You’ve probably heard the story of the woman at the well. She was a woman from Samaria, a place that was not thought of highly. She had a history of being with many men and her reputation preceded her. She was not regarded highly in her town, but instead she came to the well each […]

Give Me Jesus… Friends, we cannot fully explain the joy and excitement behind this particular launch because it would take us far too long! If we could sit down over a cup of coffee this morning, we would share our heart behind these products. We would tell you that this journal has been a work […]

I had a funny interaction yesterday with a kind, well-meaning individual who was trying to offer some encouragement. The words didn’t come out as I’m sure they intended when they said, “Rachael, you’ve lost weight! You’re starting to look so pretty!” I just had to laugh a little because it was meant as a compliment, […]

From Peer to Fear I remember sitting in my ninth grade Sunday school class hearing about peer pressure. The example was someone standing on a chair trying to pull another friend up onto the chair with them. No matter how hard she tried, it was much easier for the friend on the ground to pull […]

Hey friends! In less than a week we will begin studying Redefined, and quite honestly – we can hardly wait. The topics of identity, confidence and inner-strength can become quite twisted by our society as the world is shouting that we can be anyone or anything we want to be. Rather than getting swept away […]

Grow: Undergo natural development by increasing in size and changing physically; progress to maturity. Develop, come into existence, increase, become gradually or increasingly. We talked about planting – the painful but necessary process for growth. And we talked about flourishing, how just saying the word flourish sounds lovely and fun. There’s something beautiful about the idea […]

Flourish: Grow or develop in a healthy or vigorous way, especially as the result of a particularly favorable environment. Develop rapidly and successfully.  It’s hard to flourish when we feel exhausted, overworked, overwhelmed and needy. How can we flourish when we can’t even finish a task without getting distracted and moving on to the next item […]

Planted: Place in the ground so that it can grow, bury, position oneself, establish in one’s mind. The word “planted” conjures up a lot of beautiful images – colorful flowers, fields of fresh plants bursting with life and fruit, strong and sturdy trees. I can imagine their roots going deep and think about the tiny seeds […]

There’s a story of a traveling pastor who came to town and taught at a church about what it meant to follow Jesus. At the end of the night, a man approached the pastor with a concerned look on his face and asked earnestly, “If I follow Jesus, does that mean I have to give […]

I never expected our hyperactive goldendoodle to teach me so much about God’s grace, but He’s funny like that sometimes. Lately she keeps going into the yard, throwing herself in the dirt and rolling around. She comes in filthy, with bugs and slugs (which are disgusting by the way) and leaves all in her fur. […]