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powerofagain.com

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Coming Up!

October 8, 2026
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Have you ever wondered . . .

“Was that really God or just my own thoughts?”

Most Christians long to hear God’s voice but aren’t sure how to recognize it with confidence.

The good news is that God is not trying to hide from His children.

Jesus promised that His sheep would know His voice and the Holy Spirit continues to guide, comfort, convict, and lead us today.

Join author, speaker, and Kingdom Life Coach Megan Nilsen for an interactive 90-minute Grow + Go masterclass where you’ll discover a practical, Scripture-centred process for discerning God’s voice through Beautiful Exchange Journaling.

Together we’ll learn how to:

• Quiet internal and external noise
• Recognize the difference between God’s voice, your own thoughts, and fear
• Anchor every prompting in Scripture
• Practice listening prayer without striving
• Experience Beautiful Exchange Journaling in real time
• Leave with a repeatable process you can continue using in your daily walk with Jesus

Whether you’re making an important decision or simply longing for a deeper relationship with God, this experience will help you cultivate greater confidence in recognizing the gentle leading of the Holy Spirit.

When God's Word becomes God's word for you.

Em Tyler — Fri, 28 Aug 2026 05:01:02 GMT

I feel like everyone hanging out with me in the Grow + Go space online would be familiar with the spiritual armour laid out by Paul in Ephesians 6. Perhaps we’ve heard messages or sermons on how the Sword of the Spirit (which is the Word of God) is the only weapon while the rest are protective pieces of armour.

I don’t know about you, but growing up I kinda had a visual of people holding their Bibles as if they were swords, ready at a moment’s notice to wildly wield them in the air to cut down any offensive attacks. I guess that’s why some people love to Bible bash . . . I digress.

You may have also heard that there are two Greek words used in the New Testament relating to God’s word: Logos and rhēma. I’ve heard it said that logos is the written word and rhēma is a Holy Spirit fresh revelatory word, but I wonder if that maybe oversimplifies things?

You see, the whole of God’s written Word (our Bible) is Spirit-inspired (2 Timothy 3:16), and at times the New Testament uses both logos and rhēma to refer to God’s message. They aren’t always neat little boxes where one means “the Bible” and the other means “a prophetic word.”

But I do think Paul’s choice of rhēma in Ephesians 6 is significant.

Rhēma specifically carries the sense of something spoken — an utterance, a declaration which immediately makes me think of Jesus in the wilderness. Because when Satan tempted Him, Jesus didn’t simply know the Scriptures; He spoke them, out loud.

Three times the enemy came with lies, and three times Jesus replied, “It is written . . .” (Matthew 4:1-11). The truth He had hidden in His heart became the truth He declared with His lips. The written Word became a spoken word, and in that moment it was a sword.

Perhaps Holy Spirit is working in a similar way in our own lives.

Have you ever been reading your Bible and suddenly a verse you’ve skimmed over dozens of times seems to leap off the page? It’s as though God has embossed and highlighted it for you just in that moment. It’s not that the words changed, they’re the same ones they were all along, but suddenly they speak directly into your situation. Or perhaps you’ve been praying about a decision and, seemingly out of nowhere, a Scripture comes to mind that brings clarity, courage or comfort. The verse isn’t magically more inspired than it was yesterday. But rather, the Holy Spirit is doing what He loves to do: illuminating His inspired Word and depositing it into your heart in a deeply personal way.

The written Word becomes a living word for today. Eternal truth becomes today’s daily bread.

He reminds us of what Jesus has already said (John 14:26), bringing Scripture to our minds exactly when we need it. Nothing about the verse is different. What’s different is that the Spirit chose that moment to make it land. The Spirit shines His light on everlasting truth so that it speaks directly into today’s fear, today’s decision, today’s disappointment or today’s joy.

And sometimes He goes further still.

The New Testament is full of examples of the Holy Spirit prompting, guiding, encouraging and speaking prophetically to God’s people. He may give a picture, an impression, a word of knowledge or an encouragement for someone else. But He never contradicts the Scriptures He inspired. Instead, His fresh words always lead us back to Jesus and remain beautifully consistent with His written Word.

Perhaps that’s why spending time in God’s Word matters so much. We aren’t simply filling our minds with information or collecting verses for a rainy day. We’re learning to recognise the voice of our Shepherd. Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would remind His disciples of everything He had taught them (John 14:26). It’s difficult to be reminded of something we’ve never taken the time to know.

So don’t rush through reading your Bible today.

Linger. Savour. Ask Holy Spirit, “What are You saying to me through Your Word?”

Then keep listening.

The sword of the Spirit isn’t just a Bible sitting unopened on a shelf. God’s Word was never meant to remain ink on a page. It was always meant to be spoken, believed, prayed, obeyed and lived. Again and again.

If you'd love to keep exploring the Holy Spirit with other women, I'd love you to join our next Grow + Go Book Club.

Throughout September and October, we’ll be reading The Divine Counselor by Alex Seeley together, alongside weekly live Zoom Bible studies where we’ll dive deeper into what Scripture teaches about the Holy Spirit.

We’ll tackle questions like: Is it the Holy Spirit or just Holy Spirit? Why do we say He and not it? How does the Spirit speak today? How do we grow in recognising His voice while staying rooted in God’s Word?

Grab a copy of the book from Amazon (or wherever you love buying books), then join us. As always, the cohort is pay-as-you-feel because we never want finances to get in the way of growing together.

I’d love to journey through this with you as we open God’s Word, learn from one another, and keep growing—and going—with Jesus.

JOIN THE COHORT

Has a verse you've read a hundred times ever suddenly leapt off the page at exactly the right moment? What was going on in your life when it happened?

Let’s pray:

Holy Spirit, thank You that Your Word doesn't sit still on the page, You press it into our hearts exactly when we need it. Teach us to linger instead of rushing. Help us recognise Your voice in what You've already spoken, and give us the courage to speak it out loud when the enemy comes with lies. Make Your Word a sword in our hands, not merely information we carry, but truth we declare. Again and again, in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Cheering you on,

Em 💛

This week from Grow + Go:

Watch on the pod: When God Shows Up in the Dark with Lucy Grimsey

Or you can listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you stream your podcasts.

Please support the Grow and Go Podcast by liking/sharing/following/subscribing/reviewing/all the things wherever you listen or watch. It genuinely helps more people find it to be encouraged to keep growing and going.

Book news 👀

If you’ve not already, why not check out powerofagain.com and make sure you’re signed up to get all of Em’s book news! Exciting times ahead ✚✚✚

Posts you’ve been loving:

If what I create—whether through writing, resources, or speaking—has been meaningful to you, please consider making a one-off donation (no subscription necessary!!) to all things Grow + Go I’d be so grateful. Your support helps me keep creating freely and sharing faith-filled content. Every gift—big or small—means so much. Thank you for being a Grow + Go Believer!

Grow + Go | When God Shows Up in the Dark with Lucy Grimsey

Em Tyler — Wed, 26 Aug 2026 05:01:20 GMT

Most miracle stories come packaged with ‘fancy faith’: big, bold, mountain-moving faith. The person prayed, believed, stood on the word, and God showed up. Hallelujah! And don’t get me wrong, those stories are fabulous, but they can also feel totally out of reach if that’s not your experience.

This story is different.

Lucy is a mum of two boys from Nottinghamshire who, in November 2024, was facing major surgery following a scan that showed cancer on her ovary and her liver. The medical team were so certain of what they would find that they warned her the surgery could be a long road, and to begin planning what would happen to her boys if it was. She didn’t expect healing. She doubted, questioned, wrestled with God, all alongside years of finding faith complicated (through divorce, through working in church safeguarding and seeing its darkest corners, through a long season of feeling like she didn’t belong in a church building).

And then the results came back. And the doctors had no explanation.

What makes this conversation so remarkable isn’t just the miracle. It’s the honesty around it. Lucy didn’t believe it. She asked them to retest. She asked why me? And even now she’s still figuring out how to process it.

We talk about:

✨ What it looked like to face a cancer diagnosis with complicated faith and no easy answers
✨ What worship and gratitude can look like in hard seasons
✨ The prayer spoken over her by a stranger who didn’t know her name and the video that proved it happened before the operation
✨ What it means to receive a miracle you didn’t dare believe in
✨ How this experience changed what Lucy thinks actually matters
✨ Why even a miracle doesn’t make the intentional choices easier and why we have to keep returning again and again (powerofagain.com)

Is there something you’ve been praying for (or struggling to even let yourself pray for) that feels too big or too unlikely?

Connect further with Em:

powerofagain.com

Interested in having Em come speak at your event? ⁠Book Em today! ⁠

More Beyond

Em Tyler — Fri, 21 Aug 2026 05:00:46 GMT

I first came across this illustration in David Guzik’s commentary on Philippians 3. I’ve since dug a little deeper into the history and adapted it here.

According to an old tradition, the Pillars of Hercules at the edge of the Mediterranean represented the boundary of the known world. The phrase Non Plus Ultra (meaning “Nothing further beyond”) captured the belief that there was nothing more to discover beyond that horizon.

But then came a new era of exploration, Spain’s understanding of the world expanded, and in 1516, Charles V adopted a new motto:

Plus Ultra aka “Further Beyond.”

I feel like at this point he would have mic dropped had he known how.

No longer a declaration that they had reached the limit, but an acknowledgement that there was more to discover. More beyond. Doesn’t even hearing that stir something deep within your belly?! It does me.

I wonder which phrase has become engraved on our hearts.

Nothing further?

Or...

More beyond?

Sigh. If we’re honest, it’s easier to live as though we’ve arrived. We settle into a comfortable faith that says:

I know enough.
I’ve grown enough.
I’ve experienced enough of God.
I’ve done my part.

But in the New Testament Paul shows us a different posture. And let’s face it, if anyone could have claimed to have nailed their faith, it was Paul. He had planted churches, preached the gospel across nations, encountered Jesus personally, and written words that would shape generations of believers.

Yet he says:

“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.”
— Philippians 3:12

Paul’s confidence wasn’t in how far he had come, it was in the One who was still calling him forward. He wasn’t chasing achievement. He was pursuing Christ.

Friend, the Christian life was never designed to be a journey towards a place where we no longer need Jesus. It’s a lifetime of discovering there is always more of Him to know. There is always more grace to receive, more love to understand, more freedom to walk in, more character to grow into, and more of His presence to experience. Not because God is lacking, but because He is infinite. We will never reach the end of who He is.

Every time we return to Scripture, we discover another glimpse of His heart.
Every time we surrender another area of our lives, we uncover another layer of trust.
Every time we say yes to His invitation, our horizons expand.

There is always more beyond.

Maybe today you feel stuck because you think you should be further ahead. Perhaps you’re discouraged because you thought you’d have mastered that struggle by now. Or maybe you’ve quietly settled into believing that this is as far as your faith will go.

But Jesus is not standing at the end of a finish line waiting for you to catch up. He is inviting you forward again, and again.

The horizon is not the end . . . it’s an invitation.

So keep pressing on. Because in Christ, there is always more beyond.

Where in your walk with God have you quietly settled into "I've arrived" and what would it look like to believe there's more beyond, right there?

Let’s pray:

Lord, if we’re honest it's often easier to settle than to keep pressing forward. But You are infinite, and we will never exhaust who You are. Holy Spirit, would you stir that hunger again understanding that there is always more of You to know? Call us forward, in Jesus’ name, again, and again. Amen.

So if today feels like a horizon, not a finish line, that’s okay! That means there's more beyond. And you're exactly where you're meant to be: keeping on keeping on.

Cheering you on,

Em 💛

This week from Grow + Go:

Watch on the pod: Hearing God and Living Supernaturally with Lauren Crook

Or you can listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you stream your podcasts.

Book news 👀

If you’ve not already, why not check out powerofagain.com and make sure you’re signed up to get all of Em’s book news! Exciting times ahead ✚✚✚

Posts you’ve been loving:

Grow + Go | Hearing God and Living Supernaturally with Lauren Crook

Em Tyler — Wed, 19 Aug 2026 05:00:55 GMT

The word “supernatural” makes a lot of Christians nervous. I get it. It’s been misused, misunderstood, and in some corners of the church, badly abused. But here’s the thing — the life Jesus lived was, by any measure, wildly supernatural. And he told us to eagerly desire the gifts he left us. So what are we actually missing out on?

This week I sit down with Lauren Crook, senior leader of Kingdom Living Ministries. I met Lauren when she led a prophecy training day for a team at work, and I watched her ground every single moment of it in love, scripture, and the gentlest possible invitation to step out in faith.

We talk about what prophecy actually is and what it isn’t. We talk about why Lauren is convinced that God is speaking to you right now and why the problem isn’t him going quiet, it’s us not knowing what we’re tuned in to. And we talk about what it looks like to move from doing things for God to actually knowing him which, as Lauren points out, are not the same thing at all.

We talk about:

✨ Why the word “supernatural” scares so many Christians
✨ What prophecy is, what it isn’t, and why Paul says we should eagerly desire it
✨ How true biblical prophecy should always strengthen, encourage and comfort and what to do if yours didn’t
✨ The difference between doing things for God and actually knowing him
✨ Practical ways to build intimacy with God when five minutes feels like a lot
✨ How to hear God’s voice
✨ Why love is the non-negotiable foundation of any prophetic gift
✨ What “what if you’re right?” could change for you

Looking back has there been a moment where you think God might have been speaking to you but you didn’t recognise it at the time?

If you’ve ever been curious about the gifts of the Spirit but felt too nervous, too unqualified, or just not sure it’s for you then this episode is a gentle, grounded, genuinely exciting invitation in.

Connect further with Lauren:

Kingdom Living Ministries | KLM Instagram | Email | Upcoming Events

Connect further with Em:

Interested in having Em come speak at your event? ⁠Book Em today! ⁠

What would you do?

Em Tyler — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 05:01:19 GMT

If an email landed in your inbox with the subject line:

DON’T OPEN THIS.

. . . would you?

Be honest. Wouldn’t part of you want to click? Or think about those social media images that say “Don’t look in the top left corner . . .” what do you immediately do? Or imagine someone says, “Whatever you do, don’t press that button.”

Suddenly, the button becomes irresistible.

Psychologists have a name for this: psychological reactance. When we feel our freedom to choose is being restricted, we often experience an inner push to reclaim it, even if the choice isn’t in our best interests. Tell someone they can’t do something, and that ‘something’ is all of a sudden oh-so-very-appealing.

It’s why warning labels sometimes increase curiosity. Why children touch freshly painted fences. Why adults peek at spoilers after promising themselves they won’t. It’s human nature.

And Eden had exactly this kind of restriction built in. God had filled the garden with abundance. Every tree but one was theirs to enjoy. One boundary, in the middle of overwhelming provision.

You’d think Satan’s job was easy. Just point at the one forbidden tree and let reactance do the rest. But he didn’t stop there. He didn’t just dangle the restricted fruit, he undermined the reason for the restriction in the first place.

“Did God really say . . . ?” (Genesis 3:1)

The first temptation wasn’t to eat differently. It was to think differently. The forbidden tree wasn’t even the real target. The target was Eve’s confidence in God’s character: was he really good? Was he really holding back out of love, or out of something else?

God had spoken life.

Provision.
Purpose.
Freedom.
Relationship.

But all it took was one question to make Eve stop looking at God’s abundance and start wondering whether he was holding something back. And isn’t that still the enemy’s strategy?

He doesn’t need to remove God’s blessings, he simply needs to redirect our attention.

From what God has said . . . to the one thing He hasn’t.
From His faithfulness . . . to our fears.
From His generosity . . . to our perceived lack.

Because I think we all know by now that what captures your attention will eventually shape your affection.

Praise Jesus that he shows us another way.

Where Adam and Eve questioned God’s Word, Jesus answered temptation with it. In the wilderness, every lie was met with, “It is written . . .” Jesus didn’t allow the enemy to redefine reality but rather he returned, again and again, to what his Father had already said. He came back to truth.

And that’s the invitation for us too. We don’t need to pretend that temptation isn’t real. We certainly aren’t required to grit our teeth and determine to try harder, be better, or perform perfectly. No. We return our attention to God’s voice. Again. And again.

Because faith isn’t built by giving temptation less attention, it’s built by giving God’s Word more.

When's the last time your attention drifted from what God has said to what He hasn't and what helped you find your way back to His voice?

Let’s pray:

Father, You have never withheld from us. Not love, not provision, or truth. But we know what it is to let our attention drift. We find ourselves fixating on the one thing that feels missing instead of the abundance that surrounds us. Please turn our eyes back to You. Not because we've mastered our thoughts, but because Your Word is still true, still spoken, and always enough. Teach us to answer every doubt the way Jesus did . . . with what You have already said. In Jesus’ name, amen.

So next time the doubt whispers, "did He really say . . .?" you already know the answer. He did. And he meant it. It’s time we believe His voice, again.

Cheering you on,

Em 💛

This week from Grow + Go:

Watch on the pod: Grace, Grief, and the God Who Sees with Kimberly Stuart

Or you can listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you stream your podcasts.

Book news 👀

If you’ve not already, why not check out powerofagain.com and make sure you’re signed up to get all of Em’s book news! Exciting times ahead ✚✚✚

Posts you’ve been loving:

Grow + Go | Grace, Grief, (Giggles!) and the God Who Sees with Kimberly Stuart

Em Tyler — Wed, 12 Aug 2026 05:00:46 GMT

What if grace isn’t something you earn and . . . it never was? And what do you do when the God you’ve trusted for decades leads you into your deepest season of loss?

This week on the Grow + Go with Em Tyler podcast, I sit down with Kimberly Stuart — author, podcast host, and speaker — to talk about grace that actually sets you free, praying honestly when life falls apart, and what it means to keep growing and going when you’re barely keeping it together.

Kim is the author of Star for Jesus and Other Jobs I Quit: Rediscovering the Grace that Sets Us Free, and she brings all the warmth, humour, and hard-won wisdom you’d hope for.

Here’s what you’ll take away from this episode:

✨ Why so many believers accidentally slip into performing for God
✨ How to stop talking at God and start talking with him
✨ The grief that changes everything and what “everything belongs” really means
✨ What Hagar and Jesus on the cross have to say to anyone who feels unseen or alone
✨ Why grace will not play with your own effort

Where do you most feel the pull to perform for God rather than simply be with him?

Connect further with Kim:

Website | Instagram | For Real with Kimberly Stuart Podcast

Connect further with Em:

Interested in having Em come speak at your event? ⁠Book Em today! ⁠

The Voice You Never Knew You Were Hearing

Em Tyler — Fri, 07 Aug 2026 05:00:44 GMT

Most of us have an inner voice.

As you read these words, there’s a fairly solid chance that not only are you seeing them but you’re also hearing them. Studies have shown that the muscles of your mouth, tongue and larynx are activated, even when you read silently.1 Your brain is essentially still sounding out the words internally in order to decode their meaning. Scientists call this subvocalisation. You’re not speaking out loud, but your brain is rehearsing the words as you read.

Because my degree — fun fact incoming — was in British Sign Language, I read articles informing me of such scientific delights and then instantly need to discover if this is true for those born deaf (with a signed language as their first language) also. Turns out, that essentially, yes. Regardless of whatever our language is, we are frequently rehearsing words (or signs).

And so I wonder.

Which words are you most regularly rehearsing?

Scripture implores us to let the Word dwell in us (Colossians 3:16), to meditate on it day and night (Psalm 1:2), to keep it on our lips and in our hearts (Joshua 1:8). None of those commands are about information alone. They’re about repetition. About returning. About allowing God’s words to fill our minds and become our inner language.

Every one of us is constantly rehearsing something:

Maybe it’s an old criticism.
A disappointment.
A fear about the future.
A lie you’ve believed for years.

We know that our minds naturally return to familiar pathways. That’s true neurologically, and it’s true spiritually. The thoughts we revisit become the thoughts we recognise most easily.

Which is why “again” matters.

Every time you return to God’s Word, you’re giving your heart a better script.

Every time you choose truth over fear, gratitude over grumbling, hope over despair, you’re rehearsing a different reality. And little by little, God’s voice will become more familiar than the voices that once shaped you. Yay!

Friend, without even realising it, we are already rehearsing words all day long. Jesus’ invitation isn’t to stop rehearsing . . . it’s to keep returning to His words, until they become the language our hearts speak most naturally.

Again.
And again.
And again.

When has a verse or truth from Scripture become so familiar it just rises up in you, unprompted? What was it, and where were you when you noticed it had become part of your inner language?

30% off The Veritas Daily

Let’s pray:

Jesus, we don't always notice what we're rehearsing. The old words, the tired fears, the criticism we never asked to keep. We don’t want them to play uninvited on loops in our minds. So today we ask You to interrupt the pattern. May Your words become the ones our minds reach for first, not because we've mastered some spiritual discipline, but because we keep coming back to You — again, and again. Amen.

Let’s get intentional about noticing what's on repeat today. And if you catch something that doesn’t align with God’s truth, don’t fret, just reach for His Word . . . again.

Cheering you on,

Em 💛

powerofagain.com

This week from Grow + Go:

Hold onto your hats people, the tables have turned and this week I was on ’s podcast! We recorded it a while ago and — not gonna lie — I can’t remember if I said anything I might regret! Jon informs me it’s all good. Perhaps you’d like to take a listen yourself, AND, we have a joint offer running until the end of Sunday whereby you can get 30% off either of our Substack subscriptions (because we’re good like that).

Check out the episode with Jon: When God Seems Silent: Em Tyler on Hearing His Voice and Discerning the Holy Spirit. Praying it blesses you! And here are the discount codes:

30% off Grow + Go

Listen on Apple here.

Listen on Life audio here.

And on the Grow and Go with Em Tyler podcast this week, is an episode you definitely won’t want to miss: Becoming Good News with brilliant returning guest,

Or you can listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you stream your podcasts.

Book news 👀

If you’ve not already, why not check out powerofagain.com and make sure you’re signed up to get all of Em’s book news! Exciting times ahead ✚✚✚

Posts you’ve been loving:

https://www.sciencefocus.com/the-human-body/this-article-is-proven-to-reveal-one-of-your-brain-s-cleverest-tricks

Grow + Go | Becoming Good News with Jessie Cruickshank

Em Tyler — Wed, 05 Aug 2026 05:01:13 GMT

What if the problem with discipleship isn’t that we’re not trying hard enough but that we’ve been thinking about it completely wrong?

This is ’s second visit to Grow + Go, and to be honest, I’d have her back every single week and not be sad about it. Jessie holds a master’s from Harvard in mind, brain and education, and she has co-written the newly released Becoming Good News: Reimagining Discipleship Through Identity, Story and Science with Julia Schmalz. What she brings to the table is unique. A brilliant mind, a deep love for Jesus, and the ability to connect neuroscience and theology in a way that genuinely sets people free.

We cover a lot of ground in this conversation. We talk about why the good news is a story we live, not merely a nugget of information we hand to other people. We get into how our brains are wired to learn (and why sitting passively in a pew won’t cut it). We talk about fear . . . where it comes from, how it spreads without us realising, and what it’s doing to our children. And we talk about what it actually looks and feels like to hear from God.

One absolute belter from Jessie: “If our life doesn’t demonstrate it, we don’t know it.” Eeesh!

We talk about:
✨ Why discipleship was never meant to be about information
✨ The two types of long-term memory and why one of forgets everything you learn at church
✨ How false narratives get wired into us and how God rewires them through experience
✨ Why we are only born with two fears, and how every other fear is learned by mirroring the people around us
✨ How to practically hear from God, including what to do when you’re not sure it’s him
✨ Why shame shuts your soul down and what Jesus actually wants to do with your doubts and your mess

Is there something you know in your head about God that your life hasn’t quite caught up to yet?

Becoming Good News | Instagram

If you’ve ever felt like you should be further along by now, or wondered why knowing the right things still doesn’t seem to change the deep stuff — this conversation is going to help. Give it a listen.

Connect further with Jessie:

Connect further with Em:

Interested in having Em come speak at your event? ⁠Book Em today! ⁠

So. Many. Questions.

Em Tyler — Fri, 31 Jul 2026 05:30:20 GMT

Questions. I have many questions.

I’m in the prayer room super early in the morning (I know, I’m so holy), and I cannot stop asking them.

Like:

Why is the fire extinguisher right in the middle of the room? It’s intrusive and not very attractive. It looks mobile . . . does it have to be there? Is there a legal requirement for where fire extinguishers have to be located? If so, why are they not in the middle of other rooms? And if not, who chose to plonk it down where they did? They shouldn’t have done that. Why are the signs above it right in the middle of all the prayers? It’s distracting. Is it to do with accessibility? What would happen if it wasn’t placed there and where would it go? Could we have it accessible, but also hidden?

And then, inevitably: why am I thinking about this when I’m supposed to be praying?

And then, oh, there it is, Holy Spirit’s nudge: what are the implications of this for your faith?

You might wonder how I jumped from fire extinguishers to our walk with Jesus, but it’s really not that far. Stay with me.

We’ve been given fire extinguishers for our protection. They’re there for when things get dangerous. They exist so that when something starts to burn, you don’t have to go looking for what you need because it’s already there, accessible, within reach, and ready to go.

We’ve been given something else for our protection as well.

Spiritual armour.

And yet, is it visible? Accessible? Within reach? Readily available?

Or is it sitting in the corner gathering dust while we wonder why everything feels like it’s catching fire?

Paul writes in Ephesians 6:10-11: “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armour of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.”

Put on. Not admire. Not know about. Not have in the cupboard for emergencies. Put on. The implication is clear, the armour doesn’t work if it’s not being worn.

And then Paul goes through it, piece by piece:

The belt of truth. In Roman armour, the belt held everything else in place. Without it, nothing else sits right. Truth — knowing who God is, knowing who you are in Him, knowing what’s actually true — is the foundation that holds everything else together. Without it, we’re fighting in armour that won’t stay on.
The breastplate of righteousness. This protects the heart. Not your own righteousness (eugh) but the righteousness of Christ, placed over you like armour. The enemy loves to aim at your heart. At your sense of worth, your sense of belonging, your sense of whether you’re actually loved.
The gospel of peace on your feet. Roman soldiers wore specific footwear that gave them stability on any terrain so they could stand firm and also advance. The gospel of peace means you’re not scrambling for solid ground every time life shifts. You already know where you stand. And you can keep moving forward.
The shield of faith. “With which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.” (Ephesians 6:16, NIV). Aaannnnddd, there it is: the fire extinguisher. Faith is the thing you hold up when the arrows come. Not feelings. Not circumstances. Not how the last week went. Faith. And it protects, it extinguishes.
The helmet of salvation. Protecting the mind. The place where doubt whispers, where lies embed themselves, where the enemy does some of his most effective work. The helmet says: your salvation is secure. Your identity is settled. You don’t have to keep relitigating what’s already been decided.
The sword of the Spirit — the Word of God. The only weapon in the list. Everything else is defensive. But this one you wield. Jesus used it in the wilderness when the enemy came at Him with everything he had. Scripture, the Living Word, (known, internalised, alive in you) is how you push back.

So. Back to my fire extinguisher.

The thing about a fire extinguisher is that its presence in the room only matters if you know it’s there, know how to use it, and can reach it when you need it. A fire extinguisher hidden away in a locked cupboard on the other side of the building is not particularly useful when something starts burning in front of you.

The armour of God is the same.

Knowing it exists is not the same as wearing it. Understanding it theologically is not the same as having it in place when the arrows come. The belt of truth only holds things together if you’ve actually fastened it. The shield of faith only extinguishes if you’ve picked it up.

Paul doesn’t say admire the armour. He says put it on. All of it. Every day.

Which piece of the armour do you most consistently forget to put on and what would it look like to reach for it today?

Let’s pray:

Lord, forgive us for the days we’ve walked out undressed when we know the armour exists but haven’t bothered to put it on. Help us to be people who start each day reaching for what You’ve provided. The truth that holds us together. The righteousness that covers our hearts. The faith that extinguishes. The Word that pushes back. We don’t have to fight in our own strength. We never did. Help us to remember that and to dress accordingly. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Praying you’d find every piece exactly where you left it, within reach and ready to go.

Cheering you on,

Em 💛

This week from Grow + Go:

Watch on the pod:
Embracing the Spirit-Filled Life with Paul & Becky Harcourt

Or you can listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you stream your podcasts.

Book news 👀

If you’ve not already, why not check out powerofagain.com and make sure you’re signed up to get all of Em’s book news!

Posts you’ve been loving:

Grow + Go | Embracing the Spirit-Filled Life with Paul & Becky Harcourt

Em Tyler — Wed, 29 Jul 2026 05:00:34 GMT

Loved this faith-stirring conversation with Paul and Becky Harcourt about what it really looks like to live a Spirit-filled life. And, fun fact, I’m actually on site with them at the New Wine Festival this week!

We talk about the journey from simply understanding God in our heads to actually walking with Him day by day, learning to hear His voice, trusting His leading, and stepping out in obedience, even when it feels uncomfortable. Paul and Becky share so openly from their own story, including experiences of healing from shame and trauma, and how the Holy Spirit has transformed not just their personal lives, but their ministry and relationships too.

We also explore the beauty and challenge of long-term discipleship . . . why growth with God is often slower than we’d like, and how faith is built through small, consistent steps rather than big, dramatic moments.

This episode is such an encouragement if you’re longing to hear God more clearly, grow in confidence with the Holy Spirit, or simply feel less alone in the process.

We talk about:

✨ How to recognise and discern God’s voice in everyday life
✨ Moving from head knowledge to a lived, Spirit-filled relationship with God
✨ Finding healing from guilt, shame, and past experiences through Jesus
✨ Why obedience in the small things builds lasting faith
✨ The role of community in encouraging and strengthening spiritual growth
✨ Understanding and embracing spiritual gifts in a healthy, grounded way
✨ Trusting God in long-term discipleship and seasons that feel slow

Where might God be inviting you to take a small step of obedience and what would it look like to trust His voice in that today?

Whether you’re new to the idea of hearing God or have been walking with Him for years, this episode invites you to lean in, listen closely, and rediscover the joy of life with the Holy Spirit.

Connect further with Paul:

Instagram | Paul’s latest book: Spirit Filled Churches

Connect further with Em:

Interested in having Em come speak at your event? ⁠Book Em today! ⁠

Be That Man

Em Tyler — Fri, 24 Jul 2026 05:30:21 GMT

There’s this one park near where I live that is my absolute favourite to walk Binx.

It changes with the seasons in ways that bring such joy — there’s always something new to notice, some shift in the light or the trees or the vibrancy of the plants that is simply beautiful. And on the days when it’s properly horrible outside, (let’s not forget I live in England!) rainy and muddy and grey, the paths are still clear, the dog can run wild, and something about it, even then, is still pretty special.

It’s always well looked after. The grass is cut, the flower beds are managed, the little hut cafe has cute cushions on the chairs waiting for its daily guests.

So it kinda took me by surprise when recently, as I was doing my usual laps with Binx, I met an older gentleman with his hands absolutely full of rubbish. Not figuratively. Literally. Both hands, carrier bags, boxes, plastic, paper . . . full. And he told me he comes every single day to walk his pooch as well. Never misses. And every single day, without fail, there is rubbish to pick up.

He couldn’t fathom it. There are bins on every exit of the park. Every exit. And still, somehow, rubbish finds its way onto the paths and into the grass and across the fields. Whether people are deliberately littering or whether it’s just blowing out of bins (trying to believe the best about others here), I guess most people just don’t see it? Or, if they do, they figure it’s not their mess, so they leave it for someone else to deal with.

But this man picks it up. Day in, day out. Unseen, unglamorous, entirely necessary work. And the park is better for it. Everyone who walks their dog there, or runs there, or brings their kids there, or has one of the delish croissants there, benefits from what he does without ever knowing he’s doing it.

My first thought was: be that man.

And in one sense — yes. Absolutely. The faithfulness of one person doing the small, invisible, thankless thing changes the atmosphere and experience for everyone around them. That is worth celebrating. Galatians 6:9 says it plainly:

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

Don’t give up. Keep going. The unsexy, unnoticed work matters enormously.

But here’s where it got complicated.

Because this man was angry.

Not mildly irritated. Genuinely, deeply angry. Obsessed, almost. With the rubbish, with the people who drop it, with the fact that nobody else picks it up, with the sheer relentlessness of it all. The park he’d spent years caring for had become (in his mind at least) just the sum of everything that was wrong with it. He couldn’t see the beauty anymore. He could only see the rubbish. After we’d said goodbye I watched him, eyes to the ground, scanning, searching, looking for more rubbish, looking for what was wrong.

And I felt sorry for him. Because surely that’s not the goal.

There can be a version of faithfulness that tips over into bitterness. A type of doing good that becomes so focused on what’s wrong that it loses sight of what’s right. Where the serving becomes obligation, the obligation becomes resentment, and the resentment slowly hollows out the very thing that made the work worth doing in the first place.

Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 2:15 about being “the aroma of Christ”

For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.

Not the argument of Christ. Not the correct theology of Christ. The pleasing aroma. The fragrance. Something that people breathe in before they’ve even decided what they think about it.

I wonder. What do we smell like?

Because it can’t just be about doing the ‘good, right’ thing. It’s not just about whether we’re picking up the rubbish. It’s about what we leave behind when we do. Whether our presence in the places and spaces and relationships we inhabit makes things better — not just practically, but atmospherically. Whether people feel more hopeful, more seen, more like the world might be okay after encountering us. Whether we smell of Jesus.

A bitter faithful person can improve a park and darken a conversation simultaneously.

The invitation isn’t just to be good news in practice. It’s to be good news. Full stop. To work with all your heart, yes, but to do it from a place of genuine love for the place and the people in it., to do it for Jesus! To notice the beauty as well as the rubbish. To leave things more beautiful than you found them because it honours God and not just because mess offends you.

So be that man — the one who shows up, day after day, doing the quiet necessary thing.

But do it with joy.

I’m so fed up of encountering Christians (no less!) who are grumpy and miserable. We are to be the pleasing aroma of Jesus. Our world doesn’t just need people who tidy things up. It needs people who smell like Jesus as they do.

Where are you doing faithful, unseen work right now and are you doing it with joy, or has it shifted into something that’s slowly draining you?

Let’s pray:

Lord, would you make us the pleasing aroma of Christ: in the park, at the school gate, in the office, at home. Help us to do the quiet, faithful, unsexy work without losing the joy of it. Guard us from the bitterness that comes when serving tips over into obligation. Let what we leave behind in the places we inhabit be something worth breathing in. Not the smell of resentment or duty, but the fragrance of someone who genuinely loves your people and places they’re serving. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.

Praying you’d catch a whiff of what you’re actually leaving behind this week and that it smells exactly like Jesus!

Cheering you on,

Em 💛

This week from Grow + Go:

Watch on the pod:
Identity Exchange with Jen Becker

Or you can listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you stream your podcasts.

Book news 👀

If you’ve not already, why not check out powerofagain.com and make sure you’re signed up to get all of Em’s book news!

Posts you’ve been loving:

Grow + Go | Identity Exchange with Jen Becker

Em Tyler — Wed, 22 Jul 2026 05:01:30 GMT

This was such a rich, faith-filled conversation with Jen Becker about identity, hearing God, and what real transformation looks like when we let Jesus rewrite the stories we believe about ourselves.

Jen shares her journey of identity exchange — moving from false narratives into truth — and how encounters with God, imagination, and confession have shaped her faith and freedom. We explore the power of hearing God’s voice, reinterpreting painful experiences with Him, and why community is essential in the journey of becoming who He says we are.

We talk about:

✨ Why identity is the missing link in personal and spiritual transformation
✨ How imagination can be a doorway to hearing God
✨ The power of confession in unlocking truth and freedom
✨ Reinterpreting painful experiences through God’s redemptive lens
✨ Living generously and interruptibly with the Holy Spirit
✨ How curiosity about God leads to transformative encounters
✨ Why we become what we believe—and how Jesus reshapes that belief
✨ The role of community in forming and affirming identity

What story about yourself might God be inviting you to rewrite and what would it look like to receive His truth about your identity this week?

Whether you’re exploring faith, longing for deeper encounters with God, or wrestling with old narratives, this episode invites you into a gentler, braver, more honest journey of becoming who you already are in Christ.

Connect further with Jen:

Instagram | Email | Website

Connect further with Em:

Interested in having Em come speak at your event? ⁠Book Em today! ⁠

Nobody Wants a Tour Guide

Em Tyler — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 05:30:23 GMT

When I was younger, sometimes my parents made us go on tours around national trust venues – aka old and boring houses.

Sorry Beth and any other fellow History buffs, it’s just not my jam.

In each room, standing stately in the corner, as if they had been there as long as the furniture there would be a tour guide. Ready and definitely not particularly willing to answer questions or deliver their preprepared speech.

Tour guides. You know what I mean. At the front of the overly large group walking around a museum, lanyard round the neck, microphone clipped to their lapel, delivering the same talk they’ve delivered three hundred times and sixty-two times to three hundred and sixty-two different groups of tourists. Facts. Dates. Dreary voice monotonously sharing the no-longer-inspiring information that they’ve spouted a zillion times.

Now, contrast that with when you’re travelling and you bump into a fellow traveller who has just come from where you’re going. Completely zealous about all the different places you simply must go. Or, the ones you meet who’ve just been to the same destination you visited, “Oh my days, did you see the . . . that moment when you turn the corner and . . . “ The fellow traveller is expectant, excited, ready to discover and encounter something new at every turn.

Which one would you rather spend the afternoon with?

I had the privilege recently of sharing some top tips for how we can read the Bible with others, specifically in relation to how we open Scripture with people who don’t yet know Jesus — or who are somewhere on the edges of faith, asking real questions, not sure what they believe. And this is the thing I want us to all be reminded of. Because, bless our cotton socks, those of us who’ve grown up in church or been around the block (and the Bible) more than once have a tendency of trying to be tour guides. Polished. Prepared. Knowing all the right things. Having an answer for everything. And it’s time to stop.

Why? Tour guides have stopped discovering. They’ve arrived. They know the material. They think they’re the experts. And that energy, however unintentionally, communicates something to the person standing next to them: you’re here to receive what I already have.

But what if that’s entirely the wrong posture?

Acts 4:13 is an absolute corker. The religious leaders are looking at Peter and John — these ordinary, unschooled men who have somehow just turned Jerusalem upside down — and the text says they were astonished and “they took note that these men had been with Jesus.”

Not: they had studied well.
Not: they had all the answers.
Not: they were impressively prepared.

They had been with Jesus. That’s it. That is what matters.

And I wonder how often we’ve tried to substitute knowledge about Jesus for actual time with Jesus — and then wondered why our conversations feel hollow, why the Bible feels dry, why sharing our faith feels like a performance we’re not quite pulling off.

In the introduction to King’s Cross, Tim Keller writes:

Though as a youth I had believed that the Bible was the Word of the Lord, I had not personally met the Lord of the Word.

The Word of the Lord. The Lord of the Word.

Turns out that we can know a great deal about the Bible and still not have surrendered to the Lord it’s pointing to. Let’s not forget Satan quote Scripture at Jesus in the wilderness. The Pharisees knew the law inside out. It can’t be about just facts. You can be theologically literate and relationally distant. You can have all the answers and still be missing the encounter that makes any of it actually alive.

On messaging about this with my newfound friend , she commented that this is because “Religion is easier than relationship”.

Eeesh. But isn’t she right?

It’s more comfortable to engage with a text than to sit before a Person — to argue about the Bible rather than look God in the face with a question especially when he doesn’t immediately answer. But encounter is the thing that changes people. Not information transfer. Not getting the argument right. The Living Word, doing what only living things can do.

God says it Himself in Isaiah 55:11 — and this is my favourite verse in the Bible —

So is my word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

It will not return empty.

Which means when you open the Bible with someone — even if you fumble it, even if you can’t answer the hard questions, even if you feel wildly out of your depth — it is doing something. The pressure is off! You don’t have to carry the weight of that. Attributed to Spurgeon, we need to just “Let the lion loose”.

And the best way to do that is to be a fellow traveller. Someone still in the middle of discovering. Someone who says I don’t know, but let’s find out together without feeling like their faith is on the line. Someone whose appetite for the Word is visible enough that people around them get curious.

Because here’s the thing: people aren’t drawn to certainty nearly as much as we think they are. They’re drawn to authenticity. To someone whose faith is clearly doing something real in their actual day-to-day, 24/7 life. To someone who has been with Jesus and the whole world can see.

You don’t have to be the tour guide.

You just need to be someone who’s expecting to discover something new when we turn the corner . . . or page.

Think of someone in your life who’s on the edges of faith or asking big questions. Are you approaching those conversations as a tour guide or a fellow traveller — and what might it look like to shift posture if it’s the former?

Let’s pray:

Lord, forgive us for the times we’ve tried to defend You rather than simply introduce You. For the times we’ve hidden behind information when what was needed was encounter. Make us people who have been with You — obviously, visibly, unmistakably. Give us the humility of fellow travellers and the joy of those who are still discovering. And remind us that Your Word never returns empty. It doesn’t need our polish. It just needs our willingness to open it with others. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.

Praying for opportunities to be refreshed, delighted, and revitalised by the Word this week.

Cheering you on,

Em 💛

This week from Grow + Go:

Watch on the pod:
Raising Gen Alpa with

Or you can listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you stream your podcasts.

Book news 👀

If you’ve not already, why not check out powerofagain.com and make sure you’re signed up to get all of Em’s book news!

Posts you’ve been loving:

Live Grow + Go | Raising Gen Alpha with Guest Dave Boden

Em Tyler — Wed, 15 Jul 2026 05:01:54 GMT

If you’ve ever looked at the children or teenagers in your life and thought I don’t even know where to start then this conversation will help.

Gen Alpha are the kids born between 2010 and 2024. They are the most anxious, most hyper-connected, most AI-shaped generation in history. They grew up through a pandemic that nobody has really finished processing. They have never known a world without smartphones. And 65% of them will work in jobs that don’t yet exist yet.

Don’t panic friends, but instead, let’s pay attention.

This week I sit down with — creative pioneer, author, educator, and leader of Grace Foundation, a UK charity transforming young lives through Christian ethos education in 15 secondary schools across the country. A former pastor, Dave co-created Kleer Series, a video resource that has sparked faith conversations with thousands of young people, and he’s the author of four books including Raising Gen Alpha, Parallel Faith, Like or Follow, and What You Are Made For. He is warm, direct, and genuinely hopeful about this generation — and he has the expertise and the on-the-ground experience to back it up.

We talk about what actually defines Gen Alpha, why the church is at risk of being behind on this conversation, and what it looks like to stop treating children as people to manage until they’re old enough for the ‘real thing’. We get practical on screen time, family rhythms, and how to have the conversations that actually matter.

We talk about:

✨ Who Gen Alpha are and why they need a different approach than any generation before them
✨ The difference between a teaching community and a learning one and why it matters
✨ Why removing social media won’t fix anything unless we create something worth showing up for
✨ Practical, doable steps for building family rhythms that compete with screens
✨ What to do if you feel like it’s already too late and the battle is lost
✨ How Jesus entered the world of the people he came to reach and why He is the answer for all Gen Alpha needs

What is one rhythm or habit you’ve built in your home or church community that genuinely helps the children and young people in your life engage?

Connect further with Dave:

Raising Gen Alpha | Substack

Connect further with Em:

Interested in having Em come speak at your event? ⁠Book Em today! ⁠

Support Grow + Go

Made For Something. Not Getting To Do It. Now What?

Em Tyler — Fri, 10 Jul 2026 05:00:26 GMT

I’ve been watching The Good Doctor.

I know, I’m way late to the party. But I’ve been doing that thing where you find a show and consume it at an alarming rate whilst telling yourself it’s practically educational. It’s medical. Basically a documentary.

Anyway.

For anyone who hasn’t watched it — The Good Doctor follows Shaun Murphy, a surgical resident with savant syndrome and autism, who is one of the most gifted doctors you will ever see on a screen. Medicine isn’t just what he does. It’s who he is. The way he sees the world, processes information, solves problems — all of it is wired into his identity.

And without wanting to give too much away (because you might want to ~~binge-watch it~~ educate yourself) there’s a moment in the show where Shaun faces the real possibility that he might not be able to practise surgery anymore.

His mentor and father figure (Toby Ziegler! But not, obviously, because this isn’t the West Wing, but Richard Schiff is brilliant) says:

You’re not just a doctor.

You’re a good friend, a good person.

There are so many things you can do.

It’s meant to be encouraging. And it is. And yet . . .

A little piece of you dies inside when you’re told that the thing you feel made for might not be available to you — and that there are other things you ‘could’ do instead. Because the other things, however good they are, are not the thing.

Substack and editing legend recently wrote about the pain of no’s and almost’s — the goals pursued, the doors that seem to be opening and then don’t, the phone call that changes everything. He writes:

The word ‘no’ is a door slammed shut. That’s hard enough. But almost is even worse. It cracks open the door enough for you to see the cheerful gathering inside. You feel the warmth of the fireplace, hear the laughter of friends, and smell the aroma of the feast. And then the door slams shut.1

Ooof.

Can I ask — is there a door like that in your life right now? Something you feel made for, that keeps not quite opening? A calling that feels deferred? A season where who you are and what you’re able to do feel frustratingly out of step?

Peter knew something about this.

In John 21, after the resurrection — after the empty tomb, after everything — we find Peter back on a boat. Fishing. The thing he did before Jesus called him. And now here he is, back at it, nets in the water, in the dark, catching nothing.

“I’m going out to fish,” he says. (John 21:3, NIV). And the others climb in with him.

There’s a lot of debate about why Peter went back. Despair? Confusion? The weight of the denial still sitting heavy? Probably all of the above and then some. But do you notice how Peter, who was called to something so significant — fishing for people — returns to the last thing he knew how to do. The safe thing. The familiar thing. The fish.

And Jesus meets him right there.

Not with a lecture. Not with a performance review. He shows up on the beach with breakfast already cooking, and before he gets to the classic triple-question-moment, he reminds Peter of another time when he was out in a boat, fishing, catching nothing, and he does it again. He gives them an impossible catch. A reminder. I am still the one who does this. I am still the one who called you. Nothing has changed.

Peter can’t get out of that boat fast enough. Did he wonder if he’d walk those 90m from the boat to Jesus on water? Did he remember how Jesus had told him he’d fish for people? Did he dare let hope arise that perhaps his future held more than fishing?

Feed my sheep.

The call didn’t change. The identity didn’t change. What Peter needed wasn’t a new assignment — he needed to be reminded that his worth was never located in the fishing or the ministry or how well he performed either. It was in this. In the relationship. In being known by someone who had seen the worst of him and still showed up on the beach at dawn with bread and fish (another reminder of times they’d hung out before) and a question that cut straight to the heart of everything.

Do you love me?
Like truly, more than just a friend love, actual agape, all-in-holding-nothing-back love?

Because that’s the anchor. Loving and being loved. Not the open door. Not a ‘yes’ arriving on time. Not the thing finally becoming available. The Father who holds all things, including us, together. Who gave the gifting in the first place. Who knows what lies before you.

What you do is not who you are.

Your worth is not located in your output, your role, your title, or whether the thing you feel made for is currently available to you. It was never there. It was always in being known, and loved, and called by name, by your Jesus who meets you at the water’s edge and asks the only question that actually matters.

Peter went back to fishing. Jesus met him there. And then sent him out to change the world.

His methodology hasn’t changed.

What’s the no or almost you’re carrying right now — and what would it look like to let Jesus meet you right there in it, rather than waiting until the door opens?

willparkeranderson.substack.com/p/nos-and-almosts

Let’s pray:

Lord, meet us at the water’s edge. In the seasons where what we feel made for seems out of reach, in the no’s and the almost’s and the doors that haven’t opened, remind us that our worth was never located there. You hold the threads. You gave the gifting. You know what lies ahead. Because You are our Father, we don’t have to be afraid. Ask us the question that matters most. And give us the grace to answer it honestly. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.

May whatever your hand finds to do this week be something that brings the Father, and you, much joy. Do it from relationship, not for it.

Cheering you on,

Em 💛

This week from Grow + Go:

Watch on the pod:
The Art of Slowing Down with

Or you can listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you stream your podcasts.

Posts you’ve been loving:

Grow + Go | The Art of Slowing Down with Rachel Bearn

Em Tyler — Wed, 08 Jul 2026 05:00:13 GMT

If you’ve ever ended a day feeling like you ran a marathon but can’t remember a single meaningful moment of it — this one is for you.

We are living in a world that glorifies busy. And most of us are exhausted by it. Not just physically, but spiritually. The rushing, the scrolling, the constant noise — it creeps into the way we pray, the way we parent, the way we show up for the people we love. And somewhere underneath all of it, there’s a quiet longing for something different. Something slower. Something real.

This week I sit down with — author of A Year to Slow Down: A Christian’s Guide to Embracing Handmade and Homegrown — and she makes a compelling case that the return to slow, simple, intentional living isn’t just a social media trend. It might actually be an invitation from God.

We talk about:
✨ What slow living actually means — and why it’s a spiritual practice, not a lifestyle trend
✨ The difference between self-care and genuine surrender to God
✨ How to make Sabbath something you live rather than something you admire from a distance
✨ Why nature might be one of the most underrated ways to connect with God
✨ The role of breathwork and mindfulness in staying grounded in faith
✨ How to embrace your own individuality in spiritual practice rather than copying someone else’s
✨ Staying present and rooted in God when life keeps accelerating

What is one small thing you already do — or would love to try — to slow down and stay present with God?

If something in you recognised itself in those first few lines, don’t scroll past this one. Rachel is warm, wise, and refreshingly practical — and this conversation might just give you permission to finally exhale.

Connect further with Rachel:

Instagram | YouTube

Connect further with Em:

Interested in having Em come speak at your event? ⁠Book Em today! ⁠

Yapping: It was in the Bible way before it was on Social Media

Em Tyler — Fri, 03 Jul 2026 05:31:13 GMT

If you’ve been anywhere near social media recently you’ll have noticed that ‘yapping’ is having a whole moment.

For the uninitiated — yapping is essentially the art of talking a lot, enthusiastically, at length, about whatever you love most. No filter. No brakes. One nonstop monologue.

Yapping reels. Yapping compilations. People proudly identifying themselves as yappers. The whole genre is essentially: I talk a lot, at length, with enthusiasm, and I cannot be stopped. And honestly? The internet is delighted by it.

But whaddya know — the Bible got there first. Seriously. Or at least, this is what went through my mind when I learnt a bit more about Psalm 19 this week:

The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
– Psalm 19:1

That word declare in the original Hebrew is mesapperim, from the root saphar. And it doesn’t mean a passive, static kind of existing. It means to recount. To narrate. To tell a story. The heavens aren’t just sitting there being pretty. They are actively, continuously, enthusiastically telling everyone who will pause to take notice of what God is like. When I looked up this word in an interlinear Bible it was written as sapper.

Sapper → → → Yapper.

It’s not that great a jump, right?! The sky is yapping about Jesus.

I love this so much.

Talking about God doesn’t require a platform, a theological degree, a carefully prepared statement, a Sunday morning slot, or any other specialised setting. Sharing your faith does not need to be a formal, polished, slightly terrifying activity reserved for people who are Very Good At That Sort Of Thing (like, the ‘professional’ Christians). And for anyone who has tried and felt awkward, or who worries about saying the wrong thing, or who doesn’t consider themselves a natural talker — it can feel very easy to slowly back away and leave it to the people who seem built for it.

But then there’s Acts 11.

In Acts 11:19, Luke tells us about the people who were scattered after the persecution that broke out following Stephen’s death. They went everywhere — Phoenicia, Cyprus, Antioch — and as they went, they spoke. Talked. Chatted. The Greek word used is laleo. Laleo isn’t that far away from yapping: it’s not preaching language. It’s not proclamation language. It’s not standing-at-the-front, formal-address language.

It’s ordinary everyday conversation language. It’s the word you’d use for people talking to each other over a meal, in the line at the supermarket, at the playground pick-up. Chitchat. Chatting.

These were unnamed, ordinary people who had been with Jesus — and who, because they’d been with Jesus, couldn’t stop talking about Him. They yapped from the overflow of encountering Jesus. And Acts 11:21 tells us that as a result: “The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.”

Ordinary people. Ordinary conversations. Extraordinary results. All from yapping the name of Jesus.

Creation is doing it. The unnamed believers in Acts 11 were doing it. The sky, the mountains, the sunrise you saw this morning that made you stop for a second — all of it is sapper-ing, narrating, telling the story of a God who is good and creative and present and lavishly generous with beauty.

And somewhere in the middle of all of that, there’s me, and there’s you.

With your own story. Your own version of “I don’t know exactly how to explain all of it, but I know what happened to me.” Your own ordinary conversations in ordinary places with ordinary people who need to hear something extraordinarily good.

You don’t need a platform. You don’t need a script. You don’t need to have all the answers or be able to out-argue anyone or nail the theological nuance.

You just need to yap about Jesus.

The sky’s been doing it since the beginning of creation. It hasn’t stopped. And if the heavens can’t help themselves from declaring what God is like. Perhaps we should take that as our cue. Let’s be yappers for Jesus.

When did you last causally tell someone (in an ordinary conversation) what God has been doing in your life? What’s stopping you?

Let’s pray:

Lord, forgive us for the times we’ve stayed quiet when we had something worth saying. For the conversations we’ve avoided because we were afraid of getting it wrong. Give us the boldness of the unnamed believers in Acts 11 — people who simply couldn’t stop talking about You because they’d been with You. Fill our ordinary conversations with something extraordinary. Let us be people who yap about You. In Jesus’ name, and for Your glory, amen.

I see you. I know talking about Jesus can feel scary or awkward or like you’ll get it wrong. But friend, the Holy Spirit doesn’t need you to be polished — He just needs you to be willing. He will give you the words. He always does.

Cheering you on,

Em 💛

This week from Grow + Go:

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Faith, Curiosity, and Simplified Theology with

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Ask Em Anything!

Em Tyler — Wed, 01 Jul 2026 17:36:28 GMT

Want to join the cohort? You get everything — live weekly Zoom sessions, the Heartbeat community, and the digital journal included — all in one place.

JOIN THE COHORT HERE

Want to go through it in your own time, without the cohort?

Grab the journal on its own: Amazon UK | Amazon USA | Digital copy

If you’ve ever wanted to go deeper in the Word but didn’t know where to start — or you’ve started a hundred times and kept falling off — this is for you. Not because it’s a magic formula. But because doing it in community, with a bit of structure and someone to think it through with, actually helps.

Available for iOS and Android

Grow + Go | Faith, Curiosity, and Simplified Theology with Aaron Armstrong

Em Tyler — Wed, 01 Jul 2026 05:00:57 GMT

I had an incredible conversation with Aaron Armstrong about exploring faith, understanding Scripture, and embracing curiosity in our spiritual journeys.

Aaron shares his personal story of coming to faith, the lessons he’s learned about asking questions, and how navigating doubts can actually deepen our trust in God. We also discuss how different Bible translations can change the way we read and apply God’s Word, and the inspiration behind his new book, Faith Simplified, which helps make theology accessible and meaningful for everyday life.

We talk about:

✨ Embracing questions and curiosity in your faith journey
✨ How Bible translations shape understanding and application of Scripture
✨ Insights from Aaron’s personal walk with God and his faith story
✨ The vision behind Faith Simplified and clarifying complex theological ideas
✨ How the Holy Spirit guides and empowers our spiritual growth
✨ Encouragement for both new and seasoned Christians

Where have you found questions or doubts in your faith leading you closer to God, and how can curiosity help deepen your understanding of Scripture?

Whether you’re exploring faith for the first time, wrestling with questions, or seeking fresh insight into God’s Word, this episode encourages you to lean into curiosity, embrace the Holy Spirit’s guidance, and engage Scripture with clarity and confidence.

Connect further with Aaron:

Website | Threads | Instagram | Faith Simplified Book

Connect further with Em:

Interested in having Em come speak at your event? ⁠Book Em today! ⁠