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![Why Should I Choose a Word of the Year… [in 2024]](https://rachelwrains.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/47107FF7-42B3-4A6E-9818-FDBB276C8A28.png)
“The seeds of death are at work in us, but LOVE is stronger than death. Your death and mine are our final passage, our exodus to the full realization of our identity as God’s beloved children and to full communion with the God of Love. Jesus walked the path ahead of us to choose the…
![Surrendering Your Dreams… [and the Dream-Maker].](https://rachelwrains.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/7F552247-2DE2-4B5A-9DDB-26ED39C15E9E.png)
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…
![Surrendering to God… [Word of the Year 2023]](https://rachelwrains.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/05A9A94E-B97B-4419-B8CF-6A150667B78F.jpeg)
To be honest, my word of the year scares me–quite literally! It feels way too large, untidy, and full of the unknown. I’m not sure where its going… And maybe that is exactly the point!? I’m not supposed to know. I caught a nasty cold the Sunday after thanksgiving–and it never went away! While still…
![Lessons in Becoming [how to become all that God created us to be]…](https://rachelwrains.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/5C91D790-8AD6-47BF-BFA9-B1514202A9A9.jpeg)
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…
Days later and I am still in recovery mode from our little excursion in south Texas… The heat way down south in San Antone was excruciating. We’re still scratching our heads, wondering if we had a good time!? 😂 Similar, the heat on the OK/TX border this summer has truly been unbearable. More than once…
![What is My Calling [or Purpose] in This Life?](https://rachelwrains.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/80FC11C8-7F12-41FF-A76A-F347AF77257F.png)
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,…
![I Am From poem… [Finding Hope and Healing]](https://rachelwrains.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/0191D615-E662-4543-AB5D-8533679CD733.jpeg)
I am from Gospel sounds. From Sunday dinners made from scratch. I am from parents who tried as best they could, but also lost their way. I am from magnolias tall whose beckoning branches encouraged me skywards—always. I am from hand-me-down dresses and scrapbooks full of girlhood achievements. From Jack and from Nellie. From as…
![Godly Mamas and Good Water… [one year later]](https://rachelwrains.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/CAE93EFB-3332-4651-9FD9-F2F5993AFF1E-1024x1024-1.jpeg)
It was the Clifford women who gathered early that second morning to sing as we waited the arrival of others. Her favorite hymn was Rock of Ages. Mama knew (and sang) every word of each stanza. She likely played it on the piano thousands of times over her lifetime. “While I draw this fleeting breath,…
![Being Equipped and Finding DELIGHT… [in the journey].](https://rachelwrains.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/3F96D7C6-E8A8-492A-9E3E-37451C9640FB-1019x1024-1.jpeg)
I’ve been working long days on a passion project with a hard deadline… So, one day last week when I skipped my usual, extended-play version of Bible study due to time constraints, I felt comfortable with the shortened edition. Because my heart longed, instead, to be in the Word. Truthfully, I’ve grown to LOVE this…