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Prism Women | Encouragement
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Finding My Gift :: An Answer to Belonging

I remember a time when following Jesus felt impossible. I would wake up every day and think to myself, “This is just too hard. I can’t” What I didn't know at the time was how much I needed community and purpose. I desperately needed a spiritual family and for someone to tell me how I fit into that family.   I needed to belong. I longed to find my purpose.   Fast-forward many years later, through which God moved me forward and filled so many spaces I needed filled. I was standing outside on a dark street, the only light shining from one streetlamp,...

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No One Said It Would Be Easy: My One Word

It’s not easy choosing to follow the Lord. If they told you it would be, they lied.   It’ll break your heart. He’ll break your heart. They’ll break your heart. You’ll find yourself pleading with the God of the Universe for just one, small, crumb from His table…   It’s not easy. It’s devastating, at times. Following Jesus leaves you bare, exposed, and open.   But, it’s also romantic--the Creator of all things, holding each atom together in perfect harmony, is deeply, passionately, fervently in love with you.   It’s poetic--a man, climbing upon a cross to die for his friends. Then offering them life eternal.   It’s wild--life...

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What the World Needs Now

[dropcaps type='circle' color='' background_color='' border_color='']W[/dropcaps]hen Jesus tells his disciples, and therefore us, that we’ll have many troubles in the world but to take heart in his overcoming, my heart is bolstered against news of heartache, terrorist attacks, or unfair death.   I think we show ourselves as biblically and spiritually mature Christians when we embrace Richard Feynman’s assertion that he “would rather have questions that can’t be answered than answers that can’t be questioned.” Most true believers I know and interact with aren’t afraid to cast doubt on long-held beliefs: often, this questioning allows them to reconcile their faith with the truth—of...

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To The Woman Who Has It All Together

[dropcaps type='normal' color='' background_color='' border_color='']S[/dropcaps]he came up to me after I was done speaking to the group of women that had gathered at Prism :: Overcome. She spoke encouragement and life over me.   Then she referenced my talk--the bit where I had expressed some of my darkest fears--the fears that have, at times, dictated how I behaved and what I believed about the Lord. I had confessed to the women there that I believed from time to time that while God had absolutely wonderful, bountiful gifts for everyone else, I wasn’t sure if He had the same for me. Did God really love...

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What To Do When You Don’t Know What to Do

On the heels of one of the hardest years of my life, I naively assumed that this year would be easier--lighter--more bearable. I thought that certainly God would, at some critical point, swoop in and rescue me. He would save the day. I was sure of it.   But, difficult days continued to be rolled out before me. I was hurting both physically and emotionally. I was spiritually anemic. I was holding on to a kernel of faith and on most days I was starving for hope, in any form.   I honestly didn’t know what to do. I asked for prayer. Then I...

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Get Out of Your Own Way

"God rewards all growth with pruning.” –Bill Johnson   “But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one.” –Hebrews 10:32-34 ESV   [dropcaps type='circle' color='' background_color='' border_color='']I[/dropcaps] know less now about the mysteries of God than I did as a Bible college student—luxuriating in the company of the enlightened...

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For the Love of Beauty

Shepherd. Striving to draw out beauty, strength, and freedom in all people through truth and love. Creative. Finding unique ways to delight the eyes, ears, minds, and souls of people, all with the expectation of Jesus Christ shining through even brighter.   I have always drawn an eclectic crowd, if you will. Since I was young I always loved, appreciated and connected with different personalities, ages, and walks of life. I never quite fit into one single group. I had several different "friend groups" and just coasted around enjoying all of them in different ways.   Have you ever thought, where do I fit...

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You Can’t Outrun Your Calling

I think I’ve always been a bit of a rebel, perhaps not openly, but I can’t remember a time when I haven’t quietly pushed back against “norms,” or “traditions,” or the culture. Long before I knew Jesus, I balked at convention and questioned authority. None of that stopped after I met Him either. If anything, the questions grew larger, but so did my God.   However, I quickly learned that the church, as a whole, has little room and virtually no tolerance for a “trouble maker,” let alone a young female one. You can be a zealot for Jesus, of course, but...

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Hope Deferred and the Art of a Good Story  

  [dropcaps type='circle' color='' background_color='' border_color='']P[/dropcaps]racticed readers know that a story is as good as its first chapter, sometimes its first paragraph. To understand our story within the arc of God’s narrative, the concept doesn’t change: we look to the beginning of the story to understand its end.   In the first book of the Bible, we meet a seventeen-year-old Joseph who has just revealed two dreams he received from the Lord, which prophesy of his unique calling. This news rouses his older brothers’ jealousy. They, in turn, sell him into slavery, which is the means by which Joseph fulfills his prophetic dream and...

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We are Invited to the Table

[dropcaps type='circle' color='' background_color='' border_color='']E[/dropcaps]very once in a while I am overwhelmed by the thought that there are some things that aren’t designed for me to experience. I think this not from a place of defeat or depression, but from the knowledge that there are certain dreams I have placed on the back-burner of my heart and mind.   One of my most beloved movies from childhood (along with 2 million others, I am sure) is Hook. My absolute favorite part is when the Lost Boys and grown Peter Pan are sitting at the table to eat. It appears as though there is nothing to...

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