Roots & Light – Page 2 – Growing in the Gospel

Barriers: A Weary Heart

Published on December 2, 2021

To begin a helpful conversation about being heart-weary, I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge that a weary heart is real, difficult, and even debilitating. I see you. I know what it feels like. To challenge an already weary heart is a tall order. It can seem like asking too much. Yet, it is what we’re going to lean into in this post. Because it is good for us, and moving through it will lighten the burden we are trying to carry and restore our weary hearts to brightness and vitality.

Barriers: Redeeming the Time

Barriers: Redeeming the Time

Published on November 18, 2021

We live in a western culture in which hustle is holy and progress is prized. But if we have determined that spiritual investment matters to us, then we are challenged in these verses to re-claim our time for good use according to God’s standards of good.

Barriers: Time & Obligations

Barriers: Time & Obligations

Published on November 11, 2021

We will explore how our obligations affect the time we are able to give to spiritual investment. If you feel like your time isn’t your own, there’s not enough time to do all the things you need to do, or that the idea of adding one more thing to your to-do list might just break you, this post is for you.

Barriers: Time & Expectations

Barriers: Time & Expectations

Published on November 3, 2021

Regarding time and spiritual investment, let’s begin with expectations. We can have a lot of assumptions about what time spent in spiritual investment can look like. If you’ve grown up in a religious setting, you may have been taught that a proper period of time spent in spiritual investment consists of at least an hour devoutly sitting in a quiet corner, reading your Bible, and praying off of note cards for all the illnesses and traveling mercies of the ladies in your women’s bible study group. That is certainly one way to invest spiritually. But it is not the only way. And it may not even be the best way for you.

Fear and Re-entry

scary view over a tree-lined cliff into blue water

Fear and Re-entry

Published on October 19, 2021

So how do we do this? How do we move forward and re-engage after a time of such introspection? After a time of such heated conflict? When elements of that conflict still exist and will continue to exist for some time? When relationships seem so much more fragile now than they used to be. When depth of relationship feels impossible?

Burden Sharing

header image: worn boots sitting by a tree

Burden Sharing

Published on June 5, 2021

We love those bootstraps, don’t we? Where does that expression come from anyway? Have you ever actually tried to pick yourself up by your shoelaces? It doesn’t work. At all. Why do we do that?

Growing Up

Published on March 8, 2021

When I was twelve years old, I remember having a tear-soaked conversation with my mother and saying to her, “I don’t want to grow up.” …

2020: My Year to Remain

2020: My Year to Remain

Published on January 4, 2021

I think sometimes we can believe that our being ashamed of how inadequate we are is the same as humility. It’s not. Shame makes us feel unfix-able. Shame makes us feel not good enough, yet expecting ourselves to be good enough. How can we measure up to those kind of expectations? We can’t.

Ambassador Life

Published on August 7, 2020

When others scent, follow, and take on the aroma of Christ because of what they know and observe of our life and integrity, the trouble we endure is worth all the hardship, all the devastation, all the trials, all the conflicting emotions and difficulty. It is worth giving up possession of our own life, moment by moment, into the hands of the one who gives us his life. It is worth it all.

Unshaken

Published on July 27, 2020

What’s been shaken up in your life? What has you off balance? To what degree? Are you still walking straight? Little wobbly? Clinging to the side rails? Hanging on for dear life? Completely disoriented without knowing which way is up?

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