11 weeks away!

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 tell you

that you will know

the strange graces

that come to our aid

only on a road

such as this,

that fly to meet us

bearing comfort

and strength,

that come alongside us

for no other cause

than to lean themselves

toward our ear

and with their

curious insistence

whisper our name:

Beloved.

Beloved.Beloved.

—Jan Richardson

from Circle of Grace