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Meet Rose
Welcome fellow warriors of the King! My name is Rose, I am 25 going on 90, and I love lifting the banner of my Captain: King Jesus. By nature, I am a Jill of All Trades. Growing up in a homeschool environment, I was encouraged to develop and chase my God-given giftings and continue challenging myself. I have both taken and taught ballet, Irish dance, and lyrical dance. Professionally I have done photography, farming, nannying, martial arts, and landscaping, among many other things. Currently I work and train at a gun range and run my own landscaping business. I discovered my passion for writing around 8 years old, and have…
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the fellowship of suffering
What if life is not about trying to be better? What if what matters is becoming present in the midst of it? I’m mulling over the introductory chapters of my preordered copy of K.J. Ramsey’s new book, This Too Shall Last. It is a raw account of learning to sit with pain and suffering so that grace has room to well up in our weakness and speak louder than our shame. It is a message that has arrived in my life at the odd juxtaposition of facing the pain of perfectionism, the shame of singleness, and the inescapable reality of my identity as a writer. In this book, K.J. weaves…
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great expectations
Expectations are such tricky things, aren’t they? They parade themselves around as pleasant and harmless, but too often they end up ruling like tyrants, extracting an impossible price for our contentment. I still remember a conversation about expectations from a bridal shower I attended more than a decade ago. Somewhere between sampling the refreshments and sailing into all her pretty gifts, the guest of honor shared her most enlightening moment from premarital counseling thus far. Their pastor had begun by asking the couple to each make a list of the expectations they had for the other heading into marriage. Perhaps intending to be self-sacrificing, the husband-to-be promptly announced that he…
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the wonder of words
Spring tends to stir my creativity, bringing it to full bloom in camaraderie with the bursting leaves and blossoms. Always there are new hopes and possibilities, new projects to consider, new perspectives to freshen daily tasks that have grown worn and stale. Today, I am reflecting again on some persistent questions that have been swirling in my heart: Who am I as a writer? What unique message do I have to share? Who is the audience I can best serve? The answers I’m finding to these questions have surprised and excited me. I see writing as worship, revelation, ministry. It is my gift, given freely by the Lord, which I…
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Embattled Heart
The enemy is after my heart today. I can feel the anxiety stirring, a menacing presence roiling just below the surface. There is no reason for it — no immediate fear or dread — just a silent stalking. The seasons are changing. Darkness arrives earlier and earlier, swallowing up whole chunks of evening hours and magnifying the lies that seem so much easier to dismiss in the daylight. You are alone. You are powerless. No one hears your voice or cares what you have to say. You are a failure. There is no hope for you. The lies are a poisonous oil that seeps between the cracks in my armor.…
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Stirring the Gifts
A sense of tension stirs beneath the worship of our small fellowship these days; our elders addressed it again just this morning. There’s an underlying apprehension and expectation of what’s to come. I would love to know if this same stirring is manifesting itself in the wider Body of Christ, if it signifies a larger move of the Kingdom of God, or if it’s something more limited, unique to us. Personally, I experience it in the urgency to write, to reach beyond time and space and connect with those of similar spirit. I am convinced my Lord has called me to this, to speak forth His words for “such a…
