Category: personal
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When Life Seems Strange
Lately, I’ve found myself caught in a loop of thought: “Life shouldn’t feel this way.” But the truth is—it does. It feels uncertain. Disorienting. Foreign. And the more I sat with that, the more I began to realize: maybe that’s exactly the point. Scripture speaks of us as “strangers and exiles on the earth” (Hebrews…
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Fluent in Feelings, Silent in the Spirit?
Over the past several years, I’ve enjoyed the growing fluency in the language of emotion. Feelings wheels were used in a web design sprint I was involved in. Therapeutic language is more commonplace, for both good and bad. But this all is a vocabulary to help us name our experiences and emotion with nuance and…
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One Body, Many Parts
I am increasingly thankful for the way God has designed His Church. In recent weeks, as I’ve engaged in conversations and reconnected with old friends, I have been reminded of how much we need one another—not just on Sundays, but every day of the week. The body of Christ is not a theoretical concept; it…
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Hope that Does Not Put Us to Shame
Early this week, I found myself staring at the daunting task ahead. A quarter of my time has already passed for support-raising, and as I evaluated the results so far, I felt the creeping weight of doubt. Will I reach the goal? Some days, it just seems insurmountable. To make matters harder, I was receiving…
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Coherently Incoherent
This past week was a mix of joy, exhaustion, and an eclectic variety of meetings. At one point, I joked with a friend that this is what happens when two people with executive experience become individual contributors. We both have spent years setting direction, coaching others, and thinking strategically. But in this project, we’re just…
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Meekness, Humility, and Humiliation
In the trials I experienced during the fall of 2023, one of the most profound insights I received came during a conversation with a friend. As we worked through conflict, he encouraged me to ask God for and pursue meekness. The word struck me. I have always relied on intelligence, and leadership roles have often…
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From Faith, By Faith, and For Faith
In this transition to a new season of ministry, I’ve been reflecting quite a bit on the journey God has led us through. I have often described this interstitial season as a feeling of “wandering in the wilderness,” which is an allusion to Israel and Exodus. While I can’t see fully what lies ahead, I…
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2025 Theme: Patience and Presence
As we step into 2025, the dawn of a new year in our culture is an invitation to dream, plan, and set new goals. As a leader in the church and God’s kingdom, I have found this cultural rhythm to be a good opportunity to prayerfully consider what God may desire to do in my…
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Merry Christmas from the Engstrom Family
I pray you are reminded of the infinite value of our Savior this Christmas…may He bring you joy and rest! I’ll be picking back up blogging after the new year, so until then, enjoy a fun picture of my kids:
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Remembering Ronnie Smith
The last week has been like nothing I have ever experienced before. My friend Ronnie Smith went to be with The Lord on December 5th. He was seeking to be a blessing to the Libyan people, and gave his life so that people might know Jesus. There is nothing quite so surreal as hearing a…