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emotional health

Cultivate Truth

Embraced VLOG: Week 7

 

Cultivate Truth: 100 Days in the Word

With only two weeks left in our series, take a few minutes to reflect on what you’ve experienced these past two months. How has cultivating truth in your life changed you? Our lives can be busy and full and the habit of daily being in God’s word can be a challenge for all of us. We hope you’ve seen the difference it makes and that you’ll continue the commitment to your personal soul care. Together, we can thank God for not only changing us, but growing us deeper into relationship with Him.

This week, we welcome Becca Boganwright to share how we can engage with Jesus and experience the fullness of His love.

Hi Friends!

Especially during the summer time, it can be easy to constantly look for ways to “escape” the chaos, stress, or even mundane things in our everyday lives. While there is something to be said for taking a much needed break, the things we do to escape are often short lived and never produce a lasting sense of fulfillment.

Escaping leaves us empty, but engaging with Jesus fills us.

To engage with Jesus is to experience how wide and how deep His love for us really is. How do we not just know His love but experience His love? Especially in times when we feel lonely, unseen or insecure? One of the ways we can engage with Jesus and experience His deep love for us is by going back to those moments of difficulty and searching for Jesus in our most painful places.

If you choose to engage with Him and search for Him, I know you will find Him.

With love,

Becca

Let’s Dig Deeper:

This week, read Days 43-48 of Embraced. Answer the following questions on your own or discuss them with a friend and/or your community group:

  1. What types of “escape behaviors” ultimately leave you feeling empty? Why is this?
  2. Slowly read through Ephesians 3:16-19. What is the difference between knowing Jesus loves you and experiencing His love for you?
  3. What are some personal barriers you might have that keep you from experiencing how deep God’s love for you is?
  4. Take some time to remember an experience when you felt lonely, unseen or insecure. Close your eyes, breathe deeply and imagine being in that place. Now, reflect on what you’ve just read about how much Jesus loves you and turn that memory into a prayer, asking Jesus to reveal Himself to you. How do you experience Jesus in this place?

 

Becca Boganwright has been leading worship at Sandals Church for over a decade and has the immense privilege of being one of the Cultivate teachers. She is wife to Andrew, the Marriage and Men’s Ministry Pastor at Sandals, and is mother to Kingston (12), and Nobel (11). Not only is she passionate about Jesus, music, family and education, but she’s also a middle school science teacher—which means she’s got just a little crazy in her—and she LOVES it.

 

You’re invited to experience Cultivate Women and our vision of spiritual growth in a community of kindness. This year, we’re thrilled to include our always popular Cultivate Marketplace with your Cultivate Conference registration. We’re curating a special selection of vendors to bring you the best and most beautiful items to browse, including NEW Cultivate merchandise. When you join us, not only will you experience food, friends, worship and teaching from Tammy Brown, Melody Workman and our special guest speaker, best selling author and president of Proverbs 31 Ministries, Lysa TerKeurst, but you’ll get to shop too! Don’t miss this incredible weekend! Register today at cultivate.sc/conference

September 21 & 22 | Sandals Church Hunter Park | 150 Palmyrita Ave, Riverside 92507

Cultivate Truth

Embraced VLOG: Week 4

Cultivate Truth: 100 Days in the Word

Welcome back to our Cultivate Summer VLOG series. This week marks the halfway point of our series and we hope you’ve been encouraged, inspired and challenged as we’ve cultivated God’s word into our hearts and lives. We’d love to hear from you! We invite you to share a comment below or on Instagram and Facebook to let us know what you’re learning this summer.

This week, we welcome Christina Crowley to share about the power of choices in our relationship with God.
Thank you for joining us. We’re so glad you’re here!

Hi ladies,

This week in our devotional, I was reawakened to the truth that a life surrendered to God is about RELATIONSHIP not DICTATORSHIP. A dictator rules and gains their power by force. There is no choosing involved. A loving God doesn’t work that way. The most important decision we’ll make this side of Heaven starts with the choice to believe and receive Jesus as our Savior. If choice initiates a relationship with God, why would choice cease to exist in living a life following Him…especially when facing tough decisions?

Often we don’t want to mess things up by choosing wrong, so we don’t choose at all. Then, we find ourselves stuck in the Valley of Indecision begging God for a metaphorical neon sign that says, “Go This Way!” before having the courage to move. But what if God invites us into a conversation that leads to movement instead of just dictating what we should do? What if God desires for us to be declarative with our hopes, desires and dreams as we seek His will? What if God trusts US, because He knew when we chose him, the Holy Spirit would take up residency in our souls to work things out for our good and His glory, even if we got it wrong?

The ability to choose in our relationship with God makes space for love, honor, sacrifice and maybe most importantly intimacy, all while pursuing a common direction together.

Much love,

Christina

Let’s Dig Deeper:

This week, read Days 22-28 of Embraced. Answer the following questions on your own or discuss them with a friend and/or your community group:

  1. Life is full of hard decisions and sometimes it can feel like our trajectory is based on one right or wrong move. Up to this point, what have been some key ways you filter through your decision making process?
  2. When you think about a life with God being about RELATIONSHIP and not DICTATORSHIP, how might that affect your connection and intimacy with Him in the face of making really hard choices?
  3. How much does choosing wrong, fear of failure or lack of clarity keep you stuck in the Valley of Indecision…the place where you feel unable to move forward in any direction?
  4. Read Romans 8:26-28. Is there a situation in your life where you don’t know how to pray or what to do next? If so, how does this verse give you faith and courage to move from “waiting it out” to “walking it out” through lack of clarity or indecision?
  5. Even though God is about relationship and not dictatorship, a life following Jesus is also about choosing to obey His way when we’d rather go our way. Identify an area you’re feeling especially challenged to surrender and be obedient in regarding your relationship with self, God or others. Is there a choice you need to make so that you can take your next steps forward in a healthy way?

In addition to being on the Cultivate Teaching Team, Christina Crowley has had the joy of leading worship for over 20 years and the privilege of overseeing the ROGO School of Worship at Sandals Church. Developing and empowering leaders to help others connect deeper with God is one of her greatest passions. Christina is married to the love of her life, Dan Crowley, Pastor of Spiritual Formation at Sandals Church. Over the last 25 years, they’ve created many things together in marriage and ministry, but she’s most proud of their children Danielle (23), Makayla (21) and Nathan (16). The vision of being real with ourselves, God and others has radically transformed their entire family and they consider it an honor to advance the vision in any way. Christina is so grateful to grow in God’s word together with you this summer!

It’s time for another Summer Launch Event and Sandals Church Palm Avenue, Cultivate is headed your way! If you attend our Palm Avenue campus, live in the area or have friends who do, come experience Cultivate with sweets and eats, kindness and community, PLUS merch, LIVE worship and a special message from Melody Workman. Come and invite a friend to join you for an evening of exceptional kindness!

Sandals Church Palm Avenue | Friday, July 20 – 6pm | 6807 Palm Avenue, Riverside 92506

 

Have you registered for our Cultivate Conference & Marketplace? You’re invited to experience Cultivate Women and our vision of spiritual growth in a community of kindness. Join us for worship, teaching, marketplace vendors and more. In addition to our special guest speaker, best selling author and president of Proverbs 31 Ministries, Lysa TerKeurst, you’ll be encouraged by our Cultivate Founder, Tammy Brown and Melody Workman, Cultivate Lead. Registration prices increase at midnight on July 20, so don’t delay! Register today at cultivate.sc/conference

September 21 & 22 | Sandals Church Hunter Park | 150 Palmyrita Ave, Riverside 92507

Cultivate Truth

Embraced VLOG: Week 1

Cultivate Truth: 100 Days in the Word

 

Welcome! We’re so glad you’re joining our Cultivate Summer VLOG series. Each Friday, our Cultivate Teaching Team will share personal insight and practical wisdom through Lysa TerKeurst’s best selling devotional, Embraced. You’ll find our weekly teaching videos packed with REAL truth from God’s word as together we grow spiritually wise. In addition, we’ve included questions to encourage you and/or your community group to dig deeper and cultivate God’s word into your heart and life.

This week, we launch our series with a special word from our Cultivate Founder, Tammy Brown.

Hey friends,

I’m so excited that you’ll be joining us this summer for Cultivate TRUTH: 100 days in the word. When I think back on the hardest times of my own life—when I was not growing spiritually wise, when my relationships were a mess, when I was the most emotionally unhealthy—it was when I was experiencing what I refer to as “the dehydrated soul.” The opposite is also true. When I’ve been the best version of myself, growing spiritually, relationally and emotionally healthy, it’s because my soul is hydrated by the living water talked about in John 4:14.

“But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again”
John 4:14 NLT

My heart is that together, for the next 100 days, we will all thirst for God’s word in new ways and experience a new level of spiritual hydration and connectedness to God, growing even closer to the best and healthiest versions of ourselves that He desires us to be. I’m personally looking forward to knowing that each day the same scripture I’m reading, you are too! How cool is that!

I love you!

Tammy

Let’s Dig Deeper:

This week, read Day 1-7 of Embraced. Answer the following questions on your own or discuss them with a friend and/or your community group:

  1. What does your practice of spending time with God look like?
  2. What might the benefits be of giving God your first moments each day?
  3. Have you ever experienced a dehydrated soul? Describe what this looks and feels like for you specifically?
  4. Read James 1:21-22. According to this verse, what is the benefit of making a habit of not only reading, but applying God’s word to our everyday life?
  5. Read John 4:14. What is the remedy for the dehydrated soul?
  6. On day 3, Lysa says to STOP READING YOUR BIBLE. Clearly, she DOES NOT mean to not read your bible at all, rather to STOP reading in order to check it off the “good christian girl” list. She wants us to thirst for God’s word. What are some ways you can stop reading the bible as an obligation and start reading it SO THAT you can connect to God and learn what He knows you need for your everyday life?

Tammy Brown is the wife of lead pastor, Matt Brown, as well as a licensed minister at Sandals Church. As the founder of Cultivate women’s ministry, Tammy is passionate about inspiring kindness among women and creating a place for women to cultivate God’s word into their everyday lives and circumstances so that they grow into the healthiest version of themselves. While Tammy is overwhelmed with joy over all that God has allowed her to be a part of at Sandals Church, her greatest joy has been being wife to Matt and mom to their three children Madison, Kennedy and Ethan. In her free time, you’ll find her grabbing lunch with friends, practicing yoga or skiing down the mountain.

It’s not too late for you to join our Summer VLOG series! Just purchase a copy of Lysa TerKeurst’s devotional, Embraced, from your favorite book retailer. Then, visit us right here every Friday, through August 10, for video teaching, discussion questions and REAL truth from God’s word. While you’re at it, why not grab a few friends and connect in community as we grow spiritually wise this summer!