Dear Daughters

Why does marriage seem so hard? And what is one thing you can do to bring more peace and joy into your marriage? That's what we're talking about today on the podcast.

Marriage is the physical representation of God loving the Church and the Church serving God. Marriage is so good but also incredibly hard because in essence, you are trying to become one with someone who is not you. That's why it needs prayer.

These are just a few things Will and I talk about …

• What a healthy marriage looks like.
• How prayer can help marriage.
• There is grace for all parts of your marriage (even failed ones).
• What to pray for your spouse and your marriage.
• Prayer promises for your marriage.
• Dealing with disappointments in marriage.

My prayer is that your marriage becomes more and more like the model of Christ and the Church. I hope that you pray for and pray with your spouse. I hope that you pour out grace on yourself and your spouse and every part of your marriage. And I hope that you and your spouse have hearts to know God.

• Get a copy of Pray Big for Your Marriage by Will Davis Jr.
• Get a copy of my book Unafraid.
• Learn more about Apartment Life.
• Learn more about other ACF Ministry Partners here.
• Follow me on Instagram.
• Join my home church, Austin Christian Fellowship, online.
• Listen to more of Sara Davis Regan's music.

Welcome, welcome! After a little break in June, I'm back with a focus on prayer this July.

Prayer is simply communication with God. It opens you up to God's presence. And it doesn't have to be complicated.

For me, it starts the minute I open my eyes. Prayer is a conversation I have all day. Will says it's as natural as breathing, that we're created to interact with God through prayer.

This week I'm sitting here in my little home office with my very special guest: my husband (and prayer specialist) Will Davis, Jr.

Listen in as we start a conversation about prayer and address questions like:

• What is prayer?
• How does prayer cut through any doubt or disappointment in God that may have come from personal experiences?
• How can prayer make a difference in your life?
• What should we pray?

My prayer for you and for me is that we learn how to say "on earth as it is in Heaven" so that God's reality may be our reality … that our lives reflect the rhythms and the peace of Heaven. I hope that you can be more and more at home in prayer with God.

• Get a copy of Pray Big by Will Davis Jr.
• Get a copy of my book Unafraid.
• Learn more about Community First Village & the Art House.
• Learn more about the Other Ones Foundation.
• Learn more about other ACF Ministry Partners here.
• Follow me on Instagram.
• Join my home church, Austin Christian Fellowship, online.
• Listen to more of Sara Davis Regan's music.

As you know, I have been revisiting my favorite spiritual classics … books written by authors who have fought the good fight and remained faithful to the end. This week I am diving into the works of J.B. Phillips … but this week is a little bit different because I have a very special guest joining me: Peter Croft, the youngest grandson of J.B. Phillips.

J.B. Phillips is a man who left an incredible legacy that changed so many lives, and Peter started a non-profit that highlights that faithful life. Today on the podcast Peter shares some insight into his grandfather's work and stories of his incredible life. A few facts to start:

1. J.B. Phillips was a Greek scholar and graduated from Cambridge University.
2. He was a pastor in southeast London and led a youth group during the. They couldn't wrap their minds around Paul's letters, which shocked him and prompted him to communicate these letters in a way the young men would understand. He saw their lives change because they understood scripture.
3. In the 1940s, with the help of C.S. Lewis, he wrote the first popular modern translation of the Bible. He first wrote Letters to Young Churches with an introduction by C.S. Lewis. Four million copies were sold and he ended up writing the whole New Testament, completed in 1952.
4. Phillips wrote a total of 26 books, including his translations. He described his translation works as "rewiring the house with the electricity still on." And in Ring of Truth he wrote that "if he was convinced of the truth before he started his translation work, he was a hundred times more convinced after it."

Peter says this of his grandfather: "The act of translating for him clearly had an effect on his soul… The way the Scripture spoke to him was amazing… He wanted people to experience the Scripture as a living document."

One of the verses that really came alive for me in his translation is Romans 8:18: "In my opinion, whatever we may have to go through now is less than nothing compared with the magnificent future God has in store for us. The whole of creation is on tiptoe to see the wonderful sight of the sons of God coming into their home."

I hope that you experience the Bible as a "living document." My prayer for you and for me is that all of creation can stand on tiptoe and see us living a faithful life, carrying out the work that God has for us.

And won't you please join me in praying for Peter and the good work he is doing?

• The mission of the J.B. Phillips Society is "To passionately convey the living quality of the New Testament to a new generation, through the works and witness of J.B. Phillips." Visit the website here.
• Subscribe to the J.B. Society newsletter here.
• Donate to the J.B. Phillips Society here.
• Listen to Peter Croft's podcast, New Testament Readings on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Google Play.
• Follow the J.B. Phillips Society on Instagram and Facebook.
• If you have a favorite quote or verse translated by J.B. Phillips, please reach out to Peter to let him know.
• Get a vintage copy of one of J.P. Phillips' books in my online shop.
• Learn more about Apartment Life.
• Learn more about other ACF Ministry Partners here.
• Follow me on Instagram.
• Sign up for my newsletter and you'll receive lots of goodies like The Soul Care Kit!
• Join my home church, Austin Christian Fellowship, online.
• Listen to more of Sara Davis Regan's music.

The Grace Guide: Live Your One Beautiful Life is a book about you. And it's a book about God. It's a guide to help you celebrate your story, both the joyful and painful parts. I wrote it to help you discover all the things that show God's great love and endless grace for YOU.

I launched The Grace Guide one year ago this week … right when we all needed a bit of extra grace for ourselves and others each day. Thank you for taking the time to celebrate on the Dear Daughters Podcast with me this week!

My hope is that you'll find the everyday peace and joy that comes from believing God loves you always and has grace upon grace for you.

So … let's celebrate one year of this little book offering BIG grace, The Grace Guide: Live Your One Beautiful Life!

• Get a copy The Grace Guide: Live Your One Beautiful Life.
• Get The Grace Gift Bundle (a lovely little gift for someone you love).
• Visit Euna Mae's!
• To sign up to get The Grace Guide Discussion Notes/Questions, sign up for my newsletter list here.
• Learn more about Apartment Life.
• Learn more about other ACF Ministry Partners here.
• Follow me on Instagram.
• Sign up for my newsletter and you'll receive lots of goodies like The Soul Care Kit!
• Join my home church, Austin Christian Fellowship, online.
• Listen to more of Sara Davis Regan's music.

A spiritual mama is what I call a woman just a little further down the road with wisdom to share and a dear daughter is a young woman in search of spiritual guidance. I wrote Dear Daughters: Love Letters to the Next Generation as a bridge between these two generations.

I knew I couldn't possibly walk right alongside every dear daughter in the world but I could write a book to encourage them and share what wisdom I have gleaned in my life…and hope that they, in turn, would use that book as a tool to be a spiritual mama to someone else.

This book is so important to me and I want to take this week on the Dear Daughters Podcast to celebrate because my beautiful little book is two years old!

We're not meant to walk through life alone. Everyone needs a spiritual mama, no matter how old you are. I believe that woman helps you do these things:

1. Reclaim the vision for your life.
2. Meditate on whatever is true, right, noble, pure, and lovely.
3. Listen more closely to the voice of God in your life.

"When the Holy Spirit in one woman recognizes and responds to the Holy Spirit in another woman, safe places become sacred places." ~ Sophie Hudson

My hope is that you find a spiritual mama who can be a safe, sacred place for you … and I pray that you seek out the dear daughters in your life.

A big happy birthday to this little book, Dear Daughters: Love Letters to the Next Generation!

• Get a copy of Dear Daughters: Love Letters to the Next Generation.
• Get the Dear Daughters Book & Bandana Bundle (a perfect little gift).
• Get a copy of Giddy Up, Eunice by Sophie Hudson.
• Listen to 2 Things Every Women Needs to Know About Mentoring
• And listen to this episode: 3 Must-Have Mentoring Conversations
• Learn more about Apartment Life.
• Learn more about other ACF Ministry Partners here.
• Follow me on Instagram.
• Sign up for my newsletter and you'll receive lots of goodies like The Soul Care Kit!
• Join my home church, Austin Christian Fellowship, online.
• Listen to more of Sara Davis Regan's music.

Need more prayer in your life but not sure where to start? I'm pleased to introduce you to a fabulous old book called A Prayer of Chain Across the Ages written by Dr. Selina Fitzherbert Fox, who herself was pretty fabulous. She's another author I'm featuring this season who fought the good fight and remained faithful to the end.

Dr. Selina Fitzherbert Fox lived an incredibly interesting life devoted to serving others. There is so much to learn about her … here are a few highlights:

1. Dr. Selina Fitzherbert Fox was born in 1871.
2. In 1899, she received her medical qualification from the London School of Medicine for Women and the General Infirmary, Newcastle upon Tyne. By 1903, she had qualified as an M.D. from Durham University.
3. In 1900, Dr. Fox spent a year in India as the Assistant Medical Officer at the Lady Kinnaird Memorial Hospital in Lucknow for the Zenana Bible and Medical Mission.
4. In 1901, she was appointed medical officer of the Church Missionary Society's missionary training school, where she stayed for two years.
5. The Society decided the mission was too expensive and to focus its attention on missionaries overseas instead. So, Dr. Fox founded the Bermondsey Medical Mission in 1904 and devoted the rest of her life to it. By 1907 over 6,000 patients has been seen along with nearly 4,000 home visits. In 1929 the hospital was officially opened as The Bermondsey Medical Mission Hospital by the then Duchess of York, later known as Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother.
6. At the outbreak of WW1, Dr. Fox was appointed as Women Superintendent and Deputy Medical Officer to the Aylesbury Prison for women.
7. In 1958, Dr. Fox was admitted to the hospital she herself had founded and died in December 1958 at the age of 87.

Wow. She sure didn't waste one minute of service to Christ. What a life!

My hope is that upon learning about these heroes of our faith, we are inspired to live anew with perspective and hope in our own lives.

• Get a copy of A Chain of Prayer Across the Ages by Dr. Selina Fitzherbert Fox.
• Learn more about Apartment Life.
• Learn more about other ACF Ministry Partners here.
• Follow me on Instagram.
• Download the FREE Fear Free Guide by signing up for my newsletter!
• Join my home church, Austin Christian Fellowship, online.
• Listen to more of Sara Davis Regan's music.

It's nearly Easter. And I want to talk about someone today on the podcast who inspires me with her life and art and work.

As you know, I have been revisiting my favorite spiritual classics … books written by authors who have fought the good fight and remained faithful to the end. There's just so much we can learn from them.

This week I'm introducing you to Corita Kent.

1. Corita lived from 1918 to 1986. She was an artist, educator, and advocate for social justice.
2. At 18 years old, she entered the religious order Immaculate Heart of Mary, eventually teaching in and then heading up the art department at Immaculate Heart College.
3. She created hundreds of beautiful serigraphs because she wanted her art to be affordable and widely available. She didn't number any of her works because she didn't want any one print to be more valuable than the others.

I have been collecting her work via collaborations with author Leslie Brandt. These are charming books with Corita's art AND Brandt's paraphrase of sections of the Bible.

My hope is that we stop running from God and follow after Him. I pray you remember that God loves you and is just waiting for you to trust Him … and I pray that you do.

• Get a copy of Jesus Now by Leslie Brandt & Corita Kent.
• Watch this video about Corita.
• Visit this website devoted to Corita, her art, and the Corita Art Center.
• Learn more about Community First! Village, Young Lives, and Heart of Texas Pregnancy Resource Center.
• Learn more about other ACF Ministry Partners here.
• Get your ticket to Soul Care Saturday on May 8, 2021!
• Follow me on Instagram.
• Download the FREE Soul Care Kit that I created just for you.
• Get encouragement in your inbox each week: Sign up for my newsletter!
• Join my home church, Austin Christian Fellowship, online.
• Listen to more of Sara Davis Regan's music.

Order your copy of The Grace Guide: Live Your One Beautiful Life!

My book, Dear Daughters, is a template for those multi-generational conversations and relationships you're craving. Get a copy of Dear Daughters: Love Letters to the Next Generation

A sweet listener emailed me and asked if I would feature Elisabeth Elliot on this season of the podcast … well here she is!

As you know, I have been revisiting my favorite spiritual classics … books written by authors who have fought the good fight and remained faithful to the end. There's just so much we can learn from them.

Elisabeth Elliot is an amazing woman who lived a faithful life, and I am so excited to share her words with you. Two books I want you to know about are Let Me Be a Woman and Discipline: The Glad Surrender. Here are a few interesting things about her:

1. Elisabeth was born December 27, 1926, in Brussels, Belgium, where her parents served as missionaries.
2. While at the college, she met Jim Elliot. After graduation, Elisabeth went on a missionary expedition to Ecuador with other students from Wheaton, including Jim Elliot. In 1953, Jim and Elisabeth were married and continued to serve in Ecuador. They had a daughter, Valerie Elliot Shepard.
3. Jim was killed by the Auca tribe in Eastern Ecuador. Elisabeth did not give up on the people of the tribe and she continued to live in the region with her daughter and Rachel Saint, the sister of another one of the missionaries killed by the Auca tribe.
4. From 1988 to 2001, Elisabeth could be heard on a daily radio program called Gateway to Joy, produced by the Good News Broadcasting Association of Lincoln, NE. Today, we can listen to reruns of the program on the Bible Broadcasting Network.

Elisabeth was not afraid of tackling the hard things and speaking the truth. She experienced tragedy and felt fear but she lived with faithfulness and courage because she had this outlook on her beautiful life: "The secret is Christ in me, not me in a different set of circumstances." Elisabeth also said, "The fact that I am a woman does not make me a different kind of Christian, but the fact that I am a Christian makes me a different kind of woman."

My hope for you and for me is that we let Christ change our hearts and make us into the women he wants us to be. And I pray that you can live faithfully and fearlessly because you trust God with your one beautiful life.

• Get a copy of Let Me Be a Woman by Elisabeth Elliot.
• Discipline: The Glad Surrender by Elisabeth Elliot.
• Listen to Elisabeth on the Bible Broadcasting Network.
• Learn more about Mobile Loaves and Fishes and Community First! Village in Austin, TX.
• Shop the Community Art House! All the arts and crafts are created by the residents of Community First! Village.
• Follow me on Instagram.
• Download the FREE Soul Care Kit that I created just for you.
• Get encouragement in your inbox each week: Sign up for my newsletter!
• Join my home church, Austin Christian Fellowship, online.
• Listen to more of Sara Davis Regan's music.

If there is one thing I learned over the last year, it is the importance of stepping back from the news and media to re-engage in a habit of reading spiritual classics. The authors who I'll be featuring on the podcast have fought the good fight and remained faithful to the end. There's just so much we can learn from them. I want to invite you to come along with me this season and dive into the wisdom of these faithful followers of Jesus.

This is a book that was a stalwart for me while in college at Baylor and I still rely on it today. It is God Calling edited by A.J. Russell. Here are a few things interesting things about this book.

1. A.J. Russell was an editor for a London newspaper in the early 20th century. While we have him to thank for the book, Russell did not write God Calling.
2. Two women met every day to pray and listen for God together. Then they would write down what they heard God say. Those pages became God Calling. There is an entry for every day of the year.
3. The first copy of God Calling was published in 1935. Read more info about the history of the book here.

My hope is that you take time for prayer and to be alone with God. I pray that you listen for His voice and hear what He has to say to you. I pray that you know that God is with you and that you let that knowledge bring you contentment and fill you with rapture.

• Get a copy of God Calling edited by A.J. Russell.
• Learn more about Mobile Loaves and Fishes and Community First! Village in Austin, TX.
• Shop the Community Art House! All the arts and crafts are created by the residents of Community First! Village.
• Follow me on Instagram.
• Download the FREE Soul Care Kit that I created just for you.
• Get encouragement in your inbox each week: Sign up for my newsletter!
• Join my home church, Austin Christian Fellowship, online.
• Listen to more of Sara Davis Regan's music.

Order your copy of The Grace Guide: Live Your One Beautiful Life!

My book, Dear Daughters, is a template for those multi-generational conversations and relationships you're craving. Get a copy of Dear Daughters: Love Letters to the Next Generation

Welcome to the Dear Daughters Podcast in 2021!

If there is one thing I learned over the last year, it is the importance of stepping back from the news and media to re-engage in a habit of reading spiritual classics. The authors who I'll be featuring on the podcast have fought the good fight and remained faithful to the end. There's just so much we can learn from them. I want to invite you to come along with me this season and dive into the wisdom of these faithful followers of Jesus.

This next book is one that I read and reread over and over. It is The Art of Divine Contentment by Thomas Watson. Here are three things you should know about Thomas:

1. Thomas Watson was born in 1620. He was an English, non-conformist Puritan preacher and author … I counted over 17 books! History says he was brilliant … genius-level smart.
2. Around 1647 he married Abigail Beadle, daughter of a minister of Puritan convictions. They had seven children in the next thirteen years, four of whom died young. In 1651 he was imprisoned briefly with some other ministers for his share in Christopher Love's plot to recall Charles II of England.
3. In 1686 he died suddenly while praying in secret.

Thomas writes so many quotable, one-line truths in The Art of Divine Contentment. Here are five of my favorites:

1. "It is our work to cast care. It is God's work to take care."
2. "A gracious spirit is a contented spirit."
3. "Here is the difference between a holy complaint and a discontented complaint: in the one we complain to God, in the other we complain of God."
4. "Comfort depends on contentment."
5. "Contentment lies within a man, within the heart."

I want to share three ways I have found contentment:

1. Taking my troubles to God in prayer.
2. Taking care of what I have.
3. Talking to my spiritual director or a close friend who has wisdom beyond mine.

I think we are people who struggle greatly with contentment. It's an area that requires a lot of study and a lot of time. I hope this inspires you to seek true, divine, contentment.

My prayer is that you cast your cares on God, that you nurture a gracious spirit, and that you find contentment so you can love your one beautiful life. I pray that you have a smile for God.

• Get a copy of The Art of Divine Contentment by Thomas Watson.
• Learn more about Mobile Loaves and Fishes and Community First! Village in Austin, TX.
• Shop the Community Art House! All the arts and crafts are created by the residents of Community First! Village. (And they currently have a Valentine's Day special!)
• Follow me on Instagram for a chance to win one of those pretty ceramic hearts I talked about (plus lots of pretty pictures and encouragement, too).
• Follow Honey Holden on Instagram.
• Download the FREE 2021 Goal Guide that I created just for you.
• Listen to my 2021 Hopeful playlist on Spotify.
• Get encouragement in your inbox each week: Sign up for my newsletter!
• Join my home church, Austin Christian Fellowship, online.
• Listen to more of Sara Davis Regan's music.

Order your copy of The Grace Guide: Live Your One Beautiful Life, a guide for extending God's grace to yourself and others.

My book, Dear Daughters, is a template for those multi-generational conversations and relationships you're craving. Get a copy of Dear Daughters: Love Letters to the Next Generation.