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Kristan Dooley
- Jan 15, 2019
- 6 min
The Tension of the Turn
It was mid December and I had just resigned from my job as one of the High School Pastors at a large church in Cincinnati. Finally, after ten months of preparation, I took the step and turned left. Standing at the bottom of this seemingly impossible hill I wondered what He was going to do now. Twelve years ago, He called me into ministry and I never looked back. I gave up my life as I knew it to follow Him only to now find myself here, off the beaten path, in one of the dark
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Kristan Dooley
- Dec 19, 2018
- 6 min
"Advent-ually" Planting in Hope
Hey guys! We are starting a 3 post Christmas series over at Renewal women tomorrow morning. I would love for you to following along. If you aren't currently waiting on God to start or finish something, then you will be, just wait long enough! Which is why, learning to wait well is worth your time in gold! I will share the Renewal blogs on my social media but I wanted to get you a preview. Feel free to jump over to Renewal and sign up for our emails so you can read more of th
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Kristan Dooley
- Nov 19, 2018
- 5 min
The Habit of Gratitude
Gratitude is not hard but it is a habit. If gratitude is a habit it's also safe to say ingratitude is also a habit. You will bend toward one or the other. Gratitude and ingratitude are muscles. The muscle you strengthen will be the one you grow and will ultimately become the muscle you lean to. The mindset of ingratitude comes very easily when we spend our time strengthening it. It's not hard to see what is wrong with everything around us. Things in the world are not as they
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Kristan Dooley
- Sep 29, 2018
- 8 min
Off the Beaten Path
Hungry for something Jesus hadn’t eaten for forty days when Satan first approached Him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread,” (Luke 4:3, niv.) The temptation was to reduce what He needed to mere physical substance. To believe the lie; I am what I have, instead of the truth; I have what I need. Had Jesus turned the stone to bread, He would have been operating out of the fear of not having enough, rather than trusting the truth, God is enough.
The desi
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Kristan Dooley
- Sep 6, 2018
- 6 min
God in transition...
If God is always present and at work then it means, there is always an invitation to stop what your doing and join Him in what He's doing. Sometimes joining Him feels small, like realizing the lady in front of you is going to need help getting her groceries in the car because there's way too many and it's pouring down rain. Other times, joining Him feels massive, like walking away from a perfectly good job without knowing what's next. Transitions are a natural part of life.
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Kristan Dooley
- May 1, 2018
- 12 min
Side streets and back alleys
Jesus was unpredictable. As soon as the disciples thought they had figured it out, He would do something completely opposite leaving them with their mouths wide open. Who was this man that followed no system or sequence? Where did He find the freedom to be fully present and yet completely connected somewhere else all at the same time? Why wasn't He swayed by the power of the people? How did He so radically love and let go? Following His baptism by John the Baptist, Jesus was
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Kristan Dooley
- Jan 8, 2018
- 5 min
It doesn't get any easier...
No matter what I do it's hard. Over the years, I have found ways to make the hardness more enjoyable and even joy-filled, but if I'm exercising right, it's always still there. If I'm pushing myself to the limit and stepping forward into things I couldn't previously do, hard is a word I need to get used to. No one can convince me burpees get easy. It's just not possible. There will never be a day I walk into the gym hoping the first thing out of my trainer's mouth is, "how abo
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Kristan Dooley
- Nov 30, 2017
- 3 min
Dreaming bigger...
Once we begin to see how big God really is, we can’t help but dream bigger. Living with dreams we can achieve on our own speak of a small God. Reality is, we have the attention of the Almighty God. He spoke the universe into being and can certainly handle any dreams we fear might be just out of our personal reach. If Ephesians 3:20, “He is able to do more than we ever asked or imagined possible,” is really true (which in case you are wondering, it is), then think of the bigge
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Kristan Dooley
- Sep 18, 2017
- 7 min
God never said that...
Have you ever had a conversation play over and over again in your head? Maybe in a brave moment, you met a friend for coffee and opened up with the storm that has steam rolled its way into your life. Authenticity feels good as the truth of what's really going on pours out of your mouth. Finally, the weight of keeping your struggle to yourself is lessened. Hopefully, your friend meets you with compassion and understanding, grace and truth, but regardless of her words, you undo
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Kristan Dooley
- Sep 6, 2017
- 4 min
New Beginnings
Her safety zone was our couch. Over and over again she would grab onto it, pull herself up and maneuver around to the other end. In the beginning, she was content to just travel the length of the couch. Back and forth, back and forth. We would lay temptations a few feet out from her reach hoping she would muster up the courage to let go and step out into the unknown of walking without guidance. A few times she did, only to quickly fall right back down. Until eventually, she d
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Kristan Dooley
- Sep 1, 2017
- 4 min
Eye Contact...
I had a soccer coach who loved spending nine of the ten allotted half time minutes pointing out our missed opportunities. He often reminded us how the score on the score board was not reflective of the team he knew we were. He wasn't telling us anything we didn't already know. We knew our capacity to play soccer with the best teams in the league. We were as good, if not better than the best, but there were moments we struggled to show it. During the worst half times we hung
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