July 12th Countdown for Hannah & Derick

Hannah, this is one of my favorite blessings and I come back to it again and again and again in so many situations. May you and Derick return often to this truth that YOU ARE BELOVED. May you know deep in your bones that YOU ARE BELOVED. May you draw on God's love to know your worth and may your marriage be a place where you remind each other of this truth each day.    Beloved Is Where We Begin If you would enter into the wilderness, do not begin without a blessing. Do not leave without hearing who you are: Beloved, named by the One who has traveled this path before you. Do not go without letting it echo in your ears, and if you find it is hard to let it into your heart, do not despair. That is what this journey is for. I cannot promise this blessing will free you from danger, from fear, from hunger or thirst, from the scorching of sun or the fall of the night. But I can tell you that on this path there will be help. I can tell you that on this way there will be rest. I can te...

  Dear Hannah, I was thinking about how I could come alongside you as you prepare for your wedding after we talked today on our walk, and I thought I'd make a little wedding countdown blog sending you something each week to let you know I'm praying for you in this very exciting season.  Anyway, so welcome to the "Celebrating July 12th" blog for you where I'll be sharing a poem or a quote or a verse for you each week for the next 12 weeks until your wedding.  a prayer for love, love, love -  Kate Bowler  Lord, the shadowed world  is full of troubles. So give me the good,  inconvenient work of love. Link my life to others  so that their worries  become my own. Give me errands I don’t want  which ease the burdens of others. Divert me from the plans I’ve made  to zip from A to B when you have better ideas.  Put my hands to work  with a less-grumbling heart  and let their dreams drift into my own.   You’ve given me to...