Thinking and grieving and thinking and grieving, and realizing that life is hard. (Groundbreaking, huh?) But also realizing that the antidote to the hard isn’t to pursue ease — ease is a gift we can receive with gratitude — but it’s not the point of life, and the pursuit of it is pointless.

The way to a good life in the midst of this hard life is to do good, hard work.

The good, hard work of loving well, staying soft, leading with kindness, putting curiosity before condemnation, reaching out, teaching, being vulnerable, friendship, marriage, parenthood.

I hope you’ll take the time to press play and lean into this truth. We were made for good. We were made for hard. We were made for good, hard work.

And if we pursue ease, we are always going to miss out on good.

I’m grateful for the good, hard work I get to do in this space, and I’m excited to pursue rest through the end of the year. I’m signing off and so looking forward to being with you again in 2026!

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Grateful for y’all sticking with me through the both/and of this podcast, friends. The tears and the celebration. The weariness and the hope. We are here to have messy, honest conversations; and today was definitely that.

Today, we’re talking about when detours, disappointments, setbacks, and stalling are actually setting us up for more than we could ask or imagine.

ALSO! I’m finally able to tell you about a super cool book I’ve had the joy and honor of helping to write over this past year! It’s a collaborative book project BY women, ABOUT women, and FOR women called The Other Disciples: Conversations About The Twelve Named Women Jesus Called to Follow Him.

I had the joy and honor of writing the final chapter, all about my girl Elizabeth (my soul sister from another generation). The book is under the umbrella of an incredible new ministry by women, about women, and for women called… Also Called. You can follow along for book updates and tons of encouraging content here on Substack, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, Pinterest, and wherever you listen to podcasts.

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I’m a big fan of context. Without it, the passage we’re talking about today is mildly encouraging at best and could be received as downright hurtful at worst.

Let’s get to the root so we can bloom.

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Last week, we talked about the physical act of going to your arms while running and what it means to go to your arms spiritually. It’s a really cool connection and conversation, sparked by something my husband shared with me. I left the house for dropoff/the gym/all the errands, and when I got home, he was like, thanks for the shoutout. Also, I did some more digging and found out that…

And then he proceeded to share with me a list of things that left me standing there thinking, well, where was all this when I recorded this podcast two days ago?! So I crammed him in the podcast closet again, and VOILA! Go To Your Arms, Part Two.

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Whew. Raw is the only word I’ve got for the state I was in when I recorded this.

And wouldn’t you know the act of recording and lamenting and remembering what is true turned my day right around?

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Continuing the conversation on freedom (maybe forever) with a fun one today. Part of this pod is a cut from This Hope: A Journey of Getting to Know God, and today is the day these words get their time in the sun.

If you haven’t read my whole heart in black and white, the “journal entry” reference may have been confusing. The bones of the book are my real, unedited, and in-the-moment journal entries from the 70 months my husband Jake and I tried, waited, hoped, prayed, and longed for our child. Yes, it was heart-wrenching to write; and I’ve heard you’ll want tissues nearby while reading (or listening! ).

At first glance, it’s a book about 70 months of infertility and adoption, but the heart of This Hope is a messy, honest conversation about life and longing and the ways God meets us and invites us to get to know him in the middle of it all.

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This is freedom like I’ve never known or even dared to consider. And there is no magic, no formula, no secret, no supplement. It’s yours for the taking too.

Today’s the day, friend.

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Lament may sound like a weird or churchy word, but I’m going to boldly claim that it’s the most powerful and practical gift ever.

Lean in, lament, and be filled with the truth that leads to freedom.

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Whew. This one has had a hold on me for weeks, y’all. And it was ready to be let loose. A special guest joins me for a few minutes, and I promise you every bit of this 18:37 is for you.

ps. The song we talked about is Jimmy Needham's For Freedom. So good.

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If we turn to God, our inevitable suffering will bring out our inherent glory.

It’s a bold claim, but I can say with complete certainty that it is true, because I have lived it.

And our first response is probably why? Can’t we just go around the suffering and get to the glory? And the hard truth is, no. And it’s not because God is unmoving. It’s because sin is. Sin and suffering — ultimately, death — is the only certain thing in this world. It is inescapable. And because God is so kind and so wise and so powerful and so creative — he is first and foremost creator — because of his goodness and faithfulness, he is using what is inevitable and inescapable to get us to our glory.

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