Trusting God
Our understanding is in our circumstances and the things we can see. But God’s understanding is far beyond our circumstances. He can even see the past crystal clear and He already wrote the future. So His Holy understanding on what is best for us isn’t clouded or limited by our circumstances.
Are you talking so loud you don’t hear God?
Sometimes when we don’t know what to say, we are told to say nothing at all. But sometimes, when we are at a loss for what to say, in those moments, we can quiet our own loud voices and let God’s voice shine through. […]
Only Heaven can be this beautiful…
Since my childhood, I’ve been through many, many churches. Each one is beautiful in it’s own way. But what always struck me as awe-inspiring were the intricate and light-filled stained glass windows that I’d find in some of the older churches I’ve visited. There is a distinct ambiance and feeling that those windows would bring […]
I am His, He called me by name.
But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. Isaiah 43:1 It’s easy to get caught up in the comparison game, looking at how others are living their lives and feeling […]
God has big plans for you
Even when things seem bleak or hopeless, or aren’t going as expected, God has hope and a future planned for you. He has a specific purpose for you, which is why He put you right here, right now.
Be strong, be brave, be fearless, you are never alone
Are you brave? Fearless? Strong? Courageous?
I know I don’t always feel that I am, but God tells me in His Word that he is COMMANDING us to be these things. Because He is with us, anywhere we are, in whatever we are doing.
How can we be afraid when our Protector is with us?
How can we be weak when our Strength works on our behalf?
Praying for our Leaders
God calls us to pray for those in authority over us. But what about when we don’t FEEL like praying for them?
Well…He tells us to do it anyways, so let’s talk about that!
You are loved with an Everlasting Love!
“..the Lord appeared to him from far away. I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.” Jeremiah 31:3 One of the greatest promises that God makes to each one of us is that His love is everlasting. It’s not conditional, it’s not short-tempered, emotional or variable. God loves in […]
The thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices!
My daughters give me such a hard time. I mean, they give me a hard time about many things, but a biggie is my inability to listen to certain Christmas songs without getting choked up and forming big old tears in my eyes. It’s actually pretty pathetic, and it always happens in the most embarrassing […]
4 questions to ask yourself before you confide in a friend
Raise your hand (or an emoji hand in the comments below! ) if you’ve ever attended a Bible study or coffee date and found that the conversation turns into a very long venting session disguised as “prayer requests”? No matter what you are going through in your life, when you have a captive audience who […]
The Lord is greater than the giants that you face
When you feel afraid or alone, what do you do? Try to manipulate a situation to work the way you want it to? Do you try to lean on someone else to carry your burden? Neither of these options will bring you the peace and strength you need to persevere. But I know who DOES and this is how you can find Him!
6 Steps to reclaiming God’s peace in your life
With everything in the world trying to get your attention, where do you spend the most time? And the further you get from God, how do you feel? Anxious? Afraid? Depressed? Here is an easy way for you to analyze where you are spending your time and what you can do to claim back your time with Him!
What are you showing the world?
For a small project for school, I need a picture of my family. Doesn’t seem like a big deal, but with two teenage daughters, it seems the four of us are never in the same place at the same time. I told my kids this morning to plan that after school, we will be taking […]
Promises
Where is your worth?What do you think your value is? Whoever this world has conditioned you to be or has brainwashed to think you are, I want to be a little voice here reminding you that He has called you Beloved. God’s Word is full of beautiful promises, written thousands of years ago by the […]
Remember His Promises
I sometimes get so frustrated. I get annoyed and feel like I’m spinning my wheels. I can’t pinpoint the source of my frustration, so out of almost a sense of desperation, I reach for my Bible, blow off the dust and open it up. It’s probably been a while. I’ve drifted away from God and […]
What I learned when I read someone elses private journal
Diaries are someones private thoughts. They usually never intend for anyone to read those secret entries. What happens when you get the privilege of reading someone’s raw and intensely personal reflections? And how does this reflect how we should see God’s Word?
When prayers go unanswered
We all love to celebrate answered prayers! But what about the prayers that aren’t answered the way we hope? Or the ones that seem to never be heard and we pray over and over again?
Easter Challenge
This weekend in my facebook Bible study group, we did a little mini-Bible study challenge, and I wanted to give you the chance to learn what we all learned this weekend. We started by reading about what Jesus commanded His followers to do right before He ascended back up to Heaven after the resurrection. (Matthew 28:16-20) […]
She Who Kneels Before God…
We need to stand firm against the enemy. In times like these, he will think he’s got a level up on us. But God assure us in His Word, again and again…that Satan doesn’t stand a chance! We need to arm ourselves for the battle in front of us. It’s not a war on a […]
Fun Bible Study Hacks and Tools
Time spent in the Word is quality time. Knowing where to start or how to keep track of what you are doing can be a little overwhelming. But it doesn’t have to be 🙂 Hearing from God in His Word helps us to understand who He is, align our hearts with His and gives us […]
In this world you will have trouble…
When my girls were younger, I realized quickly how crippling anxiety can become. When they got sick, I learned how little control I had. And for me, anxiety is all about control. Soon it turned into such an issue, that even simple and fun tasks like walking into Target became full-fledged panic attacks. Not knowing […]
4 ways God helps us through crisis
As I sit here and write this, I’m in a bit a disbelief. Reflecting over the events of the past week, I said to my daughters yesterday “never in all of my years have I experienced anything like this!” I’ve never seen schools closed for weeks at a time, church services cancelled indefinitely. Grocery store […]
Are you easily offended?
Why do we feel offended when someone says no to something we like to do? Let’s talk about convictions and how we don’t have to share them to respect them!
Your story is important
As my daughter continued to work on her speech, I encouraged her to find herself in my story. Because all of the little things that happened led to her. And what a beautiful illustration to realize that each step we take, good or bad leads us closer to Christ!
What is your story? Are you ashamed to tell it?
Practicing humility when things seem uncertain
This part of my website is a place where I’ve always felt that I can be honest and can share my heart because I know from the response that I get that truth resonates. And today will be no different. I’ve sort of been afraid to share this, but I need to you know that we all go through stuff. We all have times that test our faith. But that doesn’t mean that God gives up on us.
Over the last six months or so, I’ve found myself in a place of doubt. Not my faith, I don’t feel like I ever doubted who God is or what He has promised me. But myself.
I felt like a hypocrite.
How I hand-make your leather goods
Have you ever ordered something online, waited patiently (or not-so-much!) for the mail too arrive, and tear into your brand-new package? You peel back the layers, open the protective wraps and finally see the beautiful, yummy-smelling leather good that you’ve been saving up for and dying to enjoy! Suddenly all of your senses take action…. […]
Finding beauty and confidence in the body God gave you
I’m a Mom to two beautiful teenage girls. It wasn’t until recently that I was faced with the harsh reality that this world isn’t kind to girls, and it’s not easy to be a girl and feel comfortable with the body God gave you. I’ve struggled with self-esteem for most of my life, but it […]
Learning to surrender daily
I’m sitting in my living room, feet up in my favorite recliner with my laptop on my lap. My business and a lot of my life revolves around my faith, and all of that is run on this little pink MacBook. I’m waiting up for my teenage daughter to get home safely for the night, […]
How is God’s Word “alive”?
I’ve grown up reading and learning the Bible. I led a Bible study for 10+years. But I realized recently that I have some “go-to” books of the Bible. I loved studying the history and context of Genesis in a year long Bible study I did. I get so much from Philippians and Galatians. The Gospels […]
5 ways to submit your day to God
We all like to be in control of our routines. But God knows better than we do about what is best for us. How do we trust Him with the details of our everyday schedules?
Do you lie about praying?
In my facebook group this week, we’ve had a lot of very serious prayer requests. That’s what I love about these women. It’s a safe place, one where we can reach out in our moments of uncertainty and ask complete strangers to lift us up in prayer. It’s truly a gift ♥️ As I was reading through […]
How do you know your sins are forgiven?
I’m going to give you the super short version of a different angle of a well-known story of the Bible….. God asked Jonah (you know, the guy in a whale!!!) To head to the City of Nineveh to warn the people of His coming judgement. The people there needed someone to come and show them […]
How to forgive yourself
Can you forgive yourself? This week I dove in head first to a BIG topic. Forgiveness. In my facebook Bible study group, we are going to be talking about it and studying it together. But before I can lead any kind of discussion or study, I have to take the time to really search out […]
Letting Go and Letting God…
“Let Go and Let God….” Five little words that have been slapping me upside the head these past couple of weeks. When life throws us a major curve ball, and things feel out of our control, why do we tend to revert to worry and trying to push through, hoping we can get the outcome […]
Too busy to hear from God
What in your life is stealing your focus? Are you so distracted by being busy that you can’t hear God or the people in your life who need you? This is something I’m learning first hand and wanted to share my experience, in hopes that you can learn something from it.
Praying for your enemies
God calls us to love everyone, but how to we love someone who has hurt us? God doesn’t ask us to do it on our own, but in His strength, so we pray for them.
Doing what is right when the world says you are wrong
Being the Mom to teenage girls, I’m seeing so clearly what all of the warnings about raising teens actually meant. I’ve heard it all so many times, but call it naïveté, or maybe call it pride… I really thought that somehow my teens would be the one exception to the norm. I truly believed that […]
Celebrating Your Father, God
This week we are celebrating Dad’s everywhere! The grillers. The tellers of bad jokes. The fixer’s. The wearers of tube socks and Dad shoes… But in all seriousness, I love that we take a day to acknowledge this important job that has been given to these chosen men by God, who models for us in […]
Our #1 Job as Moms
https://youtu.be/Ip4KBRCPIRw Ugh. Can I have a mothers day do-over? This morning started out ok, but by the time church ended this morning, my kids were fighting, my husband and I were at our wits end with them, and it all culminated with them arguing in the commons area at church, me asking them to stop […]
Whose path am I on? My heart check moment….
https://youtu.be/5IS-rp4RH8Y We all have those moments in our lives where we say “Ah-HA!!”, where all of a sudden it becomes almost crystal clear that God is speaking something into your life. He might be asking you to try something that you don’t think you can do. He might be asking you to give up something […]
Are you listening to what God is asking you?
⬆️ Love the cute graphic above? It’s from my friend Emily at Blue Chair Blessing. She’s my favorite resource for inspirational scripture art. Check her out ♥️ This morning in church, I could have sworn I felt myself getting the nervous sweats even though the air conditioning vents was pointed directly on me, leaving me shivering throughout […]
An Easter Funeral
Earlier this week, I had the honor and privilege of celebrating the life of my Grandma’s sister Gertie. Over the past few years, I’ve grown closer to that part of my family through social media of all things. So when I heard the news of Gertie’s passing this past weekend, I made sure to clear […]
Do you ever get Hangry for spiritual nourishment?
Last week Friday I was home alone as the orders for my brand new devotional began to pour in. I had prepared and worked for this day for more than a half a year. And while I was excited and relieved that this day was finally here, I had this chest-tightening sense of defeat and […]
What happened when I doubted God.
I’m going to share my own secret doubts in God’s strength. It’s something none of us like to admit we have, but we all face at some time or another. I don’t know if you heard, but this has been a HUGE week at Gathered & Sown. A number of years ago, God laid a […]
You have a big decision to make today.
Each morning when we wake up, we are blessed with a new day. Every new day brings new perspectives, new choices, new attitudes and new challenges. How do you start your day? Do you start it with a left over bad attitude from the day before? Do you allow circumstances in your life dictate your […]
Are you afraid to pray?
Has this ever happened to you? You are in a small room, surrounded by a group of people. You’ve spent the last hour having a great conversation. It’s a few minutes before you are scheduled to end your small group, so all of a sudden your palms begin to sweat and your heart begins to […]
Understanding Wisdom
Are you in the middle of something right now? A situation in your life where you aren’t quite sure where it’s going to lead you? Are you trying to see the future so that you can know what decisions to make today? How is that working out for you? If you are anything like me, […]
As a small business owner, one of my biggest hurdles is my own confidence. I know what I’m capable of doing, I know what I need to do. But for some reason I find myself doubting the things that I know to be true and allowing those doubts to form the structure of my day. […]
Knowing God’s love while raising your kids
Tonight in a parenting moment of desperation, I texted my sister to tell her that I am a failure as a parent to teen girls. The highlights of this coversation included: This gig is too hard sometimes. They just think everything I say and do is stupid. They hang up on me and disrespect me […]
How do you satisfy the hunger you have for God’s Word?
I have a problem. A SERIOUS chocolate problem. Put me in a room with a plate of cookies or a dark chocolate bar, only one of us is leaving that room. I crave chocolate, I savor it. I take tiny bites when I eat it so that I can enjoy the bittersweet flavor for as […]
How often do you read your Bible?
This week I spent my entire day on Friday with my nose in my Bible. I don’t get to do this every day, but every once in a while, thanks to this blessing that is called Gathered & Sown, I get to dedicate an entire work day to seeking God’s face, digging through His Word […]
Tithes and Offerings: A Mini Bible Journaling Study
Tithing can conjure up some mixed feelings. Some of your feelings may be valid, but some of your feelings about giving back to God may actually be leading you further away from Him and what He has for you! You may feel that tithing is a duty, something they are obligated to do to belong […]
You are not alone, friend!
If you found this post through my weekly email, I’m so glad you are here! As I went back and forth debating in my head whether or not I should try posting directly on the blog, God put these words from Ecclesiastes in front of me. Two are better than one, because they have a […]
Gaining God’s Favor makes life easy, right? Wrong…
The favor of God. That HAS to be a wonderful thing! Knowing that the God of the Heavens who has created everything and knows both history and the future has placed His favor on YOU! There may come a time in your life where you will realize that God has intentionally chosen you to play […]
What will your heavenly crown look like?
As we are inching closer and closer to Christmas, I’ve been spending some personal time focusing not only on Jesus birth as we traditionally do, but I’ve found myself fascinated by His King-ness as we celebrate the season. I do love the story of Jesus as a newborn baby, and I understand the deep importance […]
Can you imagine the Angels singing?
This morning in worship, we sang the Revelation song. It’s an oldie, but a goodie! As soon as I heard the first chord progression, I thought to myself “Oh great…here we go, I’m going to cry in church this morning” But in this case, it’s a good thing. The fact that this song, after hearing […]
Are you believing the lies?
I received a really nice card in the mail this week that had this written on the front: “You are loved by God- Higher than the sky… Deeper than the ocean… More than you can imagine… More than you’ve ever dared to dream.” Last week after I shared with you how self-conscious I am about […]
Why do I hate the way I look? Is beauty really within?
Why do we as women love to hate ourselves? Why are we so quick to judge the body and features God gave us? The people in my life who know me well, know that I am a woman who wears makeup. Not a thick, heavy face. But I enjoy brightening up my appearance and have […]
God’s Handwritten Letter to You
Are you old fashioned like me? Like..I totally geek out over the stationary aisle at the store, all of the paper…THE PENS! And don’t even get me started on the awesome smell of a bookstore! There is something so wonderful about the smell of new books and paper. It’s a little bit heavenly! I love […]
Where is God when things are going wrong?
This afternoon, my husband and I took a long drive out in the country. We were only about 4-5 miles from our house, but I was struck by the number of trees I was seeing! Right now in WI, we are almost at the beautiful peak of the vibrant fall colors. As we drove and […]
Does your attitude reflect God’s goodness?
I just learned a humdinger of a lesson from God’s Word today and am so excited to share it with you! (I have been waiting for an occasion to use that word, and now I’m happy… I feel like my Grandpa ) Have you ever stopped to think about the effect that your attitude has […]
7 Steps to Finding Quiet Time with God
Do you spend regular time in the Word? How can you hear from God if you don’t slow down long enough to listen to Him? I have a pretty big question to ask you. Do you crave more? And if you crave more in your life than you currently have, where are you looking for it? • In […]
When God gives you what you didn’t even ask for – His grace in unanswered prayer
Do you ever pray, not knowing what to ask God for? Or what happens when instead of answering your request, He gives you something else? Here is a hint: He knows better than you, and that’s a good thing! I just got done looking at yet another thing that my 13 year old daughter wanted to show […]