WILD HEARTS MAGAZINE
01 | the Wild
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Wild Hearts magazine is an online pla�orm about being unapologe�cally you in all your wildest forms, while being in touch with your beau�ful heart, driven by the wildest of love. Having unfiltered conversa�ons about spirit, body, soul and rela�onships. For the wild ones.
Therèsa editor-in-chief/ visual creator @theresariver Rae editor / social media creator @raesworld @palmtreerae
Wild Hearts wiildhearts.com @wiildhearts__
designed to listen to while reading this magazine
MIXTAPE THE WILD
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Love God | SPIRIT
Love Others as Yourself | SOCIAL
08 Wild Encounters meeting Gods Presence 10 Ten Ways to Love God Loving God 12 Free Spirits living from the spirit 14 Me and My Wild Heart unfiltered interviews 16 Wild & Holy From Wild to Wild & Holy 18 Secret Garden God’s Presence in the daily
20 Unapologetically Me the originals 22 Ten Ways to Love Yourself self-care & self-love 26 Unconditional Lovers romance 28 Ten Ways to Love Others stewarding relationships 32 Him and Her masculinity and femininity 34 Wild Child raising little wild ones
Wisdom | SOUL
Stature |BODY
36 Raw Souls mindset and emotions 38 Wild Bookclub our wild favorites club 40 Fear of God wisdom, mindset 42 Sleepover Club Girl Gang, sisterhood 44 Sacred Gratitude thankful hearts 46 Moodboard Moods & atmospheres
50 Vibrant Bodies health body image 52 Life of Worship morning routine 54 Royal Warrior garments of praise 56 Milk & Honey Wildest Dreams 58 Live Creatively the artists 60 Covert Affairs world news
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And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man Luke 2:52 WISDOM | in His mindset and vision. The mental state of a wild one, a dreamer. Wisdom starts with the Fear of God. STATURE | in energy, strength and maturity. The physical state of a wild one, a warrior. FAVOR W/ GOD | He loved His father with all His heart and with all His soul and with all His mind and with all His strength. The spiritual state of a wild one, a beloved Child of God. FAVOR W/ MEN | He loved others as He loved Himself. The social state of a wild one, a lover. AKA| a wild unfiltered yet balanced lifestyle in the gorgeous example of our wild Jesus.
SPIRIT
Love God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind
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In the ‘Wild Encounters’ ar�cles, we want to spark a flame in your heart, by sharing the radical stories of believers around the globe who have encountered the Holy Spirit in a personal and tangible way, moves of God over the earth that even impacted thousands of people in the same moment. Great revivals. Great encounters. I have such a heart to share these stories, and by reading these ar�cles you can be filled with hope; because what God does for one son or daughter, he can do for another. There is something about hearing about others encounters with the Holy Spirit. An invita�on for more of God. An imparta�on. S�rring our faith to run this race with fire and passion. I believe we have a duty to spread the good news of Christ! A duty to share what He is doing in all our lives today. When I was a li�le girl, I would sit at the kitchen table with my mother, wide-eyed and filled with wonder as she would tell me about her adventures with God, her story, her journey with the Holy Spirit. In fact, I would even get her to tell me the same stories over and over again. As I got older and more involved in church my first ques�ons for the leaders around me were things like ‘when was the first �me you heard God speak?’ ‘what has
been one of your favorite encounters with God? ’have you ever seen angels?’ ‘what is God teaching you at the moment?’ so many ques�ons. I am so hungry to hear what God is doing on the earth. If I could, I would hear every single story. I’m also a lover of Chris�an Apologe�cs and I do believe that one of the biggest pieces of evidence we have for the existence of God is the millions and millions of tes�monies there are of people lives being totally transformed by an encounter with the Holy Spirit, God is alive and ac�ve, He is truth, and rela�onship with Him is no formula, it’s an experience. ‘Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all genera�ons, forever and ever. Amen.’ Ephesians 3:20-21
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The very first commandment of the Bible is to love God and the second as important as the first is to love another as yourself. We get the honour to love God. To love God with our whole heart, soul, mind & strength. So with our whole bodies, we get to love Him. With our whole intellect, all our thoughts, with our emo�ons, with all of our hearts we get to love Him. God delights in me loving Him. It feels insignificant, doesn’t it? That a God so big loves my li�le human love. Cause I can never give Him what He gives me. One look of Him and my whole body and heart are on fire. Yet when we look at the li�le kids we adore, it all shi�s in a total more understandable perspec�ve. They don’t think how will I Love mommy or daddy today. No, they just jump inside your arms and all they can do is love. And when they are naughty you s�ll love them. Loving God is to love as a li�le child does. It is so humble, so straight forward, so pure, just completely le�ng go of all around, but safe inside His arms. Then you get up and go on adventures again always knowing He is near. In this series, people share ten ways of how they Love God
Love God 011
We are a spirit, with a soul living inside a body. Our Spirits are set free by what Jesus has done for us on the cross. By His sacrifice, we have a living rela�onship with God. His presence, the Holy Spirit speaks life into our spirits and breathes life into our lives. So our lives are no longer lived by our circumstances, the atmosphere, whatever our flesh and empty voids want. But by His breath. Our spirit speaks to our soul. It changes our mindset, sharpens our will and shows truth to our emo�ons. Our soul again speaks life to our body. Releasing life into the fibres and cells of our body. Like posi�ve thoughts create new cells in your brain while nega�ve thoughts destroy brain cells. Living from the spirit simply means being obedient to what God tells us through the Holy Spirit and the Bible. Freedom is the simple task of making good choices. It is not living by rules. But by having a rela�onship with papa. Tapping into His loving words. Studying the amazing mind blowing
revela�ons in the Bible. Talking with Him about anything that crosses our hearts, aka prayer. And chasing life. Loving peeps. And stepping into our dreams. Obedience is not a way of telling you what to do and not to do in a punishing way, obedience is opening doors to new worlds by good stewardship. Holy Spirit we invite you into this place. Come and speak. Your servant is listening. His voice is in the knowing when your intui�on speaks up. His voice is in the seeing of your visions, dreams and pictures. His voice is in the words spoken to your mind. His voice is in the feels you get from moods and atmospheres. Listen to the silence. He shows Himself in the most simple and profound ways. Spend �me with Him. Pour your heart out before Him. And act upon His words. No longer my flesh reigning over me, but my spirit showing me life through His. In this ar�cle, we want to take you with us in how to live from the spirit, and how to become strong in the spirit.
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In the ‘Me and My Wild Heart’ ar�cles, we want to create a li�le space to have real conversa�ons, with real people, about real things that we all go through. Now don’t get me wrong, I freaking love church! I work in the church, and I believe in the church and will always be a part of it, but when I was growing up I never felt the freedom to talk about the actual things I wanted to talk about. The ques�ons I really wanted to ask. A part of me always felt like I was walking on eggshells, and scared of being kicked out and judged for being real about what was going on in my mind and heart- so I learned to keep my mouth shut, and essen�ally live a double life because I didn't have the tools or the wisdom to ace it at being set apart in this crazy world with all the pressures, I never had the space to work through things in a safe place. To live wild and holy lives. I got sucked in, and became co-dependent on booze, boys, friends and par�es to get my needs met that my Papa God actually wanted to meet the en�re �me, it all piled on top of me. And the encounters with God I had over a period of �me to save me from those ways we will leave for another day. If only I had that safe place to process my thoughts freely at my own pace and just work my faith out with some people that were 100% for me and a li�le further on in their journey. Well, that’s what we are here for sweetheart. We want this to be a li�le place where we can glean from leaders and some incredible people about the real stuff. Society, beauty, vanity, media, porn, sex, booze, rela�onships, drugs, jealousy, fill in the blank. It’s okay that you have ques�ons, it’s normal. I am so excited to talk about the real things with you guys.
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In the ‘Wild and Holy’ ar�cles, we want to share some of the wild processes our hearts have been on in the pursuit of freedom in Christ. From being in chains, to running through the fields. Did you know that God made you to be wild? Did you know that he is also wild? There has been a lie in the church that crea�vity, colour, joy, freedom and adventure are not from God. I’m here to tell you, that I believe that all these things, the wonder, adventure and wild freedom is a huge part of the nature of our heavenly Father. In the end, we are made in the image of God, right? My desire to dance, to take risks, to see the world, to share freedom, to create new things, to laugh loud, to speak up are all things God placed in my wild heart and it’s only a reflec�on of who He is. ‘Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.’ and I want to see the body of Christ live in this freedom.
You were not born to be in a box. You were not born for limits. You were born to be extra. You were born for great adventure. You were born for freedom. You are trusted to make great choices. We want to create a space here where we can share wisdom and tes�mony about people who have come out of toxic cycles, addic�on and codependent behaviors into freedom in Christ. From popping pills to the fullness of joy in His presence, from crippling anxiety to perfect peace. So many beau�ful stories to take your breath away and give you hope. We also understand, some of these things are a journey and a process. We want to talk about this stuff with you. God is not phased by any of our mess. We believe through these conversa�ons we will see hearts set free and released into living wild and holy lives for the glory of God. Dear wild ones, the ones with colours in their hair, the loud ones, the ones with ta�oos, the rebels, the dreamers, the ones that no one can control, the ones thirsty for adventure, the ones who feel misunderstood, the ravers, the rockers, the ones who have never felt like they fit in, ...yes you lot. Jesus is crazy about you. You are one of his wild ones. And he loves how wild you are. He made you that way. You are here to blow up the boxes in the church. You belong with us. Let’s cross over this bridge. This is Wild + Holy.
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SECRET GARDEN
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Rae My heart for Wild Hearts is to inspire you to live a life in Love. My life totally changed by Ma� 22: 36-40 ‘love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is just like it: Love your neighbour as you love yourself’I was always taught to love God and to love others, but never to love myself. In fact I thought it was bad if we loved ourself. When I understood that our love for God and others has to be equal as the love for ourselves it totally changed my life style. This vision is all about loving God, loving others and loving yourself and what that looks like prac�cally. And this love is a wild love. A wild love that gives you and everyone permission to be themselves. To be you. To shine, to have a crazy fashion, to dream BIG, and to work your faith out in rela�onship. Wild Hearts is for the dreamers, the ravers, the ones with colours in their hair, the free spirits who can’t be boxed in, for every wild heart Papa God created. We want to talk about real things here and we want to invite you to share your process. We love you. We believe in you and even more so does Jesus.
SOCIAL
Love others as yourself
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In the wild is where I found myself. It isn’t easy to find yourself, let alone fully be yourself. Be yourself there are already others enough. And quotes like that aflame. But what does it mean to be truly yourself? In this culture of comparison and li�le space for differences. What does it mean to be unapologe�cally me? When you are free, you become the person God made you to be. In the wild is where I found myself. Out of Egypt. Out of bondage. Into the wilderness. Where everything I believe comes to the test. I fight against every thought that wants to take me hostage. My mind s�ll viewing the world of bondage. Yet I fight and I know I can’t be a rebel to do it my way. I need Him to tell me truth. So I can be free. And I can be truly me. Fully the person He created me to be. I am not my mistakes. I am not my emo�ons. I am not my circumstances. I am not my ba�les. I am simply His child. His Royal Warrior. In the wild is where I found myself. Ready to take the promised land. One city at a �me.
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UNAPOLOGETICALL
hen we love ourselves we are then able to be the best version of ourselves for the world around us. loving our neighbour AS we love ourselves is an equal balance. one can’t be more than the other. if we love people more than ourselves it ends in disaster and if we love ourselves more than the people around us it also ends in disaster. it is so important that you tend the garden of your soul, body and spirit not only so you can enjoy the gi� of life but so you can be a blessing to those around you and live life to the absolute full. and also teaching those around us to do the same for themselves! in order to do everything we are called to do in our lives, to be the best friends, best wives and husbands, best sons and daughters, girlfriends and boyfriends, best mothers and fathers, we must love ourselves. we must treat ourselves like we would treat the
person we love the most. we must be kind to ourselves. and that inner reality of love and care will leak all over how we are in our families, our jobs, and every area of our lives. love is an ac�on. love is a lifestyle. love is a choice. love is a discipline. I recently read a book called Gods Generals. This book was filled with incredible stories from the lives of old revivalists and their ministries – some of the stories would blow your mind, I aspire to be like those amazing men and women of God. but I no�ced an occurring theme…. most of them burned out, and died rela�vely young. why? because they did not look a�er themselves. we must steward ourselves so we are able to live long lives so we are able to
do above and beyond all we could imagine or ask for. we must get enough sleep. we must get our �me with God. we must have fun and adventure. we must eat healthy. we must care for our bodies. we must process pain. we must completely love ourselves so we are able to be alive and well for the work we have to do on earth. these are needs we have as humans. so please darling, do not feel guilty when you take �me for yourself. heck, it is necessary! I heard someone say once that ‘hurt people hurt other people’ this is so true. we can have compassion on anyone in our lives that gives us a hard �me because anyone who does cruel things, says cruel things, and brings disaster is not a joyful person. and they do not love themselves well. and who knows what they have been through in their lives. maybe they haven’t ever felt a pure love from anyone before. maybe you could even be the one to look past their a�tude and show them compassion. who knows how that might change their lives? when we love ourselves, when we love those around us, when we live in love, life happens. we create a beau�ful environment, a healthy family, somewhere safe where people feel ‘home’ this loving yourself message is not all about you. it’s about you and others xox In this ar�cle series, people will share ten of their favorite ways to love themselves. They let you in on their personal process of loving themselves and caring for themselves. 025
In the ‘Uncondi�onal Lovers’ ar�cles we want to share about something we all love talking about.. rela�onships! We want this to be a space where we can ask the real conversa�ons to married couple’s about married life. All the ni�y gri�y details. All the wisdom. All the mess. All the joys that make up this wonderful gi� of a life-long commitment with the one you choose to love and build with for the rest of your days. Some�mes we have this fantasy idea of what the ‘perfect’ rela�onship should be, and then of course get disappointed when we quickly realise actually this feels like a mess at �mes. When there are people involved there is always a mess. Even the couples you look up to the most will have bad days, and �mes where they want to pack it all in. And that’s what we want to bring to the light: honest chats with couples about the really difficult things. The secrets to a thriving marriage, tackling false expecta�ons, people’s experiences when they’ve felt like they wanna quit, the insecuri�es that you have to work through, body image ba�les, codependency, how to even do marriage when we live in a culture that doesn't value it the same as it used to.
I have felt very blessed to be surrounded by a ton of mumma-bears and papa’s in my church community that are s�ll in blossoming, Godly marriages a�er decades of years. But what about the people out there that don’t have these role models around them? What about the people out there that feel so isolated in their circumstances because they are scared people will judge them and have no one to talk to? What about people out there that have a fear of commi�ng to someone? Or someone who feels totally stuck in a dry marriage? Well, hopefully these ar�cles can bring valida�on and community to your beau�ful heart. And even though you haven't met these people, hopefully, they can become role models for you like they have been for me. This part of the magazine will be an interview per issue with married couple’s talking about all of their best pieces of advice for a loving, las�ng rela�onship. I’m pre�y excited about this one if I might say myself... This is ‘Uncondi�onal Lovers’
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I remember one day when I was si�ng with my sweet li�le grandma and I just wasn’t present at all in the moment with her. I wasn’t listening to what she was saying and I was daydreaming about my own desires. In that moment the Lord interrupted my thinking and I felt Holy Spirit gently say “Honey, if you miss these moments you are missing the meaning of life” …snap. Don’t you love those moments where God totally shi�s your mind on things? Rela�onships are literally the meaning of life. Rela�onship with Papa God, others and ourselves. This is what ma�ers. Friendship can be the most beau�ful mess in the world, we must fight for our friendships, even when we feel like giving up. I believe God designed friendships in a way where there are certain people who become close souls to you only for a season, and there are some people who you know you’re going to be friends with for life. And at the same �me, that’s kinda your choice. You’ve got to choose each other. They are your people. The people you could go a year without seeing and you go back to how it was before. People who you can pick up the phone and just say how you really feel about all the life stuff.
LOVE OTHERS
I met a girl in L.A once and she told me that she saves up her money to take her friends out to the finest restaurants to eat the best food and drink the best wine, because her friendships were the most important thing to her. She delighted in spoiling her friends simply because she was thankful for them and she wanted to show her gra�tude for them by radical generosity. “I don’t care about money” she says “I care about the moments with my friends” this inspired me. I want to look a�er my best friends on a new level. I want them to feel valued and loved and appreciated a�er being with me. I want them to know that I’m in this for the long hall. And I’m willing to spend my �me, money, energy, into inves�ng into these darling ones This li�le sec�on of the ar�cle, is for all of the good friends out there.
AS YOURSELF
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There I was in this room full of women, hundreds of them. I walked nervously around. I could feel the disbalance in the room. But it wasn’t �ll I was listening to a podcast about someone addressing she had put on a lot of masculinity and it had affected her marriage it daunt on me. I indeed myself had taken on a lot of masculinity unconsciously throughout the years as well. Masculinity in a feminine body hurts. But what does healthy masculinity and femininity look like? So I went on a li�le research and let me tell you in this day and age where women are ought to keep up with the men’s world. Men are bombarded with masculine s�gmas. Genderneutral is the norm. In some cultures, women aren’t visible. In some churches, women don’t have a voice. And the ongoing ba�le of the sexes. What does healthy masculinity and femininity look like? In this series, we will dig a li�le deeper into the world of male and female and the extraordinary ways God designed our traits with such intent, purpose and above all love.
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he moment I locked eyes with my li�le nephew when I met him for the first �me I was sold. My brother was holding him and said to the gorgeous baby in his arms look this is your aun�e and the li�le boy looked at me up and down. A few years later also his li�le gorgeous princess sister is chasing me around the house. Both of them are whirlwinds. They are absolute wild ones. Hurricanes and tornados. I love them with my whole heart. And they challenge me in my very core. I can't imagine how wonderful and how challenging it is to be a parent. I am so curious to find out in the next Wild Child ar�cles how other people
raise wild ones and leave them wild. I once a�ended a paren�ng thing. I am pre�y sure I was one of the only non-parent in the room. Yet all was about the cau�ons. The things we shouldn't give them access to. And in the li�le hours, I spend with my wild ones I have learned that the word no only makes things worse. Their li�le hearts screaming for freedom, for opportuni�es, for adventures. I shouldn't stop their roads, I should create total new ones for them that never been there before. Just for them, cause I love them. And I want to teach them to create new roads when others aren't that good for them to take.
I want to protect their hearts. I want to leave them in u�er wonder. And go into their world of wonder and teach them li�le nuggets I once learned down the roads. I want them to discover play and fun like never before. Cause I know in their explorings they will learn so much more. They are the ones building. I am the one handing them the puzzle pieces. And searching for new ones when we need them. I am the one giving them pieces of advice and learning them how to make good decisions instead of telling them what to do. I want to be one that encourages them to flow into all that they can be. The one that draws all the gold out of them and shows them how they can view themselves in who they really are. The one who teaches them to be fearless and to get up �ll whatever they put their mind to succeeds. The one who teaches them it is okay to cry their li�le hearts out. And how to give place to all their emo�ons. The one who plants truth in their li�le minds and teaches them how to have successful mindsets. I want to ask them endless ques�ons about everything. Ques�ons I know the answers to. But I want them to figure it out. Ques�ons I'll never get an answer
to. I want them to know God knows all, we don't. And ques�ons to get to know these gorgeous beings in front of me more and more. I will never stop staring at them and never stop trying to unravel the mysterious beings that they are. And I will never stop learning from them. Children have this way of unraveling uncondi�onal love. When all in you screams out to punish them for their bad behavior. In moments like that, I can't imagine how God is so so gracious. And I know in moments like that, I should choose love and cover them in love. Cause love covers all sin. Love always wins. And yes I need to show them bad choices have consequences, but I long to try to do this in love. And I know most of the �me this requires the words Holy Spirit? What do I do? And He will always show. Cause He loves them even more than we ever are able to. But above all, I want to teach them to do life with God. Cause He is a be�er mommy or aun�e I will ever be. And in all my shortcomings He will be there right for them. He will be together in our play. In our wonder. And in our ba�les. And in those kids, I see His face. 033
SOUL
Mindset, feelings and vision
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RAW SOULS
This series of Free Spirits, Raw Souls, Vibrant Bodies started with me not understanding the meaning of spirit, body and soul. So I started to research these words. I found out that we are a spirit, with a soul living inside a body. Our souls are made up by our thoughts, our will and our emo�ons. Our thoughts are our mindset, our will is the one who takes those thoughts into ac�on. And our emo�ons are the expression of our thoughts. In Hebrew the word for soul is Nephesh which means to breathe, to blow. The Hebrew word for spirit is Ruach which means wind, breath. So our spirit is the wind, breath. And our soul is the one to breathe, blow our spirit the wind, breath into the world. We are living from our spirits. Our soul is the one to bring it all into ac�on. And our body will carry it out.
The Holy Spirit lives in our spirit and ministers to our spirit. Our spirit minsters to our soul. And our soul ministers to our body. In that way, we carry Heaven on earth. Our soul is a very crucial part of this cause we have free will. We can choose to not believe in Jesus and shut off our spirit. We all have a Holy Spirit locked up inside. We can choose to not align with Gods word and live from our flesh instead. In culture, it is very normal to let our body minister to our soul and our soul to our spirit, which leads to living from the flesh. Free will is our thoughts in ac�on. Our mindset is the number one place of a�ack by the devil. If we know how to manage our mind we know how to manage our life. In the Raw Souls series, we will go deeper into how to steward our thoughts, will and emo�ons.
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FEAR OF GOD
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יראת יהוה The Fear-of-God builds up confidence, and makes a world safe for your children. The Fear-of-God is a spring of living water so you won’t go off drinking from poisoned wells.
Fear God. Do what he tells you.
Seek wisdom - the meaning of life Wisdom starts with the fear of God.
To fear the Lord is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech. 041
You know that moment between being awake and falling asleep where you are most honest to yourself and others. Where no dream seems too wild and no ques�oning seems too weird. That moment on a sleepover where you talk with your girls into the middle of the night about the most vulnerable parts and honest things inside your heart. That moment is sleepovers club. I love sleepovers. We play with makeup. We giggle. We eat great food. We get in our PJs and we have the deepest chats. We want this to be a li�le online slumber party vibe. We want to talk about the fun things us girls love talking about. Love, life, periods, feels, ya know... Girl stuff. The place we dare each other to speak the truth. Where we upli� each other instead of gossiping each other down. The place we burst of crea�vity and gather our girl gang to our secret mee�ngs to make up plans to change the world.
Remember those days When we played games like Who of us is like the most And we would thrash each other Even get more jealous While we got oh so popular Now I’m lost in my own show on Ne�lix And I don’t even get access To my own life un�l I pay And I made this persona And I don’t even know her But she’s the one you wanted I thought Oh and he loved me But I played him in the first place So I le� and broke his heart He screamed you ruined my life I really loved you so But he didn’t even know me cause I played my role I used to paint the world In pre�y colours That no one could erase Then I freezed all my feelings With plans and schemes To cover up my insecuri�es
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SACRED GRATITUDE
The past two years I’ve been in a season of learning to love myself. And while that might sound quite roman�c it’s been one of the most painful journey’s I’ve been on in my story and cul�va�ng gra�tude has been a massive part of this process for me. Now I understand why the Bible encourages us so much to give thanks because it’s completely connected to joy + abundance. ‘Joy seems to me a step beyond happiness. Happiness is a sort of atmosphere you can live in some�mes when you’re lucky. Joy is a light that fills you with hope and faith and love’ Adela Rogers St. Johns Gra�tude is being present in the moment and becoming aware of the abundant blessings in our lives no ma�er the circumstance. Gra�tude is about being inten�onal and happening to your life instead of life happening to you. Gra�tude is about deep deep wells of joy. Gra�tude is us choosing life. Gra�tude is a powerful tool and it shi�s the atmosphere in your inner world. I’ve always been a naturally thankful person but I came to a point where I started to become so weighed down by my dreams and all of the things I wanted for my future. I became so weighed down that suddenly I was
stuck in a fantasy. I’m sad that I was actually missing some really beau�ful things that was in that season that I don’t have in this season. I have new things now, but I wish I poured more focus onto the blessings because God really does know what he’s doing, he really really does. ‘Stop wai�ng for Friday, for summer, for someone to fall in love with you, for life, contentment happens when you stop wai�ng for it and you start making the most of the moment you’re in’
experience love and joy in fullness. Even when it’s really really hard, when we declare gra�tude, our souls become content. This year I’ve had a lot of grief that flooded into my life because of circumstances and loss but weirdly at the same �me it’s been the most blessed year of my life and I wonder if apart of that has been more apparent because of the prac�se of gra�tude. I no�ce the li�le things that I didn’t really no�ce before now, and this makes me feel really beau�ful inside actually.
I don’t want to waste another moment. Yes our dreams ma�er, we want to see God move, we want to live to the fullest and some days will be those things but there’s something I don’t want to forget and that’s the beau�ful simplici�es of life. There is wonder in everything and there is love all around us. I want to allow gra�tude to fill my soul when I’m reading a book, feeling the breeze, watching football with dad, seeing the children around me grow, hugging my mum, laughing with friends, si�ng alone in silence, cha�ng about Jesus with my youth group, star�ng projects, playing guitar, sipping my coffee, walking in crea�on, being in the office with my amazing colleagues, listening to music, these beau�ful moments that make life sweet. I want to be thankful every single day because that’s when I live life to the fullest, that’s when I
I don’t want to forget my blessings I don’t want to take for granted the things I have that other people are praying to have in their own lives. Let’s live in thankfulness my loves. It makes everything more beau�ful. Rejoice always, pray con�nually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 Did you no�ce that? Rejoicing, being thankful, and praying to your heavenly Papa is God’s will for your life. God already knew the richness this would bring and he thought it up. Gra�tude is the celebra�on of life
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BODY
Your energy, strength and maturity
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VIBRANT BODIES
voice whispering to my mind while I was swimming in the warm water of this way too expensive fitness center I somehow got a li�le free trial to, saying you are a powerful woman I want your body to be powerful too. I want your body to be powerful too. Exercising always has been an issue. From my limited energy in a day to lies telling me I was never good enough in anything spor�ve, and as a skinny girl you shouldn’t work out.
out, we no longer are able to carry our purpose out. Our bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit. With our bodies we worship Him. Our lives are made of worship. Our bodies are made of magic. We s�ll haven’t figured out how our complex bodies are wired. Like God literally sang us into existence, we are all made out of unique vibra�ons, all woven together we are a breathing walking song. A life of worship.
My process of ge�ng strong started with clean ea�ng, to nourish my body instead of just filling it quickly. Being strong is a daily process se�ng us up for success. Out of love and grace.
Every one of us has its own story and struggles with our bodies. In the way we view our body, in sickness, or in ea�ng right and exercise.
No ma�er how powerful we are, if we don't invest in our bodies health we can't honour Him like He made us to. Our bodies are the embodiment of our purpose. When our bodies are worn
In the Vibrant Bodies series, we will take you into the wide spectrum of our bodies. The way we view it. The way we should treat it. And the way God can heal it.
morning routine. I want to paint a pre�y morning picture for you, leaning into a new day the Lord has made, hot cup of tea, aligning with the love of God, stretching your body, giving thanks for everything that could be, embracing a li�le silence, chewing on God’s word, saying a li�le prayer, connec�ng with Papa, connec�ng with your heart. Let’s be honest, it doesn't always look like this, does it? There are days where we hit that snooze bu�on, and we fran�cally jump up with 10 minutes to spare before we have to leave for school or work- honey trust me- we have all been there. But what if we could nail the art of morning rou�ne un�l it became almost effortless. Do you remember how awkward it was learning how to drive a car? Well a�er all that prac�ce I bet you can drive now without even thinking much about it. I believe this is the art of cul�va�on with anything whether that’s fitness and health,
learning music, learning a cra�, or building new habits. Let’s get focused on this morning rou�ne thing together. The morning the founda�on of your day. It sets the tone. When we have our morning rou�ne, even if that means we have to get up a li�le earlier, we are able to steward our days even be�er- some days it’s going to be imperfect and messy- but that’s also okay. Let’s talk about it and inspire each other. God in His grace has given me my li�le life on earth for a few decades, and I want to live it with Him to the full. I want to head into each day with vision, passion, love and focus. I want to worship God soul, body and spirit, I want to start the day with Him. And here is going to be a li�le space where we have different people inspire you with their li�le morning rou�nes with God so as a community, we can grow together.
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Woven into the fabrics of life. I love how in the Bible God talks all the �me about fashion. How He wants to give you a new set of clothes. To clothes designed in Heaven. To the wardrobe, God picked out for us. To the sick touching the hem of Jesus clothes. To pu�ng on the armour of God. Fashion shows our lifestyle, the culture we are apart of, moods, the peeps we hang out with, the works we do. I love the way people express themselves in fashion. The way they get crea�ve and take risks. Clothes have this way of dressing the temple in the finest of linen and the purest of co�on. In royal garments. To equip us to put our armour on and stand in our purpose and fight. Why indulge in fast food when we can nurture our body. Why indulge in fast fashion when we can clothe our bodies... Fashion has this way of complemen�ng our unique futures. Our style dares us to be the original person we are created to be. I love how clothes can make you feel more confident, more feminine, more flowing, more like you... In this ar�cle series, we talk fashion. We will invite people in and outside of the fashion industry who will take us with them in the deeper meaning of fashion. 055
In Milk & Honey, we want to inspire you to dream your wildest dreams. God is a dreamer and He made you to dream as well. In fact, we believe he has put dreams in your heart because he wants to partner with you into making these things come to being. He wants to love, reach, and influence people through your gorgeous life, dreams, passions, gi�s so He can bring more people into his loving family. You have a crazy poten�al, I sincerely believe in you with my whole heart. The hope. The dreams. Who you are. Who you will become. It’s so powerful. Believe it! God has given you life! The world is your oyster! Let’s go! Dream big dreams! We want to champion you. Some�mes I feel so weighed down by my dreams, the fear of failure, the poten�al disappointment, the broken dreams that have already broken my heart but I have decided if God gave me things in my heart, then it’s my job to be brave and go for it and know he’s with me. If we have a bit of faith and work hard toward our vision, and stay lead by the Holy Spirit then I believe crazy things will happen. Ephesians 3:20-21 Never doubt God’s mighty power to work in you and accomplish all this. He will achieve infinitely more than your greatest request, your most unbelievable dream, and exceed your wildest imagina�on! He will outdo them all, for his miraculous power constantly energizes you. We want this part of the magazine to inspire you to dream, we want to share our hearts, and interview other dreamers who are running hard into the wild wonder of their greatest heart desires to share their insight and journey with you- to give you the courage to say ‘what if’ and take ac�on. ‘When a man comes against you for dreaming wild dreams and daring to do so, remember that God, the ul�mate dreamer is by your side.’ Jennifer LeClaire
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LIVE CREATIVELY We are all wired crea�ve. We are all wired to bring the impossible into the world. To bring Heaven on Earth. As a child, we all lived in wonder and weren’t afraid to be an ar�st. We weren’t afraid to create. To grow. In this ar�cle, we dare you to be childlike again and master the cra� of life. We are made in the image of the big creator singing all the beauty of crea�on into being. In the Bible, He tells us Live Crea�vely. Meaning to live the best life you can. Choosing for life instead of death. Crea�ng, instead of tearing apart. To stand for your peeps in �mes of them messing around. In this ar�cle series, we go into the wide spectrum of crea�vity. The cra� of music, dance, the art of living. This is how we fight our ba�les. This is how we worship God. This is how we speak life. This is how we bring Heaven on earth. This is how we pour our hearts out. This is how we share life together. I love how the big shi�s of history are portrayed in arts. I even love more how we can change history through arts. The art of our life. And the art of us crea�ng.
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very �me I tell someone that I am from the Netherlands they start to talk about sex and drugs, and how much fun you can have here. And I cringe inside cause that empty fun is paid with a really high price. The drugs tearing my people’s beings apart. The pros�tu�on destroying girls dreams. Destroying women’s body cause in ten years �me they will have had sex with an en�re stadium of shou�ng swea�ng men of all ages. The screwed up view of sex and porn being normal instead of sex being this pure act of loving a human being. When our lives are an act of worship, sex definitely is. Living in a na�on of empty voids and crushed dreams while all we are yearning for is one thing. To be whole. With that, every country and place has its own story of empty voids, high prices and extreme hurt. In the Covert Affairs ar�cles, we take you with us in stories from people from all over the world that are on a mission to make a change. Their tes�monies of change breaking the impossibles. Tes�monies of breakthrough. Of flourishing in empty places. To build up the land. To build up the people. Cause all we are yearning for is to be whole. And when we invite God to that place insane miracles happen. Extraordinary healings. Empty wheelchairs. Love instead of terror. Extreme blessings. Peace offerings instead of war. His presence in the middle of oppression. Forgiveness in places of murder. When He shows up the earth trembles. And life sprouts. The stories that don’t get shared on the news. But should. Cause these Covert Affairs are bringing life in a world of emp�ness.
COVERT AFFAIRS
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st being you.
WILD HEARTS
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wild is messy. wild is passionate. wild is wholehearted. wild is daring. wild are queens. wild is being in over your heart. wild is stretching the borders. wild is protec�ng. wild is being alive. wild is a lover risking all. You are a wild one. You know. So wild. Yet so tender. And loving. So selfless loving. Figh�ng for a be�er world.
WILD HEARTS MAGAZINE
