andreachatelain

5 Ways to Love Others this Holiday Season without breaking your budget

Posted on November 20, 2019 by andreachatelain

It was a total surprise. I stooped down to check my mailbox cubby at work a few days ago and there was a little card and a Christmas decoration. Immediately I smiled and ripped open the envelope. “Thanks for all your instruction.” No name. Just a sweet little card and a hand made decoration to brighten my holiday season. And my heart was full.

Two aspects about this gesture stood out.

1. It was so simple and inexpensive, yet had the same effect on my spirit that a big gift would.

2. The person stayed anonymous and therefore cared more about the giving than the credit, which made me feel extremely special.

We’re entering the most generous time of the year. We want to serve and give because our hearts are reflecting the love we feel from the season that celebrates Christ’s gift of His presence in the world. Christmas season makes me feel more alive and joyful, so I want to give that feeling away, but so often feel I don’t have the money or ideas of how to do so. But my student’s little gift got me thinking outside the box. (pun intended ha!)

So here’s a few ways we can bring others joy this season without spending a lot.

1.Buy a box of candy canes ($1 at Walmart right ow!) and decorate them like Rudolf or tie a hand written message/Bible verse and give them to your cashier, waitress, anyone who serves you this season. OR be anonymous and put them on co-workers desks.

2.Don’t you love getting mail that’s not a bill?! So do your neighbors:) Get Christmas stationary (mine was $10 for a hundred sheets at Hobby Lobby) and stickers or a stamp. Make homemade Christmas notes with a personalized message for each of your neighbors. You could write 3 reasons you appreciate about your neighbor and choose if you want to sign your name or make it a mystery note.

3. This season is about inviting people in to the best gift of all. God’s love. Be bold and invite someone who may be lonely this season to church, dinner at your house, or a coffee date. You get to be love to others with your invitations. Even if they decline, they know you care.

4. Ding Dong Ditch. If you’re a baker, whip up some of your favorite cookies,(if not, just buy some cheap ones at the store) wrap them up on paper plates and drop them off on random porches. Knock on the door and move to the next house. OR if you’re bold, stay and hand the cookies face to face, and get to know your neighbors better. People are made for community and so many of us are living in isolation. Cookies and a smile go a long way.

5. Connect, Reconnect, and Converse. Make a list of 10 people you love and don’t talk to often. Call, text, Face-time, or get together with one each week for the rest of the year! This costs ZERO dollars and means SO much. It ends your year with people you love, and begins the new year helping you and your people feel connected.

I could go on, but you get the gist. Be creative, be connected, be bold, and be love to those around you in silly and serious ways this season. Have fun being a bearer of joy and care!

**Here’s how to GET MORE free truth bombs right to your inbox and join the Glory Be movement. You matter to me! Find your voice in the conversation on Facebook. P.S. Jesus is so incredible! I’m so excited for you as you get to know the One who wants to be your EVERYTHING!

Andrea Chatelain’s mission is to meet women in their struggles and love them forward with God’s truth. She’s a Midwest mom of three, faith and family writer, and college English instructor to immigrants and refugees. She believes Jesus transforms lives when His people boldly seek Him. Her writing reflects her love for Jesus and heart for fellow believers.

Find Andrea also at WhollyLoved Ministries and her devotionals with WL on YouVersion Bible App and Crosswalk

IT’S HERE! Intentional Holidays is the perfect devotional to keep you focused on Jesus this holiday season. It was so fun to write for this devo with such a talented and grace-filled group of women. We hope this brings you rest and rejoicing through the often chaotic seasons of Thanksgiving and Christmas. Order yours on Amazon asap!

We made this for YOU! Grab your copy of our newly released 90-day devotional HERE. It’s full of life changing truth that points to the One who sees you, knows you, and loves you.

Loving my Actual Christmas

Posted on November 11, 2019 by andreachatelain

I’m in HOLIDAY mode! But let’s face it, our actual holidays don’t always mimic Hallmark movies. Expectations, finances, hope, joy, sorrow, and where Jesus meets us in it all. Alexandra Kuykendall shared some practical and soulful insights during a video interview last season centered on her book, “Loving my Actual Christmas”. I HIGHLY recommend this book. It’s full of grace and wisdom to help you navigate the holidays.

I hope this Christmas interview blesses you as it did me as we prepare our hearts for the season…knowing that no matter our circumstances, Jesus is with us and is our source of all we need at Christmas and all year long.

*Visit Alex online for more Christmas insights

Find Andrea also at WhollyLoved Ministries and her devotionals with WL on YouVersion Bible App and Crosswalk

We made this for YOU! Grab your copy of our newly released 90-day devotional HERE. It’s full of life changing truth that points to the One who sees you, knows you, and loves you.

Calling for Backup

Posted on October 30, 2019 by andreachatelain

Womanhood can be a lonely place. Alone in our insecure thoughts, feeling the pressure to keep up, the daily grind of meeting others’ needs weighing us down. Jesus understands these feelings more than we may think.

When I read through Scripture, I see Jesus constantly walking into people’s needs. He’s always in a crowd who want to learn or be healed, teaching His 12 disciples, or transforming lives one-on-one from the inside out. He’s forever surrounded by people and constantly giving of Himself.

Sometimes I feel like that. Do you?

There’s work, kids, spouse, friends, church, parties, holidays, laundry, dishes, meals…repeat. Today’s verse tells us that when Jesus, fully God, but fully man, was getting tapped out, He purposefully withdrew from people to the “lonely places” and prayed.

“But He would withdraw to desolate places and pray” Luke 5:16 ESV

Why? Because it was there that He was recharged by the Father. Even Jesus needed the quiet, where it was just Him and His Father, so that He had everything He needed to keep going, keep serving, and keep loving.

I wonder what He prayed about. I imagine there was probably thanksgiving, requests, and surrender–an opening of His Spirit to be filled up for the rest of the journey.

I need that too. My soul requires recharge by retreating from people and going to a quiet place to talk to God in prayer. I used to think it was weakness to ask God for help, but after practicing prayer, it has become like breathing. Necessary and life-giving.

Sometimes it’s in the dark of the morning before the kids wake up and the chaos of daily life begins. I ask God for help and energy before I get out of the covers. Other times I recharge with prayer when I’m up against something big that I can’t navigate on my own, I go to my room, shut the door, and talk to God trusting He can handle it if I give it to Him. Because…

“For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.” 2 Corinthians 10:3-5

You guys, prayer is a weapon against the darkness. We have divine power to take down every worry, lie, fear, EVERYTHING, because we’re asking the Lord of EVERYTHING to step in on our behalf.

So when I don’t make time to talk to God, to give Him my stress, and to be reminded of His goodness, I get weary. I start to think it’s all on me, and frustration rises. I end up hurting the people I want to serve because I haven’t allowed God to fill me when I’m running low.

Are you often running on autopilot digging deeper and deeper into your personal limited reserve of energy? Or are you coming to Jesus each day to be refueled by His awesome power? I humbly recommend finding a special place in your home, away from others, in which to retreat when stress is rising. He wants to be included in your life and fill you up with His love daily.

Find Andrea also at WhollyLoved Ministries and her devotionals with WL on YouVersion Bible App and Crosswalk

We made this for YOU! Grab your copy of our newly released 90-day devotional HERE. It’s full of life changing truth that points to the One who sees you, knows you, and loves you.

Stripping Titles & Finding Identity

Posted on October 24, 2019October 24, 2019 by andreachatelain

What if all our self-made identities were stripped away? Would we still be enough? Down with pneumonia I felt absolutely worthless for two weeks. I couldn’t cook, parent my kids, write, teach, or even plan a birthday party for my 5 year old. I was just Andrea with nothing to be proud of, feeling weak and useless. Then, in the middle of my misery, it hit me; if every identity I’d created was wiped away, would God still love me?

Of course in my head I knew the answer. Scripture tells us that we are beloved children of God, redeemed by Christ as a free gift. But sometimes my heart wants to earn love. I think to myself if I’m a good enough writer, mother, wife, or teacher, I will deserve God’s love and can feel good about accepting it.

But that’s the opposite of the gospel.

We can cling to this truth when we are afraid we’re not enough.

And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” Mark 1:11 ESV

The reason we have nothing to prove and can stand secure in God’s love when we have absolutely nothing to give is evident in today’s verse. Our Dad in heaven is completely, 100%, pleased with Jesus, and we are tucked in Him. So we have nothing to prove. He is our identity. And He’s always enough so we can quit trying to be.

When we mess up, His perfection covers us. When we are weak, Jesus’s strength abounds. When we have nothing to give, His sacrifice on the cross prevails. God is well pleased with us because we have faith in His Son, not because we are innately awesome.

God is well pleased with us because we have faith in His Son, not because we are innately awesome.

In a culture that beckons us to make a splash and find our worth in what we do, let’s be confident that our identity is solely based on our faith in Christ. The Father is well pleased with Jesus, and sees nothing but good when He looks on us through the light of Christ. No more striving, no more comparing, just resting confidently that we are enough because of Jesus.

**Here’s how to GET MORE free truth bombs right to your inbox and join the Glory Be movement. You matter to me! Find your voice in the conversation on Facebook. P.S. Jesus is so fun! I’m so excited for you as you get to know the One who wants to be your EVERYTHING!

Find Andrea also at WhollyLoved Ministries and her devotionals with WL on YouVersion Bible App and Crosswalk

We made this for YOU! Grab your copy of our newly released 90-day devotional HERE. It’s full of life changing truth that points to the One who sees you, knows you, and loves you.

Glory Be

Posted on October 14, 2019October 13, 2019 by andreachatelain

This world is both not enough and too much. The hardships are crushing. And the chasing can’t satisfy the real desires of my heart. To be known, loved, and completely secure. We want the impossible: wholeness in a broken world. But Glory Be to Jesus who offers the impossible. Glory Be to the One who covers our past, strengthens our present, and holds our future secure. Glory Be that we can find everything we need in Him. Glory Be that He is our hope and our freedom.

I used to think the purpose of faith was to make me into a better version of myself. I was super wrong. Really, faith is about knowing and being known by a God whose love outlasts and overpowers every darkness. I mean, can you comprehend it?!

Psalm 57 outlines just that, a broken man praising the God whose love is bigger than his problems.

“I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing praises to you among the nations. For your steadfast love is great to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Let your glory be over all the earth!” Psalm 57:9-11 ESV

When nothing else makes sense, when walking through the unknown, when up against giants, we are Easter people who get to say Glory Be.

We get to proclaim that our God is victorious and therefore so are we. The more we truly believe that, the more power we find and proclaim God’s glory over the earth. Because of Him, we are more than conquerors living in a place that wants to break us.

The only qualification to share in the victory is faith in the Faithful One.

Glory Be.

I wonder where you’ve seen Jesus show up in your valleys of real pain and frustration that almost broke you. Where you’ve seen His love shine brighter than the darkness. Each one of you reading this has a story, one entangled with joy and pain, brokenness and restoration. Each one of us has a choice: we can glorify or condemn our circumstances that shift with time, or we can point to Jesus, the great I Am, the One who will never leave and never lose, and say Glory Be. Thank you for sticking this life out with me!

Shifting our perspective changes everything. When we tuck all our moments in Jesus, we trade our uncertainty for His sovereignty, fear for trust, shame for grace, and brokenness for wholeness.

It’s not magic. It’s not wishful thinking. It’s hard-fought faith in the One True God who never changes and always keeps His promises.

So that’s why I’m changing the name of this blog to glory-be.org. This is our new banner to wave. Glory Be is both a faith statement that God’s love is trustworthy no matter what. And it’s a battle cry for His glory, goodness, and light to be spread like wildfire wherever we go.

It means, Glory be that Jesus is in control when we’re not. That He is enough when we’re spent. That He was perfect since we’re often train wrecks. He’s completely stable in our mood swings. Our Father is a good dad when we need help; He’s the perfect listener when we’re sad. Glory be that He cares about every little thing we’re worried about when no one else does. He is our sanity, salvation, and everything we don’t even know we need.

Let’s throw off pretense that we’ve got it all figured out and give glory to the One who really does. It’s liberating. Our Glory Be shout is all we really have to give back to a God who loves us without abandon. Are you with me?!

Praise to the Father whose love has no bounds, and whose grace is overflowing. Jesus, may Your Glory Be made known to the ends of the earth through people humble enough to raise a Glory Be!

Find Andrea also at WhollyLoved Ministries and her devotionals with WL on YouVersion Bible App and Crosswalk

We made this for YOU! Grab your copy of our newly released 90-day devotional HERE. It’s full of life changing truth that points to the One who sees you, knows you, and loves you.

Love Sincerely

Posted on September 13, 2019 by andreachatelain

It’s time for KISS — Keep It Simple, Stupid! That was my broadcasting professor’s motto in college. That principle made my writing better, and it also translates into life. So often we complicate love and relationships, or we abuse them with insincerity. But what God asks of us is simple. No more acting, love each other sincerely.

Romans 12:9 reminds us to “Let love be genuine…”, and in other versions the word is translated that love must be sincere.

Why would the early church planter, Paul, have to remind God’s people to love sincerely? Because our natural bent is to serve ourselves. Because it’s really easy to do things out of selfish ambition instead of thinking of someone else’s good.

But our love points to Christ. And Christ was a giver, not a taker.

But our love points to Christ. And Christ was a giver, not a taker.

He saw people, their need, in their everyday life, and He sought to make them whole with His love. He healed their pain, fed their hunger, restored their dignity. Jesus loved each person He encountered sincerely.

What would it look like for the church to be a blanket of genuine love like Jesus? It would look like less self promotion on social media and more quiet giving of time in real life. Less spending on personal kingdoms and abundant financial sacrifice for God’s Kingdom. Less worrying about my future, and more planning of how I can make someone else’s future better. I want to be this. I want to the root of everything I do to be real love. I mess up so many times, but this is my desire.

Love must be sincere. Everything we do, sister, must come from a place of deep affection for each other. Because the world is watching us, and they are used to people using each other for personal gain. And we are to love differently than the world. When others look at us, they need to see a true reflection of a beautifully loving God. One who cares deeply for them.

Will we be perfect? No. But as we consciously decide to surrender our relationships, finances, time, and plans to Jesus, I know He will be faithful to rough out our hard edges and soften our hearts to love others well.

So we have to ask some hard questions. How have we loved falsely? How have I cared more about my status, finances, plans than others? How have I been a taker, not a giver. What do I need to drop so I can replace it with sincere love??

Jesus forgive us for when we have been those things and help us to love the way you love.

**Here’s how to GET MORE free truth bombs right to your inbox. You matter to me! Find your voice in the conversation on Facebook.

Find Andrea also at WhollyLoved Ministries and her devotionals with WL on YouVersion Bible App and Crosswalk

We made this for YOU! Grab your copy of our newly released 90-day devotional HERE. It’s full of life changing truth that points to the One who sees you, knows you, and loves you.

You’re doing it all right, mom

Posted on September 5, 2019 by andreachatelain

500 decisions a day. I read somewhere that’s how many little choices a teacher makes and why they’re so tired. Motherhood is a whole lotta teaching. And even more second-guessing. I guarantee that you wondered, regretted, feared, or worried last week, if not today, that your way of momming was wrong. Me too. I heard some wise words to help us snap out of our self mom-shaming.

My friend said, “We’re all on the same page, but we use different fonts.”

Oh man, for a writer, that was golden.

I imagine the curly font moms dressing their girls in fluffy matching dresses, when my kids’ socks don’t match. What about the Times New Roman? Steady and unshakable. Do they ever yell? There’s bold font moms who enroll theirs in EVERYTHING at age 2, and skinny font moms whose idea of organized activity is a family walk. There’s organic Helvetica, much different from drink-from-the-hose Arial. And how ’bout car-pool Courier vs. take-the-bus Geneva.

I could go on. But you get it. It’s ridiculous that we walk around comparing our motherhood. This is the job God gave us, the kids He paired perfectly with you and me. Because God knew my kids didn’t need you and yours don’t need me.

“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” Ephesians 2:10 ESV

Walk confidently, sweet mama. Each individual motherhood is a divine appointment, a good work set out before time was created. For us to love a few people deeply the way only we can.

That’s why as we run around trying to be another woman’s version of the perfect mom we get it all wrong. Because we ARE the perfect mom — for our kids. But how practically do we mother our best? We accept God’s love to our core, write our identity as chosen on our soul, and love out of that place of wholeness.

What’s keeping you from claiming that you’re an awesome mom? In what areas do you still believe you’re parenting all wrong? Let’s be bold. Walk lighter knowing you are rocking this, just by being you. (Thanks Mr. Rogers). Read your Bible often to remind yourself that you’re loved abundantly. Then pour out of that reservoir, not someone else’s.

**Here’s how to GET MORE free truth bombs right to your inbox. You matter to me! Find your voice in the conversation on Facebook.

Find Andrea also at WhollyLoved Ministries and her devotionals with WL on YouVersion Bible App and Crosswalk

We’re made this for YOU! Grab your copy of our newly released 90-day devotional HERE. It’s full of life changing truth that points to the One who sees you, knows you, and loves you.

The beauty of the Ugly Cry

Posted on August 15, 2019August 19, 2019 by andreachatelain

Yep, I snorted. Inhale. Snort. Cry. Snort. Mascara smudged my cheeks and I was all the feelings at once. I ugly cried today for me and all the women around me who can’t make time stand still. Life why do you go so fast? Why do babies become bigs, and bigs become teenagers, and teenagers move out somewhere between never-ending days and lightening-fast years?

Change can feel both sweet and soul crushing. Terrifying and exciting. Natural and counter productive. For the best and painful. All at the same time.

That’s the beauty of the ugly cry. It releases all those emotions without a word. Just maybe a snort.

I wonder what has made you break down lately? What have you had no words to describe? What ending have you mourned or what beginning have you celebrated?

Today I walked the school hallways with a huge smile. I could’ve won an Academy award with my brave face for my daughter.

“You’re going to have SO MUCH FUN!”

Then I dropped her off in her room and the girl who clung to me last year in Kindergarten shooed me away in 1st grade — too big for selfies with mom with everyone watching. It’s a jolt that means she’s big now. And my mind jumps ahead to the someday of when she will be bigger than big. Someday she’ll be grown. And I will miss her.

I’ll miss her notes spelled wrong. Her little shoes. Her mismatched clothes and ponytail wisps. I’ll miss her scooter zipping and her coloring table. I’ll miss brushing her teeth.

Cue ugly cry.

I want to give you permission to be what you need to be when life shifts under your feet. When it moves a little fast or throws you off.

If you’re a wreck at the end of summer break, preschool graduation, senior prom pictures, or the last or first day of anything in life…. You’re not alone. Change is hard. Even if it’s good. It’s still hard. Embrace your beautiful ugly cry. Let out all the snorts. Life deserves it for going so fast.

**Here’s how to GET MORE free truth bombs right to your inbox. You matter to me! Find your voice in the conversation on Facebook.

Find Andrea also at WhollyLoved Ministries and her devotionals on Crosswalk

We’re made this for YOU! Grab your copy of our newly released 90-day devotional HERE. It’s full of life changing truth that points to the One who sees you, knows you, and loves you.

Praise the Lord for He is Good

Posted on July 9, 2019 by andreachatelain

This month we’re reflecting on God’s goodness. I was so hit by Psalm 103 I want you to discover His goodness for yourself. Read it here. I love how the psalmist says “Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits-” in verse 2. Like he’s saying I dare you to make a list of all the good qualities of God and see if you can’t keep from praising Him.

Let’s do that. After you read Psalm 103, make a mental list of all the qualities that make our God good. What does He do and not do? How far does His love go? How has He shown up in your own life?

It’s so amazing that verse 4 boasts He redeems us from the pit and then crowns us in mercy. Only a good God does that. One who truly sees, cares, and does something about our need.

Each one of us is a Psalmist, our prayers are songs our bodies can’t contain so they burst out to our God. I want to share a song, a psalm, I wrote after reading Psalm 103. It spilled out as I thought of the new life we get when we first believe in Jesus and profess our faith with our mouths or baptism. It’s my Psalm of thanks to the One who is good, who can transform us at His feet.

Each one of us is a Psalmist, our prayers are songs our bodies can’t contain so they burst out to our God.

At Your Feet by Andrea Chatelain

You formed me. Made me new from the dust.

Before I knew you, you knew your love would be enough.

To pay the price for all I’ve done,

Now every sin and stain are gone.

At your feet. At your feet.

Oh At your feet I bow down

letting go of all my past.

And your hand it pulls me up

into your love that heals and lasts.

For all you are and all you do

My soul joins the heavens in a song…

to praise you. Jesus I praise you.

You see tomorrow before it even comes.

You light the way. With your abounding love.

You’re on your throne, no one can move that holy place.

You”ll keep me safe, until the day I see your face.

Oh At your feet I bow down

letting go of all my past.

And your hand it pulls me up

into your love that heals and lasts.

For all you are and all you do

My soul joins the heavens in a song…

to praise you. Jesus I praise you.

Hallelujah I traded shackles for a white robe.

And praise the King on High, He’s now and forever my home.

Glory to The Only One who left it all to get to me.

Jesus take what’s left and make me clean at your feet.

Oh At your feet I bow down

letting go of all my past.

And your hand it pulls me up

into your love that heals and lasts.

For all you are and all you do

My soul joins the heavens in a song…

to praise you. Jesus I praise you.

I wonder what your psalm would record about God’s goodness. I challenge you to write something this week, it doesn’t have to rhyme, but jot down how God has shown His goodness in your life. Happy writing!

**Here’s how to GET MORE free truth bombs right to your inbox. You matter to me! Find your voice in the conversation on Facebook.

Find Andrea also at WhollyLoved Ministries and her devotionals on Crosswalk

We’re made this for YOU! Grab your copy of our newly released 90-day devotional HERE. It’s full of life changing truth that points to the One who sees you, knows you, and loves you.

Reclaiming Redemption

Posted on June 26, 2019July 7, 2019 by andreachatelain

Today’s post over at WhollyLoved Ministries is a MUST READ. It’s all about reclaiming our redemption. What does it mean to be redeemed? And what power awaits when we do?! Join me over at WhollyLoved for this powerful blog.

**Here’s how to GET MORE free truth bombs right to your inbox. You matter to me! Find your voice in the conversation on Facebook.

Find Andrea also at WhollyLoved Ministries and her devotionals on Crosswalk

We’re made this for YOU! Grab your copy of our newly released 90-day devotional HERE. It’s full of life changing truth that points to the One who sees you, knows you, and loves you.

Author: andreachatelain

We made this for YOU! Grab your copy of our newly released 90-day devotional HERE. It’s full of life changing truth that points to the One who sees you, knows you, and loves you.

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