We know we won’t be perfect in this lifetime… For those who struggle with perfectionism in their relationship with God, Faith Chang has words of rest and relief born of her own wrestling with the desire to be holy. Today, she addresses, in particular, the sense that because of our imperfections, God at best just tolerates us. May you feel God’s welcome as you join us at the farm table today... Guest Post by Faith Chang As I write, an art print—housed in a double-glass, golden frame—rests on my desk. At the center of the piece is a small illustration, drawn in black ink. A path winds through fa ..read more

Ruth’s walk with Jesus is the real deal and she’s one of my most cherished friends, a deep well of wisdom. Her articulation of the tension we all live in—between where we are and where we long to be—resonates so deeply with my own experience. It’s my true joy to welcome my dear sister, Ruth, to the farm’s table today… Guest Post by Ruth Chou Simons I recently saw an old photograph of me from college. “Even when our lives are full, we feel as if we’re missing something, and we go searching for more. “ My hair was short—a pixie cut, they called it. I knew that look by another name. It was ..read more

“In one sentence, what does it come down to — what is the one most important thing for people to know?” The Romanian journalist leaned forward, asking me the question at the end of an hour long interview on live radio broadcasting across a country that was under rigid and oppressive Communist regime still in our recent life times.  What I don’t feel was rushed or hurried, only this palpable, certain, steadying peace. What matters can take its own time.  I looked down at the floor, as if I could find the weighty answer laying there somewhere at my feet — how in the world to know the ..read more

Weeks after her twenty-sixth birthday, Katherine Wolf suffered a catastrophic brainstem stroke that should have killed her. But she survived, although her life, her body, and her soul would never be the same. Today, she and her husband Jay are using their second-chance lives to find treasures hidden in the darkness of their pain, and inviting others to do the same. As an advocate, speaker, author, and mother navigating the world with both significant disabilities and significant joy, Katherine is the living, breathing embodiment of fully embracing a good/hard life. It’s an absolute joy to welc ..read more

Maybe when your first real introduction to Jesus is through a dream, you should expect life to take an unexpected turn. Tessa Afshar, who was born in a nominally Muslim family in the Middle East, ended up being a best-selling author of Christian books. In today’s reflection, she writes about her battle with anxiety and how she learned an important lesson from Esther.  It’s a joy to welcome Tessa to the farm’s table today… Guest Post by Tessa Afshar I pressed myself beyond my endurance until, finally, I experienced a terrifying burnout. For a whole month, I could not work, or pray, o ..read more

It was on Holy Week Thursday, Maundy Thursday, maundatam Thursday, that the betrayed Jesus gave His people all a new mandate, that command of the Last Supper: “As I have loved you, so you must love one another. A new command I give you: Love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34–35) Only those who love, are sent by Christ.  Without love — Christ didn’t send you. But it’s painful to tenderly realize that, too often, the way we actually live that? You’d think it was some flimsy, take-it-or-leave-it suggestion. You’d thin ..read more

Author Craig Allen Cooper is no stranger to disillusionment, discouragement, and despair. Frequently rolled by the waves in his own life, Craig has dug deep for decades into the well of God’s tender mercy for comfort, encouragement, and strength. Out of the depths of his own personal devotions, comes the conviction that God wants His children to be more aware of His faithfulness than they are of their own faults, failures, and frailties. An encourager at heart, the heart of God beats hard through His words, and it’s a joy to welcome Craig to the farm’s table today… Guest Post by Craig Allen Co ..read more

Just after a winter sun rose scarlet across snow white fields, I find a curled newborn lamb shivering, still freshly wet, in the corner of the chilled tiny barn.  The narrow way is the only way to life.   Sometime in the still dark of the  early dawn hours, she’d made her way down the dark and narrowest of passageways – the birth canal – and slipped out into this cold world and she trembles.  Since the beginning of time, ours births down the narrow canal testifies to the larger, cosmic truth:  The narrow way is the only way to life.   In the days just ..read more

To answer the question so many of us ask, “What is my purpose?” Dr. Naomi Cramer Overton looks to the Bible to see what we can learn from people who God works through greatly. She lives to realize beauty-filled visions that lift us to flourishing, and through ministry leadership, academic research, and writing, Naomi has helped more than a million people get into God’s story and discover their own. It is a joy to welcome Naomi to the farm’s table today… Guest Post by Dr. Naomi Cramer Overton I’ll let you in on a fear of mine. And it isn’t public speaking, but you might call it public sink ..read more

I went down to the river to pray. And that may sound like living some highfalutin old time spiritual, when in reality the river at the back of the farm runs through an abandoned old gravel pit with piles of crushed rock and overgrown weeds and more than a boulder or two.  When I’m sitting there on the edge of the woods, on the edge of an old pit – the metaphor of it all is not lost on me – there, at the water’s edge, I can see how the river keeps coming, how hope and goodness and God keeps coming, right through the rocky rubble of what was.  Repentance is part of the refining work o ..read more