Here amid the Holiday season, with parties and events filling your days and New Year’s get-togethers just around the corner, do you ever find yourself hesitant to include the name of Jesus in conversation? Me too. If you have a passionate love for Jesus and a desire to share what he means to you as the Holy Spirit opens doors this season, join me for this episode. To receive other great articles to grow closer to Jesus and each other in your email, go to thesanctuaryatbearcreek.com and sign up...
Dec 19, 2024•8 min•Transcript available on Metacast Children keep us humble, and a few years ago, my husband and I thought we had completely failed as parents when our daughter brought us an eye-opening question. But the pain was quickly replaced with joy as the Lord brought us back again to His wonderful gift. If you haven’t been taught about the filling of the Holy Spirit, or if, like me, you’ve heard some confusing teaching through the years and put Him on the shelf, I think you’ll enjoy this episode opening the door wide to all the Lord has f...
Nov 16, 2024•12 min•Transcript available on Metacast “Pilgrimages rarely go as planned. They’re evolving journeys, not packaged holidays.” Ted Harro, Camino Pilgrim, Renovare As it is in pilgrimage, so it is in life. Just when you think you have everything planned to a “T,” a detour or a roadblock changes everything! What do you do now? Pilgrimages Rarely Go As Planned Full Article You can read Perry’s full story in his book. Whether you go on an actual pilgrimage or not, you’ll be so inspired! Stepping Out On An Adventure of Faith: What I Lea...
Jun 29, 2024•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast Take this episode along as you sit at the beach or in a quiet spot with your early morning coffee. Drink of the Living Water as First Love Founder and author Linda Andersen leads us through this powerful practice of Soaking in the Psalms. Day 1 Pilgrimage Takes Patience Transcript Spiritual Retreat for Tired Souls: A Quiet Guide to Time Alone with God by Linda Andersen #abideinJesus #christianformation To receive these and other great articles to grow closer to Jesus and each other in your email...
Jun 22, 2024•12 min•Transcript available on Metacast Hearing from many of you, there’s been an interest in the topic of pilgrimage, and my recent trip to Italy on The Saint Francis Way. I hope you enjoy this series of short vignettes about pilgrimage and monthly soaking in Jesus’ prayer practices by First Love Founder, Linda Andersen. May these stirring topics, be little bite-size morsels to strengthen our lives with God as we travel through the summer. Day 1 Pilgrimage Takes Patience Transcript MAWG Morning Alone with God June 15 & July 20 Th...
Jun 15, 2024•7 min•Transcript available on Metacast “Pilgrimage,” not a word that comes into our 21st Century Christian vocabulary very often. Come along as I lead you through my recent experience traveling The Francis Way in Italy, An ancient spiritual practice that the Lord opened my eyes to nearly 10 years ago, and I have been fascinated with ever since. Hear a little bit about this practice and the gift that might be waiting for you through this ancient and current practice of life with God. To Italy and Back Again—Pilgrimage 101 Article Unhu...
Jun 08, 2024•14 min•Transcript available on Metacast Whatever the Lord is asking of you today, I hope you enjoy this story of surrender and that it gives you the strength to say, “Yes!” And in that “Yes!” you find the joy and satisfaction you were created for because it’s in dying that we truly live! Click on the link below to learn more about Autumn and this powerful movement of God that reached 37,000 young people on College Campuses last year. AutumnMeltonmissions.com #the_auddy #circuitriders #joyinsurrender #Godisgood #lifewithjesus To receiv...
Apr 27, 2024•38 min•Transcript available on Metacast With Easter being the most important day of the whole year for us as Christians, why does it so often catch us by surprise? If you’re like me and want to fully savor this opportunity with the Savior instead of screeching into the Church parking lot on Easter morning, you’ll love this episode! #christianformation #lifewithjesus #lovingjesus #easter2024 #heisrisen To receive these and other great articles in your email each week to grow closer to Jesus, go to thesanctuaryatbearcreek.com and sign u...
Mar 23, 2024•15 min•Transcript available on Metacast Just as no two marriages are alike, no two couples’ spiritual relationship will be the same either. In celebration of Valentine’s month and the unique relationship we share with our spouse, get ready to free yourself from all the “should’s”, “ought to’s” and “gotta’s” and notice and celebrate your unique Spiritual Strengths instead. Couple’s Spiritual 💋 Strengths Survey Solitude As a Spouse Article Made from Scratch by Mignon Francois MAWG Morning Alone with God Contemplative Retreat #christian...
Feb 24, 2024•11 min•Transcript available on Metacast So excited to share about our Good Shepherd’s faithfulness along my publishing path. Was it just a year ago I heard those dreaded words no author wants to hear, “I’m so sorry to say that your book project was not approved by our publishing committee.”? When we go through our big and small valleys of the shadow of death, there’s nothing to fear. It’s not the end of the story. There is still more that the Lord needs to write in the middle. We will see soon enough how good He is. To receive these a...
Jan 27, 2024•10 min•Transcript available on Metacast I’ve got a special episode for you today! An interview with a dear friend and my spiritual director, Chris Slabbekoorn. I can’t wait for you to hear about Chris’ unique perspective on the Lord’s work in our lives through what she calls, The Golden Thread, and our conversation about setting apart a few quiet moments to hear the Lord’s still small voice and receive all he has for us in the year ahead, through the practice of the New Year’s Examen. We pray you’ll be blessed by the New Year’s Examen...
Dec 30, 2023•39 min•Transcript available on Metacast “A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices for yonder breaks a new and glorious morn. Fall on your knees! O hear the angel voices! O night divine, O Night when Christ was born.” Reading those words, just makes you happy, doesn’t it?? Are you humming along? Is there music playing in your head? Are you smiling? I am! Why is it that people are happier at Christmas? I wonder if a lot of it has to do with worship. The carols. Amidst all the pain and darkness; war, poverty, and injustice. Uncertainty...
Dec 16, 2023•11 min•Transcript available on Metacast It’s here, the most delightful Church season of the year! A time to focus on all the glorious things God is ... Wonderful, Counselor, Almighty God, Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace! Four weeks on the calendar when we schedule time to stop and think about, I mean REALLY think about, a love of God for us so great and his desire for an unhindered relationship with us so powerful that He sent Jesus. Yet amidst the busy season of shopping, caroling, and feasting, it’s so easy to get swept away...
Dec 02, 2023•12 min•Transcript available on Metacast Woo-hoo! Thanksgiving is here! It’s so exciting to think about all the friends and family gathering together and also terrifying. What does the Lord have for us in these life-long relationships that can be so messy at times? Are our Norman Rockwell visions of the family sitting around the table just a fairy tale? … or an invitation from God? And if they are an invitation, how in the world are we supposed to get there? Other great Thanksgiving articles you might enjoy listening to while you prepa...
Nov 23, 2023•5 min•Transcript available on Metacast Welcome to this episode, where we talk about the incomprehensible mystery that our God will speak when we humbly lean in, ask him, and listen! And the shocking things he revealed to me as I followed what I heard him say. Other great Thanksgiving articles to listen to while you’re preparing your Thanksgiving feast, Invitation to Holy Hospitality Welcoming the Stranger … and who could be “Strange-er” than your Relatives? Eugene Peterson’s fantastic book, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction To r...
Nov 21, 2023•11 min•Transcript available on Metacast Have you ever been captivated by a hero of the faith from history? Is there someone outside the pages of the Bible whose life powerfully inspires you every time you hear about it? Someone who seems to be walking a somewhat similar path, and yet maybe lived centuries before you or in a completely different culture? What if that burning inside you is God’s indication that he has special gifts waiting for you through the life of another? Join us as we celebrate a holiday, you may not have celebrate...
Nov 04, 2023•11 min•Transcript available on Metacast Can you believe it’s been 6 weeks since Labor Day? It seems everyone I talk to has enjoyed a beautiful and bustling fall. Ours has been filled with people we love, travel, and festivities. If your fall has been anything like ours, you may be ready to slow down for a bit. Join us for this episode where we recognize the first anniversary of Queen Elizabeth’s death and the Brit’s fantastic custom. Get out your cozy sweater and favorite mug, as we kick off our month of slowing, with the 2023 “7-Day ...
Oct 21, 2023•8 min•Transcript available on Metacast Sometimes I wish God would just let me make the rules. Every living thing left on its own will die, even us. For some crazy reason, God made us divinely insufficient and desperately in need of each other. Just as we are physically dependent on each other to survive, so we are also spiritually. I couldn’t have been more ecstatic than when I first came to know Jesus. I went to church every chance I could get, until I couldn’t. Then, left on my own, I started falling away. Until … Blog post: Dying ...
Oct 07, 2023•13 min•Transcript available on Metacast I couldn’t have been more shocked at the powerful principle that came from this innocent little question a few weeks ago. Hold on tight for what it reveals in you! Blog post: What is God Stirring in You this Season? Learning Humility , by Richard Foster First Nations Native American New Testament by Terry Wildman To receive these and other great articles to grow closer to Jesus in your email each week, go to thesanctuaryatbearcreek.com and sign up for our weekly newsletter. You can also follow u...
Sep 30, 2023•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast We contemplatives love our time with the Lord. We love silence and solitude and have discovered a pearl of great price that many never do. There’s no greater calling than spending time just with God like a lover, in an indescribable relationship with Him. But, there’s another side of that same coin. Join us for this episode where we’re going to talk about our relationship with the Lord with a little twist of the beautiful design, he has divinely orchestrated, to intertwine our lives with others....
Sep 16, 2023•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast A battle that’s been going on since the beginning of time, but possibly even more challenging in the 21st century. Here, at the beginning of Fall with more opportunities than our strength, finances, or spirits can handle, how do we wade through the choices, to make the ones closest to God’s will; the ones when our lives are all said and done, we will be happiest we did? Join me today as we tap into a foundational practice of discernment God has been using for centuries to show his children the w...
Sep 09, 2023•12 min•Transcript available on Metacast You may be wondering when you see ours or other ministries beginning to offer “contemplative” practices, if we’ve all fallen off the deep end, sucked up in the current trend towards pagan practices of becoming “one with the universe”. Join us for this discussion answering the questions that may be coming to your mind with practices like “meditation” becoming a part of our circles. And the account of my apprehensions and how God led me through this process one shaky step at a time on my first sil...
Sep 02, 2023•12 min•Transcript available on Metacast It’s not if you’re going to have an offense with someone, it’s when! Something happens and we pray about it, forgiving the person and asking God to restore the relationship. But still, when we see the person again, there’s just that little negative feeling in your heart. God has the best ways of answering our prayers. And sometimes the sneakiest! Join us in this episode for the story of how he showed up with the answer in my life one Sunday morning. The Five-Second Rule by Mel Robbins https:///w...
Aug 26, 2023•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast Taken aback by a quote by Rilke about the highest task of a married couple, join me for this episode as we discuss something most people never think about in their dreamy visions of marriage. Your spouse may very well be sending me fan-mail after you listen :) https://www.thesanctuaryatbearcreek.com/blog/solitude-as-a-spouse To receive these and other great articles to grow closer to Jesus in your email each week, go to thesanctuaryatbearcreek.com and sign up for our weekly newsletter. You can a...
Aug 19, 2023•7 min•Transcript available on Metacast I love this annual August episode, highlighting the books that have found their way to my life, growing my love for Jesus and his people during the summer. Books are such a powerful tool in God’s hand and work in us. Is it any wonder that the first thing Jesus is called in the gospel of John is “The Word”? This episode provides a way for us to share the treasures we have found with each other. Can’t wait to hear about yours! 3000 Miles to Jesus: Pilgrimage as a Way of Life for Spiritual Seekers ...
Aug 12, 2023•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast Many adults know they need to make space for silence and solitude, but do we ever think about our children’s need for it as well? With kids’ lives, from pre-school to high school more scheduled than ever, in this episode, we’ll be taking a look at one of the best things we can give our kids this summer! To receive these and other great articles to grow closer to Jesus in your email each week, go to thesanctuaryatbearcreek.com and sign up for our weekly newsletter. You can also follow us on Faceb...
Aug 05, 2023•7 min•Transcript available on Metacast We all do it. The minute we receive Jesus and start walking with him, we begin making “rules” for what quiet time, church, bible study, and loving our neighbor must look like. Join us in this conversation as the Lord brings me face-to-face with this struggle; taking me kicking and screaming into a new way of doing retreat and reminding me once again that there are endless ways, He draws us closer to Him. Read the blog post. To receive these and other great articles to grow closer to Jesus in you...
Aug 05, 2023•6 min•Transcript available on Metacast Sit by me at the theatre, as Jesus Revolution takes me back to the day when I met Jesus for the first time and remember the day that happened for you as well! Jesus Revolution Movie Trailer Purchase the Movie Read the blog post. To receive these and other great articles to grow closer to Jesus in your email each week, go to thesanctuaryatbearcreek.com and sign up for our weekly newsletter. You can also follow us on Facebook at The Sanctuary at Bear Creek ....
Aug 05, 2023•8 min•Ep 1•Transcript available on Metacast A common mindset we all struggle with, subconsciously we believe that if we’re walking closely with the Lord and doing what He’s called us to do, we wouldn’t struggle so often with doubt, pain, confusion, and conflict. Join us for this conversation as we talk about being smack dab in the center of God’s will, and life being both good and hard at the same time. Read the blog post. To receive these and other great articles to grow closer to Jesus in your email each week, go to thesanctuaryatbearcr...
Aug 05, 2023•7 min•Ep 4•Transcript available on Metacast Welcome to the Sanctuary Stirrings where we talk about all things related to our intimacy with God and others and unpack the abundant life He has for us! So glad you're here.
Jun 23, 2023•1 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
