Happy Sunday, friends!

It's Thanksgiving week!! Anyone else amazed that it's already here? I feel like this year has flown! It's hard to believe it's time for the holiday season again! I have the itch to decorate for Christmas and almost caved this week but I'm holding out until after Thanksgiving. Please tell me I'm not the only one! I CANNOT wait to add some Christmas cheer to our home with my little family but until then, I look forward to some delicious food and family time for Thanksgiving. I hope you all have a fun, safe and relaxing holiday with family and friends. May this week kick start a wonderful holiday season for all of you!!
 
Each Sunday, I am sharing a song and a prayer to carry with you through the week. My hope is that it will pour God’s truth into your heart, soul and mind. I pray it will uplift you and encourage you. I pray you it gives you hope, strength and peace. May this music help you delight in motherhood and the race you have been called to run. 

I hope this weeks song helps you focus on the Lord and His many blessings as you enter this Thanksgiving week. He is good and may we give Him praise everyday and during this holiday season we are embarking on! 



This weeks song is:

King of My Heart || By: Kutless

  Follow this link to hear this weeks song:  She Takes Strides Sunday Song Spotify Playlist

If you don't have Spotify or can't access the playlist here is a link to the song via YouTube:  King of My Heart by Kutless
 
PRAYER: 

Father, 


Thank you for being our Provider, our Redeemer, our Healer, and our Friend. We give you praise and thanks for all the blessings you have bestowed upon us. We know that everything we have in this life is a gift from you. Give us hearts that see your goodness and sing your praise! 

As we enter this holiday week, I pray we first and foremost thank you, Father. We have nothing apart from you. You have given us earthly blessings but you have also given us the greatest gift of everlasting life through your Son, Jesus Christ. I pray that we enter this week holding this truth dear to our hearts. I pray that you would fix our eyes on you during this beautiful yet busy season. May our focus be on you and may we have hearts of pure thankfulness and gratefulness. 

For the mom with anxiety wondering how she will get through the holidays, I pray you would ease her mind, bring peace to her heart and that she would run to you as her refuge, her strength, and her comforter. 

Father, you are good. Thank you for pursuing us and showing us what true and everlasting love is. Give us hearts of pure gratitude.

We praise you and we thank you, Father,

AMEN

Sunday Song + Prayer

Happy Sunday, friends!

I hope you've had a great weekend and have a chance to relax before a new week commences!

Each Sunday, I am sharing a song and a prayer to carry with you through the week. My hope is that it will pour God’s truth into your heart, soul and mind. I pray it will uplift you and encourage you. I pray you it gives you hope, strength and peace. May this music help you delight in motherhood and the race you have been called to run. 

This weeks song is:

Not Today || By: Hillsong 

  Follow this link to hear this weeks song:  She Takes Strides Sunday Song Spotify Playlist

PRAYER: 

Father, 

We thank you and praise you knowing you sent your Son to bury the curse of sin and shame. His death gave us life and I pray that we would stand firm on that powerful truth. We have been made new by the bloodshed of Jesus Christ and we are no longer slaves to fear. Build up a spirit of courage in us so that we can look straight into the eyes of fear and tell it, "not today".

As we begin a new week, I pray you would renew us and give us a spirit of confidence and not of fear. Let us proclaim your goodness each and every day and let the enemy know not today, not ever. Give us the strength and wisdom to not allow the enemy a foothold. Remind us that the enemy's schemes have no power over us. I pray that you would cast out fear and give us a peace that surpasses all understanding. 

There is power in the name of Jesus. Convict us to speak it often and to seek after you, Lord. Fill our hearts with your praise and let us not grow weary but let us grow stronger in our relationship with you and those around us. I pray that as anxiety, exhaustion, or stress creep in this week, that we will coming running to you---Our Healer, our Redeemer, our Friend. 

Father, I pray for every mother in the trenches reading this today that you would remind her of her beauty and that her identity rests in you alone. Help her to remember that fear is just a liar running out of breathe. Remind her that the God of angel armies is walking with her. Renew her spirit, Lord. 


In Christ's precious and holy name,

AMEN

Spring Is Coming

“The flower that blooms in adversity is the most rare and beautiful of them all.” -Mulan 

These flowers were beginning to wither and I was going to throw them away but I decided to add more water to the vase and give them a second chance. Turns out, a little water was just what they needed. Their beauty began to shine through again. 

These flowers remind me of myself and so many of us who may walk through a tough, dark season or a really bad day, week, month or year. We feel weak, we feel like our beauty has faded. We may feel like no one values or sees us for who we truly are and the struggles we are facing. We want to find ourselves, our beauty, and our strength again. We want community. We want to see the light and not the pain and darkness. We thirst for peace, answers and clarity. 

Health issues, depression, anxiety, OCD, whatever it might look like for you, it’s tough. It can feel lonely and like a huge weight you wish you could set aside. But whatever your burden, the Lord is sanctifying you. Only He can make you feel whole again. He wants to draw you nearer to Himself and help you grow in your faith because, without challenges, we wouldn’t know how much we truly need Him. We aren’t meant to fight these battles alone. Only the Lord can offer the wisdom, love, peace, clarity and joy we so desperately need. May we cling to Him and His word and may we seek Him in prayer. May we lay our burdens at the foot of the cross.

I know my own struggle with health issues, depression, anxiety, and OCD have shown me my own weakness and desire for control. It’s not easy admitting how often I struggle with these things and how often I am reminded of my weakness. It’s always a humbling reminder that I need to rely on God first and foremost. I also know that community rallying around me has been crucial in reminding me of God’s sovereignty, who I am, and that everything will be okay. The more I lean into God and authentic community, the less hold these things have on me. 

Just like a flower looks for the light from the sun, look up to your Heavenly Father. He is there to water your dry spirit. He is there to speak truth into your soul. He wants to see you blossom in all He has in store for you! 

Just as the seasons come and go, this too shall pass. 

“He has made everything beautiful in its time.” -Ecclesiastes 3:11 

Do you believe that truth? Even after the winter, the flowers bloom in spring. What was once dead is now alive. He makes beauty from ashes. 

You are strong and you are beautiful. You have a precious family. You are worthy of love and joy. The Lord will bring you through this. Sing His praises through the storm and let your light shine for all to see because when we embrace where we are and choose to learn and grow from it, others will see His glory and goodness. It will draw others nearer to Him, too. Our brokenness becomes blessing. Our brokenness becomes redemption and that in turn brings life that sings our Father's praises. 

Everything serves a purpose in the Kingdom of God. Something the Lord convicted me of today was this: If I don’t ever fully heal, will it be well with my soul? Will I look through my challenges and meet the eyes of God knowing this place is not my home and my struggles are not forever? Will I choose to see each day as a gift, and look past my struggles to see the blessings before me?

The weakness we have in our flesh makes it difficult to see past the hard times but we must continue to trust that there is great joy ahead. The winter might be here but spring is coming. It always comes. So holdfast, dear one. Lift up your chin, take a deep breath, meditate on scripture and remember whose you are. You are a daughter of the King.

Taking Strides,

Marla Shrader