedication of several parents and babies, a commissioning of missionaries for a short-term trip to Honduras, and another great sermon from Aaron Bryant from John 21:15-17.

The weather was anything but spring-like, but you can’t always have everything. Supposedly, all this April rain is bringing some May flowers, but I’m not sure what all the cold weather is supposed to bring.

I did have my old and trusty Jeep to get me everywhere I wanted to go today. I had a comfy jacket to keep out the drizzle and chill.

Plus, there’s all those little details that I routinely take for granted– good health, eyes to see, ears to hear, two legs to take me where I want to go, etc.

I’m learning to be grateful for every new day. It doesn’t always work. Some days I’m grumpy and feel entitled. Some days I choose to see the grey clouds instead of the sun peeking out behind them.

Yet on the days I choose gratitude, it’s always worth it.

Every single time.

Exhale Relief

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This little reminder showed up on my Facebook memories from 3 years ago. It’s funny how these things remain very much appropriate and needed, no matter how much time goes by or how circumstances change.

Whatever mess I’m in, Jesus will carry me through it. He won’t, as a pastor once said, pick me up and toss me over to the other side of it. He will go through it with me. He will carry me through it.

Some of you needed this. I pray you feel the strong and everlasting arms of Jesus underneath you when you have no more strength to stand. When your faith is weakest,  Jesus is still strong enough for the both of you.

Even at 11:04 pm on a Monday night with a full week ahead of you, you really can exhale relief knowing that the God who never slumbers nor sleeps is watching over you.

 

 

Pray Big

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(Ann Voskamp)

With only two more days left in 2017, one resolution I intend to restart in 2018 is to pray bigger and bolder.

I’m not so much praying the impossible for myself (though I will be bold in my own prayers) as much as I’m praying it for family and friends.

Maybe our new motto, modified from the original Star Trek slogan, is to pray boldly where no man (or woman) has ever prayed before.

So pray big. Pray boldly. Pray in such a way that the answer can only be explained by God– and nothing or no one else.

Pray, knowing that the Holy Spirit still helps us when words fail and only groans and sighs come. Even if it seems you get it wrong, the Holy Spirit always gets it right.

Pray as much and as often as possible.

Just pray.

 

A Borrowed Advent Blog Post

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“… so yeah, amidst the noise of everything, that’s what it comes down to: Be silent stress, be silent worries, be silent fears,
just hush all worry, hush all hurry — & hear Him in the stillness:
“Know that I am God … Step out of the traffic! Take a long, loving look at Me, your High God, above politics, above everything.” Ps.46:10, MSG
Sadness is never the end of the story. Jesus is the end of our story – and the beginning of our story and the best part of our story.
Above the pressures, above the pace, above the politics, above the news, above the rushing, above the deadlines, above everything — take a long, loving look at Him — your High God who is above all that is pressing in on you — & press into Him.
The Lord God Almighty is here among us, the Lord is Here —
so Peace is here among us,
& brave praise rises from amongst us,
& there are arms to carry us through all this here
because knowing that He is God means knowing we are His Beloved and we will always be held” (Ann Voskamp).

www.TheGreatestChristmas.com
bit.ly/GreatestGiftforyou

Your assignment, should you choose to accept it, is to read the above paragraph at least once a day for as long as it takes to sink in and become reality in your mind.

Also, to drink lots of egg nog (or whatever substitute you choose if you’re not an egg nog fan) and have a Merry Christmas!

 

Safe Places

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“…maybe on the days we want out of our lives — it isn’t so much that we want to die from shame, but *hide* from shame. But let’s remember: shame gets unspeakable power only if it’s unspeakable. Shame dies when stories are told in safe places.
You know what? Your scars are proof that you’re a kind of bulletproof — because living through the hardest battles proves you can live through any battle. You can trace those scars and let it feed your courage and feel no shame for the wars you’ve come through, no shame for any of your broken.
And tonight we’re just going to take heart — take His heart
and pour a brave and willing love like His
over all the open wounds…
that we may even now
take hope” (Ann Voskamp, The Broken Way). #TheBrokenWay #StrengethingPrayers

Normally, I like to share my own thoughts, but this one practically begged me to share it. I’m positive that someone out there needs this tonight, someone who’s battled shame for a long time and needs to know that there’s hope and freedom just around the corner in one of those safe places.

You’ll never know the freedom over the power of shame until you can find your brave and share your stories– even the hardest and most shameful ones. As my pastor said, healing takes place when the worst moment of your life that you never thought you’d ever share with another living soul becomes the first line of your testimony of God’s deliverance.

My prayer is that you’ll find someone and somewhere safe to tell your shameful secrets so that they no longer hold you captive. Then perhaps your story will encourage someone else to tell his or her story. Someone will her their own story in your words and find their own healing.

 

Bridges Giving Way

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“When bridges seem to give way, we fall into Christ’s safe arms, true bridge, and not into hopelessness. It is safe to trust! We can be too weak to go on because His strength is made perfect in utter brokenness and nail-pierced hands help up. It is safe to trust! We can give thanks in everything because there’s a good God leading, working all things into good. It is safe to trust! The million bridges behind us may seem flattened to the earthly eye, but all bridges ultimately hold, fastened by nails. It is safe to trust.” (Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are).

Lately, it seems that chaos is in control. I read recently about yet another mass shooting, this one in Las Vegas on the last day of a music festival. I wonder yet again why someone would want to fire a semi-automatic into a crowd of people.

It seems more and more that death and natural disasters are becoming the norm, and security is an illusion.

Then I read the last page of the Bible. The last page doesn’t end with “and they all died.” It doesn’t end with “they tried to make the best of a bad situation.”

The Bible ends with God making all things new. Or as C. S. Lewis put it, the end is in reality the true beginning of the real story, of which all of history was merely the title and the table of contents. This real story goes on forever and each chapter is better than the one before.

This present story is filled with heartbreak and sadness. The story that’s coming will be about how God wipes away every tear from their eyes and how there will be no more sadness or weeping or death.

So I say, “Come, Lord Jesus. Until then, be with us in the midst of turmoil and hardship and suffering. Be with all who mourn. Be our safe bridge to cross when all the world gives way.

Amen.

A Bigger Bravery

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“…[It’s been a ] long day & you’ve had big, hard things coming at you. You may not even be saying it out loud — but really? It’s hard to keep showing up when it’d be easier to give up.
But can you hear Him this evening?
‘Just Call to Me. I guarantee I will answer you.
*I will make you strong & brave.*’ (Ps.138:3MSG)
Ask Him — He will come & make you strong & brave for the Hard Things.
So that’s the plan as we look to the weekend: Be Brave.
And do not pray for the hard thing to go away.
But pray for a Bravery to come that’s *bigger than the Hard Thing.*” #JesusMakesMeBrave (Ann Voskamp)

Why is it that 4-day work weeks always seem longer and harder than the regular 5-day versions? Maybe it’s because you feel like you’re expending all your energy in a futile quest to catch up from what you missed on that one day off.

Honestly, it wasn’t a hard week for me. It just felt looooong. And there’s one more day to go.

The flip side is that I received the incredible gift of a day off so I could witness a solar eclipse that I probably won’t see the likes of again in my life time. I still have a job for the 4 days, and the tired I’m feeling is the good, productive kind of tired.

The hard things generally don’t tend to go away. They seem to always morph into some other shape, but the difficulties remain. The good news of the Gospel isn’t that you can have your best life now, free from any trials or hardships, but that while you endure much in this life, the best is still yet to come (in the words of ol’ Blue Eyes himself, Frank Sinatra).

So hold on. Friday’s almost here. The best is still yet to come.

 

 

No Fears

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“…new day & *no fears* because fears are just the bad stories we tell ourselves. *And your Father is far bigger than your fears.*
This is why ‘I have set the Lord always before me. Because He is at my right hand I will not be shaken’ Psalm 16:8. He pulls you right close & whispers it, ‘Do Not Be Afraid.’ He knows how hard things are. And He knows how *faithful He will be.*
That’s why He repeats it again & again, 365 times, so we don’t have need to fear any day of the year: Do Not Be Afraid. He holds every minute of this week & His grace & timing are *perfect.*
So we’re just going to go all out & Trust & be brave this week: It takes courage to listen with our whole heart to the tick of God’s timing, rather than march to the loud beat of our fears” (Ann Voskamp) #PreachingGospeltoMyself

Again, I remind you that fear is just False Evidence Appearing Real. Fear always looks to the future but fails to figure God into the equation. Fear always forgets what God has done in the past, but faith as the antidote to fear reminds us that God remains faithful in every circumstance.

Sometimes, fear comes over a specific circumstance, like a loved one being far away from home or the uncertainty of an undiagnosed illness.

Sometimes, fear is generalized and hard to pinpoint. You have anxiety but aren’t exactly sure why.

In either case, the cure to fear is still the perfect love of God. It’s believing that God’s perfect love can overcome whatever it is that you’re fearing.

Fear says that God is not enough. Faith says God is more than enough.

Once again, I say the words, “I believe,” even when my feelings tell me otherwise. I proclaim it until every part of me receives it and until I fully believe it.

God is enough.