Tag Archives: Godly Girlfriends

Saddest, Darkest, Saturday

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Can you imagine the confusion? Imagine how discouraged they must have been. Imagine the grief – the one they put all of their hope is gone. Dead. All the hope of what (they thought) Jesus was supposed to be and what Jesus was supposed to do is gone. What now? Yesterday he died, tomorrow he will be resurrected – but they don’t know that. This is a dark day. Probably the worst day of their lives.

Are they replaying all the words that Jesus spoke to them? He was very explicit about what he would endure. At the time, they rebuked him for saying those things. He was supposed to conquer the world, not be crucified by it.

Were they trying to move ahead and go back to a “normal life”? What is a “normal life” anyway? All they had known for 3 years was Jesus. They gave up EVERYTHING to follow him. Did they have regrets? Were they questioning their decision to follow him now? He said he was the son of man and he called himself son of God – but if that were true, then how could he die? How could this be?

We celebrate Good Friday and we praise and worship God for Sunday, but what about Saturday? When we put ourselves in the disciples shoes, this must have been the greatest test of their faith. I can only imagine how I would have felt. Thank God Sunday is coming, just as we thank God for sending Jesus into the world to die for our sins. Without this sacrificial act, humanity truly would be hopeless.

Why Is The Bible So Confusing?

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If you’ve ever picked up the Bible and thought, “This feels like a foreign language to me,” you are not alone. Maybe you’ve tried reading it and felt confused, bored, or even a little ashamed because it just doesn’t make sense. Or maybe you long for a real relationship with God but don’t know where to start.

I completely understand – I hear this often from women I mentor. It is important to consider that the Bible was written in a completely different time and world than ours. The people who wrote it didn’t have phones, cars, or the internet. They spoke different languages, lived in different cultures, and told stories in ways that don’t always sound like our quick modern self-help books.

Sometimes the words just feel old, making a verse feel irrelevant, antiquated, or out of date. But here’s something important the Bible itself explains:

In 1 Corinthians 2:14 (NLT) it says, “People who aren’t spiritual can’t receive these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can’t understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means.”

In 2 Corinthians 4:3-4 (NLT) we read, “If the Good News we preach is hidden behind a veil, it is hidden only from people who are perishing. Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News.”

If the words feel veiled or confusing right now, it might not only be the language or the history — there can be a spiritual side too. Our wounds, weights, and old ways can keep our hearts a little closed off… until we gently invite the Holy Spirit to help us see.

Here’s the good news: You don’t have to stay stuck there. The same Jesus who rose from the dead is ready to come into your life right now. If you’ve never invited Him in, or if you want to open your heart fresh today, you can simply pray something like this from your heart:

“Jesus, I believe You are the Son of God who died for me and rose again. I’m tired of carrying these wounds, weights, and old ways on my own. Please forgive me, come into my life, and fill me with Your Holy Spirit. Help me understand Your Word and become truly addicted to You. Amen”

The moment you invite Him, the Holy Spirit begins to lift the veil and open your eyes to the beauty of God’s Word. It’s the beginning of the most life-giving relationship you’ll ever have.

Don’t lose hope! The very same Bible that can feel foreign at first is actually the most powerful, life-giving book in the world. Read Psalm 19:7-14 (NLT) and see how God describes His Word. He says it revives us, makes us wise, brings joy, and gives insight for living. That’s powerful – and worth the pursuit.

Proverbs 30:5-6 (NLT) reminds us: “Every word of God proves true. He is a shield to all who come to him for protection. Do not add to his words, or he may rebuke you and expose you as a liar.”

Even when it feels hard to understand at first, every word is true and protective. God wants to use His Word to heal your wounds, lift your weights, and change your ways — so you can transfer all of that to the one healthy addiction that truly satisfies: Him.

You’re not defective if the Bible feels confusing right now. It simply means you’re human and you’re stepping into something divine. God didn’t give us a cold checklist — He gave us stories, songs, letters, and real-life truths so we could truly know Him. It’s a lot like beginning any new relationship. At first it feels awkward, but the more time you spend, the more comfortable it becomes — especially as the Holy Spirit softens your heart.

Here are a few gentle, practical steps you can try this week:

  • Use an easy-to-read translation like the New Living Translation (NLT). Pair it with the YouVersion Bible app and listen to the chapter read aloud — it helps the words come alive without getting stuck on hard pronunciations.
  • Don’t start at the beginning. Begin with the story of Jesus in the book of John or Mark.
  • Pray before you read: “God, I don’t understand this very well, but I want to know You. Holy Spirit, please open my eyes and my heart.”
  • Keep it short and kind to yourself — just 10 minutes a day is better than forcing more when you feel overwhelmed.
  • Don’t go it alone. Talk with friends, join a Bible study, or watch short Bible Project videos on YouTube to understand the big picture.

When my days were packed with corporate work, raising my daughters, and earning my master’s degree, I had to schedule time with God like any important appointment. That small shift changed everything for me. I realized that if I wouldn’t skip meetings or time with my girls, how much more important was my time with Him?

Read just one chapter a day, or even just a short section within those books. If you have a study Bible – read the footnotes and gain a deeper, more applicable understanding. Don’t forget to pray first. If something confuses you, that’s okay — just keep showing up anyway.

You’ve got this my friend. The Bible isn’t meant to stay confusing forever. It’s meant to become the most life-changing voice in your story — the place where you meet with God Himself and discover real freedom from the wounds, weights, and ways that have held you back.

Return to God

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“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”
(Matthew 11:28 NIV)

For almost 20 years, I have been teaching Bible studies, and for the last 10 years, mentoring incarcerated women who are seeking to know truth and rebuild their lives with the help of Jesus. When they first meet with me, they are often desperate. They tell me they have messed up their lives so badly that the only way to find true freedom is by turning their lives completely over to Jesus.

Fascinated by their conviction, I ask them, “Why? Why do you think Jesus is the answer to your problems?” The typical response is something like this: “I grew up in church, but when I got to high school, I got mixed up with the wrong crowd. My mother (or grandmother) took me to church and has always prayed for me. I now know I should have listened to them.”

Hindsight is always 20/20, isn’t it? We make choices—even ones that seem good at the time—only to find ourselves in a place we never wanted to be. This is just like the parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15:11–32. The youngest son ends up in a pigpen one day and having to face the consequences of making a series of bad choices, decides to return home, where his father has long been awaiting his return. We turn away from God, and once we realize we’re not where we wanted to be, we can return to Him, repent, and ask Him to help us rebuild our lives.

God watches patiently as we try to run our own lives, until the day we finally see that we need Him—and have needed Him all along. He embraces us, welcomes us back into His loving arms, without condemnation for what we have done.

I love this story, and I love how the incarcerated women I mentor see themselves in this story too. Is that your story? If you think it is, God wants you to come back. He is waiting patiently for your return. So how do we actually return to God?

The Bible makes it clear that the path begins with honest repentance—a heartfelt turning away from sin and turning toward Him. As Acts 3:19 says, “Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.”

This isn’t just feeling sorry; it’s a deliberate change of direction. Start by confessing your sins to God openly—no excuses, no hiding. He promises in 1 John 1:9 that if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Humble yourself, pray, seek His face, and turn from whatever has pulled you away, as 2 Chronicles 7:14 assures us: God will hear from heaven, forgive, and bring healing and restoration.

Practically, this looks like daily steps of reconnection: Spend time in Scripture to hear His voice again, pray honestly (even if it starts as a simple cry for help), and surround yourself with a supportive faith community that encourages you. Worship Him, not just in songs but in a posture of surrender.

God isn’t distant or angry—He is gracious, compassionate, and slow to anger, as Joel 2:13 describes, “When we return to Him with our whole heart, He doesn’t just forgive; He restores what was lost, refreshes our spirit, and welcomes us home with joy.”

No matter how far you’ve wandered, the Father is standing by, arms open, ready to run to you. That kind of love is worth everything you have to run away from, give up, or let go of in this world.

Be Bold and Brave

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This, is love.

I mentor a lot of women… A lot! Some days I am overwhelmed by the complexity and struggles that women face. From jail ministry, where women have committed unexplainable and despicable crimes. To women who are finding their way as they struggle hopelessly through heavy and challenging circumstances they are navigating.

Yesterday I met with a woman who is living in a messy marriage in the aftermath of her affair. Both parties contributing to the downward cycle after having experimented with polygamy, drugs and witchcraft.

Today, I will be meeting with two girls who are incarcerated. One of them is merely a child. I honestly don’t know what she’s incarcerated for, but she is being held in the mental health unit. As I speak with her, between her random rants, I wonder if she even has the ability to comprehend the truth and revelation of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The majority of the women I meet with are starving for truth and someone brave and bold enough to not only tell them, but explain why it’s truth. They’ve been to psychologists who prescribe medications for anxiety or read self-help books that promise that losing weight, exercise, healthy diet, meditation and mindfulness are the keys to happiness, but never point them to the true source of help and hope.

When I lament on this page about the brokenness of this world it is because I have a front row seat to it. It used to weigh me down, but now it invigorates me that God is using me – inadequate, incompetent, insignificant me – to be bold and brave enough to show them that Jesus loves them so much that he was willing to die for them.

If you’re struggling in a mess of your own (and who isn’t?) I urge you to pick up your Bible and read it today. I always start in the book of John for people who don’t know where to start. Jesus talks the most in the book of John so you get his teaching spoken word for word. It also tells you how to get to heaven, gives incredible examples that models how Jesus lived and you’ll find the life giving truth found in John 3. Everyone should memorize John 3:16.

Thanks for reading this long post. My heart is for all of us navigating the messy stuff of this life to be bold and brave enough to put our trust in Christ and Christ alone.

The Goodness of God’s Testing

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We can find God. He’s everywhere!

“For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭1‬:‭20‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Yet, Job wonders where he is. I love Job and his “humanness”. Who hasn’t wanted to find God to sit down and have a talk with him. We would ask questions like, “Why God…?”

Job also gives us the answer, “When he tests me, I will come out as pure gold.”

Hang in there. Keep the faith. Trust God even when you cannot understand what he is doing or why he is doing it. You will come through it as pure gold… refined, magnificent, invaluable, and shining brighter.

Look What God Can Do

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It was November 2020. Each day the hours of darkness grow while the hours of daylight recede. The house was dark when I sat down in my home office and again when I would shut my computer down for the day. I would make my way to the kitchen around the 5:00 hour to grab an unhealthy, processed, instant food to heat up in the microwave or pizza oven and I would finish the day on my recliner where I would polish off a bottle of wine while staring at another [television] screen to occupy my boredom and exhaust the remaining hours until bedtime. Awakening to a pot of bold caffeinated coffee to do it all over again. Day after day I kept thinking, “This isn’t living”.

The pandemic was doing what any extrovert dreads – isolation, lack of social connectedness, limited variety in activity and repetition. Feeling depression growing ever deeper within me, all I wanted to do was sleep. Sure, I could exercise, but only to, yet, another screen. I could bundle up and get some crisp, fresh, cold November air, but why would I do that? It’s cold, it’s dark.
So what do you do when you feel life draining from you? Out of desire to reverse the dark hole I was finding myself digging day after day, I took a personal assessment and questioned myself, “What do I need right now and where can I find it?”
I need people!
I need physical activity!
I need to stop trying to satisfy the void in my life with wine, unhealthy foods, watching depressing news and binge shopping on Amazon.

My conclusion? Get a second job! So I did. A part-time job in the evenings at Fedex Express!
My husband doubted I could do it because the criteria was having the ability to work in extreme temperatures and lift up to 50 pounds. His doubt was enough for this old farm girl to give it a try and here I am, a little over one year later, in cold, frigid Wisconsin February, with $15,000 less debt, an entirely new circle of friends. Conversely, I feel GREAT, blessed, motivated and proud. I even took off a few pounds. #WINNING!

God is so amazing. He used my discomfort, debt, depression and discouragement and gave me a whole new perspective on life. I can’t tell you how much I now see the world in a whole new way through this experience. First and foremost, I will no longer underestimate how God can use our grim circumstances to plant us right in the middle of somewhere that gives you so much more than you could ever ask or imagine. Secondly, how much we need to appreciate people who do what they do so we can get our products conveniently delivered to our door. Be sure to thank a delivery person!

Another way God amazed me is that He gave me a mission field. I don’t have anything to lose by talking about Jesus at Fedex so as we’re stacking boxes, unloading trucks, loading the big plane or tackling a project together, we get to know one another. I get to hear about their love for video games, pets, kids, cars and music. I learn about some of their dating, family and health challenges and a subject near and dear to my heart, their hurts, habits and hang ups; otherwise known as addictions. I get to pray for them, and I do, daily. My Fedex team has become a very important part of my life and I am seriously dreading the day when God redirects me to somewhere new. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think about leaving, but we’re still waiting for Covid to be declared an endemic so I’m actually very happy to spend my evenings with my new found friends.
The moral to my story is this: I know people are out there whose mental health has taken it’s toll be it from isolation, stress, fear, darkness, boredom, debt. I know that what you are dealing with is very serious and it is real and it is hard. Do a self assessment like I did. What do you need right now and where can you find it? Then pray and ask God to guide you into something, some place, some where, that will lift you up, transform your life and bring fresh perspective to how He can use you, grow you and above all restore you. Maybe it is a second job, maybe it’s a new hobby, activity or volunteer opportunity, but a ministry. Our God works in mysterious ways and there is no question that He knows what we need more than we do.

So let me end with this…

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” Matthew 7:6-8

Seasons of the Year, a Day, our Lives

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“He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” Ecclesiastes 3:11
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

It was a 21 degree day here in Wisconsin, but the dogs needed a walk and after a half a bag of chocolate covered peanuts, so did I. I got bundled up, tucked my air pods in my ears and headed out into my country neighborhood while listening to “Understanding The Times”, Jan Markell’s weekly podcast.

The battery on my phone was low when I left, but the cold temperatures helped it drain completely leaving me alone with the sound of my feet slapping the pavement and the huffing breaths of my dogs.

Being alone with no one to talk to, I started talking to God and it went something like this:

“Hi God. Thank you for this beautiful day. Yes, it’s cold, but the sun is out and that’s awesome. Thanks for that. Hey God, look at your creation? As if you need to look, you know it already – intimately. It’s amazing. You are so detailed! The sky is breath-taking (as usual) and the trees, Lord, seriously, you made these trees! Your handiwork is crazy perfect. So much so, I can’t even grasp it all. But God… everything looks dead. But it’s not is it? The cool thing is, that in a couple of months it will literally spring to life. It will be gorgeous. I love it when you do that, I love it when you bring the death of winter to life in spring. And then, when summer comes it almost feels like your creation is shouting your name, but then fall comes and everything subsides and returns to winter, again. Looks dead, but not dead?!”

Strange.

“Lord, I guess in many ways this is like my day. I wake up in the morning and my eyes are hardly able to focus. Once I shower, put on make up and prepare myself for the day, I emerge a new person. I go about my day fully alive, vibrant, a representative of being created in your image and fully alive. Yet, upon return home I reduce my pace to slow down and I slip into something more comfortable, wash away all that made me look my best and end my day back in bed. Similar to the trees, I am dead (to the world), but I’m not really, I’m just sleeping. Dormant. At rest.”

“Yet, upon further thought, this is like my life. I was born and incapable of doing anything by myself and for myself, but I grew. Even up into my 20’s, then 30’s, and maybe early 40’s, when I was in full bloom. I looked accomplished, my life appeared to be perfect, all I had worked for had paid off and I felt accomplished. By the world’s standards, I was successful. Yet the birthdays kept coming and now I am much older and in a comfortable place. I have a lot of regrets, but the future has hope. I’ve learned from my mistakes and now my life has so much more purpose. I’m fulfilled, somewhat content, peaceful and grateful. I’m not as interested in being “all put together” anymore. I am much more interested and invested in growing my character, building my legacy and making a tangible difference with my life, in whatever time you have planned for me while I remain on this earth; which could be a day, a year or dozens of more years, but I’m not chasing after any one thing anymore, Lord. I’m living! But I am reminded every single day with the body aches, wrinkles and young adult children, that the end is coming.”

“Here’s the thing. To this world, it will appear that I will die and my life will pass away, but I won’t be dead. My soul won’t die! Just like these trees. I may look like my season or my life has expired and my physical body will be cold, unfruitful and void of any evidence of life, but it’s not true – I will be alive! But instead of lying in bed softly breathing, I will be with you, Father, and we will be together in heaven!”

Girlfriends reading this… Do you see that we are all in a season. In my current season, I am feeling a greater sense of urgency to tell more people what I know, what I have learned and how they can be assured of eternal life like I am. I read my bible everyday and I can’t get enough, it truly is life-giving and inspired by God. I splurged today and bought myself the Charles Spurgeon study bible. In it, I read his biography and he was known as “Prince of Preachers” and I am inspired. Inspired to live and lead a life that makes an impact.

I may not have an audience of millions in my lifetime, like he did, and I most certainly haven’t done anything deserving of a legacy that is preserved for over 200 years as his has, but what if there is one? Is there one of you out there who is reading this and wants to know God and have confidence that they aren’t going to die and knowing where they will spend eternity… heaven or hell?

I don’t care what season of life you are in. I wish I would have asked myself more questions and sought more answers in my teens, 20’s and 30’s. But apparently God wanted to give me a heart and a passion FOR you when I am nearly 50. Are you 70, 80 or 90? What’s your story? Are you ready to meet your creator… or not?

If it is you and you are the one that I am writing this for, will you please email me at liveoutloudblog@gmail.com.

You only have eternity to gain. I’m not scary, I promise. I’m just a girl who loves the Lord and believes there are more people out there that want to know him too.

Sarah

The Key to Success

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Secret to Success

Today’s Devotional: Deuteronomy 17

A valuable chapter which deals with the regulations that would control a king. I do have a verse that jumped out at me and inspired this blog today. It’s verse 19, “It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the LORD his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees.”

It is written to instruct a king, but I see application for us. What if we made it personal and read it as, “God’s WORD is to be with YOU, and YOU are to read it all the days of YOUR life so that YOU may learn to revere the LORD your God and follow carefully all the words of His law and these decrees?”

God may have been giving advice to prepare a king for his role as a leader, but I also know that the bible is our source for preparation in our daily lives. When I imagine the roles and responsibilities of a king I think of all the decisions he has to make, the people who are depending on him to lead them and the great responsibility on his shoulders not only in his household, but in his kingdom.

How is that different from our lives? We have decisions to make, we have people who are depending on us to lead them and we have great responsibility on our shoulders in our households and our workplaces, neighborhoods and communities. Should we need God’s Word less than any king of any land?

I think verse 19 has a very important instruction for us and I’m blogging this to help us remain firm in whatever life is throwing at us right now. You’ll find what you need in His Word and He is all we need. That may sound cliche, but I’m not intending it to be. Read, pray, meditate on his word daily. God sums it up perfectly in Joshua 1:8, “Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.”