The Presence Project Podcast

August’s theme over here on The Presence Project is Joy and Resilience.

Why is it that we so easily forget the tables God has set in the wilderness? Instead of staying in a place of celebration after the abundance of connection or the kindness of answered prayer, we shift right back into lack. Our brains slide to scarcity like a car out of alignment.

Deepen your understanding of your brain's capacity for joy here: https://mailchi.mp/athirstforgod.com/joy

Before we burst into this new year armed with color-coded goal charts and shouldering the weight of a personal-reno project, let’s be gentle with ourselves.

Let’s sit down on the seam of the year and remember who and Whose we are.

Want to read along?

Find the transcript at SummerJoyGross.com

Our emotions are just messengers that there’s something underneath that’s trying to get our attention. They are an invitation to listen to the tender places of our heart. And God loves listening with us.

Summerjoygross.com

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Join the 16 day Advent Journey here.

Maybe you're like me and you feel the darkness pressing in this year. This Advent I want to spend all of my time gazing on the light of Christ.

Captivated. Worshipping.

Together, let's become captivated by our Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Handel's Messiah along with these quiet devotionals are just what we need after 2020 to bring our gaze back to our Prince of Peace.

And here’s my embarrassing truth: Gratitude has always felt a little like a box to check off, more duty than delight. For years, I’ve checked off the box faithfully knowing it was vital for mental, spiritual, and emotional health, but honestly, it felt a bit like taking vitamins.

But interactive gratitude, the first stage in Immanuel Journaling, has surprised me with its power. It’s been like discovering a key I didn’t know existed to enter into deeper delight with God. A key to a door to mutual delight. Did you read or watch Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett as a kid? Think discovering the key under hanging vines of low expectations and turning it in a rusty old lock that didn’t appear promising but opening the door to security, the loveliest walled safety, to a profusion of beauty, to ongoing revelation.

And could anything be more important than joy and delight in a time period perforated with a steady influx of grief and anxiety? Who couldn’t handle more delight in 2020?