Ripple-Effect Faith with Twyla Franz

It's a hopeful whisper: soul-sister friendship. Isn't that what we long beneath the obligatory "I'm good! How are you?" and mustered-up smiles and silent sighs? We want something more than surfacy talk about movies and weather, car lines and school projects. More than flighty friendship that unravels over bent feelings and assumptions. Perhaps your heart-felt prayer is not for more friends but dee...

How would you talk with God if you knew He was walking around in your house? I recently read a mandate God had spoken to the Israelites through Moses: "Treat your camp as a sacred place because the Eternal your God will be walking around in it" (Deut. 23:14, The Voice). And I wonder, what would it change if we knew how paper-thin is the distance between God and us? If we knew He was right here whe...

I'm writing by candlelight while walking but I can't stop. Here, another name. There, two more. I'm chasing the God I'm finding as I read. Links mentioned: 1. To get a short, doable tip in your inbox every week to help you get to know your neighbors, sign up  here. 2. Read the written version of this episode  HERE. 3. I'm taking Mary Demuth's 90-Day Bible Reading challenge (and you can too!). Sign...

You know that dismantling way a verse in Scripture can seem like it's just for you? How you feel seen through in an instant by the kind gaze of Jesus? That was me on day three of a 90-Day Bible Reading Challenge—overcome by "the God who answers me whenever I am in distress and who is with me wherever I go" (Gen. 35:3, The Voice).  Links mentioned: 1. To get a short, doable tip in your inbox every...

Maybe New Year's Eve feels like a celebration of endings. We get to bury what didn't do well or go right and start over. Plant fresh seeds and forget the ones that never grew. I get it. It's wearying caring for seeds that haven't sprouted yet. And your heart just needs a break, your lungs a moment to breathe. But here, on the cusp of all a fresh new year has to offer, I want to share what I'm clin...

In the midst of tinsel and torn paper tomorrow, may we remember the greatest gift ever wrapped is a baby in swaddling clothes. May our hearts thump with the excitement of a child when we behold Him, fully God even as a babe.  Links mentioned: 1. Get 200 Word of the Year ideas PLUS monthly reflection sheets to amplify your growth  HERE . 2. To get a short, doable tip in your inbox every week to hel...

Sometimes you go looking for a word of the year, and sometimes it finds you–like a cat who adopts you first or a word nestled into Ann Voskamp's  Sacred Prayer  journal that stills your heart. And you know, without scouring word lists or weighing options or praying long for clarity, that the Hebrew word  korban  is your one word for 2025.  Links mentioned: 1. Get 200 Word of the Year ideas PLUS mo...

Sometimes you go looking for a word of the year, and sometimes it finds you–like a cat who adopts you first or a word nestled into Ann Voskamp's  Sacred Prayer  journal that stills your heart. And you know, without scouring word lists or weighing options or praying long for clarity, that the Hebrew word  korban is your one word for 2025.  Links mentioned: 1. Mary Demuth's 90-day Bible reading  cha...

How's this for a trade? Your never-named aloud fears, your residual shame, your tucked-deep message of unworth, the lists you haven't completed, the names you've called yourself inside your head, the band-aids over old scars–for the deepest inhale of grace that makes you feel light and lovely from your nose to your toes. Links mentioned: To get a short, doable tip in your inbox every week to help...

Maybe you're just not feeling it this year, but you're wearing the smile anyways. You wish it could feel authentic. I see you holding so much extra. Extra and also less, for there's loss and disappointment and deeply-set worry scrunching lines in your brow. It's a lot under the weight of amplified expectations and hold-your-breath prayers and silent wishes that everyone could at least pretend to b...

I'm better at learning things fast—as if beginner to expert overnight is a goal worth pursuing. But the things that take grueling-slow learning and moment-by-moment surrender, those are the harder lessons to learn. The ones most worth learning. Links mentioned: It's not too late to join the #ReflectJesus challenge! Grab the challenge prompts  HERE  and I'll pop into your inbox the rest of the mont...

We give self-talk its own category and unreined license to belittle and badger. Under labels like inner critic, perfectionism, and people-pleasing, these self-directed lies appear safe. But maybe we've normalized lying to ourselves about who we are and what we're worth. Perhaps we've underestimated the impact of repeating self-condemnation and sharp comparisons, of setting inhuman standards of per...

Set out to reflect Jesus like a mirror and you come face-to-face with your list of what you lack. Your squabbles and squeamish fears, your flat-out insecurity and sneaky pride. The features you'd change. The less-thans and not-likes and labels confirming your unworth. Links mentioned: It's not too late to join the #ReflectJesus challenge! Grab the challenge prompts HERE and I'll pop into your inbo...

I find what works on a mountain also applies to our relationships with our Enneagram opposites and how we approach an election. Links mentioned: Discover your Enneagram number and how it helps you love your neighbors well HERE . To get a short, doable tip in your inbox every week to help you get to know your neighbors, sign up  here. Read the written version of this episode  HERE.

David finds himself in a spot many of us do today, sandwiched between the ugly and awful repercussions of a severed relationship with God and the invitation to find oasis in the here-and-now as we wait for full glory. Links mentioned: Check out  B egin Within: A Gratitude Series . Get the weekly story in your inbox to cultivate year-round, ripple-effect gratitude! Take the  #ReflectJesus gratitude...

With-ness. Could there be a word that sits closer to the tender heart of God? It strikes me while praying for North Carolina, Chaing Mai, and Florida how God's promise to join us as we gather in His name (Matthew 18:20) reveals His desire 1) to be with us and 2) for us to be together.   Links mentioned: To get a short, doable tip in your inbox every week to help you get to know your neighbors, sig...

A reflection is a mirror image. It captures the slightest tilt of the head, a shift in posture, merriment in the eye, or sorrow squeezing eyebrows together. It's not static, but fluid, transcribing in real-time every stray hair and sigh, every question etched in a facial expression. The fullness of emotion, the details of dress, the way we slump or stand tall–a mirror will tell it truthful. If we'...

What if I were a bit more like her? Noticed details and demeanor, presence and absence? Gave others a glimpse of how we each matter to God? Links mentioned: Discover your Enneagram number, what we love about you, how your Enneagram strengths help you love your neighbors well, and how to best love your neighbors with different numbers HERE ! Around the Clock Mom by Sarah Butterfield. To get a short...

When we're walled on every side by insurmountable, when the odds aren't in our favor, when there's no action or inaction that's risk-free, what do we do? Because sometimes it appears there isn't a way out.  Maybe you've been there, or that's where you are today: pinched between bad and also bad. You need an immediate and miraculous rescue.  Let's turn for a moment, from the story you're living to...

When we feel welcome, we come back. Kids know this instinctively. As adults, we might have to unravel what we've learned about hospitality because we've somehow begun caring more about keeping our house clean than putting our guests at ease. Our efforts, though good-intentioned, may sabotage what we truly want: for others to feel at home in our home. Links mentioned: To get a short, doable tip in...

When we feel welcome, we come back. Kids know this instinctively. As adults, we might have to unravel what we've learned about hospitality because we've somehow begun caring more about keeping our house clean than putting our guests at ease. Our efforts, though good-intentioned, may sabotage what we truly want: for others to feel at home in our home. Links mentioned: Discover how to clean for unex...

Are you longing for soul rest too? Grace that holds? Peace that lasts? Let's name it together. Links mentioned: To get a short, doable tip in your inbox every week to help you get to know your neighbors, sign up  here. Read the written version of this episode  HERE .

Consider this: What if the multi-faceted masterpiece of your God-given strengths and life experiences helps you reflect Jesus in a way that literally no one else can? Links mentioned: To get a short, doable tip in your inbox every week to help you get to know your neighbors, sign up  here. Read the written version of this episode  HERE .

As I remember my dad's calm presence in the passenger seat, I think of Jennifer Dukes Lee's nudge to see Jesus as a driver's ed coach rather than a chauffeur. Links mentioned: To get a short, doable tip in your inbox every week to help you get to know your neighbors, sign up  here. Read the written version of this episode  HERE .

As I hold the decisions I want to delay and the ones I'm tempted to rush in open hands, here's what's helping me tune in to God's voice right now. Links mentioned: To get a short, doable tip in your inbox every week to help you get to know your neighbors, sign up  here. Read the written version of this episode  HERE .