💖 DEVOTIONAL:

Are you in a season where you simply don’t have the time or energy to create the things you want to create?

Maybe you’re raising young children. Maybe you’re working a full-time job while trying to build something on the side. Maybe you’re running a business, caring for someone you love, dealing with financial pressure, or simply trying to keep up with all the things life is asking of you right now. You look at the ideas in your notebook and the unfinished projects on your hard drive, and part of you wonders, When am I ever going to get back to this?

I've felt that tension myself. In fact, my heart is heavy with that pressure as I write this. There are things in front of me right now that feel more urgent than creating, and some days I wonder when I'll have the space to return to the work I care about. And when that happens, it's easy to feel like I'm falling behind… not just in my work, but somehow as a creative.

Thankfully, Scripture gives us a different way to think about seasons like these.

“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.”
Ecclesiastes 3:1

There are seasons when you get to pour yourself into your creative work, and there are seasons when other things rightly demand more of you. Raising your children is a season. Providing for your family during a hard time is a season. Caring for your health or someone you love is a season. Working a job that pays the bills is a season. These things aren’t interruptions to the life God has given you. They are part of the life God has given you right now.

I think we sometimes confuse creating with being a creative. We assume that if we’re not making art, writing, designing, composing, or building something, we’re somehow losing the part of ourselves that makes us creative. But your creativity doesn’t disappear just because your creative output has slowed down.

You’re still creative when you’re solving a problem at work. You’re still creative when you’re figuring out how to care for your kids, stretch a budget, run a business, or make something work with what you have. The way God wired you doesn’t suddenly switch off because your sketchbook has been sitting untouched for a while.

And sometimes, the most faithful thing you can do with your creativity is let it rest.

That isn’t the same as abandoning your gifts. It means recognizing what this particular season is asking of you and giving yourself permission to be fully present in it. There will be another season for making. Another season for exploring. Another season when the ideas you’ve been carrying can have more room to breathe.

So if creativity has been sitting at the back of your list lately, don’t rush to shame yourself back into productivity. Ask God what faithfulness looks like in the season you’re actually in. Maybe He is asking you to create something. Maybe He’s asking you to care for someone, provide for your family, do your job well, rest, or simply be present.

Whatever this season holds, you are not less of a creative because you’re creating less art. Your identity was never meant to depend on how much you produce.

And when the season changes, your creativity will still be there.

💡 APPLICATION:

Look honestly at your current season and ask:
“What is God asking me to be faithful with right now?”

Write down the three things that genuinely need your attention in this season. Give yourself permission to let some other things wait without calling that failure.

📖 From CREATIVE JUICE BOOSTER

One of the things I talk about in Creative Juice Booster is how creativity moves through different seasons… and why staying creatively healthy doesn’t always mean producing more.

Sometimes you need to create. Sometimes you need to consume. Sometimes you need to rest. Sometimes life simply needs your attention for a while.

I’ve learned that a sustainable creative life isn’t built by forcing yourself to produce in every season. It’s built by learning how to keep your creative cup alive even when you can’t pour from it the way you normally do.

If you’re navigating a season where creativity has been pushed to the back of the line, Creative Juice Booster has some practical thoughts that may help you make sense of it.

📖 Get Creative Juice Booster →

💖 DEVOTIONAL:

I wrote this down on my phone almost immediately after these words escaped the mouth of my five-year-old daughter:

“Hands are good when we use them to build things, and hug people, and flip pages of a book.”

We were having a conversation about tools and whether they were good or bad. I was explaining to her that a tool itself isn’t necessarily good or bad; what matters is how we use it. I was giving her examples of things we use every day when she thought of one of the most obvious tools she had: her own hands.

And she was right. Our hands can build something, hold someone we love, turn the pages of a book, or create something beautiful. But those same hands can also be used to hurt, tear down, or destroy. The hands themselves aren’t the problem, but what we choose to do with them.

I was deeply moved by our conversation because as creatives, we are surrounded by tools. We have cameras, computers, instruments, notebooks, drawing tablets, editing software, social media platforms, and countless other things that help us bring ideas to life. It’s easy to become fascinated by the tools themselves and forget to ask what we’re actually using them for.

The tool is never the destination.

Your camera isn’t the art. Your guitar isn’t the song. Your iPad isn’t the illustration. Your editing software isn’t the story. They’re simply things placed in your hands that allow you to make something that wasn’t there before.

And this is where stewardship comes in.

God cares about what we do with what He has given us. Not because every creative work needs to be explicitly Christian or every tool needs to be used for ministry, but because our creativity is part of the life He has entrusted to us. The question isn’t simply, “What can this tool do?” It’s also, “What am I choosing to do with it?”

You can use your creativity to build your platform, or to build someone else’s confidence. You can use your words to chase attention, or to give someone hope. You can use your skills to prove yourself, or to serve people. The same tool can produce very different things depending on what the heart behind it is pursuing.

Maybe that’s why my daughter’s words struck a chord in me.

Our hands are capable of so much, but what they produce ultimately depends on what we choose to do with them. The same is true of the creative gifts and tools God has placed in our hands. They can become instruments of self-promotion, comparison, and distraction, or they can become instruments of beauty, service, encouragement, and worship.

So take a look at what’s in your hands right now. Your tools. Your time. Your talent. Your platform. Your creativity. They’re gifts, and gifts come with an invitation to steward them well.

“Whatever you do, work at it with your whole being, for the Lord and not for people.”

That’s the heart of it. We don’t need the best and latest tools, the biggest platform, or the most impressive talent. We simply need to faithfully use what God has already placed in our hands, remembering who we’re ultimately creating for.

So maybe the question is not, “What can I make with what I have?” Maybe it’s, “Lord, what do You want me to build with what You’ve placed in my hands?”

And whatever the answer is, let’s do it wholeheartedly for the Lord.

💡 APPLICATION:

Think about something you're creating right now. Ask yourself: “Who is this ultimately serving?” If the honest answer is mostly yourself, don't beat yourself up… just bring it to God. Ask Him how you can use that same work to build, encourage, or serve someone else.

🔥 There's Room Around the Fire

There are already 400+ Christian creatives gathered around this little fire.

Writers. Artists. Musicians. Designers. Worship leaders. Creatives from different places and different seasons, all trying to figure out what it means to create faithfully and walk with God along the way.

The Fireside Club is our Patreon community, created for creatives who want to go deeper, connect with others, and help us keep Indie Beginning going. Your membership doesn’t just give you a place around the fire… it also helps support the free content, resources, and encouragement we’re able to create for Christian creatives around the world.

If you’ve been reading BOOST and thinking, “I think these are my people,” maybe it’s time to come join us. 🤗

🔥 Join the Fireside Club →

💖 DEVOTIONAL:

One of the questions I hear most often from creatives sounds something like this:

“I have so many ideas... but I just don’t seem to have enough time or energy to make any of them happen.”

I know that feeling well.

My notes app is full of unfinished concepts, half-written poems, video topics, business ideas, product sketches, and devotional outlines. Sometimes a new idea arrives before I’ve even finished the last one. As exciting as that can be, it can also become surprisingly discouraging. Instead of feeling inspired, I begin feeling behind and overwhelmed.

For a long time, I assumed the solution was simply finding more time. If only I could organize my schedule better, wake up earlier, or become more productive, maybe I could finally catch up with all the ideas in my head.

It took me years to realize this, but having too many ideas (and not enough time or energy to pursue them) was never really the problem.

The real struggle was believing every idea needed to become something... immediately.

Ecclesiastes reminds us that “for everything there is a season.” That means ideas have seasons too. Some are meant to be pursued today. Others need time to mature. Some may simply be gifts, short-term experiments or hobbies, that awaken our imagination without becoming lifelong assignments.

I’ve noticed that God rarely asks me to carry every opportunity at once. More often, He asks me to be faithful with what’s already in front of me.

That’s been incredibly freeing.

It means I don’t have to feel guilty every time another good idea sits in my notebook for a while. I don’t have to force every spark into a finished project. Sometimes faithfulness looks less like creating more, and more like discerning what God is inviting me to cultivate in this season.

The beautiful thing about ideas is that they’re not fruit. They’re seeds. And wise gardeners don’t plant every seed on the same day.

If God gave you the idea, you can trust Him with its timing too.

So don’t confuse postponing with abandoning.

Probably, the most faithful thing you can do is write the idea down, thank God for it, and return your attention to the work He’s already placed in your hands.

Because, ultimately, the goal is to faithfully steward the ideas God is asking you to nurture today.

💡 APPLICATION:

Open your notebook or notes app and look through your list of ideas. (Assuming you have one. If not, then it’s probably a good time to start your Idea Storehouse)

Instead of asking, “How can I finish all of these?” ask:

• Which one is God inviting me to steward in this season?

• Which ideas can I intentionally give permission to wait?

Circle one. Then, release the rest.

🌱 Continue the Journey

If this week’s devotional resonated with you, I think you’ll enjoy The Faithful Creative Academy.

The Academy is the flagship learning experience inside The Fireside Club, created to help Christian creatives become faithful creatives: people who create from a deep relationship with Christ rather than for recognition, success, or approval. Through guided lessons, reflection exercises, Scripture, and practical creative challenges, you’ll learn how to keep returning to the One who matters most. ☝️

👉 Ready to continue the journey? Become a Lamplighter or Torchbearer to begin The Faithful Creative Academy:

🔥 Become a Lamplighter or Torchbearer →

💖 DEVOTIONAL:

As I sit down to write this week’s devotional, I find myself feeling a familiar kind of pressure. After 183 devotionals, you’d think I’d be used to this by now. But every week, there’s still that little voice asking, What are you going to say this time? It’s easy to feel like I need to come up with something fresh, something meaningful, something worth someone’s time.

And I have a feeling I’m not the only one who knows that feeling. If you’ve been creating for any length of time, you know what it’s like to wonder where the next idea is going to come from. And after a while, it can start to feel like you’re supposed to have an endless supply of ideas, insight, creativity, or something meaningful to say.

In times like these, I remind myself of this question from Paul:

“What do you have that you did not receive?”

The ideas I have. The imagination I’ve been given. The experiences that have shaped how I see the world. The people who have influenced me. The opportunities that have come my way. Even the ability to sit down and make something in the first place.

I received all of it.

And maybe that’s something we creatives need to remember more often: we’re not the source. We are the ones who have been entrusted with something.

That distinction sounds small, but I genuinely think it changes the way we create. If we believe everything depends on us, then every blank page feels like a test. Every creative block feels like failure. Every quiet season feels like we’re running out of something we’re supposed to have an endless supply of.

But if I remember that what I have was first given to me, I can breathe a little.

I don’t have to manufacture everything.

I can receive. I can pay attention. I can learn. I can rest. I can ask God for wisdom. And when something has been placed in my hands, I can do my best to steward it faithfully.

This is actually one of the ideas we explore inside the Faithful Creative Academy. Before we talk about productivity, platforms, creative careers, or how to grow our work, we start with a much simpler question: Who does your creativity belong to?

Because when we see our creativity as something we own, it’s easy to become obsessed with protecting it, proving it, and constantly producing from it. But when we see it as something entrusted to us, our posture changes:

We stop asking, “How do I keep coming up with something?”

And we start asking, “What have I been given, and what can I faithfully do with it?”

I think this is part of what makes Jesus’ life so beautiful to look at. He repeatedly withdrew to be with the Father. His life and ministry flowed from that relationship.

And while our relationship with God is obviously different from Christ’s unique relationship as the Son, there’s still something here for us: we were never meant to create well through frantic self-reliance.

Maybe some of the exhaustion we feel comes from trying to manufacture what was always meant to be received. We’re trying to force wisdom instead of asking for it. We’re chasing originality instead of paying attention. We’re trying to squeeze something out of an empty well instead of letting ourselves be filled again.

So maybe you need this reminder today, like I did while writing this devotional:

You are not the source. You are the steward.

The creativity, ideas, experiences, opportunities, and abilities in your hands were gifts before they were ever projects. You don’t have to prove how much you can create. And like we always say, you just have to be faithful with what you’ve received.

💡 APPLICATION:

Before you begin creating today, pause for one minute.

Open your hands and simply pray:

“Lord, everything I have is from You. Help me faithfully steward it and offer it back to You.”

Then begin your work from gratitude instead of pressure.

💡 Creative Spotlight: POWER Magazine

If this week’s devotional reminded you that our creativity is something God has entrusted to us, we’d love to introduce you to a ministry that shares that same heart.

POWER Magazine, published by ITN Publishing, is a beautifully crafted publication featuring Christian writers, artists, poets, photographers, and other creatives using their gifts to glorify God. We love their vision of creating a space where creativity is stewarded with excellence and offered back to the Lord.

If that sounds like the kind of creative community you’d love to be part of, I invite you to take a look at what ITN Publishing is doing. They’re creating opportunities for Christian creatives to share their work, and POWER Magazine is just one expression of that vision.

👉 Follow ITN Publishing on Instagram!

💖 DEVOTIONAL:

A few days ago, I attended a songwriting retreat where a friend, Elle Cabiling, shared a devotional that really left an imprint on my heart. She reflected on Jesus’ question to Peter after the resurrection: “Do you love me more than these?” The more I thought about that question, the more I realized it wasn’t only for Peter. It’s a question every disciple eventually has to answer, creative or otherwise.

I’ve often wondered what Jesus meant by “these.” Was He referring to the fishing boats and nets? The fish they had just caught? Or perhaps the other disciples standing nearby? John never tells us, and I wonder if that's intentional. By leaving “these” unnamed, the question finds its way into our own lives.

As creatives, I wonder what our “these” might be.

Could it be our artworks? Our creative dreams? Our audience? The tools we’ve collected and mastered over the years? The collaborations we cherish? Even the ministry opportunities God has entrusted to us? None of these things are bad. In fact, many of them are gifts from God. But gifts have a subtle way of becoming ultimate things if we’re not careful.

In his book You Are What You Love, James K.A. Smith argues that our lives are ultimately shaped by our deepest loves.

If you love recognition most, you'll shape your creativity around applause. If you love comfort most, you'll avoid the difficult work of growth. If you love success most, you'll begin measuring your worth by numbers and achievements. But if you love Christ most, something beautiful happens. Your creativity stops revolving around you and starts becoming an expression of your love for Him.

That’s why I don’t think it’s an accident that Jesus asked Peter about His love before He entrusted him with His mission to “feed my lambs” & “tend my sheep.”

It's almost as if Jesus was saying, “Before we talk about what you're going to do for Me, let's talk about us.” Peter's calling wasn't the first thing Jesus wanted to restore. His love was. Because everything else would flow from there.

I think that has something to teach us as Christian creatives.

Feeding His sheep may not look the same for all of us, but it always looks like using whatever gifts He’s entrusted to us to serve people rather than ourselves. Sometimes it’s writing words that point weary hearts back to Christ. Sometimes it’s designing something beautiful that helps others see His beauty. Sometimes it’s composing songs that help the Church worship, illustrating stories that stir wonder, or simply creating with excellence because we love the One who first loved us.

What we create matters. But what we love matters even more.

The beautiful thing about this conversation is where it takes place. Peter had denied Jesus three times. Yet Jesus doesn’t meet him with condemnation or shame. He meets him with breakfast, conversation, and an opportunity to begin again.

Maybe that’s what Jesus wants to do for some of us this week.

Maybe before He asks us to create another thing, He’s gently asking, “Do you love Me more than these?”

Not to shame us, of course. But to restore us back to Him.

💡 APPLICATION:

Spend a few quiet minutes with Jesus today and simply ask:
“Lord, what are the ‘these’ in my life?”

Write down whatever comes to mind. Then ask a second question:
“How can I love You more than these today?”

🌱 Continue the Journey

If this week’s devotional resonated with you, I think you'll enjoy The Faithful Creative Academy.

The Academy is the flagship learning experience inside The Fireside Club, created to help Christian creatives become faithful creatives: people who create from a deep relationship with Christ rather than for recognition, success, or approval. Through guided lessons, reflection exercises, Scripture, and practical creative challenges, you’ll learn how to keep returning to the One who matters most. ☝️

👉 Ready to continue the journey? Become a Lamplighter or Torchbearer to begin The Faithful Creative Academy:

🔥 Become a Lamplighter or Torchbearer →

💖 DEVOTIONAL:

This past season has probably been the hardest we’ve faced as a family since I left my full-time job to pursue Indie Beginning.

It’s been a little over a year now, and if I’m honest, there have been nights when I’ve stared at the ceiling wondering if I’m still hearing God correctly. With bills to pay, a growing family to provide for, and the uncertainties that come with creative work, it’s hard not to ask the question every now and then: “Lord... am I still supposed to be here?”

Reflecting on this question, I realize that it’s coming from the weight of the responsibility, and not necessarily from a lack of faith. It’s just that, when some of the numbers don’t seem to add up, it’s easy to wonder whether obedience and wisdom are still pointing in the same direction.

Yet every time I’ve brought those fears before God, He has gently reminded me why He called me here in the first place. Rarely through dramatic miracles. More often through ravens.

I’ve been thinking a lot about Elijah these past 2 months. After God called him into the wilderness, He didn’t remove Elijah’s need for food. Instead, He met that need in one of the most unexpected ways imaginable: ravens. These birds (known for taking, not giving) became the very means God used to sustain His prophet.

Because of this, I’ve started noticing ravens in my own journey lately.

Sometimes they arrive as an email from someone halfway across the world sharing how a devotional met them in a difficult season. Sometimes they’re a message from a creative who found hope again after feeling ready to quit. Sometimes they’re faithful supporters who quietly help sustain this ministry each month. Sometimes they’re friends who pray for us without us even asking.

Looking back, I realize God has rarely sustained us the way I expected.

But He has sustained us.

That’s the part I don’t want to forget.

Maybe you’ve been asking God for one kind of provision while He’s been sending another. Maybe you’ve been so focused on what He hasn’t done that you’ve overlooked the quiet ways He has faithfully carried you this whole time.

Another truth that I got from the passage is this: The ravens didn’t solve Elijah’s entire future. What they did is give him exactly what he needed for that day. And perhaps that’s how God often works.

Not always by revealing the whole plan or pouring out the whole supply (not to say He doesn’t or cannot do that), but by faithfully providing enough grace, enough strength, and enough daily bread for the next step of obedience.

If God has called you where you are, trust that He also knows how to sustain you there.

His provision may not always look the way you imagined.

But don’t be surprised if a raven shows up tomorrow.

💡 APPLICATION:

Take five minutes today and make a list of the “ravens” God has sent you over the past 7 months.

They might be people who encouraged you, unexpected opportunities, answered prayers, financial provision, moments of strength, or quiet reminders that God hasn’t forgotten you.

Gratitude often begins by noticing what anxiety has overlooked.

🔥 Keep the fire burning

As I wrote and reflected on today’s devotional, I realized how this ministry has always been sustained by ravens.

Some have sent encouraging messages at exactly the right time (we've actually started saving screenshots of many of them because they've really carried us through difficult days). Others have faithfully prayed for us. And many of the people who make these devotionals, illustrations, lessons, and resources possible are our Lamplighters and Torchbearers inside the Fireside Club.

Below are the names of the people God is currently using to help keep the fire burning in this season. Every name on this list is a reminder that God still provides for His people in unexpected ways. If you're one of them, thank you for believing in this mission and helping us serve Christian creatives around the world. We truly couldn't do this without you. ❤️

If Indie Beginning has encouraged you in your walk with God and your creative journey, and you've ever wondered how you could help keep this ministry going, I'd love to invite you to become part of that story.

By joining the Fireside Club, you help us create spaces where Christian creatives around the world can find encouragement, biblical teaching, and a community that reminds them they’re not creating alone. 🤗

🔥 Become a Lamplighter or Torchbearer →

💖 DEVOTIONAL:

It’s hard to believe, but it’s already been a year since I left my job to pursue Indie Beginning full time and turn this ministry into my vocation.

Time has moved much faster than I expected. Looking back, I realize how many plans changed along the way. Some ideas never got off the ground. Others needed to be completely reworked. I pivoted more times than I can count and learned plenty through trial and error. It hasn’t looked anything like the neat, predictable roadmap I imagined.

If I’m honest, there were months that felt like nothing but planting.

Writing another devotional. Dreaming up another product. Building the Faithful Creative Academy one lesson at a time. Answering messages. Creating resources. Serving whoever God placed in front of me that day. The work often felt ordinary, repetitive, and sometimes discouraging because so much of it happened without seeing immediate results.

Every now and then, I’d catch myself looking for fruit before God had even finished growing the roots.

That’s why Jesus’ words in Mark 4 have been so comforting to me lately.

He describes God’s Kingdom like a farmer scattering seed into the ground. Then the farmer goes to sleep, wakes up, and simply continues with life while, somehow, the seed begins to grow. Jesus even says, “He knows not how.”

I love that phrase.

The farmer still has a responsibility. He must sow the seed. He must care for the field. But the miracle of growth happens somewhere beyond his ability to control or even fully understand.

I think that’s a lesson many of us need to hear as creatives.

We often feel responsible not only for planting the seed but also for making it grow. We obsess over the numbers, the engagement, the opportunities, and whether all our effort is “working.” We start digging up the soil every few days to check if anything is happening underneath.

But roots don’t grow that way.

Some of God’s most important work happens where our eyes can’t see it. Before there’s fruit above the surface, there is almost always formation beneath it. God is establishing foundations, deepening character, strengthening faith, and preparing us in ways that rarely receive applause but are absolutely necessary for lasting fruit.

As I reflect on this past year, I realize that perhaps the greatest thing God has been growing wasn’t my ministry.

It was me. My heart, soul, and spirit.

Maybe you’re in a season that feels the same.

You’ve been faithfully showing up. You’ve been serving. You’ve been creating. You’ve been planting seeds that seem to disappear into the ground with nothing to show for them.

Here’s my encouragement for you this week: Don’t mistake invisible for inactive. God may be doing some of His deepest work beneath the surface.

So keep planting. Keep watering. And trust the One who gives the growth.

💡 APPLICATION:

Think back over the last six months.

Instead of asking, “What have I accomplished?” ask yourself: “How has God been growing me?”

Write down three ways you’ve seen Him shaping your character, your faith, or your perspective… even if your outward circumstances haven’t changed as much as you hoped.

Remember: Sometimes the roots are the growth.

If You’re in a Planting Season 🌱

If today’s devotional resonated with you, I’d love to recommend one of my favorite resources we’ve created: Creative Juice Booster. (And if you've had your eye on it, it's currently on sale!)

This ebook didn’t come from one good idea. It came from twelve years of creating, serving, making mistakes, learning, and watching God faithfully teach me through every season of ministry. I wanted to gather those lessons into one place… the kind of resource I wish I had when I was just starting out.

Inside, you'll find practical lessons to help you overcome creative blocks, steward your gifts faithfully, stay inspired through every season, and build sustainable rhythms so you can keep creating for years to come.

If you’re committed to planting faithfully, even when the harvest still feels far away, I think Creative Juice Booster will be a helpful companion for the journey!

📖 Get Creative Juice Booster →

💖 DEVOTIONAL:

The other day, I was teaching my daughter how to tell time over lunch.

I pointed to the clock and asked her what time it was. She stared at it for a while, studying the hands carefully. I could tell she was thinking, but she just stood there quietly. After a few seconds, I asked if she knew the answer.

She looked at me and said, “I think I know... but I don’t want to say it.”

I asked her why.

She quietly replied, “I think it’s wrong.”

So I encouraged her to just try. “It’s okay if you get it wrong,” I told her. Still she refused. After a little more convincing, she finally gave her answer.

Turns out, her answer was actually correct.

As I reflected on that moment later, I realized that the biggest obstacle wasn’t that she didn’t know the answer. It was that she was afraid of being wrong. That fear kept her from saying what she already knew and from learning whether she was right or wrong.

I wonder how often we do the same thing with the gifts God has given us.

Jesus tells a story about a servant who was entrusted with a talent. When the master returned, the servant hadn’t lost it or wasted it. He had buried it. And when asked why, his answer was simple: “I was afraid.”

I used to think this parable was mainly about stewardship. And it is. But lately I’ve been wondering if it’s also a story about fear.

Fear has a way of convincing us that hiding is the safest option. It tells us to wait until we’re more skilled, more confident, or more prepared. It whispers that if we put our work out there, we’ll be misunderstood, criticized, or fail. So instead of risking obedience, we bury what God has entrusted to us.

The irony is that, just like my daughter, we may already have more than enough to begin.

We don’t need to know everything before taking the first step. We don’t need to create something perfect before sharing it. Faithfulness has never required certainty. It has only required trust.

That’s what challenges me about this parable. The servant wasn’t rebuked because he lacked ability. He was rebuked because fear kept him from doing anything at all.

Maybe there’s something you’ve been holding back.

A story you’ve been wanting to write. A ministry you’ve been sensing God calling you toward. An idea that’s been sitting in your notes for months. A gift you’ve quietly buried because you’re afraid it won’t be enough.

What if, instead of waiting until you feel completely ready, you simply took one faithful step today?

After all, courage isn’t the absence of fear, but simply being willing to answer, even when your voice is shaking.

💡 APPLICATION:

Take a few quiet minutes today and ask yourself this question:

“What have I buried because I was afraid?”

Write down the first thing that comes to mind. Then ask God to show you one small step you can take this week to bring it back into the light. You don’t have to finish it today. You simply have to stop leaving it buried.

🎓 From the Faithful Creative Academy

Today’s BOOST is adapted from Lesson 3: Creativity Is Stewardship in the Faithful Creative Academy. If today’s devotional encouraged you, you’ll find a deeper study, reflection questions, practical exercises, and companion resources inside the full lesson.

🎓 Continue the journey →

Hi friend,

Over the past year, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about a question that has shaped everything we do at Indie Beginning:

What would it look like to disciple Christian creatives?

Not just inspire them with Instagram posts. Not just help them make better art. But help them build a creative life with God at the center.

That question eventually became something we’ve been slowly building behind the scenes...

📖 The Faithful Creative Academy.

The Academy is a guided journey for Christian creatives who want to grow in their faith, creativity, and calling through biblical teaching, reflection, practical exercises, and creative tools—all alongside a community of fellow Christian creatives.

The Academy begins with Foundations, a 30-lesson curriculum built around what I call the A.W.E. Framework:

🌱 ABIDE — Build your creative life on intimacy with Christ rather than striving for approval.

🚶 WALK — Develop the rhythms, habits, and practices that sustain faithful creativity.

✨ EMBODY — Put your faith into practice through the things you create.

🔴 Module 1 is Live!

I’m excited to share that Module 1: Abide is now complete and available inside the Fireside Club!

Across ten lessons, we’ll explore identity, calling, worship, rest, and what it means to build a creative life that flows from our relationship with God. Because before we talk about what we create, we first need to talk about who we are.

Over the past few weeks, members inside the Fireside Club have been working through the first lessons, and reading their responses has been incredibly encouraging.

Reading comments like these has reminded me why I wanted to build this in the first place.

There are plenty of places that teach us how to become more productive creatives.

I wanted to create a place that first helps us become faithful creatives.

If you’ve been reading BOOST for a while and have found these weekly devotionals helpful, I’d love to invite you to take the next step.

The Faithful Creative Academy is available to members of the Fireside Club, where you’ll also find worksheets, companion articles, creative resources, and a growing community of Christian creatives learning to create with God at the center.

👉 Join the Fireside Club here.

Whether you decide to join or simply continue reading BOOST each week, thank you for letting me be part of your creative journey. It means more than you know.

Grace and peace,

Brian

💖 DEVOTIONAL:

Around this time of the year, many of us quietly start taking inventory.

We think about the goals we set back in January. The habits we wanted to build. The projects we hoped to finish. Some of them are going well. Others have quietly slipped away. And if we’re not careful, it’s easy to measure the entire year by this one question:

“Am I where I thought I’d be by now?”

Honestly, it’s not a bad question. I just don’t think it’s the most important one.

Near the end of his second letter to the Corinthians, Paul writes, “Examine yourselves.” He isn’t asking them to count accomplishments or evaluate productivity. He’s inviting them to pause and honestly look at the condition of their faith.

That made me wonder how different my own mid-year reflection would look if I asked different questions.

Instead of asking, “How much have I produced?” what if I asked, “Have I remained close to Jesus while producing?”

Instead of asking, “How much has my audience grown?” what if I asked, “Has my love for people grown?”

Instead of asking, “Am I becoming more successful?” what if I asked, “Am I becoming more like Christ?”

Don’t get me wrong. Goals matter. Faithful stewardship matters. Excellence matters. But if we accomplish everything on our vision board while neglecting the quiet work God wants to do in our hearts, we’ve measured the year by the wrong scorecard.

The beautiful thing about the middle of the year is that it isn’t just a checkpoint, or a pitstop, but also an invitation.

An invitation to pause before we keep running to celebrate God’s faithfulness, to notice where we’ve drifted, and to realign our hearts before we realign our calendars.

The year isn’t over, friends. There’s still time to change direction if you need to.

Not because you’ve fallen behind, but because God is always more interested in your formation than your performance.

So before you revisit your to-do list this week, spend a few moments examining something even more important:

Your heart.

💡 APPLICATION:

Take fifteen minutes this week for a mid-year heart check.

Instead of reviewing your goals first, answer these four questions in a journal:

• Am I closer to Jesus than I was six months ago?

• What has God been teaching me this year?

• Where have I slowly drifted?

• What is one adjustment I sense God inviting me to make before the year continues?

Need more than fifteen minutes? Take a PIT STOP.

🧡 From This Devotional... to a Journal

This week’s devotional unexpectedly became something bigger.

As I was writing about taking a mid-year pit stop, I found myself wishing there was a practical guide to help us actually pause, reflect, and pray through these questions.

So I spent the last couple of nights creating one.

It’s called PIT STOP—a guided spiritual reset journal for Christian creatives—and my hope is that it becomes something you return to whenever you need to slow down and reconnect with God.

👉 Check it out here!

Keep growing 💪✨

If this week's BOOST resonated with you, here are 3 more ways to keep the fire burning:

• 🔥 Join the Fireside Club → Get exclusive content, deeper encouragement, and support Indie Beginning’s mission of helping artists follow Christ faithfully.

• 📖 Browse the Shop → Find resources to help you create meaningful work and grow in your faith.

• 💖 Follow us on Instagram → Receive creative inspiration, thoughtful reflections, and daily encouragement in your feed.

💖 DEVOTIONAL:

One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned as a creative has nothing to do with creativity itself.

It’s about people.

When we think about growth, we often focus on skills. We scour Youtube for better techniques, we look for recommendations of better tools, better resources, and better strategies. All of those things matter, of course. But over time, I’ve discovered that the people surrounding you may have a greater impact on your growth than any course, book, or tutorial ever could.

The people around you shape what you believe is possible. They influence your habits, your expectations, your standards, and most importantly, your faith. Spend enough time around someone, and you’ll eventually start adopting some of the things they value.

Scripture recognizes this reality. Proverbs doesn’t simply tell us to become wise. It tells us to walk with the wise. In other words, who you travel with matters.

When I think about the healthiest creative communities, they usually have a few things in common.

There are people who push you to become better instead of settling for mediocrity. There are people who encourage you when you’re discouraged and remind you not to quit when the journey gets difficult. There are people who can guide you when you’re lost because they’ve already walked roads you’re trying to navigate. There are people who inspire your faith and remind you that creativity can be an act of worship. There are people who support your craft and celebrate your growth instead of competing with it. And there are people who lovingly hold you accountable when your actions stop matching your intentions. (As I was writing this list, I realized how grateful I am that God has given me many of these gifts in one person, my wife. She’s been my encourager when I've wanted to quit, my guide when I've felt lost, my accountability partner when I've drifted, and one of my biggest supporters as a creative.)

None of us were designed to grow alone.

Even Moses had Aaron. David had Jonathan. Paul had Barnabas and Timothy. Throughout Scripture, God often forms people through relationships. The right people don’t just help us accomplish more. They help us become more.

That’s why the question isn’t simply whether you have people around you.

The question is whether the people around you are helping you become the person God is calling you to be.

And just as importantly, are you becoming that kind of person for someone else?

Because healthy creative communities are built when people choose to give what they also hope to receive.

💡 APPLICATION:

Take a moment to think about the people closest to you.

Who pushes you to become better?
Who encourages you when you’re discouraged?
Who strengthens your faith?
Who helps you grow creatively?

Reach out to one of those people today and thank them for the role they’ve played in your journey.

🎨 ART JAM Alert: Create with a Community!

One of the reasons I believe so strongly in creative community is because I’ve experienced firsthand how much faster we grow when we’re not growing alone.

That’s actually the theme of this month’s Art Jam inside the Fireside Club:

It’s a simple creative challenge, but more importantly, it’s an opportunity to build relationships, find encouragement, and create alongside other Christian creatives who are pursuing God and their craft together.

If you’ve been looking for a little more accountability, connection, or creative friendship, I’d love for you to join us around the fire.

Join the ART JAM!

Keep growing 💪✨

If this week's BOOST resonated with you, here are 3 more ways to keep the fire burning:

• 🔥 Join the Fireside Club → Get exclusive content, deeper encouragement, and support Indie Beginning’s mission of helping artists follow Christ faithfully.

• 📖 Browse the Shop → Find resources to help you create meaningful work and grow in your faith.

• 💖 Follow us on Instagram → Receive creative inspiration, thoughtful reflections, and daily encouragement in your feed.

💖 DEVOTIONAL:

I still remember the first time I encountered a reverse poem.

If you’ve never heard of one before, it’s a type of poem that carries one meaning when read from top to bottom and a completely different meaning when read from bottom to top. The first time I saw one, my brain practically short-circuited. I was blown away. How did someone come up with this? How do you write something like that? The form fascinated me so much that I started digging deeper and learning everything I could about it.

At the time, I thought I was simply following my curiosity. Looking back, I can see that God was quietly using it to get my attention. What eventually came from that experience was meaningful, (I’ve shared the full story in an earlier devotional) but what strikes me most today is how it all began with paying attention.

That’s what stood out to me when I recently reread the story of Moses and the burning bush.

Moses notices something unusual. A bush that burns without being consumed. And his response was wonder and curiosity. Not fear or skepticism or apathy. “I must go see it,” he said.

The burning bush awakened his curiosity, and his curiosity drew him closer. It was there, as Moses leaned in, that God spoke.

I think back to my own life and how often God has worked this way.

When I was a college student and new to church, one of the things that first captured my attention was the creativity. The visuals, the videos, the design, the way the message was communicated. I was amazed by it. That sense of wonder pulled me in, and over time, it led me into a deeper relationship with God.

I also remember reading comics as a kid and being fascinated by the illustrations and the storytelling. That curiosity eventually grew into a love for drawing and design, which years later became one of the primary ways I worship and serve God today.

When I was younger I remember being mesmerized by Michael Jackson’s dance moves on my dad’s VCD’s. The precision, the creativity, the movement. That curiosity led me to explore dance for myself, which eventually became another expression of worship during my college years.

Looking back, I can see a pattern. God often met me in the things that sparked my wonder.

The comics, the church visuals, and even those mesmerizing moonwalks were never the destination. They were invitations. Doorways. Burning bushes that caused me to stop, pay attention, and move a little closer.

And that’s what I find so beautiful about this passage.

Moses didn’t know that a calling was waiting for him on the other side of his curiosity. He simply saw something that filled him with wonder and decided to take a closer look.

What if curiosity is sometimes God’s way of getting our attention so He can have a conversation with us? What if some of the things that stir your wonder are invitations to come a little closer?

Not every curiosity leads to a calling, and not every fascination becomes a life assignment.But I do think we can become so distracted, hurried, and practical that we stop noticing the burning bushes around us.

And when we stop noticing, we may miss the conversations God wants to have with us.

💡 APPLICATION:

What was the last thing that made you stop and say, “Wow”? Maybe it was a piece of art that you saw on Instagram. A new song that a friend introduced to you. A passage of Scripture. A pair of beautiful eyes. A creative idea you couldn’t stop thinking about. Spend a few minutes reflecting on it today. Why did it capture your attention? What stirred in your heart when you encountered it? Perhaps there is more to that moment than you first realized.

Get all three resources plus bonus content ($54 value) for just $35!

👉 Get the Bundle Today!

Keep growing 💪✨

If this week's BOOST resonated with you, here are 3 more ways to keep the fire burning:

• 🔥 Join the Fireside Club → Get exclusive content, deeper encouragement, and support Indie Beginning’s mission of helping artists follow Christ faithfully.

• 📖 Browse the Shop → Find resources to help you create meaningful work and grow in your faith.

• 💖 Follow us on Instagram → Receive creative inspiration, thoughtful reflections, and daily encouragement in your feed.

Over the years, we have created digital resources with the ultimate goal of helping Christian creatives discover their calling, deepen their faith, and grow in their creative practice.

Lately, as I was looking across everything we’ve made so far, I realized that three of the best-selling resources we have put out seem to naturally belong together.

🎯 Discover Your Creative Calling
📖 Scriptures & Scribbles
💡 Creative Juice Booster

Each one serves a different purpose, but together they create a pathway for Christian creatives:

🎯 Purpose
Discover what God is calling you to create with Discover Your Creative Calling.

📖 Presence
Deepen your relationship with God through creative reflection and Scripture engagement with Scriptures & Scribbles.

💡 Practice
Overcome creative blocks, find fresh inspiration, and create with greater confidence through Creative Juice Booster.

That's why we've packaged them together into a single collection:

Whether you're just beginning your creative journey or looking for fresh direction in a new season, these resources will help you move forward with greater clarity, confidence, and purpose.

Get all three resources plus bonus content ($54 value) for just $35.

👉 Get the Bundle Today!

Keep creating beautiful things for the Kingdom!

— Brian

🎧 New: BOOST Podcast!

This week’s devotional is also available as an extended audio reflection for members of the Fireside Club on Patreon. Listen along as I discuss today’s devotional and share additional thoughts, stories, and insights that didn't make it into the newsletter.

Listen on Patreon →

💖 DEVOTIONAL:

The first recorded temptation in Scripture begins with a question: “Did God actually say that?”

I’ve been thinking about that lately because the enemy’s strategy hasn’t changed much. He still plants doubt. He still tries to make us question God’s character, God’s provision, and God’s wisdom. He still whispers subtle lies that slowly pull our attention away from what God has given and toward what we think we’re missing.

That’s exactly what happened in the Garden.

Before the serpent arrived, Adam and Eve were surrounded by abundance. God had given them a beautiful world to enjoy, meaningful work to do, His presence to walk in, and every tree in the garden except one. Yet the serpent managed to redirect Eve’s attention away from everything she had and toward the one thing she didn’t.

And once her focus shifted, doubt began to grow.

I wonder how often the same thing happens in our creative lives.

God has given us gifts, opportunities, experiences, relationships, and resources. Yet we can become so fixated on what we lack that we lose sight of what we’ve already been entrusted with. We start comparing our audience to someone else’s audience. Our opportunities to someone else’s opportunities. Our season to someone else’s season. Our tools with someone else’s tools.

And before long, the enemy’s question starts sounding familiar.

“Did God really call you?”
“Did God really say He’d provide?”
“Did God really have your best in mind?”

The tragedy is that we often forget things that are already true.

We forget that God has given each of us gifts to steward. We forget that our worth was settled at the cross long before we produced anything impressive. We forget that God is able to open doors in His timing without our constant striving and manipulation.

When gratitude fades, doubt becomes the louder voice.

But gratitude has a way of restoring perspective. It reminds us of God’s faithfulness. It reminds us of His provision. It reminds us that the story of our lives is bigger than the thing we currently wish we had.

The next time you’re tempted to focus on what is missing, pause for a moment. Take inventory of what God has already placed in your hands. You may discover that His goodness has been surrounding you all along.

💡 APPLICATION:

Take five minutes today and write down three things God has already given you that you sometimes take for granted. They could be gifts, opportunities, relationships, skills, experiences, or even lessons learned through difficult seasons. Today, thank Him for each one specifically.

The fire is growing! 🙌

Last week, we opened the doors to the Fireside Club.

Since then, we’ve welcomed our first members around the fire, shared our first exclusive BOOST Podcast episode, and started building what I hope becomes a meaningful space for Christian creatives to learn and be encouraged.

If you’ve already joined us, thank you so so much! Your support means more than you know. 🥹

And if you’ve been considering it, we’d love to save you a seat around the fire. 🔥

Continue the Journey 💪✨

If this week's BOOST resonated with you, here are 3 ways to keep the fire burning:

• 🔥 Join the Fireside Club → Get exclusive content, deeper encouragement, and support the work of helping artists follow Christ faithfully.

• 📖 Browse the Shop → Find resources to help you create meaningful work and grow in your faith.

• 💖 Follow us on Instagram → Receive creative inspiration, thoughtful reflections, and daily encouragement in your feed.

🎧 New: BOOST Podcast!

This week’s devotional is also available as an extended audio reflection for members of the Fireside Club on Patreon. Listen along as I read today’s devotional and share additional thoughts, stories, and insights that didn't make it into the newsletter.

Listen on Patreon →

💖 DEVOTIONAL:

Lately, I’ve been reading All the Places to Go... How Will You Know? by John Ortberg. I’m only a chapter in, but one idea has already been sitting with me: What do we do when God places an opportunity in front of us?

Sometimes in Scripture, those moments arrive dramatically. Moses encounters a burning bush. Jonah meets a giant fish. A blind man receives his sight. These are the stories we remember because they are impossible to ignore.

But most of us don’t encounter burning bushes on our way to work.

More often, God’s invitations arrive quietly. A conversation that keeps resurfacing in your mind. A burden for a particular group of people that won’t leave you alone. An opportunity that appears unexpectedly and slowly grows over time. A creative project that begins as a passing idea but continues to tug at your heart year after year. When we tell these stories afterward, we can often see God’s fingerprints all over them. In the moment, however, things are rarely that clear.

And that’s what fascinates me.

We tend to think faith would be easier if God gave us more proof. If He would just make His will obvious, remove all uncertainty, and guarantee the outcome, then stepping through the door would be simple. Yet when I look at Scripture, I see that certainty was never the point. Moses still hesitated. Jonah still ran. Peter stepped out of the boat while surrounded by questions.

The issue was never a lack of evidence. It was whether they would trust God with what they had already been given.

I think that’s why faith often feels uncomfortable. God rarely gives us enough information to eliminate risk. Instead, He gives us enough light to take the next step. The invitation is not to figure everything out before moving. The invitation is to trust Him enough to move while some questions remain unanswered.

That thought has been especially relevant to me this week.

After putting it off for a long time, I finally launched a Patreon page. To be honest, I still don’t know exactly where it will lead. I don’t have every detail figured out. I don’t know what it will look like a year from now. There are still plenty of unanswered questions.

But as I reflected on this passage and Ortberg’s book, I realized I was waiting for a level of certainty that God never promised. At some point, faith requires a step. For me, this was one of those moments. A small step, perhaps. But a step nonetheless.

Maybe there’s a door opening in front of you right now. Maybe it’s obvious. Maybe it’s subtle. Maybe it has been quietly opening for years.

The question is not whether you have enough proof. The question is whether you trust the One inviting you through it.

As John Ortberg writes, “If proof is possible, faith is impossible.”

💡 APPLICATION:

Take ten minutes today to reflect on an opportunity, idea, or burden that has been repeatedly surfacing in your life. Write down why it keeps coming back. Then ask God, "Are You inviting me to take a step here?" Focus on identifying the next step, not the entire journey.

🔥 We're on Patreon! (finally)

Over the years, many of you have asked how you can support the work we’re doing through Indie Beginning.

I’m excited to share that we’ve officially launched the Fireside Club, a new way to support the mission while receiving a little extra encouragement along the way.

Members receive access to the BOOST Podcast, Fireside discussions, creative challenges, member discounts, and a few other goodies. More importantly, your support helps make it possible for us to continue creating devotionals, illustrations, ebooks, and resources that encourage Christian creatives around the world.

If you’d like to help keep the fire burning, we’d love to have you join us around it. 🔥

Join the Fireside Club →

THAT’S IT FOR THIS WEEK’S DROP!

• Your feedback is a gift! Send us your comments, suggestions, reviews, and questions. The best way to reach us is through sending us a DM on Instagram: @indie.beginning. Or drop them in the comments below.

• If you’re enjoying our weekly devotionals & want to SUPPORT it, forward or SHARE this to someone who needs a BOOST!

Share BOOST: Grow as an artist and a follower of Christ!

—Brian V.

💖 DEVOTIONAL:

It’s funny how quickly a creative project can become a mirror.

When things are going well, we feel capable. We feel productive. We feel like we’re moving in the right direction. But when a project stalls, an idea isn’t working, or progress feels painfully slow, something else in our heart of hearts starts to surface. We begin questioning ourselves. We wonder if we’re wasting our gifts, falling behind, or somehow failing to become the person we thought we’d be by now.

I don’t think we always realize how much of our identity gets tied to our output until the output stops.

Maybe that’s why I find God’s interaction with David so refreshing. When Samuel went looking for Israel’s next king, everyone was focused on the obvious candidates. They looked at appearance, strength, and capability. In other words, they were evaluating people the same way we often evaluate ourselves: by what could be seen on the surface.

But God was looking somewhere else.

“He looks on the heart.”

That verse has challenged me lately because it reminds me that God is paying attention to things I often overlook. While I’m focused on what I’m producing, He’s focused on who I’m becoming. While I’m measuring progress by completed projects or cashflow, He may be measuring growth by deeper trust, greater patience, or a growing dependence on Him.

Some of the most important work God does in our lives happens in seasons that don’t look very productive from the outside.

The slow season that teaches you patience. The creative block that exposes your need for control. The unfinished project that reveals how much of your identity is attached to achievement. None of these experiences feel exciting while you’re in them. But they are often the places where God does some of His deepest work.

As creatives, we naturally want to make things. That’s part of how God designed us. But sometimes we become so focused on what we’re making that we miss what God is making.

And if Scripture is any indication, He cares deeply about both. He cares about your stewardship, your faithfulness, and how you use your gifts. But His attention doesn’t stop there. He’s also forming your character, shaping your heart, and teaching you to become the kind of person who can carry those gifts well.

So if your progress feels slower than you’d like, don’t be too quick to assume nothing is happening.

God may be doing some of His best work in places that don’t show up on a portfolio.

💡 APPLICATION:

Take a moment today to reflect on your current creative season. Instead of asking, "What have I produced lately?" ask, "What might God be teaching me right now?" Write down one lesson you can see Him developing in your life.

Start your spiritual scribbling journey!

THAT’S IT FOR THIS WEEK’S DROP!

• Your feedback is a gift! Send us your comments, suggestions, reviews, and questions. The best way to reach us is through sending us a DM on Instagram: @indie.beginning. Or drop them in the comments below.

• If you’re enjoying our weekly devotionals & want to SUPPORT it, forward or SHARE this to someone who needs a BOOST!

Share BOOST: Grow as an artist and a follower of Christ!

—Brian V.

💖 DEVOTIONAL:

Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve been talking about slowing down. Pausing. Putting down some of the things we were never meant to carry forever. If you’ve been following and learning so far… great!

But as you might notice, eventually, life starts moving again.

The inbox fills back up. Projects wait where you left them. You sit back down at your desk and almost immediately, the familiar pressure returns. The urgency. The responsibilities. The feeling that you need to catch up.

I’ve been there. I’ve taken intentional time away. Got some real rest, time with God, time with family… and then opened my computer the next day only to feel the exact same heaviness settle in before I even started. Nothing outwardly had changed. But I realized something inwardly hadn’t changed either.

And that’s precisely what I think Isaiah is pointing to.

“In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.”

While reading this, the word returning stood out to me. Because it isn’t just about coming back, but about coming back differently. Reoriented. Turned toward God before turning back toward the work.

As in, “Try again. This time, with God.”

Isaiah continues to say: your strength comes from quietness and trust. Not from your skills, or strategy, or catching up, or from working harder to recover lost ground. When pressure returns, every instinct we have reaches for more effort, more control, more hustle. And Scripture points us in the opposite direction entirely.

Quietness that isn’t merely the absence of work but a settled calm that doesn’t depend on our creative journey being storm-free. And trust that isn’t just passive resignation but confidence placed somewhere more solid than your own ability to hold everything together. Isaiah calls these your actual strength.

Take these to heart when you return to your space. You’ll see that the work doesn’t disappear. But the weight can.

That’s the invitation here. Not to a different life, but to a different posture inside the same one. Peace isn’t waiting on the other side of a calmer season. It’s available now in the middle of unfinished work, your crowded inbox, and ordinary Monday responsibilities.

You don’t have to go back carrying everything the same way you carried it before. You can move forward differently now.

With quietness.
With trust.
With God.

💡 APPLICATION:

Before starting your work today, intentionally pause for a few minutes. Take a deep breath and pray: “Lord, help me do this with You.” If you can, take 5 minutes of intentional silence and solitude. Then pay attention to how that changes the way you carry your day.

🎁 Last Chance: $20 OFF Creative Juice Booster (Extended for One More Week!)

We heard you… so we’re giving one final chance to grab the deal.

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Coupon Code: TYJ20

The coupon validity is extended to June 1, so don't let it slip by this time! Simply enter the code at checkout.

If you’ve been craving fresh inspiration, practical creative encouragement, and biblical perspective for your creative life, this is the perfect read for you!

Claim your discount today!

THAT’S IT FOR THIS WEEK’S DROP!

• Your feedback is a gift! Send us your comments, suggestions, reviews, and questions. The best way to reach us is through sending us a DM on Instagram: @indie.beginning. Or drop them in the comments below.

• If you’re enjoying our weekly devotionals & want to SUPPORT it, forward or SHARE this to someone who needs a BOOST!

Share BOOST: Grow as an artist and a follower of Christ!

—Brian V.

💖 DEVOTIONAL:

Last week, we talked about rest. Today, I want to talk about weight.

Hebrews 12 makes an interesting distinction. It mentions sin, but it also mentions weights. And those are not always the same thing. Some of the things slowing you down are not sinful. They are just heavy.

The pressure to always be consistent in your craft. The feeling that you constantly need to prove yourself. The quiet comparison that creeps in when you see other people creating more, growing faster, accomplishing bigger things.

These things do not always arrive all at once. Most of the time, they accumulate slowly. A responsibility here. An expectation there. A standard you quietly placed on yourself months ago. And eventually, you realize you have been carrying far more than what God actually asked you to carry.

The difficult part is that because these things are not necessarily sin, we rarely think to release them. We assume we just need better discipline. Better systems. Better time management. So we keep trying to carry the weight more efficiently instead of asking whether we were meant to carry it at all.

But here, Scripture gives us a different invitation. And it’s the message I wanted to echo this week:

Lay it aside.

Not just the obvious sins. Not just the destructive habits. The weights too.

There are burdens in your creative life that God never asked you to hold onto. Expectations that were formed by comparison. Pressure that was shaped by fear. Standards rooted more in performance than faithfulness. And as long as you keep carrying them, even the things you love will begin to feel exhausting.

But before you can release a weight, you have to recognize it.

Some pressures have been sitting on your shoulders for so long that they feel normal now. You have adapted to them. Built your routines around them. Maybe even built your identity around them. But you cannot surrender what you refuse to acknowledge.

If there’s anything I learned about recovery, it’s that healing begins with honesty.

It begins with finally saying, “This pressure is not helping me love God more.” Or, “This expectation is draining the life out of me.” Or, “This weight is shaping me more than God’s presence is.”

Releasing a weight does not always look dramatic. A lot of times it simply looks like naming what has been quietly crushing you and giving God permission to take it from your hands.

Remember, you do not have to carry everything just because you can. And you do not have to keep dragging around weights that Jesus is inviting you to lay down.

💡 APPLICATION:

Write down three things that have been weighing on you creatively or emotionally lately. Then ask yourself honestly: “Which of these are things God actually asked you to carry, and which ones are not?” Keep the list somewhere visible and pray through it this week.

🎁 Get $20 OFF Creative Juice Booster (This Week Only!)

Use code below to get $20 OFF when you purchase our best-selling ebook: Creative Juice Booster.

Coupon Code: TYJ20

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If you’ve been craving fresh inspiration, practical creative encouragement, and biblical perspective for your creative life, this is the perfect read for you!

Claim your discount today!

Claim your discount today!

THAT’S IT FOR THIS WEEK’S DROP!

• Your feedback is a gift! Send us your comments, suggestions, reviews, and questions. The best way to reach us is through sending us a DM on Instagram: @indie.beginning. Or drop them in the comments below.

• If you’re enjoying our weekly devotionals & want to SUPPORT it, forward or SHARE this to someone who needs a BOOST!

Share BOOST: Grow as an artist and a follower of Christ!

—Brian V.

💖 DEVOTIONAL:

When you feel tired, where do you usually go first?

For me, it’s usually something simple. A cozy video game. A funny show. Relaxing music. Sometimes it’s just scrolling or doing anything that doesn’t require too much from me. And honestly, many of these things are not bad. God can use simple joys and moments of recreation to refresh us.

But I’ve noticed something over the years. A lot of the things I run to help me escape exhaustion, but they don’t always restore me from it.

I can spend hours consuming content, distracting myself, or doing something I enjoy and still come out of it feeling drained inside. Maybe mentally occupied. Maybe temporarily lighter. But not deeply rested.

And I think part of the reason is because I often go to those things before I go to God.

Jesus gives a surprisingly simple invitation in this passage. He does not say, “Fix yourself first.” He does not say, “Become less tired.” He simply says, “Come to me.”

Not to entertainment first. Not to distraction first. Not even to productivity first. But to Him. I think this is where many creatives quietly struggle. Because we hear verses about “resting in God,” but we are not always sure what that actually means in practice.

Does it mean reading more chapters of the Bible? Praying longer? Doing more spiritual activities? Sometimes it can include those things. But at its core, resting in God means learning to be with Him without pressure.

It can look like sitting quietly with a verse instead of rushing through a reading plan. It can look like praying honestly instead of trying to sound spiritual. It can look like taking a walk and talking to God about what is weighing on you. It can even look like creating something small with Him in mind, not for performance or posting, but simply as an offering.

Rest is not found in finally escaping responsibility. True rest is found in returning to His presence. And maybe that is your invitation today. Perhaps it’s been a while since you last “rested” in His shadow. Just to come to Him again.

💡 APPLICATION:

The next time you feel overwhelmed or mentally exhausted, pause before opening an app or distracting yourself. Spend five quiet minutes with God first. Silence and solitude. No pressure. No agenda. Just be honest with Him about how you feel.

If you’ve been feeling creatively drained or spiritually exhausted, Creative Juice Booster was designed to help Christian creatives reconnect with God, rediscover joy in the process, and create from a healthier place.

Grab your copy today!

Your creative juices deserve a boost!

THAT’S IT FOR THIS WEEK’S DROP!

• Your feedback is a gift! Send us your comments, suggestions, reviews, and questions. The best way to reach us is through sending us a DM on Instagram: @indie.beginning. Or drop them in the comments below.

• If you’re enjoying our weekly devotionals & want to SUPPORT it, forward or SHARE this to someone who needs a BOOST!

Share BOOST: Grow as an artist and a follower of Christ!

—Brian V.

💖 DEVOTIONAL:

Creatives talk a lot about self-expression. Finding your voice. Sharing your truth.
Making your mark. There’s nothing wrong with that. God made you with a distinct voice. Your perspective matters. Your creativity is not an accident.

But there’s another layer we don’t talk about as often. It’s that when we create, we don’t just express ourselves, we represent someone.

If you love a person, you stay close to them. You listen. You pay attention. You start to pick up what they care about. Over time, people can tell who you’ve been spending time with, not because you say it, but because it shows.

That’s how it works with God.

You don’t represent Him by trying harder to “be spiritual” in your work. You represent Him by staying close to Him.

Distance changes things. When you drift, you start filling in the gaps on your own. Your work might still look polished, still sound like you, but something under the surface feels off. It starts reflecting more of you than Him.

Closeness changes things too. When you stay near to God, you begin to carry what you receive. His love starts shaping how you see people. His peace steadies you when the pressure builds. His sense of beauty and excellence begins to influence what you make and how you make it.

You don’t have to force it. It shows up. This is where creativity shifts from performance to overflow. You’re not creating to prove something. You’re creating from something.

Loving God with your whole heart, soul, and mind is not separate from your creative life. It is what fuels it. It’s what keeps your work grounded. It’s what keeps your voice clear.

So before asking what you should make next, it might be worth asking a better question: Who have you been close to? Because the depth of your creativity will always be shaped by the depth of your connection with Him.

💡 APPLICATION:

Before you begin your next creative session, spend five minutes in Scripture or prayer. Let that time shape your posture before you start creating, and carry one word or truth from that time into your work.

If you want to build a creative life that flows from your relationship with God, Creative Juice Booster will help you develop ideas, overcome blocks, and create with clarity, purpose, and spiritual grounding.

Grab your copy today!

Your creative juices deserve a boost!

THAT’S IT FOR THIS WEEK’S DROP!

• Your feedback is a gift! Send us your comments, suggestions, reviews, and questions. The best way to reach us is through sending us a DM on Instagram: @indie.beginning. Or drop them in the comments below.

• If you’re enjoying our weekly devotionals & want to SUPPORT it, forward or SHARE this to someone who needs a BOOST!

Share BOOST: Grow as an artist and a follower of Christ!

—Brian V.