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:
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!! just a psa: this post is too long to read the full thing in your inbox. pretty please click the title of this article to be able to read it in the Substack app or website. happy reading!
the week recap! week of: 1/27/26 - 2/2/26
⛅️ something to celebrate: always be dressed with a coat of stillness & bag of holy rest! this weekend, I was a leader for a group of 9th grade girls at a local church retreat. this was my first time attending this retreat as a leader & also as a true follower of Jesus; I went once before in middle school just to be accepted & considered likeable within my youth group, but this time I was able to go with fresh eyes to pour out + serve these girls & to ask Jesus to bring me to Himself in brand new ways. yay for the transforming power of the cross! not only was this weekend so incredible for the younger girls, but it was also so incredible for me in so many (unexpected) ways. the Lord gently guided me out of my comfort zone & these girls served me just as much as I was able to serve them! this is your sign to step out in obedience if even the Lord is calling you to a new experience - especially if it’s an experience wrapped in a bow of ministry!!!!
the speaker, Anthony Knight (who has such a precious, joyful family - five little boys under seven years old - & he said that he had the “strong conviction to flood this world with kiddos”), spoke on the topic of spiritual restlessness & how to be still with the Lord. my friends & I were trying to figure out if we had ever heard a sermon preached on this topic before, & we came to the conclusion that this was our first one! I found that I really needed to hear the importance of holy rest laid out for me at this point in my faith. I needed to refine my desire to spend time with the Lord as opposed to filling my brain with endless noise from culture. we are tormented by noise & God calls us to rest (& has since day 1). if rest is important to God, it should also be important to us!
spiritual restlessness: when your soul is exhausted & needs silence
we are often so quick (at least I know I am) to get annoyed with the Israelites when reading the Old Testament when they complain & run away from God, but we too have the tendency to be like the complaining Israelites & run from God’s offer for daily rest. we naturally look for rest in the wrong places - going against the Word. Anthony said that common places we look for rest, but come out unfulfilled include:
approvalism: living for others likes, instead of surrendering your true self to the Lord.
moralism: doing good because you are trying to earn the love of the Lord, which puts you in right standing with man & not God.
escapism: trying to numb the pain & floating away from your purpose - daydreaming, substance abuse, etc.
these three things bring us even less rest & even more pain by running away from the things of God towards the false comforts of the world!!! as Anthony said: “don’t go to lesser things when you can go to the greatest thing.”
personally, I find myself most in the approvalism category (& so did literally all of my 9th grade girlies). whenever Anthony was explaining this concept, I felt the Lord settle really raw inside of my heart that I continue to operate in long strides, striving to have the perfect grades, be the perfect loved one, & be liked by everyone that I meet, when He says that I am enough as I am (even when I mess up, make a bad grade, forget a friend’s birthday, get overwhelmed, & so on) & He invites me daily to take His outstretched hand & walk in step with Him. who am I performing for, if not the Lord? I feel like I should always be doing something!!!! whether that is something for the Lord or school or my community or etc. I have a very hard time with silence, with being still.
Hebrews 4:10&11 read, “for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works. let us strive to enter God’s rest.” somewhere in my sweet brain, I must think that I am above God, above the rest that He tells me is good. our culture has convinced us that we must always achieve more & try to be on trend/acceptable - this prevents us from getting the true rest that is offered in being still with God. the Lord rested, & so should we!!!! the Lord likes me & that’s enough!!!! I hope you were encouraged from this to break not so cute patterns & seek His stillness more daily.
⛅️ something out of my comfort zone: what’s your water jug, diva?! last week, I got a 40 on a history quiz that I wasn’t prepared to take (don’t worry, this story has a happy ending), & if you are a long time reader, you know already that I really, really struggle with academic validation! I have a hard time taking my grades to prayer, & if an assignment doesn’t go my way, I have a cow over it. in high school, the enemy lured me into adopting the silly habit of idolizing my grades & making that number my whole identity as if it was stamped on my forehead for all to see. I often forget to be grateful that I have the capacity to learn & the access to a good education in favor of making it all about my ability to perform. you are allowed to assume that I freaked out over this bad grade on a history quiz! because I so did! anyways, the teacher ended up removing my grade after I emailed her all in a tizzy & letting me try it again because of circumstances beyond my control - yay! - but I had a good meltdown over it first. over this weekend at the youth retreat, the Holy Spirit revealed to me (as He has before, & I know He will again) that I don’t trust Him when it comes to this area of my life. when we trust God, we sacrifice our everything for Him! to God, our inner heart is not unseen. in fact, it is perfectly on display & completely understood by the God of the universe! the very God who created you!
the fact that I don’t give the Lord access to this part of my life blocks my faith in Him as well. it slows down my endurance to run this race of faith! I must repent of my sin (idolizing grades & not surrendering control), be dedicated in my prayer life, & release any unrealistic expectations I have for myself/my faith, or else there will be no change (easier typed than done - which is why we must rely on His strength alone here)!
Hebrews 12:1 says, “let us lay aside every sin that clings to us closely.” did you catch that? sin clings to us closely!!!!! thankfully, Jesus is with us always, to the very end of the age, so that we may obey His call & flee from temptation.
sweet friend, check your heart for selfish ambition in any area of your life that you just struggle with surrendering to the One who has complete authority over all things & has good, good plans for your life. for me, it’s my grades! this was my reminder that I have to continue to bring this stubborn matter to the foot of the cross as many times as I need because that is what God wants me to do.
in the story of the woman at the well in John 4, she learns about who exactly Jesus is, & then she runs into town to tell everyone she knows, leaving her water jug behind (this jug was very important in this culture to sustain her for a while). have you put down your jug & chased after obedience to Jesus instead?
⛅️ something I’ve learned: eat daily the bread of life; it is not cake for special occasions! the chapters of the Word that the Lord gently guided me to meditate on a little this week were Psalms 4&5. Psalm 5:7 reads, “but I, through the abundance of your steadfast love will enter your house.” isn’t that just so precious & true?! I genuinely love it whenever the Lord’s dwelling is referred to with house imagery. these passages guided me to the truth that not only is the Lord the King of Kings & El Roi (the God who sees), He is also the only One who deserves my undivided attention. He has given me so much! who else is worthy? like I touched on a little bit last week, I have noticed a growing conviction from the Spirit in my heart to spend more time with the Lord, but that I have been stumped on how to so. this weekend, like He always does, He gave me some helpful tools for this! He is so intentional & a caring Father who does not leave His kiddos in the dark when they have questions.
you may be asking: ansley claire, what is a quiet time? well, I am so glad you said something omg! this is a time of the day that is set aside to know the Lord more, to get closer to Him, & to be renewed in Him. it is personal & often involves routine, prayer, Bible reading, Scripture memorizing, a devotional etc! often, distractions are eliminated & the door is closed.
simply, the best part of my day should be my quiet time with the Lord! & I really do love the routine I have going, but I know it is allowed to grow & incorporate more time & more things that honor the Lord. meeting with God is possible & we should want to do this daily. you would starve if you only ate on Sundays for goodness sakes! our Father is beautiful, orderly, intentional, & inviting. He is waiting for you to commit more of your time to stillness with Him!
can I let you in on a little secret? sometimes, I think of my quiet time as a checklist item or something that earns me favor with God, but I know the closer I get to Him, the more I will be taught how to delight in Him. these kinds of thought patterns are simply why we need a supply of daily grace - which we find in the stillness with Him. we need to feel His gentle touch!
time with Jesus is first, & working with Him is next. that’s how we should want it to be! I must want to spend more time with Him than I do in my Kingdom work or I will burn out. spending time with Jesus is not just a once a day thing, but an all-day awareness & reflecting on what God taught you during your quiet time with Him. to fulfill your calling you must routinely sit with Him. faith takes time, consistency, dedication, & a marathon of prayer!
we get to enter His house because of an abundance of His steadfast love!!!!! we should take the opportunity to honor Him by doing so!!!!!
until next time & with love,
ansley claire
a prayer request: with the big cold front that has just hit some of my area, I will be in prayer for the families & businesses that have been affected by the weather & the college students who had school canceled. up-close, I have seen such devastation & ruin - it is just so heartbreaking. there are families without hot water & the grocery stores have limited food supply. however, the good news is that God is sovereign & the ultimate provider!!!! if you would, please be in prayer for this alongside of me! that God would change the narrative & bring light!
the prayer mailbox (in progress!) is a quiet place for you to leave a prayer. I’ll be reading each one of them & holding them in prayer with you. some prayers are meant to be shared & held. if you feel lead, the mailbox is open (for now, you can leave a prayer in the comments or email me 💌 strongansleyclaire@gmail.com).
tuesday mornings is like the weekly news, but the news of an ordinary girl who writes about what the extraordinary God of the universe has done in her life!
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I hope each of you has a very happy rest of the week! praying for you! I love you so much & so does Jesus Christ!
peace! 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.” - 1st Thessalonians 5:11
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