As we enter into summer, we can’t help but soak up the sunshine. As you move about these days of bright skies and warmer temps, may you be reminded of His light, which kicks off the Bible and continues throughout the complete story of Jesus woven into the entire Book.

Just like His love, light is abundant, warm, and free. Savor His abundant love and pursue His freedom as you make the most of these summer days!

We’ll continue to burn bright each Tuesday at 6:00pm and Thursday at 10:00am at All Fit Collective – sign up on MindBody so we know you’re coming! Classes remain free, and invite your friends. Donations welcome via Venmo or cash. While at home or traveling, move in love through Holy Barre’s YouTube channel.

I encourage you to slow down and read through the scriptures and images below . . . His revelation light reveals His truth, and this truth will set you FREE!

---

And then God announced,  “Let there be light,” and light burst forth!  And God saw the light as pleasing and beautiful;  he used the light to dispel the darkness.

Genesis 1:3-4 TPT

Those who walked in darkness have seen a radiant light shining upon them. They once lived in the shadows of death, but now a glorious light has dawned!  Lord, you have multiplied the nation and given them overwhelming joy! They are ecstatic in your presence and rejoice like those who bring in a great harvest and those who divide up the spoils of victory! 

Isaiah 9:2-3 TPT

Open your heart and consider my words. Watch out that you do not mistake your opinions for revelation-light!  If your spirit burns with light, fully illuminated with no trace of darkness, you will be a shining lamp, reflecting rays of truth by the way you live.

Luke 11:35-36 TPT

A fountain of life was in him, for his life is light for all humanity. And this Light never fails to shine through darkness— Light that darkness could not overcome!  For the perfect Light of Truth was coming into the world and shine upon everyone.

John 1:4-5, 9 TPT

But those who love the truth will come into the Light, for the Light will reveal that it was God who produced their fruitful works.”

John 3:21 TPT

Then Jesus said, “I am light to the world, and those who embrace me will experience life-giving light, and they will never walk in darkness.”

John 8:12 TPT

I have come to give you everything in abundance, more than you expect —life in its fullness until you overflow! 

John 10:10 TPT

Open your heart and consider my words. Watch out that you do not mistake your opinions for revelation-light!  If your spirit burns with light, fully illuminated with no trace of darkness, you will be a shining lamp, reflecting rays of truth by the way you live.

Luke 11:35-36 TPT

Once your life was full of sin’s darkness, but now you have the very light of our Lord shining through you because of your union with him. Your mission is to live as children flooded with his revelation-light! And the supernatural fruits of his light will be seen in you—goodness, righteousness, and truth. Then you will learn to choose what is beautiful to our Lord. Whatever the revelation-light exposes, it will also correct, and everything that reveals truth is light to the soul.

Ephesians 5:8-10, 13 TPT

For God, who said, “Let brilliant light shine out of darkness,” is the one who has cascaded his light into us—the brilliant dawning light of the glorious knowledge of God as we gaze into the face of Jesus Christ.

2 Corinthians 4:6 TPT

Your hearts can soar with joyful gratitude when you think of how God made you worthy to receive the glorious inheritance freely given to us by living in the light. He has rescued us completely from the tyrannical rule of darkness and has translated us into the kingdom realm of his beloved Son. For in the Son all our sins are canceled and we have the release of redemption through his very blood.

Colossians 1:12-14 TPT

But you are God’s chosen treasure —priests who are kings, a spiritual “nation” set apart as God’s devoted ones. He called you out of darkness to experience his marvelous light, and now he claims you as his very own. He did this so that you would broadcast his glorious wonders throughout the world .

1 Peter 2:9 TPT

If we claim that we share life with him, but keep walking in the realm of darkness, we’re fooling ourselves and not living the truth. But if we keep living in the pure light that surrounds him, we share unbroken fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, continually cleanses us from all sin.

I John 1:6-7 TPT

Yahweh is my revelation-light and the source of my salvation. I fear no one! I’ll never turn back and run, for you, Yahweh , surround and protect me.

Psalms 27:1 TPT

Gaze upon him, join your life with his, and joy will come. Your faces will glisten with glory. You’ll never wear that shame-face again.

Psalms 34:5 TPT

Revive us, O God! Let your beaming face shine upon us with the sunrise rays of glory; then nothing will be able to stop us.

Psalms 80:3 TPT

For the Lord God is brighter than the brilliance of a sunrise! Wrapping himself around me like a shield, he is so generous with his gifts of grace and glory. Those who walk along his paths with integrity will never lack one thing they need, for he provides it all!

Psalms 84:11 TPT

For I know your power and presence shines on all your devoted lovers. Your glory always hovers over all who bow low before you. Your mercy and your truth have married each other. Your righteousness and peace have kissed. Flowers of your faithfulness are blooming on the earth. Righteousness shines down from the sky. Yes, the Lord keeps raining down blessing after blessing, and prosperity will drench the land with a bountiful harvest. For deliverance goes before him, preparing a path for his steps.

Psalms 85:9-13 TPT

Truth’s shining light guides me in my choices and decisions; the revelation of your Word makes my pathway clear.

Psalms 119:105 TPT

Two summers ago we intentionally set out to ‘savor the summer’, and while two years may have gone by, these words are still true. Please take some time to read this past post linked in the button above, and join us in savoring your summer, whatever this year has entailed.

In this current season, we’re also choosing to remove the shame and worship in Spirit and Truth in all we do. We even made tanks about it, which are available at All Fit Collective if you’re here in Edmond. So let’s move in love and freedom, pushing all shame off and worshipping it out!

Go stretch in this beautiful sunshine and enjoy today! If you’re stuck at home, check out our latest Holy Barre workout on YouTube, linked below!

Once a month, Deeper Wells and Holy Barre leaders get to connect with the ladies of Hope Is Alive, a faith-based sober living ministry, during their Sunday evening meeting. While we enjoy our opportunity to lead them through a time of worship, workout and wellness, we come away more full of love by our getting to experience this incredible group of faith-filled and freedom-fighting women.

You don’t have to be blooming to be growing. – Ruth Choe Simmons

At our most recent meeting, Candace shared a powerful reminder that ‘you don’t have to be blooming to be growing.’ This simple statement is from the book Now Not Yet: Pressing In When You’re Waiting, Wanting, and Restless for More by Ruth Chou Simons, and make sure to take a few minutes to read through the prayer at the bottom of this post. (A Deeper Wells’ Book Study with Candace will likely be coming as so many of us can relate to just that book title!)

I love and appreciate the emphasis on growth. Growth is challenging and tests our endurance and faith. It might not look as expected or produce the visible fruits as quickly as you’d like . . . but growth is good. And He is faithful.

So now wrap your heart tightly around the hope that lives within us, knowing that God always keeps his promises! Discover creative ways to encourage others and to motivate them toward acts of compassion, doing beautiful works as expressions of love. This is not the time to pull away and neglect meeting together, as some have formed the habit of doing. In fact, we should come together even more frequently, eager to encourage and urge each other onward as we anticipate that day dawning.

Hebrews 10:23-25 TPT

The ladies of Hope Is Alive are growing in their sobriety and recovery, yes, but more importantly they are growing as individuals just like anyone else desiring something more. The authenticity and encouragement of these women is second to none. I’ve never seen anything like it, and I will never be the same because of it. Hope IS ALIVE through these women!

I pray their individual stories get shared to the masses because while the details of their lives might look different than yours and mine, we ALL need healing and freedom. We ALL have methods of coping and numbing and hiding. We ALL have experienced pain and are doing whatever it takes to not feel the hurt deep within. While some protective behaviors are physically destructive, more socially acceptable protective behaviors are even praised and admired while being more emotionally destructive than we realize. Breaking free of these lies and stepping into Jesus’ pure truth of love and kindness is HARD! We ALL need Jesus.

But together, in authentic community, with brave and bold faith, we can discover the love of Jesus and live freely and lightly like He promised. (Matthew 11:30 MSG)

Yet rather than promoting His promises, I’m afraid our church culture (including my own efforts) at times can so quickly cause shame and judgment rather than freedom and hope. (And I’m afraid from my life-long church going experience, we as individuals at times can quickly internalize that same shame and judgement within ourselves rather than being kind to our own souls through His freedom and hope.) We can all too quickly ‘focus on the flaw in someone else’s life and fail to notice the glaring flaws of your own’ Matthew 7:3 TPT.

Years ago through my Central Team role at Life Church, I got to dive deeper into missions and the effective ways we can help our brothers and sisters in all walks of life. And in this, my perspective of poverty got expanded. While we so often jump to view poverty as one of not having material needs met, my heart got stirred by the reality of the relational poverty all around. The lack of true, deep friendships and grace-filled, come-as-you-are community. The ones whose conversations are full of more questions than answers and ones who create an environment of healing and hope rather than laws and lists or gossip and ‘I’m good’s.

“What happiness comes to you  when you feel your spiritual poverty!  For yours is the realm of heaven’s kingdom.

Matthew 5:3 TPT

While some of us may be relationally poor and others are materially poor, ultimately, we are ALL spiritually poor. We need our Savior’s love and compassion to heal our hearts and provide us with a constant stream of kindness. We’re all thirsty and need the Living Water so we thirst no more. We’ve all tried to quench our thirst with water from the shallow wells of this world. Yet we still end up thirsty and long for something deeper. We can step into this longing and reality together, knowing we need His love and we need each other.

I’m grateful to be surrounded by groups of women through Holy Barre, Deeper Wells, Hope Is Alive and beyond who view life as a journey together. I got to have lunch with a long-time friend today, and we cried and cussed and laughed and loved each other more supportively because of it. And when it comes to relational poverty, the women of Hope Is Alive might be the richest of them all!

While Holy Barre and Deeper Wells will encourage you to move your body for physical health, our desire is for mental, emotional and spiritual health to improve in deeper ways than you’ve ever experienced. When we invite Jesus in to ALL of us, when we worship in Spirit and in Truth in ALL we do, the journey gets way more fun and free! Come join us!

If you’d like to support Hope Is Alive, you can donate financially here or complete the form below to learn more about specific volunteer opportunities and ways to connect through Holy Barre’s partnership. Or if you have a family member or friend who’d like to be a resident, there’s a process for that too!

Would you describe yourself in this present season as relationally wealthy or relationally poor? What kinds of wells have you spent too much energy drinking from? In what ways would you like to grow? I bet all our answers to these questions are more similar than you’d think! Come discover deeper wells with us and burn brighter together!

A Liturgy for When You’re Waiting on Growth

I am not a Master Gardener. 

I don’t cause the rain to fall, or the sun to shine, or the seeds to germinate. 

Forgive me, O Lord, when I mistake the plow in my hand for a scepter that belongs only to you. 

Help me not to dismiss small beginnings. 

Teach me to be faithful in the seemingly fruitless tasks, and the every day mundane, and the hard soil of my life. When I’m eager to shortcut my ways to fruitfulness, remind me how sweet it is to remain on the vine, abiding in you. 

Apart from you, I can do nothing. 

Let me not miss the task before me today. 

Help me let go of my own ideas of what it means to be fruitful and instead look to you for the fruit only you can produce. 

The sink full of dirty dishes, the load of laundry, the meals to make, the hearts that need tending. 

You can and will use every simple act of faithfulness to sow fruitfulness into my life. 

Help me steward, what I have been given this day that you might grow me into your likeness, and what flourishes from this season will make much of your faithfulness and less of my fruitfulness. 

Amen. 

Taken from Now Not Yet: Pressing In When You’re Waiting, Wanting, and Restless for More – by Ruth Choe Simons

by Candace Woolard

When we are dealing with anxiety, exhaustion, bouts of perfectionism, hormones, etc and you feel like you can’t catch your breath, we have to remember Who we belong to. Trying to control all the things leads nowhere quick. We have to learn to open our hands and lay it at His mighty capable feet. He will gladly take what you are trying to control. That’s our Father’s job. Remember our need for control comes from our lack of trust in Him. 

I loved how Amy Seifert said it (paraphrasing):

“There will be days when you feel like a small boat out in the ocean, rising and falling on the waves of criticism, demands of others, the pressure we put on ourselves to perform or do a certain thing. 

But God’s word says we belong to Jesus. We don’t belong to anyone else’s opinions, emotions, or thoughts. We belong as His beloved, without shame. Fully stable in His love.”

I love the visual of falling back in Jesus’ arms or crawling into His lap. His arms wrapped around me. I feel stable in those circumstances. 

That is also what I do for my own kids when they are feeling a loss of control. I just give them a hug and hold on. I make sure I hold on way longer than necessary and let them pull back first. I know my own Heavenly Father would never pull back. I let them soak in my overflowing love for them. I want them to feel completely stable in Mom’s arms❤️

God made you and you are His. According to Colossians 1:16, not only do you belong to Him, but you belong for Him. This means you have a purpose, and you were not created to just exist. You were formed to help carry out the very will of God. God wants to use you.

”For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.”

Colossians 1:16 ESV

We belong to Him, and we are safe in His opinion, His truth, and His arms. We are His beloved sons and daughters. No wave can take that from us.

“Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who BELONG to Jesus.”

Romans 8:1 NLT

“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

Matthew 11:28-30 MSG

I keep coming back to these life-changing statements made by Jesus during His time on earth. As we move past the Easter holiday, I pray that the power of His life, death, and resurrection is not crossed off our focus list like so many other to-dos from our weekend.

Jesus Christ didn’t give His life for us to now run around exhausted, striving for external praise while criticizing our internal purpose and pain.

Let’s break this passage of scripture down a little more . . .

““Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? 

Anyone else raising their hand?! I find it discouraging that so much of our exhaustion comes from our good intentions, people-pleasing, and even efforts to be the ‘Godly woman’ the church has described to us in unrealistic and un-gospel detail. How did we get off track from the message of Easter? If this stirs your curiosity, please consider our upcoming local Tired of Being Tired Book club. At least order a copy of Jess Connolly’s new book now – it’s so wonderfully put together and valuable to your heart, soul, strength, and mind!

Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. 

Did you hear that? Jesus’ main request is that we come to Him and get away with Him! Come rest in His love, joy and peace. True restoration and transformation can only be found by coming to Him and shifting your gaze to solely focus on our Risen Savior.

I’ll show you how to take a real rest.  Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. 

Considering Jesus walked on the earth 2,000+ years ago, His ‘showing’ us will likely be a little unconventional. The help that comes from His Spirit is truly revealing, but from a more applicable standpoint, just go watch The Chosen series and let Jesus show you His kindness and compassion that bring ultimate rest.

Learn the unforced rhythms of grace.  I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. 

Recently I’ve been processing and trying to apply the message in the image below. Because without Jesus’ kindness and compassion towards ourselves, shame is deep chronic pain and working to overcome is our superficial medical care. Yet Jesus’ message is quite the contrary: He never commands us to work harder to overcome our wounds and burdens. He commands us to come to Him, surrender, replace shame with love, and just worship in His grace and peace.

Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.””

Again, Jesus has a simple command – to keep company with Him. Keep His love and His life at the forefront of our minds. When our inner critic speaks up, remind her Whose you are! Keep His truth, power, grace and victory over death in your hearts. And let yourself process the heavy stuff of shame, pain, anxiety, fear, and hurt through His lens of kindness and compassion. He wants to keep company with the real you – the imperfect version. That’s where His freedom and light are found!

I hate all this silly religion, but you, God, I trust. I’m leaping and singing in the circle of your love; you saw my pain, you disarmed my tormentors, You didn’t leave me in their clutches but gave me room to breathe.

Psalms 31:6-8MSG

Let’s breathe deep, Friends. He’s made lots of room for YOU! He’s still on the throne, eager to give grace and mercy each and every day! (Hebrews 4:16)

Written by Candace Woolard

If you wanted to show your power in Rome in the first century, hands down, you road a stallion. It was high and strong.  The stallion represented power and authority.

It’s crazy to think when Jesus came into Jerusalem, He chose a young little donkey. This fulfilled scripture but made an even more significant statement.

Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written:

John 12:14 CSB

He found a young colt. A little thing. This is not normal. Jesus is not normal. We have a humble God. Which is an oxymoron when you think about it.  Because the kingdom of God is about a King whose power comes from a cross, not a sword.

He came to wash feet. 

To serve. 

To lay His life down.

So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.

John 13:14

The posture that Jesus carries represents our own call to be servants. The Christian life is not about building yourself up – like on stallion. Instead, it’s about looking for ways to lay yourself down. 

God proves His love for us in this: while we were His enemies Christ died for us.

Romans 5:8

I am worth the death of Jesus Christ. That’s how much God loves me.

This Holy Week: consider a King who comes on a donkey, and lays down his life instead of demanding the lives of others.

If we want to know who God is, look at Jesus. He is the visible image of the invisible God. A humble leader. A compassionate King.

It’s not about how you present yourself to the world; it’s about what you carry inside. The external doesn’t hold a candle to the internal light — the internal flame will burn brighter than anything the external has to offer. May He shine brightly in us for all to see the peace and joy that surpasses understanding.