Ripple-Effect Faith with Twyla Franz

Twyla Franz

Welcome to a becoming-space. A place for imperfectly ready people to say yes to more Jesus and actual friendships with their neighbors. A place for introverts and workaholics and people-pleasers and self-doubters. Welcome, welcome, if that's you! I get that pull you feel to go deeper. Find purpose, meaningful conversations, community. I also get how you think you're not ready. Want to know a secret?! None of us are, least of all me! Also true is that we BECOME ready after, not before, we say yes. Yes to baby steps that deepen relationships and let God spill out everywhere. Yes to becoming more curious, more approachable, more moldable in the tender hands of Jesus. It's a process. A beautiful, becoming process where we look less and less like we used to and more and more like Him.

  1. 4d ago

    How to Be a Better Neighbor: Five Summertime Tips

    To you, Googling "how to be a better person." You, longing to be the sort of neighbor who effortlessly welcomes others into your home, leans into conversations with sincerity and delight, and spills over with hopefulness. You, with your burgeoning summer calendar and dwindling blank space. You, feeling squeezed between ideals and actual life. You don't need an out-of-reach plan, additional demands on your time, or an annoying voice filling your head with "shoulds." So here are some simple summertime tips that will fill you up rather than deplete you.   Links mentioned: If baby steps are your pace, get a quick tip in your inbox each week to help you connect with your neighbors and let your faith ripple into your neighborhood. Get a FREE, 5-Day Email Course: Turn Your Loneliness into Ripple-Effect Faith in 5 Days Read the written version of this episode HERE.

    8 min

  2. May 19

    How to Apply Half-Marathon Preparation to the Rest of Life

    I sign up on a whim. One half-marathon for Saturday, through hilly horse country. My calves are still tight from three runs the same morning, because my impetuous mind decided to run to the start line of a community 5k, which also meant I had to get home on foot after the race. Honestly, my only hope of non-stop running for the half is contingent on keeping a slow, steady pace. And resting.  Funny how sometimes the best way to prepare is literally to take a break. To slow to a walk. To sit in the sun. To stretch. To strengthen with pilates.  Fear tells me to cram-train, to sprint up more hills, to prove (pre-race) to myself that I can make it that many miles. But muscle memory brings quiet assurance that I've gone the distance. My own permission slip from my last half-marathon says it's okay to break pace, to walk a spell, to simply finish. This close to the race, rest will get me further than distance training.  And maybe it hits close to home in other areas of my life too. I'm a work-in-progress when it comes to rest. Sometimes my stubbornness is misdirected, and I strive for excellence in relatively inconsequential areas. Too often, I keep my proverbial plate full by working ahead in order to create margin for a future version of myself (who will simply find something else to perfect or create). You see the cycle. Perhaps you can pinpoint the same pattern in your own life.   Links mentioned: FREE, 5-Day Email Course: Turn Your Loneliness into Ripple-Effect Faith in 5 Days Read the written version of this episode HERE.

    7 min

  3. May 12

    How to Make Whatever You Are Doing Be Unto the Lord

    Sometimes you are doing too much, and you know it from the tumble of thoughts burying the task that truly needs your attention. You find yourself making slow progress in several areas simultaneously. At every spin, you find more before you that could be straightened, sorted, or scheduled. Oh friend, I get it. I admit I mostly (okay, only) wipe out the interior of my fridge when I should be packing for a trip. I tidy the pantry and put wheels to a wild whim of an idea when I have barely enough margin for the minimum. I make spontaneous updates to pages on my website that don't need to be fixed.  The higher my stack of urgent responsibilities, the faster my brain churns. There is a reason I keep an AquaNotes pad in my shower to capture sudden inspiration. If you struggle with your relationship with work–fighting excuses, inefficiency, or exhaustion–welcome! There's grace and good news, I find, for real people like us. My slow journey through the New Testament lands me in the book of Colossians, and this week I'm lingering in chapter three. Here's what strikes me about verse 17: Paul doesn't say to do your work unto the Lord only when your load isn't too much, or only when you can keep your priorities in a God-honoring order, or only when you don't feel stressed, stretched, or sidelined.   Links mentioned: FREE, 5-Day Email Course: Turn Your Loneliness into Ripple-Effect Faith in 5 Days If you're not getting weekly gratitude stories, you can sign up HERE. Read the written version of this episode HERE.

    8 min

  4. May 5

    How to Reignite Faith When My Routine Gets in the Way

    Sometimes I can get stuck in my routine. I start my morning the same way every day I can. I fall into a rhythm with school and gymnastics and church. I even put plates a certain way in the dishwasher–every time. In the midst of the repetition, faith can begin to feel a bit monotonous. Perhaps you've experienced this. You might feel like you're on autopilot, mudding through the motions, willing your heart to be in it. Maybe you're struggling to keep up with the minimum because the needs that take your time? Well, they keep multiplying.   Links mentioned: FREE, 5-Day Email Course: Turn Your Loneliness into Ripple-Effect Faith in 5 Days Read the written version of this episode HERE.

    8 min

  5. Apr 28

    Play Worship Songs on Repeat: One Revolutionary Way to Listen

    It feels like summer, and I sit on the step with Seph Schlueter singing through my portable speaker. Funny how you can play worship songs on repeat, but they move you forward, rather than in circles. Yes, you are essentially listening on loop, but the lyrics unravel your reservations and amplify your expectancy with every replay.   Links mentioned: Songs I Play on Repeat playlist. FREE, 5-Day Email Course: Turn Your Loneliness into Ripple-Effect Faith in 5 Days Read the written version of this episode HERE.

    7 min

  6. Apr 21

    Three Remarkable Truths That Will Make Your Life More Stable

    Perhaps it's grief, your physical health, or some other life disruption that makes the ground gallop beneath you. And it's all you can do right now to keep putting one foot forward at a time. Here are three truths that will steady you when life feels unstable.   Links mentioned: FREE, 5-Day Email Course: Turn Your Loneliness into Ripple-Effect Faith in 5 Days Read the written version of this episode HERE.

    8 min

  7. Apr 14

    How to Know God Is Good and Great When You Can't See Him

    "Did you see what I wrote on the mirror?" He's giddy insistent. First, he points to words I don't even see in the disappearing, post-shower stream.  God is good. God is great. Bless his 9-year-old heart, reminding me that even when we can't see how, God's steadiness writes a never-ending story.   Links mentioned: FREE, 5-Day Email Course: Turn Your Loneliness into Ripple-Effect Faith in 5 Days Read the written version of this episode HERE.

    7 min

  8. Apr 7

    When You Miss the Sunrise, Here's How to Still Fill Your Morning With Hope

    It sounded like a prank call, but I promise we were serious. Seriously set on seeing the sunrise in a city where we'd spend spring break. This was before the days of smartphones to check the weather app. So we did what made most sense to our college student brains—call local numbers in the phone book to ask when the sun rises. I think of it now as radiant pink entrances us en route to school. These sunrise spottings almost make me like Daylight Savings. Almost. Since I started running, I catch every sunrise I can. I time my runs down to the minute so I can capture the colors from the church at the crest of the hill. But on school days, I usually miss the sun breaking through the night . . . except when Daylight Savings aligns the time. A sunrise feels like a God-hug in the middle of the rush to get to school. A splash of His endless creativity. The visible evidence that He is always watching over us.  Or, as Jennifer Dukes Lee writes in her book How to Love Your Morning, that He is watching with us. In her captivating story-telling style, she paints a picture of a God pointing our eyes to the sunrise He created for us. I don't want to spoil it for you, so you just might need to read the book yourself! (This story is in chapter two.)   Links mentioned: How to Love Your Morning by Jennifer Dukes Lee FREE, 5-Day Email Course: Turn Your Loneliness into Ripple-Effect Faith in 5 Days Read the written version of this episode HERE.

    7 min
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4.8
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25 Ratings

About

Welcome to a becoming-space. A place for imperfectly ready people to say yes to more Jesus and actual friendships with their neighbors. A place for introverts and workaholics and people-pleasers and self-doubters. Welcome, welcome, if that's you! I get that pull you feel to go deeper. Find purpose, meaningful conversations, community. I also get how you think you're not ready. Want to know a secret?! None of us are, least of all me! Also true is that we BECOME ready after, not before, we say yes. Yes to baby steps that deepen relationships and let God spill out everywhere. Yes to becoming more curious, more approachable, more moldable in the tender hands of Jesus. It's a process. A beautiful, becoming process where we look less and less like we used to and more and more like Him.

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