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            “As I sit here in a room filled with hundreds of other Believers, I couldn’t feel more alone. I feel invisible a sea of faces.  Somehow, I feel very unseen. How did I get here? What did I do to deserve this level of loneliness? How will I ever move forward? My life isn’t going as I planned and I don’t know if I’ll ever get it back.” These words were penned by a friend of mine several years ago.  She had written that note to herself, while sitting a church filled with almost a thousand other people.  It was during worship service and that sometimes awkward part of the service where the pastor encourages everyone to meet and greet their neighbors had just transpired.  She looked around the room and seeming...

“Congratulations, you’re pregnant!” As she heard the news from the voice on the other end of the phone line, she let out a scream of terror. What will the neighbors think? Will I be kicked out of my home? How will I support myself and my baby? What do I need to do to survive? Kay Lyn Carlson was in a crisis situation, and at 17 years old, she could only think about tomorrow, not the future. She had been taught in sex education classes as early as grade school that abortion is an option for a woman facing a pregnancy she did not plan. What a relief it seemed to be when she walked through those doors of the abortion facility and was greeted by comforting voices. It’s not a baby. It’s just a blob of tissue. It’s just a product of conception. After you go home, you’ll never have to think about...

She speaks with authorityof life breathing hardand good inside her,a declaration ofwhat is solid and true.What do you most believe?For this truth—you live it, she says.I imagine her face,flecks of gold spitting firewhen her eyes crinkleso creases framecorners of her cheeks.Her hands are open,fingers splayed like anoffering spilling over,a beautiful mess.I see goodness everywherein the shadows of nightand creased bedspreadsof sleeplessness,in red-streaked prayersand the void of no answers.Here, she finds what shehas always known:majesty bursts out ofthe most surprising,unexpected places whereshe is held, pressure uponthe tender placesyet unsoothed. -jennifer j. camp This post appeared originally at jenniferjcamp.com

EMANUEL is a documentary about the tragic shooting at EMANUEL AME Church in Charleston, SC. The documentary opens in movie theaters nationwide today, June 17th, and 19th only—the respective anniversaries of the shooting, and Dylann Roof’s first court appearance when he was forgiven one-by-one by his victims. To purchase tickets at a theater near you, visit: https://www.fathomevents.com/event/emanuel-2019. Executive produced by Stephen Curry’s Unanimous Media, Viola Davis and Julius Tennons’ JuVee Productions, co-produced by Mariska Haritgay and directed by Brian Ivie (The Drop Box), EMANUEL compellingly weaves the history of race relations in Charleston, the significance and impact of Mother Emanuel Church, and the hope that someh...

Show me a Christian and you will have shown me a human prone to doubt.  Faith isn’t for the weak.  It takes a certain amount of tenacity to stand faithful to God alone while the world calls us foolish, silly, and uneducated.  It takes a level of tenacity to stand firm in faith when life, or perhaps our enemy, throws flaming arrows of difficulty at us.  Sickness, death, sorrow, financial ruin, and abuse are enough to make even the stoutest believer cry out in dismay.  Why does God allow such turmoil?  Why is life so hard? It isn’t just the harsh reality of this life that allows doubt to creep in.  Our own sin issues get in the way of believing.  Fear, insecurity, selfish ambition, greed, and pride all raise their head in defiance at faith. In fact, fa...

You speak this languageI do not say aloudand together, your handholding mine, you teach mehow to speak it back.Let that be my posture,re-turning my whole heartto you in words onlyheaven understands. —jennifer j. camp This post appeared originally at jenniferjcamp.com

                                                     www.insideoutwithcourtnaye.org No doubt, feelings are real. We’re human, so things that happen to us in life, in our hearts and minds are a reality. And sometimes it’s hard to press pass our feelings when we’re hurt, discouraged, mistreated, or just don’t feel like doing something. Well, in this week’s post, I’m going to share with you how to press beyond your feelings when you feel stuck in them, but want a way out. For starters, I would suggest going to God by letting Him know exactly how you feel. Just bear it all, sis. Cry if you have to. This whole point of this action step is to help you to be ...

The tree root is gnarled,twisted, bending andcontorting until it findswater, the source of lifein the ground.It will not stop untilit finds it.Without thinking it continuesto hunt for sustenance,the hope it will get in returnfor effort, not of the mindbut the heart, its DNA.Underground, the search isrelentless, the pushing,breaking through hard placesso even the rootsforget how they are made.That effort to change,adapt, improve, grow,is necessary tosurvival, but it does notguarantee the tree willthrive. Clouded dawn breaks through,light radiating branchesstretching toward sun.I reach and grasp and takehold of little, musclesworn from overuse.turn my face to light,knowing it can’t help butshine—as love does.And I put aside my pen,surrender my mind’s effortsto figure out how to bebetter, kin...

Conflict is always an opportunity to give God glory in the way you respond.  Conflict comes. It comes as a mom, coworker, sister, single person, senior, or teenager. It always comes. The better we get at handling conflict, the fewer opportunities Satan has to create division in our lives.  If you are battling conflict today, check out these effective steps on how to resolve conflict! The ways we treat others, even when they may seem unlovable, shines the light of Jesus to others. It gives others hope.  When conflict happens in our lives, there are several things we must do. Step 1:  Consider the “why”.  Understanding why conflict may be present helps us in considering how others may be feeling. It will make it easier for us to respond in love.  There are many ...

This hand clenched so fingerswhitened at the knucklesopen wide, palm up, to giveyou what I have.Not enough and perfectlyenough transformed intoplenty and abundantand good.Keep these fingers openfor I will not denyopportunity—for a miracle. —jennifer j. camp This post appeared originally at jenniferjcamp.com

                                            www.insideoutwithcourtnaye.org If you clicked onto this post, my first question to you is what are you afraid of, sis? Is it fear of failure for a test? Is it fear of failure in a relationship or with your children? Or maybe it’s fear of failure with a new ministry or business venture? What are you facing that is causing you to be afraid of failing? The root word of “fail” actually means to be unsuccessful in achieving one’s goal, to fall short, to feel inadequate, to disappoint expectations or miss performing well for an expected service or test. Does any of this resonate with the way you feel when you’re afraid to fail? Personally, I’ve...

AUTHOR: COURTNEY ELLIS (COURTNEY’S 2ND BOOK ALMOST HOLY MAMA RELEASED JUNE 3RD! IT’S FUNNY, THEOLOGICALLY RICH, AND AN ENCOURAGEMENT TO ANY MAMA TRYING TO GROW CLOSER TO JESUS!) I’ve apparently and unfortunately reached the age where previously normal moles go a little haywire. “That’s going to need to come off,” said the doctor, holding my ear in a gloved hand, peering closely at it. “I’ll schedule you for next week.” Entering my mid-thirties had been rough on the health front. In the past two years one doctor told me my days in high heels were over, after an old soccer injury turned into osteoarthritis, and another stamped my prenatal chart with the dreaded letters AMA—advanced maternal age—as I prepared to welcome our third baby. “I don’t mind getting old,” I’d told my hu...