rebelling against low expectations
This week, I spent three days without speaking. It was hard. Y’all, I’m an extrovert! I’m a people person. I’m an external processor. I spend all day every day talking with people, laughing with people, offering tissues to people. At the end of a long day, I don’t want to totally retreat, I want to laugh with my closest friends. But you know what? Three days without speaking was incredible, and I...
“We should have a relationship that keeps Christ at the center.” I read his text, confused, but so giddy that he actually wanted a relationship that I decided to go along with it. “Definitely,” I said back. But I never stopped to ask what he meant by that. What does it mean to have Christ at the center of your relationship? What does that look like? Does a Christian relationship mean you don’t...
The dawn of a new year is swiftly approaching, and with it comes the famed New Year resolutions. If I were to guess, one of the most popular New Year resolutions for Christians is some sort of Bible reading plan. Most of us want to improve our daily habits for our time in Scripture. For some, that means reading the Bible more consistently. For others, it means extending mere reading into a...
Last year, a few days before Christmas, my neat, happy familial world crashed around my feet. My mom was diagnosed with cancer. Really quickly debilitating cancer. The news, the surgery, and the treatments took a devastating toll on my mom and on us all. I’m 17, and I’ve seen sorrow and suffering in my life, but never experienced anything that struck so deeply or that hurt so much. As a natural...
As a little girl, I remember the day I first met my Savior. Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, I was a tomboy in spirit. Gaming it out on Ratchet and Clank at 2:30 a.m., my Dad gave me the opportunity of a lifetime. From that moment, I dedicated myself to the sole pursuit of Christ and proclaiming His Gospel to the nations. While I grew out of the tomboy phase, my faith rose higher. No matter what...
Fasting—”going without food for religious purposes”—is an ancient tradition. References to fasting are scattered throughout both the Old and New Testaments, as well as church history. Like prayer and Bible reading, it’s a basic part of the Christian walk with God. But it is a part many of us aren’t familiar with. My Experience With Fasting Growing up in a Christian community, I...
Learning about the practice of new spiritual disciplines can be intimidating and overwhelming. It can feel like a New Year’s resolution where the excitement of a new goal is what carries us into a few weeks of strict implementation, only to be squashed by exhaustion, discouragement, and unforeseen circumstances. But it is possible to take small steps toward practicing spiritual disciplines in...
You know what is one of the worst cliche sayings ever? “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” I’m not one for cliche sayings to begin with, but that one has never sat quite right with me. I’ve always felt like it was a lie; a saying to give you false hope in the midst of your suffering; something to slap on the walls of a classroom to give half-hearted encouragement to its readers. After...
Bible reading. Prayer. Meditation. Fellowship. If you’ve spent some time in the church (or even on TheReb), you’ve probably heard a lot about these. You’ve probably also heard about some lesser-known practices like fasting, solitude, secrecy, or celebration. These are spiritual disciplines. Maybe you’re dedicated to practicing some or all of them. Maybe you think it would be a good idea and want...
I have last year’s goals spread out before me. Some practical: Work out two days a week. Get to bed by 10:30 each night. Some ministry and work related: Write book two. Redesign website. Some spiritual: Study the Bible in a deeper way. Be consistent with my prayer time each day. If the beginning of a year is anything, it’s a time for casting vision. Dreaming. Planning. Making new goals and...
rebelling against low expectations
