Photo by Sadie Hernandez via Flickr
Halloween hasn't even come and gone, and yet talk of Christmas is everywhere. 

Stores are decked out with tinsel and garland and trees and pre-pre-pre-Black Friday sales. My kids are starting to see random Santas, and just last week I was asked to set a date for our annual cookie exchange (which I love!).  

The "holidays" are LOOMING -- with all of the good stuff, but also with all of the frantic hustle and bustle. 

I'm already feeling a little anxious about how busy I'll get -- despite my yearly vow not to overdo, to over schedule, to over commit.

And then, to top it off, I rushed right past a friend's greeting last Friday -- completely oblivious to her cheerful presence as I was frantically going from one task to the next. 

ACK! 

How did this happen? How are we already sliding into the too busy holiday routine? How am I too busy to hear and see and witness the real things, the good things, the beautiful things revealed every day?  

How do I put the brakes on, slow it down, stop and BREATHE? 
Today I am so excited to be guest posting over at Incourage. I'm writing about the struggle to find my identity in nothing other than Christ. Here's a small portion of my post:

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Photo source, here
“My struggle this weekend has been about where I really fit,” my friend confided in me over lunch. “I know what God has for me, but I feel like I’m in limbo, wondering where I fit right now.”

As she speaks, I sit fidgeting with my water glass, knowing exactly what she means. I, too, have struggled with identity. Wondering where I belonged.

“Some days are just better than others,” she states.

I take a deep breath, give a little smile and say, “Sometimes I think God strips away our titles so we’ll find our identity in him alone.” And as I say it, I know it’s easier said than done, acknowledge my own struggle to find my purpose in God versus accomplishments in this world.

You can read the full post here.





In my mind’s eye, she is larger than life – clear blue eyes still laughing, no more wrinkles than she had when she died at 28. While my own eyes have started to crinkle and form lines in the corners, she is still eternally young. While I peer anxiously at my roots to search for gray hairs or smooth work-worn hands over hips gone soft from two children, she remains eternally beautiful. 

My beautiful sister Katrina
And even though it’s been eight years since she died in 2005, I still talk to her when I’m all alone.

Just like New Orleans is still rebuilding its city eight years after Hurricane Katrina swept through; I’m still rebuilding my heart after the loss of my own dear sister Katrina. 

There are parts of me that know that she's gone. The rational part that knows that life and death are equal halves of the same coin; the emotional part that held her soft, manicured hands in her final moments, who whispered brokenly: It's ok. You can go. I love you. The part of me that knows that she was meant for something more

The ultimate act of unselfishness is to let someone go, even when we are desperate for them to stay. But the reality of letting go is a mirror for us of the love God has for us, proven by sending his son to earth, knowing he would die. Not from terminal illness or cancer, a heart attack or stroke, but from something as common and as devastating as sin. 

I can’t explain it, exactly. But the legacy my sister left was the same one Jesus has bequeathed us, his children: Love. And eternal life. So when my oldest daughter proudly tells me her full name -- Elise Katrina Demery -- and she asks me, for perhaps the hundredth time, who Katrina was -- I have the chance to tell her about the auntie who lives in Heaven with Jesus, who we'll see again someday.

And in the evening, as I get the baby ready for bed, I sing a song that rises up from memories of days at First Baptist Church, wooden pews and worn carpet, voices singing as one while the piano plays. Noelle pauses her constant stream of babble as I start to sing "Blest Be the Tie that Binds":

Blest be the tie that binds
our hearts in Christian love;
the fellowship of kindred minds
is like to that above.

Before our Father's throne
we pour our ardent prayers;
our fears, our hopes, our aims are one,
our comforts and our cares.

We share each other's woes,
our mutual burdens bear;
and often for each other flows
the sympathizing tear.

When I reach the final verse, my heart stutters, throat closing and eyes tearing up. But as my daughter smiles at me, I catch my breath and smile, too, the pain and the pleasure of life mingled as they so often are. 


When we asunder part,
it gives us inward pain;
but we shall still be joined in heart,
and hope to meet again.



Are you looking for resources around kindness, friendship and intentional living? Have you checked out our books?
Our newest book, 100 Daily Acts of Friendship for Girls, is written specifically for girls ages 8-12 as they navigate friendships in upper elementary and middle school. With a scripture, short story, reflection questions and 50 fun activities to do with you or friends, it's a wonderful way to encourage your daughter, niece, granddaughter, God daughter and her friends to build healthy friendships from an early age.

And our adult friendship devotional, The One Year Daily Acts of Friendship is a perfect compliment to our book for tweens. With a daily scripture, story, and friendship prompt, its encouraging and slightly challenging (in a good way!) as you find, keep, and love your friends.   

We've also written two kindness devotionals, The One Year Daily Acts of Kindness and 100 Days of Kindness. They tell the story of how our families embarked on a one-year journey of kindness, and include our successes, failures, and the encouragement you need as a family to incorporate kindness into your own life.

We would love to walk alongside you in encouragement, inspiration, and community. You can follow us on Facebook and Instagram as The Ruth Experience or sign up for our monthly newsletter (no spam, ever), here.

If you already have one of our books and love them, we'd so appreciate it if you leave a review on Amazon. 

We're in this together,

Kristin, Kendra, and Julie


Today we're thrilled to have a guest post from blogger Kristin Gordley, who writes:

Image: ToastyTreat on Flickr
I was saying goodbye to a wonderful lady that I wished I had gotten to know better. She was moving away. Although she was much further along in life than I, she expressed the thought that I had encouraged her and that she really appreciated my “gentle” spirit. Internally, I laughed. “Boy, she doesn’t know me!” 

Several months later, another friend told me that she admired my “gentleness.” This time I pondered it a bit more. But eventually, I had the same thought – “She doesn’t know me very well.” 

However, through other people, God was showing me how he saw me.

Image by Pol Sifter on Flickr
On this, the final week of our fall devotional, we ask the question: how do I wait on God?


God sometimes responds to our prayers immediately. But sometimes, we feel as though the ears of Heaven are shut against our pleas - our heads know that God has heard, but our hearts long for action, for rescue, for help.


We reinterviewed Susan* (names have been changed) in The Ruth Experience - a woman who knows what it means to wait. But first, an abridged excerpt from her testimony in the book:


As Susan left her physically and verbally abusive husband after twelve years of marriage, his final vow rang in her ears: He would use all the money he had to take their three sons away from her.  


Hi, friends!

The girls of TRE are at Redeemed Retreat this weekend with the other writers of Bridging the Gap enjoying amazing speakers such as Susie Larson, Dr. Greg and Erin Smalley, Shaunti Feldhahn and Meredith Andrews. It's bound to be a good time (if you're here with us, be sure to stop by and say "hi" at the BTG resource table) and we wanted to share the good times with everyone -- so instead of just doing a special retreat-only giveaway, we decided to put it out for everyone to join in on the fun!

We are giving away 2 $25.00 gift cards to Darden Restaraunts (Red Lobster, Olive Garden, and more) and there are several ways to increase your chances of winning. Sign up below!






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