I’ve come to the realization that we serve a God of seasons. Think about it, He could have snapped his fingers and in an instant we would have been saved. But no! He sent a CHILD! A BABY! A child that would grow, learn, preach, serve, THEN, save.

There are seasons in life when I’ve desperately needed to hear from God and seasons where I’ve wanted to make my own decisions. Factor in all the responsibilities of the day and the need for rest, and you’ll also find seasons where my bible would sit on my nightstand without as much as a glance upon it.

See there it is our minds always lean towards the self-esteem validation that we desire. How do you respond in situations when maybe you have wronged someone? Do you justify your decision? Apologize? Or sit in guilt knowing you need to make things right? 

As I continued to pray about it, I was given a new perspective and understanding of why I needed to forgive this person. It wasn’t like they were begging me to forgive them so they can move forward with their life. It was so I can move forward with mine and allow healing to happen.

Our intimacy with Jesus is only dependent on our choice to respond to him by continually seeking after him. Making room for him in our life. We must take the time and space to actively seek Jesus and long to know more and more of who He is. 

Maybe you have been praying for a friend for years and don’t see God changing anything in their life. When it is hard to understand where God is, try to think of how an anchor works better underwater instead of out of the water.

This sermon talks about who we are following and how it doesn’t matter how many IG followers you have, or how famous you are. If you are an influencer or not, you still have influence. Jesus was famous, because he didn’t care about who was following he only cared about who HE was following.

By the beginning of Psalms 10, the message became clear. God is hidden but still present. God may step back from the front and center portion of our life to allow for us to want and search him more. He wants to hear the desires of our heart and sometimes it takes stepping away to ask the question, do you believe I am still good? 

I didn’t know what I was worth until I stopped trying to find worth in everything that couldn’t give it to me. God, in his  kindness, had me trade in cheap worth for the confidence of having an identity firmly planted in him. No matter what I  feel, that can’t change.  

Almost every day, I marvel at how strange time has seemed to pass for the last year and a half (almost). Just recently, I was talking with a few coworkers and we all agreed that, though September is so near, it still feels like May. Time is pushing and pulling in every direction, events and deadlines are sneaking up and big decisions suddenly have to be made in what feels like a split second. As our world is slowly returning to normalcy, the pace of our lives is rapidly increasing.

We all fall short of this at times, but we have to do all we can to live for eternity rather than for the world. Things of this world can appear to be good, making us want more and think we need more. However, when we take a look at what the world is offering, we realize it will never fulfill us.

At the start of our recovery journey, we read the book “You Are Free: Be Who You Already Are” by Rebekah Lyons. One of our favorite quotes in this book is “when we become enslaved to anything, we miss out on a life of surrender and peace.”

Never in my mind was waiting, an active thing. This is where the Lord opened my eyes to a new way of thinking. I was spending some time in prayer on this idea of waiting and out of nowhere I saw a picture of an actual waiter. He was holding pen and paper and asking his guest what he could do for them. 

Have you ever walked through a valley so dark, so long, and so silent that you’ve ended up doubting if the sun exists anymore? I have. For 15 years I lived through a season of being completely hidden. Invisible, passed over, and forgotten. I was there, but not really there. I was physically in the room, but not really present. I was screaming, but not heard. Can you relate?

Truthfully we’re all just living in curiosity

I’ve wondered what this life had for me

The faith life is not immune to influencer culture and, as we’re all pretty aware by now, social media tends to be a highlight reel. Everything is posted and edited and it’s hard not to feel like we aren’t doing well enough in our faith. I’m here to remind you that you are worthy and you are enough. 

Whether you pray all the time or rarely, I think anyone can take a step back and look at their prayer habits. I took this week to really think about how I pray and what I need to change about my response to God’s answers. 

The day is here and Boldly Seeking is officially ONE!!!! I have been smiling all week leading up to this moment where our team can look back at the beginning and see how far we have come. It was a year ago today; that our team said “yes” to a call of cultivating a community to walk in Bold Faith.

God has called us to celebrate, to celebrate to REMEMBER God’s faithfulness in EVERY season of life. It can be hard to celebrate in the bad times, but it’s when we celebrate that we find joy. Celebrations like Christmas can be temporary and connect us with other people, but in those moments together, joy is produced. That joy carries us through each day so we don’t have to wait for the next celebration because we can celebrate every day, good or bad. 

I want to shed some light on something that I am certain everyone has struggled with before, and that’s self-talk. 

First, what is self-talk? It’s something we do every day, every hour, maybe even every minute. It’s that voice in your head either beating yourself up or pushing you to do your best. 

Second, let’s take a step back and ask ourselves, “Is self-talk an important thing to practice?”