The Best Kind of Friend… [and God’s Purpose in Suffering.]
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The Best Kind of Friend… [and God’s Purpose in Suffering.]

The best kind of friend is a praying friend. It’s no secret 2024 has been a hard year for the Rains’ household. Little by little, I’ve pulled back the curtains in this season of life and let friends in…  I might’ve overshared a time or two. But the reality is when we share our “stuff,”…

10 Years Ago…. [Looking Back and Pressing Onward]
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10 Years Ago…. [Looking Back and Pressing Onward]

10 years ago this summer, two incredible things happened…   A New Calling… “See I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up, do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” – Isaiah 43:19 10 years ago this summer, at the height of the Ice Bucket…

Trusting God’s Goodness [in the Darkness]
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Trusting God’s Goodness [in the Darkness]

If We’re Being Honest Neither the church nor our broken world needs more SHINY PEOPLE who hide behind the veneer of an audible “fine.” The world needs more Christians willing to process and wrestle publicly. Because when we are honest about the world’s brokenness and our struggles within it, we underscore the futility of our…

Surrendering Your Dreams… [and the Dream-Maker].
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Surrendering Your Dreams… [and the Dream-Maker].

Right now I’m livin’ the DREAM I dared to pray for… Does it look exactly like I thought? Uh, no. Does that make it easy? An emphatic, no. But does it ever!? So, humbly I must SURRENDER this new season of unrealized dreams-—to the Maker of my dreams, again and again. The Great Adventure In…

Lessons in Becoming [how to become all that God created us to be]…
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Lessons in Becoming [how to become all that God created us to be]…

You would never know by looking, but this young woman [circa ‘97] is “in between” life seasons. And in less than two years, she will land in Nashville to carve a life. A dream she didn’t know “to dream” for herself as a young girl. But a life, God was calling her to—nonetheless.  As we…

What is My Calling [or Purpose] in This Life?
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What is My Calling [or Purpose] in This Life?

Calling was central in my life as a young adult. I instinctively understood what “was” and “wasn’t” my calling. As strange as it may sound, I distinctly felt “called” to be a Christian in a secular industry. Turns out, the life God was calling me into, eventually, led me to Nashville. A life, no doubt,…