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:
!! 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: 3/17/26 - 3/23/26
⛅️ something to celebrate: siri play “the chant” by Jackie Hill Perry! I haven’t been wanting to write my blog posts recently. like for the past couple of weeks. there, I said it. it feels like a bandaid that just got ripped off of my arm! being in a creative rut with the creative outlet that you’re known for feels incredibly taboo & even disappointing.
my fire for the Lord has not burned out whatsoever, it’s even fanned higher, but when it comes to the passion that I usually have for writing for His glory, something feels missing. maybe it’s because I don’t feel interesting enough or maybe it’s because I’m so exhausted with school that it feels near impossible to juggle it all, but all in all, something in me has not felt excited to sit down & write detailed posts about my week & what the Lord has been teaching me.
I’m tired. it’s probably the enemy too. actually, it’s definitely the enemy too.
our words have the power of life & of death. God created the world with His words! 2nd Peter 3:5(b) highlights that, “the earth was formed out of water & through water by the word of God.” Peter highlights that the earth was formed by the word of God to remind us that the Word of God never returns void & also that our words hold the power of creation - creation of life or death in our life, the lives of those we converse with, on our blog posts, etc. the enemy is afraid of when you have a right view of God, when you start talking like God, & when you use your God-given gifts for creation!!!
as humans, we all have this desire to be “great.”
this is a God-given feeling, to be great. great at accepting His love & passions for His Kingdom. however, the world pushes your desire for greatness far past the Kingdom’s horizon! the world pushes our desire for greatness to lengths of comparison, burnout, & perfectionism. this is not living free. Jesus does not call you to live a life of burnout, but a life of freedom & freedom in creating for Him.
when we focus more on the work we can do to be great, even for the Lord, we lose sight of the full picture of Him. this desire for greatness can be abused & remove our Kingdom vision (our Godggles as my sweet friend Kayla calls this).
when we don’t see the world as the Lord does, we become more susceptible to believing the lies of enemy less willing to just be still.
when we are restless, we start to use our God-given gift for His glory in favor of creating for the eyes of man, for the applause, for the likes.
we are more comfortable in the chase of burnout instead of the peace of intimacy with the Lord.
“the Lord sees not as man sees; man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” - 1st Samuel 16:7
Jesus wants to awaken the passions of your heart for His kingdom! He redefines what it means to be great. appearance does not define greatness, God does. we are endowed with the capacity for creative redemptive potential! we can fulfill this when our eyes are on the I AM!
writing this post makes me think about this song by Jackie Hill Perry! the lyrics are: “tell the truth & shame the devil, for Him we gon run our mouth…we ain’t scared, devil get up off me.” & fun fact, but when I am really in warfare I play this in the car!
I haven’t been wanting to write my blog posts recently, but I am not going to let the enemy control my narrative of creativity & the creative burnout. the Lord must have something great to say through me & through you if the enemy is on our trail & our passions!
⛅️ something out of my comfort zone: a childlike & intimacy holy knuckle sandwich! this weekend, I worked a kids faith retreat about the basics of faith. first of all, this camp environment was very new for me. when I tell people I know that I’m not very outdoorsy, they never look surprised. in fact, some of my friends even laugh. however, I felt the Lord’s peace so much in nature!!!! staring out at the pond, I knew it was just me & Jesus. second of all, oh my goodness did the Lord teach me so much here too! I had such a sweet time leading 10-year-old girls in a discipleship group where we talked about the contents of each message & did fun crafts about it. childlike faith & intimacy never becomes more real until you literally talk with little children about pillars of faith & the things of the Bible.
“whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” - Matthew 18:4
in order to fully focus on the I AM, we must humble down like a little child. this is what He became to save us!!! He lived most of His life hidden & low. He got in the dirt with His sheep! to have childlike faith is to be humble, unafraid to ask questions, to be silly, to be quick to play, to worship, & to believe that He is who He says He is.
I carry so much unnecessary stress everyday that a little child would throw off & go play on the playground instead. this is the freeing life God wants for us!
we are also never too old to be reminded of the basics of our faith: who is God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit? how do we pray? what is the armor of God? what is the Church? what does it mean to repent? no one is too young or too old to be encountered by Christ!
through this weekend, the Lord further taught me the importance of intimacy with Him.
the most important thing about you & me is not the way we look, how funny we can be in a conversation, what our grades our, but it is how we view the Lord!!!!! our view of the Lord comes with spending time with Him!!! this truth is so freeing to me, I feel like I don’t have to stress anymore about the temporary when I have access to the eternal.
it is so key to be poured into by the Holy Spirit. I am talking to everyone right now, not just to the people who do ministry because we all are called to minister to others daily. we are not machines, we are little boats who need to spend our days anchored to the Lord on the dock & in the sunshine.
sweet friends, is He worth your time? I want to encourage you to pray about childlike faith & your intimacy with the Lord this week!
“what comes to mind as you think about God is the most important thing about you.” - A.W. Tozier
⛅️ something I’ve learned: just let me have the space to testify for a second or I will cry until you do! I am writing this section after my Monday “delight” girls’ Bible study where a group of ladies meets at my house to help walk each other to the foot of the cross & be hungry over Scripture together - we just ended 2nd Peter 3! & I just wanted to give a shoutout to my Good Shepherd to end this post on a high note!!!!! we must testify to His goodness so that others are encouraged!!!!
not one, not two, but three (!!!) girls at Bible study had huge revelation from Christ encountering them/telling them something/convicting them. the Holy Spirit MOVED! He can move in any setting, just send Him an invite too. this is the importance of Bible studies, of sisterhood in Christ, of prayer, of the Word.
hallelujah that these girls are experiencing the love & freedom of Christ in different ways!
until next time & with love,
ansley claire
I believe that everyone should have access to encouragement from a sister in Christ, so Tuesday Mornings is, & will stay, a free publication. however, if you feel led to support my Kingdom work with a little treat:
a prayer request: hi my prayer warriors whom I am so grateful for!!! as we go into the rest of this week, I’m just asking the Lord to renew my strength, uphold my energy, continue to reveal Himself to me as the lifter of my head, & to have me return to the joy of His salvation! I started this week so drained from being poured out that I desperately need Him to keep pouring into me! I ask that you would pray this over me & yourself too!
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!
make sure to check out the blog’s Instagram & TikTok! I have so much fun on my socials! (pssst…any image that is not taken by my camera is found on Pinterest).
also, pretty please tell me your thoughts about this post, what you’re learning in your faith walk, or just whatever is on your mind - I pinky promise I want to know!
I hope each of you has a very happy rest of the week! praying for you! peace! thank you for being here & I hope to see you again soon! 🕊️ I love you so much & so does Jesus Christ!
“therefore, encourage one another & build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” - 1st Thessalonians 5:11
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