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Welcome to a becoming-space. A place for imperfectly ready people to say yes to more Jesus and actual friendships with their neighbors. A place for introverts and workaholics and people-pleasers and self-doubters. Welcome, welcome, if that’s you! I get that pull you feel to go deeper. Find purpose, meaningful conversations, community. I also get how you think you’re not ready. Want to know a secret?! None of us are, least of all me! Also true is that we BECOME ready after, not before, we say ...
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When we’re walled on every side by insurmountable, when the odds aren’t in our favor, when there’s no action or inaction that’s risk-free, what do we do? Because sometimes it appears there isn’t a way out. Maybe you’ve been there, or that’s where you are today: pinched between bad and also bad. You need an immediate and miraculous rescue. Let’s tur…
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When we feel welcome, we come back. Kids know this instinctively. As adults, we might have to unravel what we’ve learned about hospitality because we’ve somehow begun caring more about keeping our house clean than putting our guests at ease. Our efforts, though good-intentioned, may sabotage what we truly want: for others to feel at home in our hom…
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When we feel welcome, we come back. Kids know this instinctively. As adults, we might have to unravel what we’ve learned about hospitality because we’ve somehow begun caring more about keeping our house clean than putting our guests at ease. Our efforts, though good-intentioned, may sabotage what we truly want: for others to feel at home in our hom…
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Are you longing for soul rest too? Grace that holds? Peace that lasts? Let’s name it together. Links mentioned: To get a short, doable tip in your inbox every week to help you get to know your neighbors, sign up here. Read the written version of this episode HERE.Από τον The Uncommon Normal with Twyla Franz
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Consider this: What if the multi-faceted masterpiece of your God-given strengths and life experiences helps you reflect Jesus in a way that literally no one else can? Links mentioned: To get a short, doable tip in your inbox every week to help you get to know your neighbors, sign up here. Read the written version of this episode HERE.…
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As I remember my dad’s calm presence in the passenger seat, I think of Jennifer Dukes Lee’s nudge to see Jesus as a driver’s ed coach rather than a chauffeur. Links mentioned: To get a short, doable tip in your inbox every week to help you get to know your neighbors, sign up here. Read the written version of this episode HERE.…
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As I hold the decisions I want to delay and the ones I’m tempted to rush in open hands, here’s what’s helping me tune in to God’s voice right now. Links mentioned: To get a short, doable tip in your inbox every week to help you get to know your neighbors, sign up here. Read the written version of this episode HERE.…
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When I’m tempted to make assumptions about something that’s likely not about me, I ask myself a question: Is my reaction opening my heart or closing me off? Links mentioned: To get a short, doable tip in your inbox every week to help you get to know your neighbors, sign up here. Read the written version of this episode HERE.…
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It’s been one year since the biggest, littlest miracle happened. As I stand on this side, thankful for now, and also knowing not a single tomorrow is guaranteed, I think of you. Maybe you’re begging for it to all make sense. You might be white-knuckling a prayer because time is short and you’re scared. Or you’re looking backwards, grieving somethin…
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I was the kid my parents would regularly remind to stand up straighter. Because I’d slouch. If that was you too, you know how you sometimes feel like you never outgrew the label of insecure adolescent. Links mentioned: The worship songs I love best. To get a short, doable tip in your inbox every week to help you get to know your neighbors, sign up …
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I’ll walk you through the key habits in my current morning routine, not to tell you what to include in yours, but to show you how to use a framework that can flex with the time you have available on any given day. Here’s what I’m believing for you: hunger to know God more fully and grace for what it looks like in your actual life. Links mentioned: …
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Ever feel like you’re on the operating table? Like all your wound-tight knots and woundedness are under scrutiny? That’s where I was just the other day—asking a brave question in my journal then heading outside to work through it with God while I walked. When you find yourself turning well wishes for the weekend into “leave me alone,” assuming genu…
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The very spots that deplete us of our rightness and self-sufficiency open us up to truth that frees and a God who redeems. The fractures sting, but they deflate pride, make more room for God inside. They help us get out of our own way so God can have His perfect way in us. I’ve been one to pray it’s behind me soon. Figured out fast. Healed fully an…
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Trees arch overhead, like God bending towards us. Distance thins and glory pools—and I am drenched. Links mentioned: To get a short, doable tip in your inbox every week to help you get to know your neighbors, sign up here. Read the written version of this episode HERE.Από τον The Uncommon Normal with Twyla Franz
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Let’s talk tips for adding positive voices to our list and giving more attention to the ones we already listed. Links mentioned: To get a short, doable tip in your inbox every week to help you get to know your neighbors, sign up here. Joyce Meyers’ “Knowing Who I Am In Christ.” Grab the Songs I Play on Repeat playlist from the resource library! My …
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That’s what I envisioned for the rest of my life—overseas missions. I wanted to follow Mother Teresa’s footsteps to India. Links mentioned: To get a short, doable tip in your inbox every week to help you get to know your neighbors, sign up here. For Enneagram insight into how you can lean into your strengths as a missional neighbor and best love yo…
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If you’re like me, you’d rather re-live the happy moment before the scar formed. The day at the waterpark with your 4-H club or the bike ride with your boyfriend or the ease of slicing vegetables with a Cutco knife. The untainted dream, memory, relationship. But what changed you is the pain. What changes all of us is the things that give God open a…
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Maybe you’re overdue an exhale also. I see it in your face with its tired lines and clenched jaw. Your crammed calendar and the gas light on your dashboard. It’s been you trying to figure it out for long enough. You worrying about it late into the night, blaming yourself for being behind, criticizing your honest hard effort. Links mentioned: Neighb…
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For those of us teetering close to burnout, here’s what I’m learning to put first. Links mentioned: Neighboring Tip of the Week email series. "There is No Striving" by UpperRoom. Growing Slow by Jennifer Dukes Lee (aff link). Remaining You While Raising Them by Alli Worthington. The Everyday Disciple podcast by Caesar Kalinowski. Read the written v…
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Maybe you need less try-hard and self-blame and instead, a well-placed visual reminder. Something on your phone or wall or mirror to keep your goal constantly on your mind. Links mentioned: Get a sneak peek of my pocket-sized devotional, Cultivating a Missional Life, HERE. If you want the rest it’s $4.99 on Kindle or $6.99 for the paperback. Grab t…
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But talking, I’ve found, isn’t the only antithesis of listening. The thoughts inside our heads can also inhibit our ability to be present. Links mentioned: Get a sneak peek of my pocket-sized devotional, Cultivating a Missional Life, HERE. If you want the rest it’s $4.99 on Kindle or $6.99 for the paperback. Grab the bonus 30-day missional living c…
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Jesus and the God-breathed words I’m holding in my hands aren’t just for my mind, but my heart. It’s light and it’s food. Because we’re not robots replicating Him but dearly loved children. He satisfies us with His abundance—for us and so we can tell those around us what we’ve experienced. Links mentioned: Get a sneak peek of my pocket-sized devoti…
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There' a risk I’ve feared but not dug into the why. God wants to talk about it. Show me where my assumptions are flawed and reactionary. Maybe you’ve been here too. Fearing the no because you don’t want to be misunderstood or rejected again. Fearing the yes because you’d assume it was sympathy or special consideration, and you want neither. You’d r…
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Then God interrupts, as I’ve known Him to do. Corporate restructuring, says my husband when he calls me. Effective immediately. Links mentioned: Get a sneak peek of my pocket-sized devotional, Cultivating a Missional Life, HERE. If you want the rest it’s $4.99 on Kindle or $6.99 for the paperback. Grab the bonus 30-day missional living challenge (f…
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I wasn’t prepared to read the Psalm drenched in tears and pleading prayers. In the Bible I held close this time last year, it’s barely legible through pen marks and smudges. But in The Voice, which I read for Mary Demuth’s 90-day Bible reading challenge, the page was untouched. Links mentioned: Mary Demuth’s 90-Day Bible Reading Challenge. Grab the…
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