Dear Daughters

If you love God, but don't feel like you can trust Him, I understand. For so many years, I struggled with worry over whether God was really looking out for me. When bad or hard things happened, it made me feel anxious and worried.

Like what happened in the news just this week ... the Santa Fe school shooting. Lord, have mercy. That shooting took place forty years to the day that I witnessed a murder in my own classroom as a middle school student. I understand the long road to healing a lot of those students will be walking down – the same one that many of you are probably walking down from your own personal traumas and fears.

If you love God, but don't feel like you can trust Him, you need to know that God has only grace for you. And He wants to give you peace. Jesus said, My peace I give to you.

Today's podcast is about discovering ways to reject worry and receive peace. It's about finding a practical way to practice peace and walk in it.

• When you start 'should-ing' yourself, you're shaming your heart ~ DD Episode 61 'Are You Listening to Your Heart?'
• Mary Oliver's 'daily presentations' and her poem, Mindful.
• Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver
• My book, Unafraid: Trusting God in an Unsafe World
• The Unafraid Book Club To Go
• The Christianity Today Article, School Shooting Survivor: How I Stopped Being Afraid
• Faith pleases God ~> Hebrews 11.6
• Thanks to Davis Music for use of her song Fifty Seven.
• Find my daily updates on Instagram.
• Keep up weekly by signing up for my newsletter.

Are you allowing your heart to have space in your daily life?

That might be a strange question but over the last two months I've had two dear daughters and one spiritual mama come to me because they were feeling stuck, worried and anxious about things in their lives. Then after talking things out, and walking metaphorically around their lives … I saw with all clarity, they were so in their heads with their issues, that they weren't giving their hearts voice.

They were working their lives, checking off things on the spiritual list, and quieting the little cries of their hearts. And I do it too sometimes. By prioritizing, analyzing, thinking, planning, working … instead of listening and feeling.

Today on the podcast, we're going to get curious about the why behind the reluctance to listen to our hearts.

I hope today's podcast will encourage you to love God holistically.

• The Next Gen (Mother's Day/Mentor) Message at Austin Christian Fellowship
• You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. Deuteronomy 6:5
• John Eldredge's Waking the Dead
• Guard your heart for it is the wellspring of life. Proverbs 4:23
• Contact Bailey if you'd like me to teach or facilitate at your event or gathering.
• Thanks to Davis Music for use of her song Fifty Seven.
• Keep up weekly by signing up for my newsletter.

Want to join me for an Acts 2:46 Table experience? Sign up for my newsletter and you'll be the first to know about all the gatherings coming up.

Do you feel like your life is a mess? Just one mistake after another? Do you ever wonder how God could take the mistakes you've made and turn things around? Tricia Goyer felt that way almost 30 years ago as a despairing teen mom and then she prayed, "God, if you can do anything with my life, please do."

I loved getting to talk with her today about the way God radically answered that prayer and about her beautiful, better-than-a-fairy-tale love story. We also talked a lot about walking through the hard things and what happens when we dare to take our life journey with Jesus.

Tricia lives in Arkansas with her husband and TEN kids. :) In addition to homeschooling her seven kids who still live at home, she has also written 71 books, and writes online. Tricia is a spiritual mama to look to for life advice and wisdom.

• Tricia's latest book, Walk It Out: The Radical Result of Living God's Word One Step at a Time
• Join me for the Acts 2.46 Table (Breakfast) for spiritual conversation and Austin's best breakfast tacos.
• MOPS International
• Ecclesiastes 4.6 ~ 'better one handful with tranquility than two with chasing after the wind'
• Voxer ~ like a high tech walkie talkie
• Tricia's favorite family board games to connect with her kids: Dominion, Settlers of Catan, and Mancala
• Pork Verde ~ cube and fry pork chops til cooked through, then add tomato sauce, a can of green chilies, and cheddar cheese. Cook until the cheese is melted, then serve over rice.
• Experiencing God Day by Day devotional by Henry Blackaby
• The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom
• The Little House series
• Sonlight, literature-based homeschooling curriculum
• Hank the Cowdog series
• Nana Upstairs & Nana Downstairs by Tomie dePaola
• Joy, from Young Living
• Thanks to Davis Music for use of her song Youth Hunting.
• Get the Dear Daughters Podcast Prompts and keep up weekly by signing up for my newsletter.

Who encouraged you? Who took time to listen to you? Who was it that provided a safe haven? Who showed you how to live out your faith? Who was an organic, everyday mentor to you?

What's the best gift at Mother's Day? I think it's gratitude. And not just for your mom, though she certainly deserves it, but also for the spiritual mamas who shaped you as a young woman.

Besides my own mother, I can think of three women in particular who loved me well. I look back now and can see how each of them played such an integral role in contributing to the person I am today. Do you have those people too?

I hope today's podcast will encourage you to thank those spiritual mamas who may not even realize the impact they had in your life. That you'll feel compelled to look back and remember the people who showed you how to love Jesus in a daily, real way.

• Sophie Hudson: DD Episode 7
• Giddy Up, Eunice: Because Women Need Each Other
• Find Jen Wilkins quote here.
• Acts 2.46 Table (Breakfast)
• Thanks to Davis Music for use of her song Fifty Seven.
• Dear Daughters Podcast Questions Episode 58
• Keep up weekly by signing up for my newsletter.

Join me for an Acts 2:46 Table experience soon! Sign up for my newsletter and you'll be the first to know about all the gathering coming up!

Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life? ~ Mary Oliver

Do you feel like you don't know what you're supposed to do with your life? Do you wonder if you're too young or too old? When you think on the things that would really make your heart happy, do you feel under-qualified or maybe even over-qualified?

Today on the podcast, we're going to wonder about the things you'd love to do with your one beautiful life. We're going to try to identify several things that God is leading you to do. Whether it's invite more people to dinner or start a Bible study or whatever.

For me, gathering women around my table to talk about God, like at this Acts 2:46 Dinner, is something that I've wanted to do for a long time. And now God is giving grace to do just that. (Pretty pictures of the gathering provided by my photographer daughter, Emily Boone). You have things like that too.

I pray that you will take some time to talk with God about those dreams that are in your heart. I pray that these questions give you a little clarity as you move forward. And I hope that you'll say a loud and joyful YES! to the things He has given you to do today.

• Acts 2.46 Dinner & Worship under the Stars
• Discovering Vocation: DD Episode 44
• Psalm 37.4
• So thankful for cute Bailey's help!
• Prioritizing Goals: DD episode 46
• Hayley Morgan has a new devotional out: Always Enough, Never Too Much
• Thanks to Davis Music for use of her song Fifty Seven.
• Get the Dear Daughters Podcast Prompts and keep up weekly by signing up for my newsletter.

"Think of God often, by day, by night, in your business and even in your diversions. He is always near you and with you; leave him not alone." ~ Brother Lawrence

If you're like me, there are probably a bunch of tedious little tasks lined up and waiting for you today, like folding the laundry, unloading the dishwasher, or going to the grocery store…. those things that take us away from 'the big things.'

But what if there is big blessing for us in those small tasks when we invite God to be present with us? Today I talk about how those days of small things can turn into big opportunities for worship and communion with God when we shift our perspective towards gratitude.

• Practice of the Presence of God, by Brother Lawrence
• My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
• What are You Created To Do? DD episode 55
• St. Therese's definition of holiness, and what I'm supposed to be today.
• Thanks to Davis Music for use of her song Fifty Seven.
• Get the Dear Daughters Podcast Prompts and keep up weekly by signing up for my newsletter.

This week on the podcast, I talked with Amy Hannon of Euna Mae's and Kristin Schell of the Turquoise Table about true, biblical hospitality. And good news – it's much simpler than we often make it and often more fun.

It doesn't matter what your house looks like or how good the food is – all that hospitality requires is being available and welcoming. Ordinary moments around the table or in the front yard become holy when we're truly available.

"All the other stuff," as Kristin says, "is just gravy. Good, Amy Hannon style gravy." Today on the podcast we talk about the difference between hospitality and entertaining. We hope it will encourage you to have spiritual eyes to see the people around you, to release your expectations, and open your front door.

• Kristin Schell: DD Episode 6
• Amy Hannon: DD Episode 39
• Amy's cookbook, Love Welcome Serve: Recipes that Gather and Give
• Kristin's book, The Turquoise Table: Finding Community and Connection in Your Own Front Yard.
• Coffee with Amy Hannon at Kristin's turquoise table on April 18th
• Romans 12.13, hospitality means 'love of strangers'
• Join me for the Acts 2.46 Dinner and Worship under the Stars
• I love Bob Goff's new book, Everybody, Always: Becoming Love in a World Full of Setbacks and Difficult People and especially the idea of making friends in three minutes.
• Thanks to Davis Music for use of her song Fifty Seven.
• Sign up for my newsletter.

My whole life, in one sense, he has been an experiment in how to be a portable sanctuary, learning to practice the presence of God. ~ Richard Foster

Everywhere you go, as you practice the presence of God in your life, you're like a small sanctuary to the people closest by. So that means when you're on the way to work and you stop for coffee and interact with the barista in the morning, you're standing there as a respite. Giving life to the person you're talking to.

Or maybe as you hold your infant, or read to your toddler … you're offering them sanctuary as you abide with God. Maybe in your high pressure job, with people that don't know or maybe even care about God. There you are, a portable sanctuary.

Do you struggle to understand what you are created to do? Do you see yourself as a minister? Because you have that capacity. That's God's big plan by the way, you and me ministering His love and light to the people in our lives. And that's what we're going to talk about today on the podcast.

• Colossians 1:16
• Max Lucado's book: You Are Special
• Story of Paul and the blinding light
• Discovering Vocation: DD Episode 44
• Understanding Identity: DD Episode 45
• Prioritizing Goals: DD Episode 46
• Richard Foster's book: Prayers from the Heart
• Join us at the Acts 2:46 Dinner + Worship Under the Stars
• Listen to Liz Benigno: DD Episode 5
• Thanks to Davis Music for use of her song Fifty Seven.
• Get the Dear Daughters Podcast Prompts by signing up for my newsletter.
• Send me an email if you have questions you'd like us to talk about in upcoming episodes.

Do you remember the first time you thought of God? Was it a good or bad first impression? How did that impression lead you on a journey with God?

If you've wished you could sit at my table and talk, I've got good news! These are the kinds of questions I'm going to be asking you on the Dear Daughters Podcast in the 'Questions' Episodes.

I've always hoped the Dear Daughters Podcast could be a place for you to hear about the kinds of things that are practical and helpful in living a godly life.

And that it would be a starting point for conversations I hope you have with the people in your life you love or lead.

Now it's also a place for *you* to a-n-s-w-e-r questions to grow closer to God and others by understanding yourself better.

I'm adding something new to the mix by inviting you to a one on one conversation with me. It will be a much shorter episode, just 10 minutes, where we dive deep together.

Hope you like it!

• God is with you. Matthew 1:23
• Hillsong's Emmanuel
• Join us at the Acts 2:46 Dinner + Worship Under the Stars
• Check out my story in Instagram to see pictures of my backyard.
• Emily Boone Photography
• Thanks to Davis Music for use of her song Fifty Seven.
• Get the Dear Daughters Podcast Prompts by signing up for my newsletter.
• Send me an email if you have questions you'd like us to talk about in upcoming episodes.
• Read Sandra's comments on her first impression of God.

God's fingerprints are everywhere in our lives. Be on the lookout!

Do you struggle between wanting to honestly express yourself on social media, and wanting to post a perfectly curated picture that kind of looks more like what everyone else is posting? Are you thirsty for authenticity? Do you need someone to remind you that because of Jesus, you are always enough and never too much? If you relate to any of these, I know you will love today's interview with Hayley Morgan.

In this episode, Hayley and I talked about authenticity on social media, the importance of self care and creativity, and also about the necessity of doing the quiet + hard work with God in everything from raising children to living with integrity. Hayley is quirky and wise. And she is passionate about seeing women walk into their unique calling and gifting. She is a wife, mom to four boys, writer, speaker and entrepreneur. I can't wait for you to meet her! Here's the interview on the Dear Daughters Podcast Episode 53.

• Wild and Free
• Nellie Taft
• Pre-order Always Enough and Never Too Much Devotional and then sign up to win a trip with Hayley and Jess!
• Cute Bri McKoy
• Julia Cameron's book, The Artist's Way
• Fast and Furious Florals
• Britt Bass
• Brynn Casey
• That salad dressing here: Buvette Cookbook
• The 'Instagram Effect' article Hayley talked about …
• Austin Kleon, Copying is How We Learn
• Emily Boone's Aside Retreat
• Sign up for my weekly-ish newsletter here.
• Schedule a consultation here.

See more show notes at susiedavis.org