PURPOSE + GRIT
  • Shop
    • Gritty Faith
    • Faith Over Fear
    • Art by Jessy Paulson, Prayer Artist
  • Subscribe
CHOOSING FAITH OVER FEAR

blog

    Be the first to read new blog posts.
Notify Me
Picture

Do you want gritty faith?

8/23/2020

0 Comments

 
​Gritty Faith is not for the faint of heart. It is for those who travel deep in the trenches.
 
It is for the messy Christians who are still wrestling with the tough questions.
 
It’s for the people who have the audacity to reach for the dreams placed on their hearts.
 
No, gritty faith is not for the faint of heart.
 
It isn’t for the ones who only want to show up on Sunday and check the box. It isn’t for the ones who just sing louder to drown out the hurt of the world. It isn’t for the ones who turn a blind eye to the pain of their neighbors because it is too hard... or too ugly.
 
Rather, gritty faith is embedded into the bones of those who wake up every single day and choose God’s plan over their own, even when it feels impossible.
 
Gritty faith is what it takes to recognize the injustices of the world and to sit in that hard space to understand. And those with the gritty-ist faith of all, then go forward and take that knowledge to actively make change in this world.

To have gritty faith means you are not intimidated by the in-between. You are not threatened by the what if’s and the questions without answers. You don’t cringe and turn away over the wrong language or the wrong look. You can sit in the brokenness. Not fixing. Not persuading. Just sitting, sharing stories of struggles and hurts and should-have-beens to help others wrestle their way through.

When you have gritty faith you know there is no black and white in this world, only a whole lot of gray—the messy middle where God does his greatest work.

Right here in the in-between using the brokenness of those who have been through the trenches, the ones with gritty faith. The ones like you and me.
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
These original artwork pieces, "Keep Me From Drowning" (above), "Break My Heart" (middle), and "To the Depths" by Jessy Paulson, Prayer Artist are available here.
0 Comments

Broken

8/7/2020

3 Comments

 
I’ve been quiet lately. I’ve been filling my mixed media journal with paintings that have no words. I’ve been struggling to find the ways to speak and pray what is going through my mind.

Right now, I’m broken.

Before I launched Gritty Faith, one of the things that weighed on my mind was how would I lead a community built on faith as I battled my own personal crisis?  It is one thing to lead from a place of healing, but it is entirely different when you are deep in the trenches yourself.

I pondered this thought for many months. And ultimately, I landed on the reassurance that by the time my next personal crisis rolled around (and I knew it would someday because… well life) I would have a team.  I would have people that knew how to do the things when I could not.

But apparently that was just my plan, not God’s. Because here I am, once again deep in the trenches… less than a year in.

Right now I am broken.

I am broken watching my in-laws—two people I deeply love—fight COVID. Two people battling to regain their life as they know it.

I am broken because we cannot physically be there to help. The only comfort we can provide is through a screen connecting our living room with the ICU.

I am broken at the thought of what ifs and the heavy realization that we have moved into the sandwich generation, where we are caring for both our parents and our children.
​
I am broken because the timing of my first year as an entrepreneur is in the middle of a global pandemic where normal no longer exists.

And I am broken, because God didn’t even give me the time I needed before He laid more on me and my family, despite everything I have sacrificed.

Over the last week, I have thought a lot about all of this brokenness. This isn’t the first time I have been a heap of shattered pieces. I know this place. I know there is a way out, even if I cannot see it now.

When I am quiet, I can still hear the beat of my heart and the steady rhythm of my sister’s voice whispering, “Faith Over Fear, Faith Over Fear.”

Even if I am broken in this moment, God is still there.

Even if I do not understand the whys, He knows the plan.

Even if I doubt His intentions, He is still weaving His Golden Thread.

Yesterday, He sent me a good friend to check in. She didn’t offer lukewarm prayers, advice, or help. She simply sat with me in my brokenness and allowed me to be. No fixing. No judgement. No suggestions.

She was a God Thing to me yesterday. She was the thing that got me through that tough moment.

And today, He sent another to check in on me and give me exactly what I needed in the next moment.

And tomorrow, I’m sure there will be another breadcrumb. Maybe it will be a well-placed written word, a song on the radio, or maybe I’ll finally see the meaning in all those paintings with no words.

It is because of moments like this that I choose gritty faith.  Life can be incomprehensibly hard and ugly and just plain unfair.  I need my faith to be able to withstand the battle. I don’t want it wrapped up in ribbons and bows and flowers–a gorgeous book of perfectly scripted verses. I need my faith to be used and abused, dirty and imperfect, torn and battered—and still hold strong.

Right now, I may not be a very good leader. But, I know we have built this community on gritty faith and I know I am in good company as I dig myself out of these trenches.
Picture
P.S. If you’re the praying type, send a few up for healing. These grandkids are looking forward to the day they can hug Grandma and Grandpa again.
3 Comments

    Author

    Hi!  I'm Jessy, one of the co-owners of Purpose + Grit and co-authors of the book Faith Over Fear: Walking Angie Home.  I share my life with my husband Kyle, our three kids, Ally, Charley and Rad and our German Shephard, Roxy.  You will usually find me with coffee in my cup and paint on my clothes, tackling one of my many projects 15 minutes at at time.

    Archives

    November 2020
    October 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    December 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019

    RSS Feed

Home
About Faith Over Fear
Blog
About Gritty Faith
Be Featured in Gritty Faith
Gritty Faith Sponsorship
Advertise with Us!

Located at 510 Dakota Street Alcester, SD 

Mailing Address: PO Box 503 Alcester, SD 57001

hello@purposegrit.com

The Norway Center Store LLC
​(c) 2020

  • Shop
    • Gritty Faith
    • Faith Over Fear
    • Art by Jessy Paulson, Prayer Artist
  • Subscribe