Robin
Mandy
Stephanie Chalk Senior
Peter
Laura
Sope Aluko
Father James Martin
Honoring the Life of Sarah Young
Fall into a Season
of Gratitude with Jesus Calling Books!
Sarah Young posthumously received the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA) Pinnacle Award, which is presented in special recognition of the outstanding contribution by an author for their body of work to the industry, church, and society at large.
The ECPA celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2024, and Sarah is only the eighth author to receive this esteemed honor—preceded by Jerry Jenkins and Tim LaHaye, Philip Yancey, Timothy Keller, Max Lucado, Stormie Omartian, and Dr. Gary Chapman.
Laura Minchew, senior vice president and group publisher at HarperCollins Christian Publishing, shared her reflections on Sarah’s deeply spiritual work—and the 46 million lives the author has changed through her writings—in a touching speech:
Sometimes we get to walk and we get to work on holy ground. I’ve had the honor of friendship with authors who have helped to welcome people into the kingdom of God. For almost twenty years, I had the extreme privilege of having a front row seat of watching millions of people changed through the writings of my friend Sarah Young. Rarely did a week pass where someone didn’t say ‘That’s exactly what I needed to hear, exactly when I needed to hear it.’ Sarah’s writings helped people through loneliness and addiction and fear and pain. The truth from God’s Word shone through her writing, and it brought quite a few people to Jesus. Minchew also reflected on what Sarah saw as her privilege and responsibility—to set aside time in prayer each morning for her readers, even when her health was failing. To this day, Sarah’s works have been translated into fifty languages, pointing people from all walks of life to Jesus. Her books are not simply a collection of words on paper—they are powerful tools for guiding individuals toward a deeper relationship with God.
During the award presentation, a video was played in honor of Sarah, sharing Jesus Calling testimonies from people like country music superstar Reba McEntire, iconic TV personality Kathie Lee Gifford, Christian singer/songwriter Amy Grant, author and pastor Max Lucado, and writer and speaker Glo Atanmo. “Sarah Young is a phenomenal person who’s had an incredible impact on people all over the world,” pastor Dr. David Jeremiah said in the video. “People resonate with the gut-level honesty that comes from her words, and her genuineness in expressing her walk with the Lord and how God has worked in her life.”
Steve Young, Sarah’s beloved husband and partner in mission ministry across the globe for many years, accepted the award on her behalf.
Jesus Listens
Jesus Calling Commemorative Edition
Jesus Calling Brave Bible Prayers
Jesus Calling
Scan this QR code to watch a video honoring Sarah at the ECPA Awards.
Jeff Crosby (ECPA) and Laura Minchew present award to Stephen Young
by Scott Mason
FOUR-TIME-GRAMMY-NOMINATED R&B and gospel legend Candi Staton has always created music that directly reflects what she’s faced in her life no matter how vulnerable the topic: an absent father, an abusive marriage, and a battle with alcoholism. Ultimately, it was music—along with a deep, abiding faith—that helped her build a bridge to God.
In 1940 Candi was born in Hanceville, Alabama, about thirty miles north of Birmingham. Her family was loving and resourceful, and they worked together to survive, all while dealing with her father’s addiction issues. “My mother would make our dresses out of flour sack material,” Candi remembers. “We couldn’t afford shoes, so we had to stay home from school and sometimes from church on Easter Sunday, when everybody else was dressed up. My father would receive money from working in the cotton fields, and spend it on alcohol or gamble it away. And deep down inside, I needed more. I wanted more. I knew there were some better things on Earth.”
Candi and her sister would pray together that someday they could move away. They wanted out of the tumultuous house. And when their older brother moved to Ohio, the girls finally had a place to go that took them out of their toxic environment.
After a long Greyhound bus ride, the sisters arrived in Ohio, where their sister-in-law later introduced them to her church. His Holiness Church was a large congregation with a band that included a five-piece rhythm section and created some of the most beautiful music Candi had ever heard.
“
When I sing, I sing from my heart.
It wasn’t long before Candi’s sister-in-law discovered the girls shared the joy of singing. Soon after, she introduced them to the bishop, saying, “These little girls can sing.” The Stanton sisters began to sing with the very band they loved to listen to when they first arrived at church.
Candi and her sister were then given an opportunity to attend school in Nashville. It wasn’t
long before they met another singer named Naomi, and the Jewel Gospel Trio, along with a new gospel music career, was born.
As Candi tells it, “We got real famous. We didn’t go there to be the stars of the show, we were just three little girls who could sing.” But the reality was they were meeting huge and rising stars at the time: Sam Cooke, Lou Rawls, The Staple Sisters, and Aretha Franklin, to name a few.
Candi was a natural. She explains how the gift of music manifested itself in her singing. “The passion that I have for music, the sincerity—when I sing, I sing from my heart, not because I know a song. I put everything in that song as if I were singing it for the first time. I listen to my words as they come out of my mouth. I listen to them, and I refer to them, and I see pictures of things that I’ve gone through.”
One of the songs that is most special to her is the disco classic “Young Hearts Run Free,” which was written for her based on her experience with an abusive husband. The chorus starts with the lyric, “Young hearts, to yourself be true. Don’t be no fool when love really don’t love you.” Like a personal anthem of strength, Candi feels deeply connected to this song and many others. As for the marriage, Candi was able to break free of yet another toxic relationship, just as
she had left so many years ago from the environment her father created.
As Candi’s star began to rise, she signed with Capitol Records, and the label launched a milliondollar marketing campaign to promote her name. As Candi began traveling to major cities and touring over multiple months, the pressure to keep it all going began to take hold. “I started drinking,” she confesses. “And I realized one day that I was hooked. Before I ever went on stage, to not be nervous, I always had a drink. And then I realized I couldn’t stop.”
The trauma Candi had experienced in her youth was still finding a way to manifest in her life. For the next thirteen years, Candi struggled with alcohol— so much so that, by year thirteen, her kidneys were failing and she was taking antibiotics to help her body to function.
One Sunday afternoon, she realized enough was enough. It was time to quit. “God was calling me: ’Come onto Me, all who are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.’” She remembers sitting on a rock by a lake and crying out, “God, I want to be as solid as this rock. Can You make me as solid as this rock?”
After a few days of fasting and praying, Candi was amazed to discover the desire to drink was taken from her. To this very day, she has never taken another drink. And now, after she’s put more than thirty albums into the world and traveled the globe sharing lyrics filled with power and hope, her faith is just as solid as that rock.
“
God has got your back.
“Difficult times always come,” Candi says, “and you just trust God. He knows the ending from the beginning, and the beginning from the ending. He’s already been there. He’s already paved the way out. And if you keep those kinds of things in mind, knowing that God has got your back and He’s going to lead you into the path of righteousness for His namesake, you can make it through anything.”
Check out Candi’s music wherever you stream or buy music.
Adapted for print from the Jesus Calling Podcast. Scan this code to hear more of Candi’s story!
Candi performs with Kirk Franklin, Gladys Knight, Patti LaBelle, and Lou Rawls
A Life in Letters
Writer John Sowers’ Grandmother Inspired His Love for Writing
by Scott Mason
GROWING UP IN ARKANSAS , John Sowers always had an appreciation for the power of words. Though he had other interests as a boy growing up in the country, including hunting, fishing, and sports, it became clear that his talents would revolve around the written word.
After losing his mother at a young age, his grandmother took up the mantle of raising John herself. When John moved away to college, she would
fill up a card-sized Monet print with a letter each week. “She would talk about how she’s praying for me, and she’s proud of me and she loves me,” John remembers. “My grandmother found a way to show up in my life through letters. Every Tuesday I would rush to the P.O. box, and that letter would literally be the highlight of my week. It was transformative in my life.”
That fuel kept John going through his studies.
Eventually he earned a master’s of divinity, then a doctorate at Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary. Now equipped with an education and the heart of a pastor, John used his connections to writers to help kids like him who grew up without a father. Partnering with author Donald Miller, he founded The Mentoring Project, an organization with a mission to help every kid have a mentor, as his grandmother once was for him. His efforts were recognized by the White House in 2012 when he was given the President’s Champion of Change Award.
When the world shut down in 2020, John found himself with a bit more time on his hands. As the world worried about the deadly pandemic, he began to think about his three daughters and what would happen to them if something happened to him. He began to think about what wisdom he might be able to pass along to his daughters if he could—all the things he had left unspoken up to that point.
wrote, John found himself in moments of despair, wishing he had his own mentors around him—his mother, his grandmother. “But a dear friend of mine reminded me to remember all of the love my mom gave me and how that helped shape the man I am today. This was an incredible piece of advice that helped me when I needed it most.”
Connecting with the wisdom of his elders, holding their words in his hand and heart—that’s provided a lot of comfort to John. He finds the same kind of solace in God, and in resources like Jesus Listens. In particular he enjoys this reading from the December 14 entry of the devotional:
Your amazing Love is sacrificial, unfailing, priceless, and boundless—reaching to the heavens. It shines so brightly that it can carry me through all my days, even the darkest ones.
“I think it’s a real temptation for us to wake up, open Facebook, wake up, open Instagram, start scrolling, and to miss that daily connection with God,” John says, “to miss that magical moment in the morning when we can wake up and we can connect.”
And that connection to God, to his daughters, to his mother and grandmother—it all tethers him to hope that keeps him going every single day.
If I had forty letters to write to my daughters, what would I say? John thought.
Words about bravery, wonder, beauty, kindness, romance, and God’s patient love began to spill onto his keyboard and eventually became a book called Say All the Unspoken Things. The project, born in the midst of a year filled with pain and loss and death, was bittersweet. As he
Adapted for print from the Jesus Calling Podcast. Scan the code to hear more of John’s story!
You can find John’s book Say All the Unspoken Things at your favorite book retailer.
John and his three daughters
TERRY BRADSHAW
Every Shadow Has a Gift
by Michael Overholt
Television personalities have a way of capturing us like no one else, perhaps because we invite them into our living rooms, into our rituals—and into our lives. For many, watching sports is a way to signal we can set aside work for the moment, and cheer on those living our childhood dreams of “making it big.” As they show up in our living rooms each week, the athletes on our screens become just as much part of our families as the people who report on them.
And when an athlete becomes a beloved broadcaster, like FOX NFL Sunday broadcaster and Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Terry Bradshaw? They hold a double-share of our hearts.
So it was jarring to hear the normally light and jovial Bradshaw make a health announcement in 2022: earlier in the year, he’d been diagnosed with bladder cancer, but after months of treatment at Yale Medial Center, he was cancer-free.
The statement brought a simultaneous shock— and relief—to his countless fans. But it wasn’t to be the end of the story.
Terry explains, “In March of the following year, I was feeling good, but I had a bad neck. I get an MRI, and we found a tumor in my left neck. And it's a Merkel cell tumor, which is a rare form of skin cancer.”
Before he was diagnosed, Bradshaw had never heard of Merkel cell carcinoma, one of the most aggressive and deadliest forms of skin cancer that develops on or just beneath the skin and can quickly spread to other parts of the body. But if his matterof-fact attitude says anything, it’s simply that this diagnosis was just another daunting challenge in a life already filled with them.
And they began at a young age.
Growing up in Shreveport, Louisiana, Terry didn’t exactly excel at academics. Reflecting on his early years, he once shared, “I was a horrible student. I don’t know how I got out of the first grade. The first day of first grade, I got my hand spanked because the teacher had said, ‘Don’t lean on your chair, because you'll slip and you’ll get hurt.’ Sure enough, man— slip. I hit the floor, and she’s looking at her list: ‘Terry Bradshaw.’ First day, not a good day.”
But this didn’t keep him from seeing that he loved learning, even if he didn’t feel particularly great at it.
“I liked things like coloring, reading. I liked recess. I'll tell you, I love to learn. Learning fascinates me. I had a hard time remembering stuff. I’d read it, read it, and read it, and I would always drift, you know?"
Terry with the FOX NFL Sunday cast
He’d later discover he had Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), which explained his difficulties with focus and memory retention, of course, but it was years before the world knew about ADD, its symptoms, challenges, and treatment.
ADD continued to pose a problem when it came time for college, where his poor academic performance almost derailed his football career. Bradshaw recalls, “I did horrible on the ACT test. I took it twice. So that was embarrassing. I couldn’t go to a major school, Notre Dame, Yale—they were off the table. I had signed with LSU, but I couldn’t get in because I didn’t have the grades.”
He ended up going to Louisiana Tech, where he began as a second-string quarterback behind a certain Phil “Roxie” Robertson, who would later become famous for inventing the Duck Commander duck call and being the patriarch on the A&E series Duck Dynasty.
When Robertson left at the end of the 1967 season—apparently saying, “I’m going for the ducks, you [Terry] can go for the bucks”—Bradshaw became the starter.
As far as football is concerned, Bradshaw became one of the most legendary quarterbacks in the sport. His talent on the football field was undeniable, as Terry led his team to winning four Super Bowl titles with the Pittsburgh Steelers and earned a place in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
But success came at a price.
By the end of his career, Bradshaw had sustained at least six concussions. Each hit took a toll, leading to long-term effects of anxiety and depression that he still battles today.
“I suffer from frustrating memory problems and emotional struggles because of those head injuries,” he admits. “The most frustrating symptom for me is short-term memory loss.” He advocates for better protection against brain injuries in the NFL, urging players to prioritize their health over the game.
Bradshaw has always aimed to move forward with resilience and faith, whether the challenge concerns his academics, play, or health.
After the recent diagnosis and treatment for bladder cancer, and then the double whammy of the Merkel cell skin cancer and an even more intense
Terry at home iwth his wife, Tammy and daughters
treatment, Terry began to believe that miracles can and do happen. He names his wife Tammy as one of those miracles, as she encouraged him to get checked out even after he had been cleared of cancer.
“
I’m so thankful that prayer is real, prayer is powerful.
“Without her I wouldn’t have done an MRI. And then this thing would have been Stage III or IV, and heaven knows what would have happened. So I’m thankful to her for that. I’d probably be a dead man, because I would not go to a doctor. No way.”
Bradshaw has also marveled about the effect prayer has had on his life, and has learned that God can handle our honesty when we have questions, or even when we’re angry—and we can strike up conversation with Him at any time during our day.
“I’m a big ‘as I’m doing stuff’ prayer guy. I’m walking around and I just think, 'Hey, Lord, this is a beautiful day.’ And you know what I discovered
the other day? It’s okay to argue with God. Man, that’s been like a relief. I’m so thankful that prayer is real, prayer is powerful. I believe in it. I’ve seen the miracles from prayer.”
TERRY’S PRAYER FOR SARAH YOUNG , author of Jesus Calling
EDITOR’S NOTE: When we interviewed Terry for this article and for the Jesus Calling: Stories of Faith TV show, Sarah Young was at the beginning of her cancer battle. Terry wanted to send some encouraging words her way via video. Sarah was delighted to receive his message, which meant so much to her as she was undergoing her treatments.
“I understand you have blood cancer, and you’re going through chemo treatment. We’re praying for you and we trust God for what He’s going to do in your life. When people said, ‘Terry, you’ve had all these cancers, weren’t you scared of dying?’ And I got to thinking, it’s kind of cool either way, because if I die, I’m going to heaven. I just wanted you to know, we’ve got you in our prayers. God bless.”
Adapted for print from the Jesus Calling Podcast. Scan this code to hear more of Terry’s story!
Terry and family at his Hollywood Walk of Fame Star
Kelly Lang Discovers the Staying Power of God, Friends, and Family
by Cynthia Stuckey
FEW PEOPLE WOULD VIEW an unexpected cancer diagnosis as a strength-testing gift. But for Kelly Lang, a talented singer and songwriter, cancer became the turning point that allowed her to view her life through lenses of beauty and gratitude—something that she didn’t think was possible in the wake of a frightening diagnosis.
Kelly’s talent for songwriting has earned her album cuts by artists such as the Oak Ridge Boys and Jerry Lee Lewis. Kelly has also shared a stage with notable musicians like Barry Gibb, Olivia Newton-John, and Lee Greenwood. But at thirty-six years old, the single mother of two found her world turned upside down when she discovered she had breast cancer.
At the word cancer, Kelly’s first response was disbelief. “My world just stopped. I went into denial because I thought, I don’t have time for this My career was starting back up and I was traveling. I simply went through the mindset of, God, I don’t know what this is about, but I know You’re going to get me through this.”
Kelly’s friends began to circle around her with reminders of care as she faced physical illness coupled with emotional distress. Her then-boyfriend (now-husband) T.G. was one such tangible comforting presence in her time of suffering. Kelly expected T.G. to exit when she became truly sick and, in her own eyes, less attractive. Still, her soonto-be husband’s response paved the way for trust and a loving future together as he stated, “Kelly, you are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. I will never leave you. I’m not going anywhere.” The healing message meant so much to Kelly that she wrote a song based on his words called “I’m Not Going Anywhere,” which has since brought comfort to many facing similar issues.
Beyond the new depths of love from the people around her, Kelly’s health journey led to a renewed appreciation of things she had long taken for granted—close friendships, the sun streaming through her window each morning, and her deepened awareness of God’s goodness, to name a few. “I see God in everything now,” she says. “I share my deepest thoughts with Him, and I see His glory in details like nature, red birds, dragonflies, and even songs that play on the radio. I sense Him ever so much deeper in my everyday walk of life.”
Seeing God in the everyday moments has not only led Kelly to her own gratitude-awakening, but to a complete overhaul of how she views life post-diagnosis. “I survived with an attitude of gratitude and looking at things positively. Like, Okay, I’ve got breast cancer, but at least I’m here. Just grasping at every little detail as the people I surrounded myself with taught me that you could choose to live in a dark place or you could choose to live in a lighter place.”
To learn more about Kelly, check out her new song, “I Think It’s Jesus,” wherever you get your music.
for
Scan this code to hear more of Kelly’s story!
Adapted
print from the Jesus Calling Podcast
FROM RED CARPETS TO REALLIFE CHALLENGES
Actress Sope Aluko’s Search for Fulfillment
by Michael Overholt
NO ONE ASKS FOR A SEASON filled with grief. But we serve a God who builds up broken things. And sometimes, a great loss brings us a change in direction we never would’ve imagined for ourselves.
“The pivotal moment of my life,” says actress Sope Aluko, “was when I lost my parents. I first lost my father in April of 2006, after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease. And immediately after burying him, my mother was diagnosed with Stage IV cancer. I ended up being her caregiver for about two and a half years until she passed away in 2009.”
“Pivotal moment” needs some unpacking.
For Sope Aluko, losing her parents back to back plunged her into a deep depression, exacerbating a struggle she had faced for much of her life.
Despite checking off all the conventional milestones, Sope felt an emptiness that her professional and personal achievements couldn’t fill. And that emptiness wasn’t going away.
that Sope’s depression stemmed not just from her personal losses, but also from living a life that didn’t resonate with her true passions.
Driven by a desire to find meaning and spiritual nourishment both personally and professionally, Sope turned to . . . acting.
“
Whenever you’re doing a role or a character that God has destined for you, He gives you the right tools and the right spirit to embody that role.
“I kept on asking myself, ‘Okay, you’ve done everything. Education? Check. Lucrative corporate career? Check. Marriage? Check. Kids? Check.’ And I just said, ‘Well, I want to do something for myself. I want to feed my soul.’ And I was having those earnest conversations with God. And I was like, Lord, I've done everything I was meant to have done. So can I just try?’”
Her corporate career was financially rewarding, but it lacked the fulfillment and purpose she desperately sought. The daily grind and the pressures of her job deepened her dissatisfaction, which meant
Acting was not a spur-of-the-moment response to personal loss but a long-held dream she had never fully pursued. But pivoting to acting meant she had to start her career from scratch. She began by taking on small roles and learning everything she could about a career in entertainment.
“I started as an extra. I wanted to learn everything about the business. Humility was my thing.”
Not going into the business with “any airs and graces” demanded massive investments from Aluko. She used all of her financial resources available to train and hone her craft. Every opportunity she received was met with prayer and a desire for roles that resonated deeply with her.
“I dropped travel, trained wherever I needed to train. But these roles that I booked, every single time I would pray to God, ‘Lord, let it be a role that really speaks to me.’” Acting allowed her to live in different characters and roles, filling the emptiness she often felt. “I’m a fairly shy person unless I get to know you—you get to live in these characters, these roles, and they fill me when I’m empty.”
Sope’s faith played a crucial role in her journey. She described her experiences in acting as a “Holy Spirit experience.”
“I just believe that whenever you’re doing a role or a character that God has destined for you, He gives you the right tools and the right spirit to embody that role in the fullness that it needs to be embodied for whoever needs to see it,” she explains.
The roles that have touched her most are those
Sope and her family
where she could give a voice to the voiceless. Sope has found profound fulfillment in being a vessel for God to speak through her performances, reaching people who could see themselves on screen and feel understood. She loves knowing that the people she portrays, as she says, “can see themselves on screen and go, ‘Oh, okay, so there is something there, I’m not just going crazy.’”
All actors hope for their breakout role. For Marlon Brando it was A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), for Meryl Streep The Deer Hunter (1978), and for Julia Roberts Mystic Pizza (1988). Sope’s breakthrough came when she landed a role in Marvel’s smash superhero success Black Panther (2018). This opportunity marked a significant milestone in her career, allowing her to work with world-class actors like Angela Bassett, Forest Whitaker, and the late Chadwick Boseman. Landing a spot on the Black Panther call sheet was a testament to her faith and perseverance, showing that stepping out in faith and using the resources she had could lead to the fulfillment she longed for.
“Sometimes I have to pinch myself and I think, ‘Wow, really?’” she says, marveling at her success.
Sope’s journey from an unsatisfied corporate career to a fulfilling acting career is a powerful example of someone who valued the pursuit of a passion that aligned with her faith. To get there, she learned resilience, demonstrating that even in the face of great loss and personal struggle, it is possible to find a path that resonates deeply with the soul.
Adapted for print from the Jesus Calling Podcast. Scan this code to hear more of Sope’s story!
SOPE ON SET, FROM TOP: Law & Order: SVU, Identity Thief, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and VO work in the studio
THE TRANSFORMATIVE POWER OF A SIMPLE SONG
Rend Collective’s Ali Gilkeson
by John Furr
ALI
GILKESON,
A
SPIRITED MUSICIAN
from Northern Ireland, has spent the past fourteen years as an integral member of Rend Collective, a band known for its infectious energy and heartfelt worship music. Her journey to bring the joy of worship to the masses began amid the backdrop of Northern Ireland’s conflict The Troubles, where daily life involved car searches for bombs and the sight of armed guards. The experience stayed with Ali and, with her community and through music, gave her a determination to spread moments of happiness for those around her.
Walking into a Rend Collective gathering during its early days wasn’t a typical music concert experience. “We didn’t even have chairs in the hall,” Ali explains. “People sat on the floor, and we brought lamps in and sang along to different music. All we cared about was connecting with God and connecting with each other in a real, authentic ways.”
Rend Collective continues the vision of bringing people together for true connection. Appealing to young adults in their twenties and thirties, they’ve provided a space for those navigating the complexities of early adulthood, career beginnings, and new city moves.
As the movement has grown, so has the group’s desire to create music that speaks directly to their community’s experiences. Rend Collective’s songs emerged as prayers and cries for help, designed to provide solace and connection in times of struggle. This focus on authenticity and heartfelt worship struck a chord with many, leading the band to tour across Ireland, the UK, and eventually Europe.
While praying about the possibility of touring America, they received an unexpected email from
worship leader Chris Tomlin, inviting them to join his national tour. This opportunity catapulted Rend Collective into the spotlight, significantly expanding their reach.
One of Rend Collective’s most beloved songs, “My Lighthouse,” resonated powerfully with audiences. Unexpectedly, the song seemed to encompass the heart’s cry of so many, expanding their listenership beyond the twenty-something crowd, and giving encouragement to those dealing with fear and doubt.
My Lighthouse, my lighthouse, Shining in the darkness, I will follow You.
My Lighthouse, my lighthouse, I will trust the promise, You will carry me safe to shore.
FROM “MY LIGHTHOUSE” SONGWRITERS: CHRIS LLEWELLYN / GARETH GILKESON, CAPITOL CMG PUBLISHING
Ali believes that true worship isn’t about the complexity of the music but the state of one’s heart. For her, the most profound worship experiences often come from the simplest songs. “Sometimes you can have the most authentic worship experience while singing the same simple line over and over again. I am reminded of who God says I am and what I proclaim about Him, and finding the moments to be thankful for what we have, thankful for who we are even in the hardest circumstances.”
You can find Rend Collective’s music on your favorite platform. And check out Ali’s new children’s book, My Lighthouse, at your favorite retailer.
Adapted for print from the Jesus Calling Podcast. Scan this code to hear more of Ali Gilkeson’s story!
PLANNED AND UNPLANNED
ENDINGS & BEGINNINGS
Navigating Life’s Next Big Steps
by Emily P. Freeman
From her desk in North Carolina, Emily P. Freeman—a renowned spiritual director, author, and host of The Next Right Thing Podcast—dedicates her work to guiding people through life’s transitions. In her view, change is an integral part of our existence, filled with both uncertainty and opportunity. Here, she lends practical advice on how to identify when it may be time to leave a space, and how to find peace in the midst of a hard change.
There have been many crossroads in my life. I think we can all remember times we’ve had a decision to make: whether it was time to leave and try something new, or to stay where we were. And I’ve done both.
This idea of life being like a house is really helpful for me, that our various commitments and communities we’re part of are like “rooms.” They could be physical rooms, like a classroom. It could be your local gym or a faith community. A room could also be an ideology, like a political belief, a faith belief, or something you’ve always thought of a certain way.
Part of our healthy human rhythm is leaving rooms and finding new ones. Some of our endings are planned for, like graduations and weddings. Sometimes they’re sad endings, like funerals or goodbyes. But I think the rooms I have left that have been the most difficult are ones where a decision could’ve gone either way.
“
Part of our healthy human rhythm is leaving rooms and finding new ones.
There are some questions we can ask to help us know, Is now the right time to leave?
Ask yourself, What are the parts of this room I’m avoiding? In other words, where are you hesitant to turn on the lights? Do you find yourself making excuses? Are you defending certain aspects of this room to yourself or to other people? How often are you doing that?
Another question to ask yourself is, What is good and beautiful here? Because the rooms we’re questioning may have parts that we love. That’s why this decision is difficult. Name and know those parts as well.
If the time comes when you discern, Okay, it’s time to walk away, there is a human tendency to leave and only highlight the terrible things about that space. To say, “Well, I’m leaving, and here’s all the reasons why.” But in reality, there is both beautiful and terrible in every space. So if we decide to walk away, I think it’s good to do it with our eyes open not just at the hesitations, but also to the gifts, so that we’re having a truer experience of not only the room, but also our leaving of it.
If someone asks us, “What do you want more than anything else?” I think a lot of us would say, “If I could just have peace about my decisions, about where my kids are, about my faith community, about these rooms I’m questioning . . . I’m just looking for peace.” I think that’s God’s desire for us, too. But my question would be, what is your definition of peace? For some of us, peace is when we feel a sense of calm and safety, that there’s a lack of chaos. But in reality, sometimes doing the deeply right thing can bring a lot of discomfort, especially when you start to turn on the lights of a room you’ve been in for a really long time, and your way of staying in that room was avoiding some stuff. I think our bodies tell us that’s a bad thing and you’re in danger. But discomfort is not the same as danger.
True peace is not the absence of discomfort or conflict; it is an inner knowing that, Even though chaos may be all around me, I can still be aligned with what I know and who I am. I can live in congruence with my own core values, with the common good, with my life and God. I think when we get quiet, and listen to our lives as best we can in the presence of God, I think we know what inner peace feels like.
And you know what? Even if I make a move in a direction that turns out terrible and I learn something from it, God is still with me. And in that move, I am becoming someone. Because what is infinitely more important than the decision that I make, ultimately, is the person who I am becoming as I make my decisions.
more of
Check out Emily’s book How to Walk into a Room at your favorite book retailer.
Adapted for print from the Jesus Calling Podcast. Scan this code to hear
Emily’s story!
SARAH YOUNG’S LEGACY
EDITION INCLUDES :
Jesus
Devotions for every day of the year, plus 12 new devotions Sarah wrote before her passing
Letters from Sarah to her readers
A tribute from Sarah’s daughter
Beautiful, updated design and deluxe packaging
Samples of Sarah’s handwritten devotions
A Daughter’s Perspective on a Mother’s Faith:
OF FAITH AND INFLUENCE
, I do remember the gravity of that moment,
Living as a missionary in Melbourne, my mother, Sarah Young, began to share her journal writings with others who needed encouragement. One of those people she encouraged most with her writing was her own mother—Elizabeth Kelly. When my grandmother was widowed, my mom’s writings became vital to her journey through grief. In 1996, I remember the day my mom handed me a floppy disc to print in my school’s computer lab: it was the first 365-day collection of her journal writings, and she wanted to give them to her mother. Though none of us could’ve known this would one day become the contents handing Mom the still-warm stack of papers, wondering how God would use them.
Go to camera mode on your phone to scan this code to find our more about this very special commemorative edition of Jesus Calling or visit www.jesuscalling.com/books/ jesus-calling-commemorative-edition/
COMPASSION AND CONNECTION
Eve Selis on the Two-Way Healing Power of Music
by Cynthia Stuckey
SINGER-SONGWRITER EVE SELIS is a performer with a powerful heart to match her powerful lungs. Though music has marked most of her life, Eve admits that she only truly recognized “the two-way, healing power of music” when everything she thought she knew about her life and her family was upended one fateful day in 2017.
was always there for our family, always the first call whenever someone was moving. He was a mechanic, so he fixed our cars. When our mom got ill, he was there for her, helping to take care of her. He went on a trip with her to Israel and did the whole Christian walk.
“My brother Pete was so sweet, kind, and hilarious. He was so funny,” Eve remembers. “He
“But like many of us, he had hard times in his life. He had addiction issues. And in his darkest moment, my brother took a gun down to the pool
where he lived. He hurt six people and ended the life of another. And that action ultimately ended his own life. It was international news within hours.”
Eve soon sunk deeply into her own darkness, struggling to grapple with the shock of losing someone she thought she knew so well. “None of us could believe it. The man who did that was not the man I knew for forty-nine years, who I grew up with. There’s just so many unanswered questions. When something that tragic happens, you’re in shock, and your trauma makes it hard to even breathe. You go into hiding. After it all happened, I didn’t think I’d ever sing or perform again. I started thinking, Well, I’ll always be that girl whose brother did that thing.”
A year later, Eve’s journey to healing first led through the doors of counseling and journaling through her pain, which eventually brought her to writing music as a way to process insurmountable grief. “It’s a spiritual job to be a musician. Music connects us to something bigger than us, and I believe that it connects us. It’s the closest thing to the divine that we have. In that year, when I started writing songs, I realized I wasn’t alone.”
“
Until we have compassion for each other, we’re not going to make it in this world.
Songs that began as an outlet for her personal suffering did comfort her aching soul, but Eve quickly realized that her music was accomplishing something larger than her own healing. “You can always tell when someone’s going to come to comfort you, to give you a hug. And I thought, Oh, that’s so sweet of them to comfort me. But they were actually coming for me to comfort them, because what happened to me and my family opened the door for them to share their tragedy. Nobody wants to talk about this stuff. We all keep it inside.”
Armed with a desire to tell the full truth about grief and sadness, in her music Eve seeks to represent not only the light that can be found, but also the darkness that often persists. With ten albums and decades of touring and performing, it was Eve’s own personal encounter with tragedy that grew her knowledge of what the world needs in difficult
times. “Until we have compassion for each other,” she says, “and we can see that any one of us is capable of darkness under the right circumstances, that we are capable of making an emotional, horrible mistake and doing something we can never change, we’re not going to make it in this world. We’re never going to find the peace that comes from God. He uses everything for His purpose and changes everything for good.”
Adapted for print from the Jesus Calling Podcast. Scan this code to hear more of Eve’s story.
You can find Eve’s latest album Dark Sky Blue wherever you stream or buy music. Eve performing
The Role of Prayer in Overcoming Anxiety
by Randy Frazee Westside Family Church
Kansas City, Kansas
While I have been close to God and have tried to follow His will, there are things that happen that create sort of downturns in our life. And when you’re depressed, there’s a real temptation to isolate yourself. You isolate yourself because you lack motivation. You isolate yourself because you’re embarrassed.
There are a number of people in the scriptures who clearly struggled with depression and anxiety. The biggest example comes from David himself. Many people who’ve studied the writings of David have said, at the very least, he was clinically depressed. I could really relate to David as He cries out to the Lord, but always comes back in his writings, in his songs, to saying he’s going to trust in the
Lord. And I’m sure at times in his writing he’s saying it, but not totally embracing it or believing it, but he’s continuing to renew his mind. I have experienced that.
“
Feelings of anxiety or depression are not sinful.
I think it’s important for people to realize that feelings of anxiety or depression are not sinful. These are emotions that God has given us to alert us and to allow us to go through seasons of difficulty. These examples of people in the scripture who have struggled with depression and discouragement help us to understand that God understands us, and that He is going to carry us along. He’s going to encourage us. He’s going to walk us through it.
One of the key elements of overcoming mental and emotional struggles is prayer. God wired our brain that when we engage in prayer—and particularly, recalling memories of God’s faithfulness or being thankful or even just laying our request before Him, because we recognize He’s bigger than our problems—it rewires your brain. It’s going to lift you up. It’s going to encourage you. Maybe not all at once, but little by little, this becomes a spiritual discipline, a spiritual practice. God will show up, and you’ll begin to experience joy. And so prayer has an enormous role in overcoming anxiety.
God is writing a story, and you are a character in that story. He deeply loves you, and He wants you to look up. And if you look up, He promises that everything is going to turn out just all right for you.
Adapted for print from the Jesus Calling Podcast. Scan this code to hear more of Randy’s story
Check out Randy’s new book The Joy Challenge at your favorite book retailer.
REDISCOVERING the ADVENT SEASON
Insights and Meditations from Father James Martin
As we approach the season of Advent, Father James Martin invites us to embark on a journey of reflection and renewal. He delves into the profound meaning of Advent, a time traditionally set aside for preparation and anticipation of the coming of Christ. During the busy and sometimes stressful Christmas season, Advent offers us the opportunity to pause and reassess our lives and faith, and a chance to spiritually reset. Father Martin’s insights illuminate how embracing the practices and meditations of Advent can rejuvenate our spirits and strengthen our relationship with God and others.
What does it mean that God became human?
MOST PEOPLE KNOW what Lent is, the days preceding Easter serving as a period of spiritual preparation. Advent is really the same for Christmas. It’s about getting ready for Christmas, and the readings in the Christian tradition are all about John the Baptist from the book of Isaiah, about the desert blooming and things getting ready to come. It’s really hopeful.
What does it mean that God was human in the most vulnerable way possible?
What does it mean that God would choose to be vulnerable and little and dependent on human beings?
God became flesh and dwelt among us. What does that mean for me?
God becomes human in order that we might relate to God better. And it really is extraordinary when you think about God becoming us, in a particular time and in a particular place. It’s just a beautiful gift of love.
The world desires Jesus. The world wants Jesus. The world expects Jesus. Come, the long awaited Messiah.
People feel so stressed at Christmas, and what is supposed to be a joyful holiday becomes sort of a burden.There’s always this temptation at Christmas to want to do everything, visit every person, write every single person a Christmas card, buy everyone a gift. Go, go, go. And I think doing less might be helpful.
I’ve often said that I think I like Advent better than Christmas, because Advent so far has not been overtaken by commercial forces. It’s really all about preparation. Advent allows us to slow down a bit. Instead of being online all day and clicking for the next gift, spend some time on the readings from the Old Testament, the readings from the New Testament, the Psalms, and just give yourself time to pray and think about:
Adapted for print from the Jesus Calling Podcast. Scan this code to hear more of Father Martin’s story.
Looking to draw closer to Jesus during the Advent season? Longing for peace during the festive flurry? You might enjoy the prayers and devotions in Jesus Listens for Advent and Christmas, which guides you into the New Year with your mind and heart fixed on Him. Look for it at your favorite book retailer.
Try Your Hand at Journaling!
In the spirit of Advent, we encourage you to pause amid the holiday hustle and bustle to capture your thoughts, experiences, and hopes. Whether it’s the excitement of decorating, the warmth of family gatherings, or the quiet moments of contemplation, let your journal be a sanctuary for your reflections and a keepsake for years to come.
reflections
1. As the Advent season begins, what are your hopes for the coming weeks? How can you cultivate a sense of hope in your daily life?
about a relationship in your life that needs peace and reconciliation. What steps can you
take to foster healing and understanding?
3. to those around you?
Make a list of things you are grateful for today. How can you express your gratitude to God and
Learn to Love My People
SOMETIMES WE HEAR a word or phrase so often that it starts to lose its meaning. If I’m being honest, there are even some scriptures I’ve heard for decades that have become so familiar to me that, when I hear them again, they sometimes drift into the, “Yep, uh-huh, sure,” part of my mind, instead of the part of my mind that steps to and gets something done immediately.
“Love your neighbor as yourself,” is one of those scriptures.
I’ll read it in my Bible or hear the pastor talk about it, and I nod my head. Of course, of course, it’s so important! I volunteer, I contribute money to causes and ministries that are dear to my heart. I’m sure you do the same.
But if we’re really honest with ourselves—do we truly believe those words? Do we really believe and act like everybody is our neighbor: not just the people down the road, or the people who need our help, but the people we don’t know? Or who do things and believe things different from us?
Contemporary worship artist Evan Craft certainly believes it. And his belief has taken him across the globe, diving into a new language and cultures unfamiliar to his own, connecting with others and sharing the faith that has given his life redemption and meaning.
Growing up in Los Angeles, Evan saw faith in action as he watched his father, a pastor, working in a homeless shelter. An aspiring musician, in college Evan studied in Spain then went on a mission trip to Mexico when God laid a big truth on his heart: “Nothing’s going to happen in your life unless you learn to love My people. They’re not a stepping stone, they’re not people for you to preach to. They’re My children, and I love them.”
It was a realization that opened Evan’s heart—and changed his life. He began to travel around Spanish-speaking countries, eventually settling in Puerto Rico for a while to get a degree in Spanish. And he discovered he had a knack for writing songs in Spanish, which he would post on YouTube. The messages of love and hope in his songs began to strike a chord with his Spanish-speaking audience. And his small concerts of sometimes 12 people in Los Angeles began to fill larger and larger venues—eventually reaching an audience of 5,000 in Mexico.
Evan’s new album is called Good Neighbor, inspired by Jesus’ command
to love your neighbor as yourself (sound familiar?). And what does Evan hope for the album? “The body of Christ can be an example of love, of generosity, of selfsacrifice. And when you look at Jesus’s life, that’s what attracts me to Him—that the God of the universe would give His Son to take my place on the cross. That is the whole premise of what we believe. And as times get crazier, you hear of so many stories of sin and human brokenness. I want to, as much as I can, paint a picture of the goodness of God and imitate Christ.”
A good reminder for us all.
_ Susie
Scan this code to watch Susie and Evan’s full
Susie McEntire -Eaton
HOST OF THE JESUS LISTENS: STORIES OF PRAYER YOUTUBE SERIES
Evan Craft
conversation on YouTube!
THE “EVERYTHING ERA”
How
to Decide What’s Best When You’re Just Starting Out (Even
When It All Feels Hard
and Scary)
by Abigail Stephens
“What do you want to be when you grow up?”
“Where are you going to school?”
“Are you seeing anyone?”
“When are you having kids?”
While often these types of questions are well-meaning, they can also feel overwhelming—particularly because many of us feel compelled to make all these life-altering decisions in a relatively short time during our young adulthood. Facing choice after choice often makes us wish that someone would just tell us what to do, so that we don’t have to make one more choice!
Author, podcaster, and TEDx speaker Stephanie May Wilson has dedicated her career to walking people through life’s big decisions and transitions, and has realized that what we really need isn’t someone to lay out all the steps, but someone who will empower us to make our own decisions with confidence.
Stephanie stumbled across a study of lifespan development that was conducted by researchers at Boston University and the University of Michigan, where they found that 80 percent of our life’s most significant moments happen before age thirty-five. No wonder this stage feels difficult!
Our mid-twenties to our mid-thirties is, as Stephanie puts it, “such a weird time.” If you’ve lived through these ages, you know that for the first time, it may seem like you and your peers aren’t in the same development stage or pace of life. Everyone is doing things in their own, unique way—which often results in comparing ourselves to other people or feeling like we’ve fallen behind. Stephanie dubbed this time period “the everything era,” because she says, “You’re making all these decisions all at the same time, in front of a massively opinionated audience.”
The people who surround us—even those who are well-intentioned—have thoughts and expectations about every decision we make, which makes us feel like we’re under a microscope. How many times have we heard phrases like “Enjoy it now, because after the honeymoon, marriage is really hard,” or, “Normal life is over once you start a family”? Stephanie experienced this firsthand while at a restaurant with her husband, where they spread out guidebooks to plan their trip to Spain together. While discussing what they wanted to see and do, a couple leaned over to them and said, “I’m glad you’re traveling now, because once you have kids, you won’t be able to.” The statement from the well-intentioned stranger weighed on Stephanie’s heart, where it changed her outlook on having a family. She said, “I was afraid that I was going to get it wrong. I didn’t trust my own judgment.”
A beautiful life isn’t ‘one size fits all.’
A couple years later, when the Wilsons started talking about what their future would look like, Stephanie’s husband pointed out that she spoke of having kids with a doom-and-gloom attitude, like it would all be downhill from that point. This made Stephanie realize that, “A beautiful life isn’t ‘one size fits all.’ There are a whole bunch of different ways that life can be lived that are all right and beautiful and good and Godapproved.”
Here’s the good news: you get to decide how you want to participate in life, and God will be there through it all, whatever path you take. If we let ourselves be paralyzed in the decision-making process, our circumstances might decide for us, or we might even miss out altogether. Getting to choose our path is a beautiful thing, even if it doesn’t feel like it at the moment.
Earlier this year, the Wilson family chose to take a big leap, and moved their whole family to Spain in pursuit of a grand adventure and the unique calling God has for them. The Wilsons have proved that if we look inward and see how we’re made, what we need, and what we want—versus turning to outside sources for guidance—we’ll see what God is saying to us individually, not to everybody else.
Your Path Is Yours
THINGS TO REMEMBER WHEN VOICES OF DOUBT CREEP IN
I spent a long time praying for step-by-step instructions for what exactly to do, because I felt like if I could just follow God’s steps exactly, I would never get hurt. And that is not how life works. Instead, God is walking with me. And when we come upon three different paths we could take, He goes, “What do you want to do? I’ll be with you either way.”
So use your experience to decide which of these you want to do. Use your mind. Use your network. Use the Holy Spirit that’s in you. Because if you don’t, someone else will decide for you, or the world will decide for you, or you’ll spend so much time trying to decide that you miss the chance to decide all together.
We don’t have to decide—we get to decide. And that’s a really beautiful thing.
Adapted for print from the Jesus Calling Podcast Scan the code to hear more of Stephanie’s story!
Check out Stephanie’s book, Create a Life You Love, at your favorite book retailer.
Love Beyond Differences
A Call to People of Faith
In a world increasingly defined by division and discord, the challenge of loving our neighbors as Jesus commanded becomes ever more pressing. It’s a daunting task, to set aside strongly held views and instead choose to take action with the transformative power of love. During a time when political and social disagreements seem to be at an all-time high, we seek to illuminate what it truly means to show love in divisive times. From faith leaders, to teachers, to artists, we’re featuring a rich tapestry of perspectives on living out love and unity in a polarized society, reminding us that genuine faith is often proven through empathetic action and understanding.
Engaging with Compassion and Love
JOHN INAZU author and teacher
It’s certainly true that the best kinds of hard conversations will show empathy in both directions. But there will be times when you encounter someone who’s not interested in empathy or charity, who’s just trying to make their point or shut you down. And I think those situations require a bit of judgment and wisdom. Sometimes it’s best just not to engage, but Christians, often we’re called to take some hits, to lean in on the fruits of the Spirit and to ask for patience and understanding. Sometimes the way we respond to hostility or adversaries, even if we don’t
Loving People for Who They Are
REBA McENTIRE singer, actress, and author
win the point, will still model the fruits of the Spirit in a way that will make the other person pause. And if we can start with the reminder that, This is a human being who might be going through struggle or trauma themselves, and if we have some deep resources to engage with compassion and patience and love, that can go a long way to modeling who we’re supposed to be in the world, regardless of the disagreement.
The main thing I’ve learned over the last couple of years is love. With all the prejudices, the madness over politics, and who’s getting more attention, who’s not getting attention—if we can just learn to accept each other’s faults, we can learn to love people for who they are. We can give ‘em grace because they might have had a real rough day when they came in and chewed you out for something. Just back off and think, Maybe they had a rough day. I’m having a good day. Cut ‘em a little slack and just love ‘em no matter what their belief.
They’ll Know Us By Our Love
DANIEL DARLING author and pastor
Peace in the Midst of Conflict
EMILY P. FREEMAN author and podcaster
Embodying Mercy and Justice, Online and Offline
EUGENE CHO pastor and author
There are things we have opinions on that may be important to us, but we should be open-handed and learn to love and live with people with whom we disagree. It’s especially important for the church. Jesus said the world would know we are His not by our clever arguments, our apologetics, or even our acts of mercy in the world. He said the world would know we are His by the way we love each other. The world should look in on Christians and say, I don’t really understand what they believe. But man, look how they love each other. Look how these people who have no business being together, no business calling each other brothers and sisters—look how they do that.
True peace is not the absence of discomfort or conflict; it is an inner brokenness and an inner wholeness and an inner knowing that even though chaos may be all around me, I can still be aligned with what I know who I am. I can live in congruence with my own core values, with my true identity, with the common good, and with my life and God. I think when we take the time to get quiet and put maybe one hand on our heart and one hand on our belly, and listen to our lives as best we can in the presence of God, I think we know what inner peace feels like. And we also know what it feels like when we are afraid and we’re just avoiding being uncomfortable.
How do we, as followers of Christ in an imperfect world, try to embody mercy and justice and kindness? How do we be people who are informed by what’s going on and yet not obsessed by what’s going on? Scripture often speaks about “walking into the light, the light will shine forth, the truth shall set us free.” Sometimes people feel more emboldened or empowered to speak up online, and we want to make sure that we’re not masking ourselves with anonymity that gives us agency to be unkind, to be ruthless, to dehumanize others, to not say things that we wouldn’t say in person because we know that it wouldn’t be acceptable. I would encourage us to really spend some time in introspection and self-reflection about, Am I truly embodying my faith and witness in Christ, in person and offline?
GROUNDED BY FAITH
Tahj Mowry on Staying True to Yourself
by Scott Mason
TAHJ MOWRY STARTED acting in commercials at the age of four, after his mom realized he had quite the knack for mimicking the commercials he watched on TV. It wasn’t long before Tahj, like his famous twin sisters Tia and Tamera, found his way in front of the camera—and the ride hasn’t stopped since.
Now well into his thirties, Tahj feels thankful that he is able to keep doing what he loves. He found success quickly as a child, acting alongside other celebrities and being a regular on hit shows. “The first big TV show that I did was a show called Out All Night. The cast was insane. It was Patti LaBelle, Vivica Fox, Morris Chestnut, and Dwayne Martin. And from that show, I booked a show called Full House where I played Michelle’s best friend for three years.”
The hit shows did not end for Tahj. Eventually he became what he refers to as “a Disney Channel kid.” In the late 90s Disney developed a show with him in mind called Smart Guy, which still airs on the channel today. He followed that success with Disney movies and a role on the hit animated series Kim Possible.
“After that I took a break from acting just to become a regular kid, to do high school. Then I came back during my college years and was able to transition into adulthood as an actor.” The transition that Tahj speaks of continued to be full of star power and hits, acting in the film Are We Done Yet? with actor/rapper Ice Cube, and landing a supporting role on the TV series Baby Daddy, which ran for six seasons on ABC Family. It’s the type of transition from child actor to adult roles that most young actors dream of, but Tahj’s latest role might be the most coveted one yet. “Muppets Mayhem, which is on Disney+, was a bucket list role for me. To be able to work with the Muppets and work with people like Mark Wahlberg and Kevin Hart—I’m just super thankful.”
After three decades in the entertainment business, Tahj says that the key to staying grounded has meant separating the spotlight from his actual life. From a young age his parents taught him—along with Tia and Tamera—to remain humble and thankful in order to “not go crazy” from the attention. “Obviously faith is the main medicine there,” he adds.
“
The more I surrender to Christ, the happier I am.
From a young age Tahj has recognized he’s an ambassador of sorts, and the image of seeing yourself reflected back on the viewer can be pretty powerful. “I love being able to sort of represent many things: represent a child of God in the industry and represent someone of my color in this industry. And I’m honored and privileged for someone to look at something that I’ve done on TV or in the movie theater and say, ’Oh, that person looks like me, I see myself in them.’ I think that’s important.
“I also love to share how I live my life, my beliefs, what keeps me going, what gives me hope and peace and joy, and that’s God. I find my peace and my joy and my happiness in Him.
“I’m at a point in my life where I’m so joyful. Because I’ve realized the more I surrender to Christ, the happier I am, the more peaceful I am, and the more I don’t have to worry about anything because He’s got me. He wants to take our burdens, and I think remembering that is so important in our walk.”
Why Prayer Is Important To Me
Adapted for print from the Jesus Calling Podcast. Scan this code to hear more of Tahj’s story!
Prayer is a way for us to basically take the trust away from ourselves and to put it in the Almighty. I can speak to God the Father with the familiarity of a child to a parent, and that is so beautiful. So prayer for me is something that I want to always do more of.
I have many devotionals, and Jesus Calling was actually the first 365-day devotional I ever fell in love with, so it holds a special place in my heart. And Jesus Listens is so wonderful, because it’s in the form of prayer. Sometimes we just don’t know what to pray for. And those prayer devotionals, for me, help me create new habits and different ways of praying that I never would have thought to pray for.
FROM SOAP OPERAS TO SOCIAL CAUSES
Actress Jen Lilley Commits to a Life of Helping Others
by Cynthia Stuckey
IF YOU’D HAVE ASKED a young Jen Lilley who she’d be when she grew up, she likely wouldn’t have said a television actress, with a long career starring in soap operas and inspirational movies on Hallmark and Great American Country. Her life in front of the camera has taken twists and turns she didn’t see coming. But faith has guided her to a place where she feels like she’s using her career to showcase her values and inspire viewers around the globe.
While she didn’t grow up as a theater kid, Jen
discovered how much she loved life in front of the camera while taking acting classes at the University of Virginia—and she was hooked. After moving to Hollywood a few years later, Jen landed her first role on the longtime CBS series Criminal Minds. That job led to several roles, including a career-changing opportunity to play a new character on the soap opera Days of Our Lives
But as she surveyed the part, Jen quickly realized the character of Theresa Donovan was a partier and
drug user—and the young actress didn’t want to be seen as an advocate of that lifestyle. She struggled with the decision of whether or not to accept the role as she wondered if it would be a betrayal to her faith.
After much consideration and prayer, Jen began to understand why the role had been presented to her. It was almost as if she could hear God saying to her: You’re going to play the truth of how that girl really feels—that lifestyle did not satisfy her, because what she was truly looking for is Jesus.
In the end, Jen felt she could show viewers her belief that “there is no pit so deep that God’s love could not find them.” Her portrayal of Theresa spanned ten years, on and off, and is remembered by viewers for the breath of fresh air she brought to the multi-dimensional character.
The actress’s unmistakable heart for the hurting comes from a personal and experiential place, as Jen fought a private battle with bulimia for fifteen years. Sharing vulnerable insight into the struggle of the disorder, Jen offers, “[As a Christian], I knew my worth. What’s scary was I bought into the mindset that by being thin, I’d get more acting roles.”
But the cycle of behavior Jen found herself in took its toll. She fought many misunderstandings relating to the tight grasp the eating disorder had on her and feared that those in her faith circles wouldn’t understand why she couldn’t let it go. “I was convinced that if I told people, they would reject me, and nobody would be willing to walk through this with me.”
Healing ultimately began when Jen brought her struggle from the darkness into the light, confiding in her husband Jason. “I remember telling him and being so scared. But he cried and said, ’I’m so sorry. How long has this been going on, and how can I help you?’” Even with such beautiful support, Jen didn’t experience overnight healing, but a life-changing perspective shift began to take precedence in her mind. “God, I’m trusting all these things more than I’m trusting You,” she prayed. “I don’t want to trust these things more than I should.”
Today, Jen is seven years on the other side of bulimia and is thankful for her recovery. In addition to being known as a beloved Hallmark and Great American Family star, she is the face of several child advocacy efforts, which also led her to foster a child, who she eventually ended up adopting. And now,
instead of trusting her happiness and success to the external, she has found a peace that is much more abiding.
“The word happiness comes from happenstance, which means ’based on your circumstances,’” she explains. “So you can have peace, and you can have joy even when things are really hard. Connect with God, and you’ll be reminded that you’re never alone.”
To learn more about Jen’s work, please visit jenlilley.com.
Adapted for print from the Jesus Calling Podcast. Scan this code to hear more of Jen’s story!
Jen in character on Days of Our Lives and Hallmark; Jen and her family
C O O K I E S F O R S A N T A
A RECIPE FROM Baking in the American South
COOKBOOK AUTHOR ANNE BYRN is a fifth-generation Southerner who’s spent most of her life writing for and about Southerners. “This recipe for classic sugar cookies,” Anne writes, “was inspired by Alice Jo Lane Giddens, a child of the Great Depression who knew how to stretch a dollar and baked ‘the crispiest sugar cookies ever produced.’ Rolled in colored sugars, they are a big hit with young children, and they are freezerfriendly if you want to have a little Christmas spirit all year long!”
Here’s how to make Alice’s sweet sugar cookies yourself!
Pro Tip!
Sugar Cookies
Makes 10 dozen 2-inch cookies
INGREDIENTS
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cream of tartar
2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
¾ – 1 tsp almond extract
Colored coarse sugars, for rolling
Elevate your sugar cookies by mixing food coloring into the dough before you bake them, topping with a simple frosting of powdered sugar and milk, and decorate with your favorite holiday sprinkles!
Anne’s book Baking in the American South is available today at your favorite retailer!
DIRECTIONS
1. Whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, and cream of tartar in a medium bowl and set aside.
2. Place the butter, oil, and both sugars in a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth and satiny, 1 to 2 minutes. Smooth out any lumps in the butter by beating at a little higher speed for less than a minute. Add the eggs, vanilla, and almond extract and beat until smooth, 1 to 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula and add the flour mixture, 1 cup at a time, beating on low until just combined.
3. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator until firm, at least 4 hours or preferably overnight.
4. When you’re ready to bake, heat the oven to 350ºF, with a rack in the middle. Pour the decorating sugars into small bowls.
5. With a melon baller or two teaspoons, drop 1/2-inch balls of dough into the sugar and roll them in it to cover, then place the balls on 12-by-17-inch ungreased baking sheets, spacing them 2 inches apart. Press down lightly on the balls twice with a fork to flatten.
6. Bake, one pan at a time, until the cookies just begin to brown around the edges, 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from the oven, let rest on the pan for 30 seconds, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely, 15 minutes. Repeat with the remaining dough, cooling the pans between batches. Store in an airtight container for up to a week.
Name That Christmas Movie
Match each quote to the Christmas movie it comes from.
A. “Will you please tell Santa that instead of presents this year, I just want my family back.”
B. “If something should happen to me, put on my suit; the reindeer will know what to do.”
C. “God bless us, every one.”
D. “Seeing is believing, but sometimes the most real things in the world are the things we can’t see.”
E. “Maybe Christmas,” he thought, “doesn’t come from a store. Maybe Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.”
F. “We came up here for the snow. Where’re you keepin’ it? ”
G. “A toy is never truly happy until it is loved by a child.”
H. “When the first snow is also a Christmas snow, well, something wonderful is bound to happen.”
I. “Remember, no man is a failure who has friends.”
J. “Faith is believing in things when common sense tells you not to.”
Christmas Emoji Game
SPRE AD JO Y
with INSPIRA T ION AL HOLID AY GIFTS
A
ROSIE’S
WILD RIDE
97803101615 85
From Paige Murray, debut author and wife of 9-time World Champion Cowboy Ty Murray, comes a rodeo adventure for every child (and horse) who has big dreams and dares to ask, “What if I can?”
HEY-O STORIES OF THE BIBLE
978031015 925 4
From Saddleback Church, this Bible storybook features Old and New Testament tales with vivid art from the Hey-O video series. Includes a QR code linking to animated videos!
A LITTLE MORE LIKE JESUS
978031016 04 34
This picture book from GRAMMY Award-winning Christian singer Zach Williams introduces kids to the fruits of the spirit in a fun and unique way, loosely based on his hit song “Less Like Me.”
D
HOME IS RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE
97814002443 93
Bestselling author and artist Ruth Chou Simons shares a message of comfort and peace inspired by Psalm 23: when you are with God, home is always right where you are.
JESUS CALLING BRAVE BIBLE PRAYERS
9781400247 721
Featuring the brave prayers of 10 people from the Bible, paired with short kid-friendly prayer prompts, this faith-filled book shows little ones that God helps us be mighty and He is always listening.
SACRED PRAYER BY ANN VOSKAMP
97814002 50 257
When we retreat from the world to pray, to wait, to hope in God—we find true and beautiful perspective for our souls. Ann Voskamp shares the six steps of sacred prayer through this 90-day guided journey.
JESUS CALLING COMMEMORATIVE
97814002 50 813
This commemorative anniversary edition of Jesus Calling includes 12 new bonus devotions and 12 letters to readers from Sarah for each month of the year, a special essay from her daughter celebrating Sarah’s life, and so much more. Makes the perfect gift for anyone who loves Jesus Calling
JESUS LISTENS NOTE-TAKING EDITION
9781400 23 5476
Jesus Listens Note-Taking Edition has a beautiful leathersoft cover and can serve as your prayer journal, empowering you to pray daily while recording your thoughts, concerns, and blessings.
