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UNPRECEDENTED

{ a celebration of the revolutionary love of God }

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I went skydiving for the first time 12 years ago. I signed up for my second jump almost as soon as my feet were back on the ground. ▫️ My dad was pretty into skydiving when I was a kid. We watched countless videos of people jumping into the clouds, grabbing onto one another and free falling together in formation: colorful, kaleidoscopic, carefree. ▫️ I got to sit in the co-pilot seat of the tiny plane as one of his buddies guided us from the certainty of the dirt to the certain danger of high altitude. The pilot would tell me jokes through the headset while my dad sat on the floor behind us. ▫️ We would climb to about 13,000 feet and then my dad would leap out of the open door. I’d watch him fly through the sky until he faded into the landscape below. I would hold my breath for the next minute or so and wait for the sudden pop of bright red or yellow parachute to let me know he was okay; floating, not falling. ▫️ I used to do things my dad loved to feel closer to him after he died, to see if I could somehow still get to know him. From jumping out of planes to taking shots of whiskey, I longed for a connection with my dad that never fully existed in our time on earth together. ▫️ It was quite selfish, really. I thought knowing my dad would help me to better understand myself. After all, he was half of me, right? There had to be answers to my identity and purpose hidden within the ashes of who my father once was. It breaks my heart to think that I missed him not always because I loved him, but sometimes because I was trying to find reasons to love myself. ▫️ And alas, here I sit with the same selfish heart over a decade later. I often seek connection with my Heavenly Father not to know Him and enjoy Him, but instead as a way to better understand myself. The answers about my worth are there, YES! But there is so, so much more. ▫️ JESUS, lift my gaze so l see beyond myself! Your Holy Spirit testifies with my spirit that I am indeed a child of God. It is settled! I am known. I am loved. Now let me lose myself completely as I sit in the beauty of your Presence! Wash away any need for validation. Fill me with wonder and worship. You alone are worthy of my meditation!

Baby daddy. 💙

❤️

Babymoonin’ 💙 @clarkhays you know me too well, my love... this place is dreamy ✨ Thank you for this weekend!

“Truth, at first, is the wound that heals.” . . . . Dr. Mark Rutland, Courage To Be Healed

@supermario108 always makes us look cooler than we are! 😎 Can this count as our Baby Hays maternity photo shoot? #18weeks

We love you so much already, Baby Hays. I can’t even begin to fathom the love Jesus has for you as He is continuing to shape and form you even now, beloved child. And to think He created us all with that same perfect love! My heart is overwhelmed in the best way. Thank you, Lord. 💛 #17weeks

Sweet @gennycarsten, it was such a joy to celebrate baby Brielle with you! 💕 So thankful to be on this crazy journey with you! You and @ccarsten11 will be the most incredible parents to this beautiful baby girl. Like you said today, she has been destined for your family since the beginning! I sooo can’t wait to meet her! ✨ I love you, gorgeous mama! Rejoicing with you over this wonderful blessing and thanking God for the gift of new life today #32weeks #16weeks #truthsetto . . . “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them!” - Psalm 139: 13-17

Happy One Month Wedding Anniversary to this stunning Bride + Groom! 🙌🏻 We went from praying together for the first time in @stephculler and @shaunculler ’s living room four years ago to praying together at the altar... can you believe this journey?! GOD IS SO GOOD! 😭 It was absolutely the honor of a lifetime to officiate your beautiful ceremony. I still can’t believe you let me be a part of your special day - thank you for trusting me. It is so easy to celebrate you two and all Jesus has done in your hearts and lives these last several years. I cherish your friendship more than you know, and will forever be rooting for you, praying for you, and smiling every time I think of this perfect day. May the Lord continue to bless your union and use your marriage to bless countless others. The best is yet to come! @clarkhays and I LOVE y’all!!! #alhayesandforever

I fall more in love with you every day... 💙 Happy Anniversary, handsome!

Happy, Happy Birthday to this stunning sister! It has been an honor and a blessing to be a part of your life these last 6 years. Your loyal friendship, timely wisdom, sensitivity to the Holy Spirit, and effortless ability to bring people together has inspired me more than you know. Watching you become an incredible wife to Chris, celebrating with you both as you made your first house a home (and welcomed your sweet pup into the family!), and now eagerly awaiting your precious baby girl to come into the world... what a gift it is to rejoice with you in every season! I am so, so grateful you were born and I can’t wait to see you as a mama! You were made for this. ❤️ Cheers to you, @gennycarsten ! This will undoubtedly be your best year yet! I love you so much! #truthsetto

{ Matthew 6:31-34 }

🥰

Mother’s Day 2019 ✨ Goose, Sister, Jane - It is so very easy to celebrate you. Thank you for carrying life and speaking life. You are each truly love-in-action for your families, and it is a privilege to learn from you. I appreciate you more than you know. I love you! 💕 “She is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs without fear of the future. When she speaks, her words are wise, and she gives instructions with kindness. She carefully watches everything in her household and suffers nothing from laziness. Her children stand and call her blessed...” {Proverbs 31:25-28}

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. {John 1:5}

Journal entry dated Wednesday, July 6th, 2005 // Written in Colombo, Sri Lanka: “Our last day here... plane leaves tonight. I don’t want to leave. I miss my family, but I want them to come here! I’ve grown so close to so many people... I feel like I have 50 brothers + sisters... How wonderful + glorious Heaven must be if the fallen earth that I stand on is so full of beauty + life! Even still, there IS darkness in the world...Satan is here. For the first time, my heart breaks + I understand the necessity of missions and the freedom the Truth brings... I believe that all people can be saved through Jesus Christ... PRAY! In every situation, PRAY!” // Praying for our brothers + sisters in Sri Lanka today. The Lord has not forgotten you, and neither have I. ▫️ 📷: Photos taken in 2005 by the talented @david.eckmier of @davidandkaraweddings — devastation captured here is from the Indian Ocean Tsunami of 2004

“Disturb us, Lord, when we are too well pleased with ourselves...” ✨ a brave + beautiful prayer! ▫️ Our God is so much bigger than we think! His thoughts are not our thoughts, neither are His ways our ways. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are His ways higher than our ways and His thoughts than our thoughts! 🙌🏻 ▫️ The LORD is so worthy of our trust and praise! Do you believe it today? Set sail! 🙏🏻 JESUS, let us experience the depths of your perfect LOVE that cannot be found near the shore! Your dreams for us are so much better than what we dream for ourselves.

PART II: Today, 20 years after my dad passed away, my Heavenly Father is more than someone I cry out to when my heart aches: it is He who gives me life and breath and everything else. And my Father has a name, a name that carries unprecedented authority and limitless love, a name that makes the darkness tremble and brings me to my knees, a name that pours forth from my lips and brings peace that surpasses understanding: Jesus Christ! My Lord, Savior, King, Friend, and Hope! ▫️ His presence reminds me that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. He holds me close and catches my tears as I mourn again the loss of my dad tonight, and He will wake me up tomorrow with new mercy and morning joy. His kindness is unmatched and unending! Oh, how I long to spend forever praising the One who knows me fully and loves me still! And I sure hope my dad is there, too, free of the weight of this world and filled with a love he had heard about but had not yet experienced. ▫️ Until that glorious day, may the God of hope fill us with all joy and peace as we trust in Him, so that we may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. ▫️ 📷: Photos captured of my mom and dad in their early 20’s. It is weird to think that my dad didn’t know his life on earth was halfway completed when these were taken. What an incredible reminder to live each moment walking in prayerful and passionate purpose... if you’ve been waiting to see if God is real, the time is now. Cry out to Him tonight. He will answer. Your God is near. He loves you more than you know, dear friend!

PART I: April 10th usually comes and goes like most other days, but this year it feels different. My dad passed away 20 years ago today and I can still close my eyes and walk right back into that hospital room. I remember how his calloused and heavy hand felt as I held it tightly and told him I loved him, asking him to please give me a sign that he was okay even though I knew life had left his body. ▫️ Everything had happened so fast. He was unconscious and on full life support by the time we arrived. I used to wear a ring he bought me on a chain around my neck, and I remember thinking that if I just took that ring off of the necklace and put it on my finger he would come back to life. This idea came to me right after we got the phone call about the accident. The entire car ride to the airport I kept sobbing and pushing that silver ring onto my finger. I guess that is what a 12 year old comes up with when she learns that her dad is dying. ▫️ I didn’t know how to pray, and I am not sure I had ever spoken the precious name of Jesus Christ. But on April 10th, my heart ached in a new way. I lost my dad, and I knew I needed a father. Far from grasping the beautiful mystery that is the Gospel, I stood beside that hospital bed and cried out to an invisible God, a “Heavenly Father” I had heard about throughout my childhood but had never called to in desperation. ▫️ So on April 10, 1999, I said an excruciating goodbye to my earthly dad and took a step toward my Forever Father. I later told Him that I was afraid I needed more, that I had to see Him and know His presence. And in His grace and love, He showed me that “the Son is the image of the invisible God” - He introduced me to His fullness in Jesus Christ, and promised that He would never leave me. He said the very same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead - HIS Spirit - would be with me always... ▫️ Continued in next post...

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UNPRECEDENTED

{ a celebration of the revolutionary love of God }

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