be not ashamed of your heart!
livin' for Jesus & Jesus alone! showed me my purpose, gave me new hope - I don’t care if it costs me followers! (followers - lo worship)
hey there & happy tuesday morning! I hope you had a very happy week full of love & memories. thank you for being here! if you enjoy my content, please make sure that you are subscribed to get weekly updates straight to your inbox:
the week recap! week of: 9/3/24 - 9/9/24
stay tuned for next week’s blog post - all about my experience attending the Live Original Sister Conference hosted by Sadie Robertson Huff! it’s gonna be a good one, sisters & friends!
⛅️ something to celebrate: “to: God, love: Ansley Claire”! the Lord connects the dots of your life like no other. for a very long time, I have understood that God has given me a gift of writing to use to glorify Him & encourage others to seek out His good character - that’s why I have a Christian blog & digital diary for Jesus! this summer, I was given the most amazing opportunity to be an intern at Mississippi Christian Living Magazine; this was a door that the Lord opened for me & told me that it would be the start of new season - a holy season. through my position of intern for this magazine, I was able to write an article for the September issue that’s out! right! now!
read the full piece at https://mschristianliving.com/to-god-love-ansley-claire/ or pick up a magazine if you’re local!
a special thank you to Mrs. Katie, the editor of this magazine, for this opportunity. so grateful for her raw encouragement throughout this journey.
He always masterfully starts the steps you take to fulfill His complete calling on your life somewhere (for example: trusting Him through starting a faith blog or posting on social media or writing an article for a Christian magazine). trust His vision for your path because it is so much bigger than your own vision. this piece was inspired by an aspect of the Christian faith walk that has always been so challenging for me: prayer!
“when my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, & my prayer came to you, into your holy temple.” – Jonah 2:7
the devil tends to attack the one aspect/gift/opportunity that is at the focal point of your calling. he longs to make you feel weak & afraid by pouring endless doubts into you, so that you do not trust in the Lord’s vision. for me, the devil shot my prayer life down & did away with my childlike faith. here’s an excerpt from the article that explains the title & purpose: the Lord used this specific imagery of my prayers just being love letters to Him in a mailroom to heal me from these careless words of evil.
“these letters of mine were stored in a mailroom at the top of my head, & the mailroom was as I imagined God’s throne room in heaven to be: a magnificent room covered in clouds with a jewel-covered throne next to a prayer-carrying mailbox. each letter had a heart-shaped stamp on the outside along with a big address on the front: “to: God, love: Ansley Claire.”
as a little girl, I loved writing these mental love letters to my Father! childlike faith & prayer came so easy to me when I simply saw God as my loving dad who treasured my artwork & words. my heart now longs to continually stand in awe of His character just like that! you can overcome hard things & work past those careless words of evil. the devil cannot take away my heavenly mailroom anymore! be not ashamed of your heart!
⛅️ something out of my comfort zone: made the blog’s instagram account public! while listening to Sadie Robertson speak live at the LO Sister Conference, I had a revelation from the Holy Spirit: the Word, the good news, is not to be kept a secret!
woah! Lord, I hear you. who am I trying to hide it from? Jesus died for me in public, so I shall live for Him in public. that night, I made the @tuesdaymorningsblog instagram account public - the power of social media in this generation is radical! what better way to tell people of the good news when they’re on social media all! the! time!
“therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.” - 2nd Timothy 2:10
before this moment, I was doing a lot of heart-searching & making up excuses as to why I couldn’t do this: “but, people I don’t know are going to see me. I will have to be held to a higher standard. it’s not gonna be easy. what if it doesn’t work right for God’s plan?”I was scared of obeying the nudges the Spirit had been giving me, until I felt a peace during Sadie’s speech to say yes. simply, say yes! these doubts resolved in an instant - they went from but I to BUT GOD. people I don’t know are going to see the good news! the glorious standard of a leader for Christ! it’s going to be worth it! this is God’s plan!
that’s what’s crazy about obedience. imagine what He could do if you just said yes to something He is asking you to do for His glory? one of my favorite lines to remind myself in times of doubt is that I am an ordinary person who serves an extraordinary God (preached my last semester’s FCA speech on this topic; it’s on the blog - “sing praises from the mountaintops!”). my friend, stop putting God in a box because He can do bigger things on His timeline with your yes than you could ever imagine or comprehend. I am trusting God in this mini-season with my blog & the blog’s instagram page. what are you trusting Him for right now - however big or small? take a moment & pray over that thing! ask for peace!
⛅️ something I’ve learned: rise & follow Him! in the evenings I’ve been going through the gospel of Matthew for the very first time. last night, I was reading through Matthew 9:1-13, & what struck me the most was how these people experienced the mundane too. they had favorite colors like you & me, & they also had big faiths in Jesus.
in the first section of this scripture - Matthew 9:1-8 - a paralyzed man is healed by Jesus because of the mighty faith his friends had in Christ. Matthew 9:2(b) states, “when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, ‘take heart my son; your sins are forgiven.’” first of all, the community you surround yourself with matters because they will encourage you with their faiths to rise & follow Him, literally or figuratively. second of all, be that friend for other people!
in the second part of this passage - Matthew 9:9-13 - Matthew recounts his own calling to be a disciple of Jesus. Matthew 9:9 states, “He saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, & He said to him, ‘follow me.’ he rose & followed him.” Matthew rose from his tax-collecting booth (the most hated occupation at this time) & left it all behind, but he took his pen. immediately, he sensed that this man in front of him was different than the others because He knew his heart & loved him fully. Matthew knew the right choice was to rise & follow Him! how urgently would you leave your old life & rise? follow Him & remember to take your pen!
⛅️ something I’ve read: Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson & The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides - both physical copies! the first novel is a book all about the death penalty & equality in the justice system; I have to read it for a class at school! the thing is that I’ve already read this book before about two years ago. I’m five chapters in! the Eugenides book is one I have also read before, but I’m reading it again for pleasure this time. it’s one of my favorite books of all time! I read it last in January- right now, I am 109 pages in out of about 250 (44%). make sure to check out my goodreads (linked on the blog’s homepage)!
seeing as I just got back from the LO Sister Conference, it felt fitting to include a song from the LO Worship team! this song is one of my new favorites & really goes along with some of this post’s content points. “Followers” by LO Worship has a little line that goes like this, “livin' for Jesus & Jesus alone! showed me my purpose, gave me new hope - I don’t care if it costs me followers!” this is so good!!!! I’ll share the good news - even if it costs me followers.
this week, I challenge you to step out in obedience to something the Spirit has been nudging you to do - simply, say yes! thank you for being here & I hope to see you again soon! 🕊️
“therefore, encourage one another & build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” - 1 Thessalonians 5:11
So proud of you for saying yes to Jesus! That’s all He asks us to do and He will take care of the rest! I love you! ❤️
“Jesus died for me in public, so I shall live for Him in public!” That really spoke to me! So often, we are scared of our faith when it is really something to be shared! Thank you for this reminder 🤗💌