Opt-in - Candice Clark

take my hand ♥

I regularly share therapy insights, mind-body learnings and notes of hope. Join my mailing list below!

A photo dump of the most wonderful #thirtymore 🤩🤍

Thank you family & friends for all the beautiful messages, calls, voice notes and even a music video (@giveitawhirl.blog 🤣)! And all the contributions to my Kenwood fund! 😁🤍

God has done a good work in me this year. And if I’ve impacted your life positively in any way, know that it’s Him. It’s Him working through me. May my life always point to the Son ☀️🤍

#contentineverycircumstance

Tomorrow I turn 34. Which I’ve dubbed thirty-mor

Tomorrow I turn 34. Which I’ve dubbed thirty-more! More on that soon 😉

It’s got me reflecting today on one of my most critical years, spiritually. God has asked me A LOT of questions.

🤍 This idol, or me?
🤍 This unforgiveness, or me?
🤍 This trauma you’re so intent on defining you, or me?
🤍 This path you want to be dragged along, or me?
🤍 This deep, profound hurt, or me?
🤍 This grief you refuse to think will get better, or me?

It know it sounds harsh. But don’t view it that way. God has sat with me in some lonely, lonely days this year. He’s comforted me when my heart has been shattered. There is no doubt in my mind that I’ve got through this deeply transformational year *only* because of Him, the divine comforter 🤍

But.

He doesn’t let me stay there.

There was a “healing” pool, Bethesda, where it’s said that a multitude of chronically sick people lay waiting for healing. There was a man who had been there for THIRTY-EIGHT years.

Do you know what Jesus’ first words were?

“Do you want to be made well?”

🤯

You see, if I was to continue choosing the hard in the hard days - I wouldn’t be ok. I definitely wouldn’t be looking back on one of my toughest years with a heart that’s healing. I chose & continue to choose God in the hard days. Sometimes I just lie flat on my back with worship music on & tell Him, “I’m not moving from here until I feel better”. (Btw, try that! It works 👌).

34 is not a number I ever thought of as a milestone. It’s not 30, or 40, or 18, or 21. But for God & I, it is. Because it’s not just 34, it’s thirty-more.

It’s a year where I know His hand is moving in ways I can’t yet see. It’s a year where I know my obedience this year - on hard days where I chose Him - will be honored by Him. It’s a year where I can see what He’s been building on the horizon is getting closer. It’s a year where I know the forging in the fire starts to bear fruit. It’s a year where the good work Jesus has done in me, shines through.

He’s good. So good. See you tomorrow #thirtymore!

x

“I’m yearning for a place I don’t think exis

“I’m yearning for a place I don’t think exists anymore. At least not here on earth,” I said to Jesus.

His ever gentle eyes, looking directly at me. Softening. He tilted His head and a kind smile began to form. “I know. I’ve yearned for that place too.” “Really?” I said, truly astounded at how the King of Kings also sometimes felt the way I do. But then I remember He came down to earth, He occupied a human body in this broken world. How could He not ever get it? How could He not be moved - deeply - by my pain?

He noticed the connection I was making. “Oh yes my darling. You weren’t created for earth.”

“I don’t understand. It’s so painful. Why did God put us here?” I can feel tears pricking at the corners of my eyes again. I take a big gulp to hold them back. All my past trauma in this broken world, rising to the surface, threatening to erupt in a way that might swallow me whole.

Jesus - ever present, ever attentive notices. “My darling. You can cry. You weren’t meant to live in this pain. Your tears are not wasted with Me. Your vulnerability pulls me closer. My arms are not too short to catch your tears and hold you close.”

I let the tears fall. I let myself feel the warmth of being witnessed by a God that truly, 100% gets it. As I sob, I again ask “why did God put us here then? Why are so many of us experiencing unending pain? I don’t understand it Lord.”

Jesus pulls me closer. As He holds me tight, He leans in and asks “Do you remember the garden of Eden? Do you remember what you - all of you, heart, mind & soul - were created for?” I search my heart for the scriptures in Genesis. Yes I do remember. A place of no pain. A place of no trauma. A place where we weren’t separate from God.

“I remember.”

He looks at me again. This time, with pain in His eyes... (Contd in comments)

👉 “Amazingly, German archeological excavation

👉 “Amazingly, German archeological excavations at Jericho from 1907 - 1909 by Ernst Sellin and Carl Watzinger discovered on the northern side of Jericho a small portion of the lower city wall from the time of Joshua that did not tumble down, as archeology unequivocally demonstrates happened everywhere else.” - @dailyexpress

The story of Rahab is described in the book of Joshua in the Bible. Rahab was rejected, mocked & poor. Rahab was a prostitute that lived outside the protection of the city of Jericho, in the wall of the city. She was exposed, and repeatedly abused.

🙌 But God. 🙌 He chose her. He pursued her. He came DOWN to her. He called to her heart. He didn’t care about her past. He cared about her future.

And she responded. She chose faith over great fear (her city was about to be destroyed with all of its inhabitants). She sided with God. She rejected logic and rationality. She aligned to the God that pursued her.

Her house was the only one left standing when Jericho fell (archeological evidence now proves that - swipe left 👉 - and recent digs have confirmed it again too). It was a supernatural event that history can’t quite understand. Archeologists believe it was an earthquake but there’s no reason for why specifically her house didn’t tumble down. But we know why don’t we? 🤍 God is faithful to His promises.

Rahab was rescued. She was saved. She was redeemed. And not just that... She was set apart. She went on to mother the lineage that Jesus came from!

Rahab’s story is one of immense hope. It is a story of how God transmutes trauma into unrivaled favor, blessing and redemption.

God has placed this biblical account on my heart. I’m preparing a Bible study on it. If you are in desperate need of Gods redemption and the transformation of trauma into blessing, you my friend are invited! 🤍 Make sure you’re on my mailing list for when bookings open 🙏

#Godisdoinganewthing

Can you praise Him in your pain? Can you praise

Can you praise Him in your pain?

Can you praise Him as your heart is ripped open?

Can you praise Him as you surrender to making sense of hurt?

Can you praise Him as you grieve?

Can you praise Him as He asks you to let go? Of a marriage? A job? A child? Your health? Certainty?

Can you praise Him as destruction invades all you know?

Can you praise Him as you scream angry words at Him?

Can you praise Him as you doubt His promises?

Can you praise Him as your faith is all you have left?

You see, it’s not hard to praise God on the mountain tops. It’s not hard to say God is Good when life is Good. But that’s not where God does His deepest, most meaningful work on us.

You want to be a true, Jesus follower? A disciple of His word? Be prepared to have your life destructed, friend! Be prepared to have God ask you to look at all you love and yearn for, and hear the question He asks next - this idol, or Me?

In the depth of pain, know this. The fire is where forging happens. The fire is where new purpose is birthed. The fire is where you’ll see Him. With a tear-stained face and nothing left to give. Face to face.

And He’ll again remind you. His plan is never for your destruction. The destruction is entirely how YOU show up to the fight. Faith or fear? Trust or rebellion? Surrender or refusing to let go of your feeble, human power?

Let me let you in on a painful lesson I’ve learnt and I’m learning. Faith is easier. Trust is easier. Surrender is easier.

Praising Him in the depths of the valleys is easier. Even with eyes full of tears. And a voice that shakes and that can’t quite sing the words out loud. It’s still easier.

May my life continue to exhibit the faithfulness of my God. The proof of what happens when we praise Him IN the pain. The outcome of trust in a God whose plans are always for our good.

“I am convinced and confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will [continue to] perfect and complete it until the day of Christ Jesus [the time of His return].” - Phil 1v6

#faithfulGod

As Jesus was excruciatingly dying on the cross, do

As Jesus was excruciatingly dying on the cross, do you know what His prayer was?

❌ Not “Get them back for this!”
❌ Not “Father, avenge them now! Destroy them.”
❌ Not “How dare they do this! Burn them!”

No. His words were:

“Father, forgive them. For they know not what they do.” - Luke 23v24

Make no mistake. God is a God of Justice and Truth. He reveals in public what has been hidden and done in silence. This world is full of evil. Evil acts and evil intentions. And you will get hurt, all of us do. But in your pursuit of evil - don’t become evil.

The fight is Gods. And He will reveal all in due course ⭕️

#godofjustice