It’s the faithful, loving ways God corrects me that make me mirror Him. And in the tension of keeping tasks and relationships in the right order, I find that I need Him to do what a loving Father does: call out the best in me.

Links mentioned:

1. Grab a FREE sneak peek of Cultivating a Missional Life: A 30-Day Devotional to Gently Help You Open Your Heart, Home, and Life to Your Neighbors
2. Order or leave a book review on Amazon.
3. View the written version of this episode.

Where is worry creeping into your thoughts today? For you—and for the people the ripples of your life touch—try praying Scripture when you’d otherwise give in to worry. Here are 10 powerful Scripture verses you can pray to calm your anxiety.

Links mentioned:

1. Grab a FREE sneak peek of Cultivating a Missional Life: A 30-Day Devotional to Gently Help You Open Your Heart, Home, and Life to Your Neighbors
2. Order or leave a book review on Amazon.
3. View the written version of this episode.

Can we get real practical today? How do you ask for help when even the thought turns your throat dry?

Links mentioned:

1. Grab a FREE sneak peek of Cultivating a Missional Life: A 30-Day Devotional to Gently Help You Open Your Heart, Home, and Life to Your Neighbors
2. Order or leave a book review on Amazon.
3. View the written version of this episode.

Can we talk about it? How we can get the most out of our Bible reading plan—whatever that plan is—so fruit can grow and ripple?

Links mentioned:

1. Grab a FREE sneak peek of Cultivating a Missional Life: A 30-Day Devotional to Gently Help You Open Your Heart, Home, and Life to Your Neighbors
2. Order or leave a book review on Amazon.
3. View the written version of this episode.

Reflecting on the things that worked for me in 2022 is an idea I borrowed from Emily P. Freeman, whose annual, end-of-the-year list-making was inspired by Anne Bogel’s question, “What worked this year?” For Emily’s tips on this reflective practice, and to find out what worked for her in 2022, listen to episode 259 on The Next Right Thing.

Links mentioned:

1. Get Tuesdays with Twyla
2. Ann Kroeker’s Your Compelling Book Proposal course
3. FREE list of 200 missional word of the year ideas
4. Grab a FREE sneak peek of Cultivating a Missional Life: A 30-Day Devotional to Gently Help You Open Your Heart, Home, and Life to Your Neighbors
5. Order or leave a book review on Amazon.
6. View the written version of this episode.

Imagine how it would impact the rest of your year if you committed to missional living for the month of January!

The good news is that you can get my 30-day missional living challenge free when you purchase Cultivating a Missional Life: A 30-Day Devotional to Gently Help You Open Your Heart, Home, and Life to Your Neighbors. To help you get the most out of the devotional, the bonus challenge is tailored to fit your unique style of neighboring.

Links mentioned:

1. FREE list of 200 missional word of the year ideas
2. Read “How to Find a Perfect Word of The Year for 2023”
3. Listen to episode 75 
4. Grab a FREE sneak peek of Cultivating a Missional Life: A 30-Day Devotional to Gently Help You Open Your Heart, Home, and Life to Your Neighbors
5. Order or leave a book review on Amazon.
6. Get the (tailored) 30-Day Missional Living Challenge
7. View the written version of this episode.

We often enter Christmas contrasting the wonder we felt as a child with the weight produced by adulting. We long for a white Christmas like we long to find again the innocent bliss of youth.

We wish for a magic erase as high and wide as the world—one that could wipe away the tears from every crying eye, one that would restore hope and justice to the fractures and fissures, one that would provide a slate clean as brand-new.

And maybe we long for this all to be true because something in us knows it was meant to be true and that it can be true.

Maybe we’re looking for snow to cover what Jesus already erased.

Links mentioned:

1. Grab a FREE sneak peek of Cultivating a Missional Life: A 30-Day Devotional to Gently Help You Open Your Heart, Home, and Life to Your Neighbors
2. Order or leave a book review on Amazon.
3. View the written version of this episode.

Do you choose a word for each year? Wait until January to think about it? Give up before you pick a word because it’s another decision and you don’t like making decisions?

Imagine if you already had your new word chosen before New Year’s Day? You’ve written it on your mirror, a sticky note on your dashboard, or on your phone wallpaper. You’re expectant and ready.

Now, let’s talk about how to get there.

Links mentioned:

1. Joyce Meyer’s scriptural affirmations.
2. FREE list of 200 missional living word of the year ideas.
3. Grab a FREE sneak peek of Cultivating a Missional Life: A 30-Day Devotional to Gently Help You Open Your Heart, Home, and Life to Your Neighbors.
4. Order or leave a book review on Amazon.
5. View the written version of this episode.

Maybe we weren’t ready for the pace of 2022, and in the wake of Thanksgiving, we find ourselves exhausted. Emptied. Road weary.

Do you feel it too? The shortness of these weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas? The pressure to say more yeses, but not to rest? The expectations we assume everyone else has of us? The need to pull over, stretch your legs, tilt your face skyward, taste the silence?

You have permission to do December differently. Cup your hands around a mug of hot tea. Say no to something you don’t have the capacity for. Make space in your heart for good things to flourish.

Links mentioned:

1. Grab a FREE sneak peek of Cultivating a Missional Life: A 30-Day Devotional to Gently Help You Open Your Heart, Home, and Life to Your Neighbors
2. Order or leave a book review on Amazon.
3. View the written version of this episode.

Your challenge, beginning with these last two days of November, is to get missional. Lean into the work God is doing inside you and let it ripple out to the people near you. Missional living is a direction, not a destination, so take it just one small yes at a time. Stay close to Jesus, and let Him guide you.

Our gratitude prompts to close out November are

• Mission – 11/29
• Everyday—11/30

This is not the end, but only the very, very beginning.

Links mentioned:

1. Get the #GratitudeRipples challenge graphics and learn more about how gratitude can have a ripple effect.
2. Begin Within: A Gratitude Series
3. Get the weekly Begin Within Story in YOUR email inbox!
4. Grab a FREE sneak peek of Cultivating a Missional Life: A 30-Day Devotional to Gently Help You Open Your Heart, Home, and Life to Your Neighbors
5. Order or leave a book review on Amazon.
6. View the written version of this episode.