That low lying storm cloud that hangs over you can’t master the light of Christ that raises you.
You need to carry out your mothering the best you can, but the Shepherd carries your babies close to His heart, and He is the one responsible for carrying your babies home.
In these strange days: There is more than believing in God. There is enjoying living in God.
https://annvoskamp.com/2023/04/questioning-believing-in-god-me-too-im-doing-this-instead-2/
The very heart of our pain is the things that keep us apart from God.
https://annvoskamp.com/2023/03/whats-the-answer-to-all-this-suffering/
The Bible is a literary masterpiece. But it sure doesn’t feel like that all the time. Kat Armstrong is on a mission to fix that. She wants to spark your holy curiosity and help you put your fai...
https://annvoskamp.com/2023/01/growing-hopeful-when-life-is-hard/
In these darkest days of the year, the very first days of Advent, and the last of a long year, I think that, wrapping a hand round my morning mug of warm, witnessing the sun pull itself out of th...
Some lean over gravestones and say: The miracle didn’t happen. And others lean over gravestones and say they got their miracle because she was a miracle, and getting to love her was a wond...
https://annvoskamp.com/2022/09/when-you-pray-but-god-doesnt-answer-with-the-miracle/
Waiting for the right time, can feel like everything is going wrong. The sacrament of waiting can feel the hardest of all. You can bet on it these days, every morning when we rise and look at the...
https://annvoskamp.com/2022/09/essential-secrets-to-how-to-wait-well/
The details of our hard may be different, but all our need for courage is the same.
https://annvoskamp.com/2022/07/real-hope-ammunition-for-your-hard-battles/
We are anxious not because we believe it helps but because we don’t know how not to be.
https://annvoskamp.com/2021/10/how-to-deal-with-anxiety-beyond-understanding/
Eugene Peterson was a lifelong pastor, scholar of biblical languages, and translator of The Message Bible. He was keenly aware of how easy it is to feel lost while reading the Bible. To help his ...
https://annvoskamp.com/2021/10/refusing-to-let-god-off-the-hook/
Ellen Wildman holds firm to the belief that everyone is a theologian. She wants to help others feel like the Bible and theology are accessible to them. Ellen’s adult life has been characterized...
https://annvoskamp.com/2021/10/when-you-need-to-know-you-never-walk-alone/
Philip Yancey has long been a leading voice on faith and American culture, helping more than fifteen million readers engage some of the deepest questions of life. I have read many of his books ov...
https://annvoskamp.com/2021/10/the-least-lovable-and-the-unfathomable-mystery-of-god/
A former journalist, Kayla Craig is adamant about paying attention and embracing curiosity in both her writing and parenting. Inspired by her four children, her new book of nuanced and nurturing ...
https://annvoskamp.com/2021/10/what-do-we-pray-when-we-dont-have-the-words/
Amy Boucher Pye’s spiritual journey has included mountaintop highs and darks nights of the soul. Yet in the day-to-day moments she has experienced God break in with surprising grace. She can’...
Someone greater than everything that was happening was with me, reminding me that He is good, even in times of desperation and hopelessness.
https://annvoskamp.com/2021/09/trusting-in-gods-plan-in-times-of-desperation-and-hopelessness/
Ashley Hales and I met before the world shut down, in a small conference for pastors and those in ministry, The Way of the Lamb Conference in San Diego. Exhausted from ministry, Ashley shared how...
He was feeling acutely self-conscious, and it was causing significant anxiety.
https://annvoskamp.com/2021/08/the-good-news-you-need-to-know-about-your-body/
As a remarried widow, Tricia Lott Williford is closely acquainted with the greatest tension of all: believing God can do anything and yet knowing that he might choose not to. Take a moment to re...
https://annvoskamp.com/2021/06/living-in-the-tension-of-he-can-and-even-if-he-doesnt/
Sarah Clarkson is a writer who loves books, beauty, and imagination, and wants to offer those as hope to a broken world. Having wrestled with mental illness and impossible questions for decades, ...
https://annvoskamp.com/2021/06/a-story-of-hope-from-out-of-the-midst-of-darkness/
I was drawn to Sarah Robinson’s story because she speaks so openly about believing the lie that being depressed or anxious made her a bad Christian. How easy it is for each of us to imagine tha...
https://annvoskamp.com/2021/05/even-if-finding-hope-in-the-furnace-of-mental-illness/
“It’s not a matter of moving on—it’s moving forward. It’s not a matter of saying time heals. Time of itself can’t heal, but God works through situations to bring joy out of sorrow.”
https://annvoskamp.com/2021/05/how-to-forgive-when-the-unthinkable-happens/
You need to carry out your mothering the best you can, but the Shepherd carries your babies close to His heart, and He is the one responsible for carrying your babies home.
A contented person understands that the things of this world are here when we arrive and are left behind when we exit this life.
https://annvoskamp.com/2021/05/how-to-choose-contentment-by-faith-and-not-feeling/
When you first meet Robert Fergusson, what strikes you is his deep humility, his sincere passion and his uncommon care to to understand — both the heart of each person he is speaking to, and th...
https://annvoskamp.com/2021/04/what-you-need-for-your-desert-seasons-we-all-have-them/
We know the enemy does not attack where he is winning. He attacks where he is losing.
https://annvoskamp.com/2021/04/gods-story-never-ends-with-ashes/
The kingdom is already and not yet; living in its tension rather than panicking for release is the only way to be pulled into the trajectory of hope.
https://annvoskamp.com/2021/04/dont-put-a-spiritual-bow-over-your-brokenness/
His love repurposes our pain into clarified purpose.
https://annvoskamp.com/2021/04/when-grief-and-hope-are-unpredictable/
When everything is removed and God is all I have, I find that God is all I need.
https://annvoskamp.com/2021/03/how-to-begin-again-after-shattering-devastation/
At the cross, Jesus took upon Himself every shameful and embarrassing thing we’ve ever done.
https://annvoskamp.com/2021/03/when-god-seems-distant-and-shame-seems-so-close/
Thankfully, Jesus is not bound by our broken ways of doing life and He offers a holy invitation freely extended to us whether we’re striving or hiding.
https://annvoskamp.com/2021/02/is-there-more-to-life-than-this/
I think that’s how you and I change—not by trying harder to become something better but by being blessed with a vision of who we are designed to be.
https://annvoskamp.com/2021/02/when-it-feels-like-others-are-blessed-while-youre-stuck/
Today’s world is full of the same injustice, depravity, conflict, suffering, and hopelessness as the world was in 1815. And yet, the gospel is still just as powerful to transfigure the lives o...
I felt betrayed by the One who was supposed to love me most. Pierced by the One who was supposed to protect my heart.
https://annvoskamp.com/2021/01/when-you-dont-like-your-story/
It doesn’t matter exactly what my day looks like, but it does matter that I am where God has called me.
https://annvoskamp.com/2021/01/their-success-isnt-my-failure/
If I wanted Him, then I wanted what He had for me. What He had for me was this marriage. This impossible marriage.
https://annvoskamp.com/2021/01/the-number-one-thing-that-saved-our-impossible-marriage/
I repeated the words of sorrow from Scripture until they became my vocabulary.
https://annvoskamp.com/2021/01/how-in-the-world-do-we-adjust-to-constant-loss/
Our objective is to see what life could look like if we live through The Beatitudes' lens.
https://annvoskamp.com/2020/12/what-2020-needs-the-beatitudes-project/
Her words took me back to a time of deep-seeded insecurity: a time when all I cared about was how I looked and how others perceived me.
https://annvoskamp.com/2020/11/raising-kids-who-know-their-value-and-live-on-purpose/
Like everything in our lives, tech both helps and hurts us. So how can we appreciate the help but avoid the hurt?
But over time I have become convinced that God had a script for me to follow. His script is simply to love Him completely, love my neighbors faithfully, and navigate life in light of these two c...
Sometimes rejection becomes an infection that sickens and weakens a life.
https://annvoskamp.com/2020/10/youre-never-unwanted-or-worthless-no-matter-what-anyone-else-says/
Be patient with yourself, be patient with others, and most importantly, be patient with God.
https://annvoskamp.com/2020/10/when-exile-seems-to-have-no-expiration-date/
We do not have to be afraid of feeling afraid.
https://annvoskamp.com/2020/10/what-does-the-fear-you-feel-say-about-your-faith/
If the God who made the galaxies lives inside you, then you have the power—through Christ—to denounce every destructive agreement that raises itself up against the truth of God.
https://annvoskamp.com/2020/10/how-to-punch-holes-in-the-darkness-until-it-bleeds-light/
When I feel overwhelmed, challenged, knee deep in a difficult season, I cling to the things I know to be true.
What I’ve discovered, is that there is a mystery, an unexplainable beauty and a linear story that accompanies our creative gifts when we (with open hands) offer them back to God.
https://annvoskamp.com/2020/09/how-to-carry-a-remarkable-story-the-story-of-song/
These capes and masks we wear are not just a barrier that keep everyone else out. They are also a prison of perfection that keeps us walled in.
https://annvoskamp.com/2020/09/i-am-the-girl-in-the-red-cape-but-i-am-also-the-wolf/
All the feelings we experience—even the difficult ones—were given to us by God to help us experience, process, and learn from every facet of life.
https://annvoskamp.com/2020/09/when-sadness-comes-knocking-should-we-open-the-door/
His native tongue is Scripture, but God also speaks through doors and desires and dreams, as well as people and problems and even pain.
I often find myself grabbing at whatever pieces I can reach, trying desperately to make something beautiful of them and forfeiting the peace that comes from believing He already has.
https://annvoskamp.com/2020/08/when-you-think-youve-missed-your-chance/
We get to form a better battle plan by beginning here, remembering and declaring who He is and humbling our hearts to worship.
https://annvoskamp.com/2020/08/4-bold-ways-we-actively-trade-fear-for-trust/
We all stand equal at the foot of the Cross, because we all belong to Christ.
https://annvoskamp.com/2020/08/how-to-get-to-the-end-of-divisions-and-become-a-new-humanity/
For godly people and leaders specifically, pain is often the tool God uses to help us realize our passion and purpose.
https://annvoskamp.com/2020/07/discovering-your-purpose-in-the-midst-of-pain/
May we show the world whose we are by our love for one another.
I wasn’t hungry, but I was starving for space, for the comfort in knowing that no words are needed to experience the fullness of being wholly alive.
https://annvoskamp.com/2020/06/the-gift-of-peoples-presence/
With more than fifteen years of counseling experience, I have learned that both those who follow Jesus and those who do not are longing and desperately searching for happiness.
https://annvoskamp.com/2020/06/you-dont-have-to-chase-shadows-anymore/
In the lonely moments, I was focusing on the empty feeling of Harold’s not being by my side instead of the fullness of God’s presence with me each step of every day.
To rise out of a defeated and self-loathing place, it also took the tender, tenacious voice of a She to remind me of a grace that says to my limp, 'Rise and walk.'
https://annvoskamp.com/2020/05/why-every-he-needs-the-voice-and-influence-of-the-she/
If we really want to offer healing to this cracked-up world, our stories must do as Jesus’s did: tell the whole truth about this human existence.
https://annvoskamp.com/2020/05/your-story-matters-how-to-keep-pursuing-the-truth-of-your-life/
Ultimately, we move toward healing as we learn to steward toward ourselves the profound compassion God has for us.
I support and understand victim groups and classifications, as long as their goal is to eliminate the word “victim” and replace it with the word “victor.”
Seasons of exile, seasons we would not choose for ourselves and that do not match our dreams, are the seasons when we remember our home is in Him—a Person who cannot be taken away from us.
https://annvoskamp.com/2020/04/how-to-find-gods-promises-in-a-life-you-did-not-choose/
I did not want my kids to live in fear of rejection, but instead feel empowered to connect with others on a foundation of truth, courage, and love.
https://annvoskamp.com/2020/04/let-her-be-raising-kids-who-believe-they-are-worthy-of-belonging/
He asked how he was meant to love and serve the world given his new circumstances.
God has shown me that I don’t need to be afraid. That “treasure”—freedom from fear—has brought great joy in my life.
She said that as she dreamed of the future, she didn’t expect an easy or straight-forward journey to achievement, but she wouldn’t be deterred either.
https://annvoskamp.com/2020/04/why-now-is-the-time-to-start-get-ready-to-rise/
The question surfaces: “Why do I know God loves me in my head, but I don’t believe it in my heart?”
https://annvoskamp.com/2020/04/the-way-hearts-die-an-invitation-to-stay/
Living a life of generosity and selflessness, regardless of the state of the economy, allows the kingdom of God to define our response to the unknown.
https://annvoskamp.com/2020/03/moving-from-proximity-to-intimacy-with-christ/
Everyone has been betrayed. But betrayal doesn’t get to destroy your trust in everyone. Just because every betrayal begins with trust, doesn’t mean every betrayal has to end with cynicism.
https://annvoskamp.com/2020/03/hurt-how-do-you-forgive-or-ever-trust-again/
Whatever our day holds, nothing in it can compare to a millisecond of His Presence, and we must die to ourselves to live in Him.
https://annvoskamp.com/2020/03/what-i-learned-about-knuckling-down-to-measure-up/
The moment you are ready to quit is usually the moment right before the miracle occurs.
https://annvoskamp.com/2020/03/when-you-need-to-move-a-mountain/
The worst part of the experience was allowing Satan, the enemy, to keep his foothold in my thought life.
https://annvoskamp.com/2020/03/how-can-god-see-me-as-worthwhile-if-i-dont-see-myself-as-worthwhile/
The reality is that we demonstrate what is important to us by what we make time for.
I was overcome with the assurance that God wanted me to keep moving forward even though Mannard was gone.
https://annvoskamp.com/2020/02/the-unthinkable-great-walls-we-must-walk-through/
When you really want to disappear – is when you really want to be found. When you really want to run away from everybody – is when you really want to be found by just somebody.
Imagination has the power to cultivate empathy when we can picture ourselves inside someone else’s story or situation.
Celebration can be an act of worship and an act of hope and perhaps, in a way, an act of joyful rebellion against fear.
Jesus came for those who sit in the back row crying out, “Be merciful to me, a sinner.”
https://annvoskamp.com/2020/02/when-you-need-to-hear-that-you-are-not-alone/
We don’t have to like our circumstances, but we can choose to look for the unexpected gifts they may bring.
God sees us individually, has good plans for us individually, and wants us to have a distinct name, purpose, and calling.
https://annvoskamp.com/2020/01/casting-off-the-labels-that-limit-this-year/
Faith is the prism we need to see hope when all seems lost, to survive the furnace of suffering, to grow despite the pain.
https://annvoskamp.com/2020/01/when-its-so-dark-all-you-can-see-is-faith/
Rest is where we place great faith in our great God.
https://annvoskamp.com/2020/01/the-search-for-rest-in-a-hurry-up-world/
Instead of looking down into the valley filled with enemy-armies, they looked up and sang praises to the God of angel-armies.
https://annvoskamp.com/2019/12/when-you-need-strength-for-the-battle/
The margin between what those in poverty have and what they need is thin and they are begging God for someone to show up, to use what they have, to be present.
No matter how dim the way ahead, how winding the path, Christ Emmanuel will walk with you.
https://annvoskamp.com/2019/12/what-happens-when-love-shows-up/
We saw that we had the responsibility to minister to these children with the truth that could also set them and even their families free.
What seem like scraps to us are God’s best resources to prove His love for us once and for all.
https://annvoskamp.com/2019/11/getting-honest-with-god-on-our-darkest-days/
In a world that pulled away from pain, Jesus pushed in.
Through your faith, God can stop the clock and resurrect your dream.
The goal is not to win but to be like Christ.
https://annvoskamp.com/2019/10/the-difference-between-being-right-and-being-loving/
In order to move from awareness to acknowledgment, we must first be brave enough to accept the historical truths and modern realities.
Part of our healing comes through lament, acknowledging our pain and the truth of it.
https://annvoskamp.com/2019/09/how-to-forgive-when-your-wound-is-still-open/
Make no mistake that if we’re still in the midst of rescue, He is still in the process of setting things right.
https://annvoskamp.com/2019/09/the-enemys-biggest-mistake-discounting-women/
There are parts of our stories we desperately wish were different.
https://annvoskamp.com/2019/09/when-youre-needing-some-hope-in-the-middle-of-your-story/
The day everything came to a head was my first experience holding a weeping abuse victim. She was in her thirties; I was nine.
Worship is not something we do; it defines who we are.
https://annvoskamp.com/2019/09/how-to-refocus-right-in-the-midst-of-everything/
Maybe the point of loss is to show us that all is actually not lost.
https://annvoskamp.com/2019/08/when-youre-desperate-to-see-the-positive-in-your-loss/
Jesus spoke life-altering words, but He backed them up with redemptive action—not only on the cross but through the way He loved people.
https://annvoskamp.com/2019/08/how-change-can-happen-when-we-share-the-messy-parts-of-our-stories/
I was also acutely aware of the fact that eyes were on me at all times.
https://annvoskamp.com/2019/08/how-to-raise-a-confident-daughter/