Ripple-Effect Faith with Twyla Franz

I relate to the way the Israelites prayed. When something terrible happens, I want God to take it away. To make life go back to how it was. I expect God's rescue to look like reversal or extraction. But threaded through this ancient story is a new way to pray. Links mentioned: Get a  FREE, 5-Day Email Course:  Turn Your Loneliness into Ripple-Effect Faith in 5 Days. Read the written version of thi...

40 quietly laps you when you're more bent on running, writing, and preparing for fall break in New York than recalling how old you are. But all of a sudden, you're the age your teenage self remembers your parents. So you begin a list of little learnings you've picked up the past four decades. Fundamentals, you title it. At first it's a dare. Can you write down 40 life lessons? Then it's a whittlin...

I leave leaves on my writing table–small ones that landed soft on my laptop last time I wrote in my front yard. They nestle next to pumpkin pistachio and it's cheery woodwick flame.  Fall. I'm already ready, and it's not even here.  There's a comforting conjunction of crisp and cozy that enters with autumn. A deliberate extension of the both/ands that offer hope along with the hard.   Links mentio...

It's one of those mornings the sunrise peaks as I walk up the hill from my house, trees and power lines and houses towering between me and the sky. I take pictures of the remnants of color gently grazing the horizon when I reach my typical sunrise viewing spot. It's lovely, but not stunning.  I stretch and check my shoelaces, but before I hit the record button on my running app, I turn around. I'm...

Our brains are always telling us what we have to do, as if there's always more we could– should –be doing. We're continually privy to the guilty nagging, the critical comparison, the insistent whisper of  not enough, not enough, not enough. No wonder a missional life gets lumped in with the  shoulds . We've been conditioned to stack on extras and deny we're on empty. We assign a grading scale to o...

Maybe you feel like you're falling into fall too.  Barely ready. Rarely at your best. And yet, there's a quiet, undeniable inkling that something is missing. Conversations in driveways and over casual dinners. Cheery hellos and neighbors helping neighbors. Pretense-free, faith-forming honesty. Perhaps this dream has lain dormant for a while as you fit all the necessaries into your day-to-day. Perh...

Maybe you're like me. You use your hands a lot. You type and wash dishes, tie shoelaces, and take contacts out every night. It all feels natural–unless your nails are too long. Then they click-click on the keyboard, and you take five tries to spell one word correctly to answer a text. I'm clueless about nail salon lingo, so after my nails were way outgrown, I found a local spot with all the downto...

If meal-prep sounds exhausting . . . If your quiet time is inconsistent (or non-existent) . . . If you're already wondering how to clone yourself . . . If you want meaningful moments in the midst of the busy . . . If you long for authentic community . . . If you wish you could just slow August down a tad . . .   This list of tips is for you.   They're practical. Easy to implement. Gifts from my ac...

Like shoes, our habits can help or harm us. Sometimes it's not obvious from the outside, but inside, we feel either weighed down or revived. That's our clue.  Pay attention. Some shiny new habits might not be right for you, and some familiar ones may be past their lifespan.    Links mentioned: Get a  FREE, 5-Day Email Course:  Turn Your Loneliness into Ripple-Effect Faith in 5 Days. Read the writt...

Even a former "most positive student" can hit a negativity streak. Even a well-practiced gratitude journaler can catastrophize. Even the most spiritual among us can spiral into negative self-talk. Indeed, even the host of  Begin Within: A Gratitude Series, who has a front-row seat to the life-changing nature of thankfulness, has days where the mind runs wild and the thoughts self-betray. I want to...

Self-sufficiency is a sludge of pride and survival. Sometimes it's our only option. Sometimes we make it our only option. I fall into the latter category.   Links mentioned: Get a  FREE, 5-Day Email Course:  Turn Your Loneliness into Ripple-Effect Faith in 5 Days. Read the written version of this episode  HERE .

We can be incredibly artful about disguising our pride–me included. I'd rather you see diligence and dependability, and not dig deep enough to trace them back to pride. I would prefer to convince you that I'm always capable and composed, so you don't question why I reach for this consistency. I want you to see me as selfless and sweet-natured–never stubborn or snappy or overly sensitive–and assume...

Self-pity is not neutral. All the while we maintain composure and let self-pity subside at its own pace, it's wreaking havoc on our mental health. It's time to go on the offensive and reclaim the ground self-pity has stolen.   Links mentioned: Get a FREE, 5-Day Email Course: Turn Your Loneliness into Ripple-Effect Faith in 5 Days. Read the written version of this episode  HERE . Recite Scripture v...

Where do you feel the pressure to be on par with someone else? To prove yourself worthy? To pretend your way into confidence?   Links mentioned: Get a  FREE, 5-Day Email Course: Turn Your Loneliness into Ripple-Effect Faith in 5 Days. Read the written version of this episode HERE . Find two summer's worth of Enneagram blog series  HERE .

I've got a thing with control. I like to paint it as a virtue because self-control sounds less harsh. Like less of a problem. But it actually isn't.  Your need to feel in control might come out in different ways than mine. Perhaps you vocalize more than internalize. Perhaps you extend your controlling efforts externally rather than internally. But it's the same thieving trio–fear, pride, and shame...

Can we go there–to the root of our unruly inner dialogues–so we can find peace and strength and mental relief? That's my invitation to you today.  Our inner thoughts have had too much say for too long. They keep us in the shadows, thinking small. They sabotage our friendships and our focus. Cloud out the voice of God so we think we're on our own. Where do we start? Here, with five easy-to-implemen...

Maybe there's a similarly pesky voice of perfectionism following you around inside your head, telling you that you should be able to get incrementally better. Every. Single. Day. It's relentless. You're worn out from all your undue try-hard.  But also, maybe you carry a bit of shame around with your perfectionism.  You're told you worry too much. Focus on the wrong things. Care too much about your...

Self-doubt surfaces quickly when it's thinly veiled behind borrowed confidence and temperamental self-esteem. Maybe this is your story. To others, you appear secure, but you feel deeply insufficient inside. You can take the lead, finish the work, maintain a high standard of excellence, and pass as having it together. But you can't outrun the voice that whispers,  If only they knew how little you k...

To you, Googling "how to be a better person." You, longing to be the sort of neighbor who effortlessly welcomes others into your home, leans into conversations with sincerity and delight, and spills over with hopefulness. You, with your burgeoning summer calendar and dwindling blank space. You, feeling squeezed between ideals and actual life. You don't need an out-of-reach plan, additional demands...

I sign up on a whim. One half-marathon for Saturday, through hilly horse country. My calves are still tight from three runs the same morning, because my impetuous mind decided to run to the start line of a community 5k, which also meant I had to get home on foot after the race. Honestly, my only hope of non-stop running for the half is contingent on keeping a slow, steady pace. And resting.  Funny...

Sometimes you are doing too much, and you know it from the tumble of thoughts burying the task that truly needs your attention. You find yourself making slow progress in several areas simultaneously. At every spin, you find more before you that could be straightened, sorted, or scheduled. Oh friend, I get it. I admit I mostly (okay, only ) wipe out the interior of my fridge when I should be packin...

Sometimes I can get stuck in my routine. I start my morning the same way every day I can. I fall into a rhythm with school and gymnastics and church. I even put plates a certain way in the dishwasher–every time. In the midst of the repetition, faith can begin to feel a bit monotonous. Perhaps you've experienced this. You might feel like you're on autopilot, mudding through the motions, willing you...

It feels like summer, and I sit on the step with Seph Schlueter singing through my portable speaker. Funny how you can play worship songs on repeat, but they move you forward, rather than in circles. Yes, you are essentially listening on loop, but the lyrics unravel your reservations and amplify your expectancy with every replay.   Links mentioned: Songs I Play on Repeat playlist. FREE, 5-Day Emai...

Perhaps it's grief, your physical health, or some other life disruption that makes the ground gallop beneath you. And it's all you can do right now to keep putting one foot forward at a time. Here are three truths that will steady you when life feels unstable.   Links mentioned: FREE, 5-Day Email Course:  Turn Your Loneliness into Ripple-Effect Faith in 5 Days Read the written version of this epis...

"Did you see what I wrote on the mirror?" He's giddy insistent. First, he points to words I don't even see in the disappearing, post-shower stream.  God is good. God is great. Bless his 9-year-old heart, reminding me that even when we can't see how, God's steadiness writes a never-ending story.   Links mentioned: FREE, 5-Day Email Course:  Turn Your Loneliness into Ripple-Effect Faith in 5 Days Re...