The Holy Shift Blog
Thoughtful reflections, honest stories, and fresh perspectives on Jesus and the upside-down kingdom—inviting you into deeper love and life with Him.
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Poetry Prompts
WE WANNA READ YOUR POETRY: Poet Rachel Joy Welcher provides 3 poetry prompts and invites you to share your work
Learning to Bloom without Roots
ART + REFLECTION BY ASHLEY WHITTEMORE: Thoughts on "hope deferred" and feeling trapped inside a life we didn’t sign up for
Sissy's Story: What My Dog Taught Me About Healing and Connection
Here's what coping with my crazy little weenie dog's trauma is teaching me about healing from mine +PLUS+ some of the resources I am finding helpful in my journey!
Your Gentleness is Not a Liability
REFLECTION BY SARAH E. WESTFALL: In sixth grade, I punched a boy, and I think it surprised me most.
A "Messy Middle" Manifesto
BY KATE BOYD: We believe in boundaries, not boxes. We love the gospel and we stand for justice. We cling to God in faith but create space for doubts.
I Blame Wendell Berry and Jesus
The yearning for smaller, slower, sweeter has been growing in me for years, maybe even a decade. I don't just blame all the growth and progress in the area for this. I also blame Wendell Berry and Jesus.
Making Art When the World is on Fire
REFLECTION BY KATIE FOX: What can we say about art and beauty in the face of mass shootings, war, evil, and destruction? Why discuss poetry, when the world feels like it's on fire? What can beauty and the arts offer to us when we’ve lost everything we hold dear?
The Hospitable Tree
ART + REFLECTION BY SOFIA RECTOR: As the light gentles, we gather, arms laden with food, blankets, drink. We come to feed our souls as much as our bodies...
Drowning in Grief
If surviving grief has taught me anything, it is that we all have one life to live and one God to glorify, and we are purposed to do that in community.
All Things New
ART + REFLECTION BY SOFIA RECTOR: May we grieve well, knowing He has plumbed the depths, and then risen to the heights, and is making all things new.
God Didn't Create Death
REFLECTION BY LAURA BECK:On pain, peace, and new paths emerging out of darkness
Like an Iris in the Negev
ART + REFLECTION BY SOFIA RECTOR:Sofia's piece reflects on the sense of dislocation (things not being as they ought to be) in the Biblical narratives, and of women seen as disposable objects, constricted to narrow (often flat, linear) roles.
Happy are the Humble
Why humility isn't what you think and is more necessary than you think.