Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
In Ecclesiastes 3:11, we read that God makes everything beautiful in its time. It is comforting to know that nothing is wasted in God's economy, but all of it will be used for our good and His glory. You're invited to join us for poignant conversations and compelling interviews centered on believing for His beauty in every season.
EMB EP57 | Deep Woods Refuge (00:01.634)
Well, hello, hello, hello on this November, Monday before Thanksgiving and welcome back to the Everything Made Beautiful podcast. I just thought I'd give you a little bit of an update today on me and our little family. Several of you remember that on the podcast with my kids a couple of months ago, we talked about the possibility of moving and the fact that we were now empty nesters slash.
bird launchers and what that looks like and how I felt about it. And some of you have been asking for an update and I finally have one to give you. So what I'm gonna share with you today on the podcast is just me and it's deeply personal. It's occasionally hilarious. It was sometimes painful and definitely absurd, but I've also come to feel that it has been a completely.
holy invitation. So we're going to go on a little journey together today and I'm really glad that you're here. So as many of you know, Jeffrey and I made a significant life change recently where we moved from our home in Franklin, Tennessee, where we've lived for seven sweet years in a neighborhood, eight minutes from absolutely everything to a log cabin on six acres in the mountains near Dunlap, Tennessee.
which is, well, two hours from Franklin. So it's not exactly a hop, skip and a jump. We are between Nashville and Chattanooga, literally up on a mountain. So we've gone from a larger home with empty bedrooms that I thought were waiting for the grandkids that we hope will fill them one day to a smaller cabin with just enough space for us, our two dogs and the guests who will take refuge here, hopefully.
So we've gone from subdivision living where neighbors are close and target runs are quick to mountain living where our neighbors are deer, literally. And the closest thing to a target is well planning way, way, way ahead for that target run. But let me tell you, this move has been one of the most sanctifying, hilarious, terrifying and joy-filled experiences of our lives. So today I just want to share the whole story with you, the practical side, the spiritual side.
EMB EP57 | Deep Woods Refuge (02:20.918)
the you absolutely cannot make this stuff upside and hopefully something that might encourage you in whatever transition or liminal space you're navigating right now. Because here's the thing, this story isn't really about real estate or square footage or even log cabins. It's about what happens when God invites you into something new and you have to decide if you're brave enough to say yes. So let's rewind a little bit.
Jeffrey and I became empty nesters slash bird launchers and something started shifting for us emotionally, physically and spiritually. We could both feel it. You know that sense when God starts putting your head and heart in a different space. When you start noticing things that never bothered you before, when you start dreaming about a pace of life that feels completely foreign to the one you're currently living. Well, that's where we were.
We had spent years, good years, holy years, raising our kids in Franklin and being entrenched in our church, our school, and all that came with both of those spaces. We'd built a life there. And specifically, we'd built a life in that home. We had made memories. We had a space for my mom before the dementia made it necessary to have increased care for her. We had taken prom photos. We had soothed sadness and celebrated victories. We had
graduation triumphs and theater songs and new drivers. Our home had been full of people and the beautiful pace that comes with kids who are becoming teenagers. And we loved it. Every exhausting, wonderful minute of it. And now that house was echoing. The bedroom sat empty and we kept looking at each other thinking, why do we need all this space for just the two of us and the dogs? And initially our reasoning was pretty practical.
We wanted another family, one in the season we'd been in, to benefit from what that house and that location could offer them. The convenience, the community, the closeness to everything, someone else needed what we no longer needed. And honestly, we'd also been dreaming about the financial freedom that downsizing could provide. Jeffrey and I have always wanted to be people who are generous, not just with our time and talent, but with our treasure.
EMB EP57 | Deep Woods Refuge (04:43.49)
and living in a house that was more than we needed felt like, well, holding on to something that could be stewarded differently. But here's where it gets interesting. And by interesting, I mean where God started doing that thing he does where he takes your practical plans and says, Shannon, that is so cute, but I've got something bigger in mind. So can I just pause right here and ask you something?
Have you ever had a season where you knew something needed to change, but you weren't entirely sure what? Where you felt this low grade restlessness, but couldn't quite name it? That's where we were. And I think a lot of us get stuck there in the knowing something needs to shift, but being too afraid to actually shift it. And here's what I want you to know. God honors the first step, even when you can't see the whole staircase, as Martin Luther King Jr. put it.
We didn't have a master plan. We just knew we needed less house and more something. Peace, space, margin, we weren't even sure yet, but we took the first step. We talked about it honestly with each other, with God, with a few trusted people. And that first step of acknowledging something needs to change led to God revealing what that something actually was. So if you're in that restless space right now, don't dismiss it.
Don't ignore it. Get curious about it. Ask God to show you what he's inviting you into. You don't need the whole plan. You just need to take the first right step. Okay, so we decided to sell our house. And because I decided to be delightfully optimistic about it and clearly didn't know what I was getting myself into.
I fully expected that we'd put our house on the market, get an offer the first day, find a new house immediately and be moved and settled before summer's end. Y'all. That is not what happened. Not even close. What actually happened was this. We listed our house at the beginning of July. Happy birthday to me. People came to look at it. Lots of people. I'm talking
EMB EP57 | Deep Woods Refuge (06:59.542)
Showings on showings on showings. And you know what I discovered, as I said in my previous podcast episode, I absolutely categorically, viscerally hate the showing process. Having people walk through your home, the space where you've raised your kids and built your life and then watch them judge it, dissect it and decide about it, it feels invasive, violating even.
This wasn't just square footage and paint colors. This was our place. And yet, even with all those people looking, we got no acceptable offers, none. In the meantime, we'd found a house we liked. We put an offer on it. That offer got accepted. We went under contract. I knew where the guest rooms would be, where Jeff's studio would go. I could see us there. Was I at peace about it? I mean, I guess.
It was fine. It would work. I could make a home anywhere, right? So we waited for an offer on our house because that contract was contingent on the sale of our house. So we waited and waited and waited. And then almost overnight, we went from being one of two houses for sale in our neighborhood to one of seven. Apparently everyone else had done the math too.
But more houses meant a diluted market, which meant even more showings that weren't yielding anything. Eventually the process dragged on so long that we lost the other house. So now we had a house on the market with nowhere to go. And I'd gotten so tired of house hunting that I didn't even want to look anymore. Self preservation anyone? I need to pause right here and tell you that
over this whole season, even before we put the house on the market, I felt like God was calling me into a no hustle posture. Really since I left church of the city over 18 months ago, I felt like no hustle was kind of the banner over my life because I was embracing a very different pace than I had been used to. And when it started to look like we might lose the house that we had the contingent offer on,
EMB EP57 | Deep Woods Refuge (09:21.58)
There were options at our disposal. We could take out bridge loans. We could quickly get something into place and spend money that would keep the other house but wait for our house to sell. We could go ahead and move, all those sorts of things. But I have to tell you that even with those options available to us, that felt like hustle. Because we had to hurry and get our loan paperwork in and hurry and get a loan officer to look at it and hurry.
And that just didn't feel like God was calling us to that. So we had to let the other house go. And it felt like failure on paper, but internally it felt like peace because we were abiding by the fact that we were not called to hustle. But now I didn't want to look for houses and I certainly didn't want anybody looking at ours. Here's what I didn't expect about the process.
The waiting would move from something full of expectation to a full on wilderness. You know how Israel wandered in the wilderness for 40 years when the trip should have taken like 11 days? I used to think, what was their problem? Just get where you're going. But now I understand the wilderness isn't about the destination. It's about who you become in the wandering.
God had them wandering in the wilderness on purpose. Yes, it was a consequence for them, but it was also a consecration, a preparing, a refining, a sanctifying.
Here's what I didn't expect about this process. The waiting moved from something full of expectation in the beginning to a full on wilderness. But I gotta say, the wilderness, when we see it in scripture, when we know people are being called into it, when we wonder how we found ourselves in the middle of it, it isn't about the destination. It's about who you become in the wandering.
EMB EP57 | Deep Woods Refuge (11:29.698)
Jeffrey and I had so many what if conversations during this time. Do we want to sell? Should we just keep the big house for grandkids? What if we're making a huge mistake? Where do we even want to live? Do we really want to move to another subdivision? And slowly, painfully slowly, admittedly, the wilderness did its work. We started asking different questions, deeper questions that were less about logistics.
But what would it look like to change our lives completely? What if this isn't just about square footage? What if God is inviting us into something we haven't even imagined yet? The wilderness gave us permission to dream bigger, to want more than practical logistics, to consider that maybe God had something radical for us in mind. If you are in a waiting season right now, whether it's waiting for a house to sell,
a job to come through, a relationship to heal, a diagnosis to make sense. Can I tell you something? The waiting is not wasted time. The wilderness wandering, it's where you're discovering what you're actually made of. It's where God refines what you think you want and reveals what you actually need. It's where your practical plans get exchanged for his better ones. Don't
rush the wilderness. Don't despise the waiting. As my friend Allison Allen says so beautifully, when you're in transition, don't push. Because I promise you there are gifts buried in it that you can only find if you stay long enough to unearth them. So there we were, house on the market forever. No prospects, no plan.
Just a vague sense that something needed to change, but no clarity on what that something was. And then one day, I would say on a complete whim, but I really feel like it was something reminding me from the spirit of something I'd longed for long ago, I decided to search cabins in Tennessee on Google. OK, here's what you need to know. I have always been a log cabin girl.
EMB EP57 | Deep Woods Refuge (13:51.776)
Always I've dreamed about living in one for as long as I can remember. I am the girl who went to Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge multiple times a year with my family. And my favorite part was getting to the cabin, but it seemed like one of those someday when we're old and retired dreams, not a right now in the middle of our lives reality, but almost immediately one came up in our price range.
and my heart leapt. I loved it. And more than that, Jeffrey loved it. Really, other than the kitchen, which let's be honest, we could always fix, we loved everything about it as is. Six acres instead of a subdivision lot, mountains instead of manicured lawns, woods instead of white picket fences, a completely different kind of life.
But as you know, the thing about the internet is everything looks good online. Angles can be flattering. AI can make things seem way better than they are. So we tried. I mean, we really tried not to get our hopes up. We made an appointment to go see it. And as we drove toward it, something happened. With every mile we climbed up that mountain, our peace increased. Not peace like this seems like a good idea.
Peace like, this is what we've been looking for and didn't even know how to name. We pulled into the driveway, looked at each other and I said, uh-oh. We fell head over heels in love despite ourselves. We both immediately heard the same word in our spirits, refuge. Our realtor, bless him, said, did y'all feel the peace driving up here like I did?
And I knew this wasn't just about square footage or financial freedom anymore. This was about God providing exactly what our souls desperately needed even before we'd fully articulated that need to ourselves. Can we talk about the word refuge for a minute? Because this concept became everything for Jeffrey and me. Scripture doesn't use the word refuge casually. It actually appears over 40 times in the book of Psalms alone.
EMB EP57 | Deep Woods Refuge (16:18.07)
When David writes, the Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer. My God is my rock in whom I take refuge. He's not being poetic for poetry sake. He's describing actual survival. David knew what it was to run for his life, to hide in caves, to need protection from people who wanted to destroy him. His refuge wasn't metaphorical. It was desperately literal. And yet even in those physical places of hiding,
David understood that his true refuge was God himself. The cave wasn't going to save him, only God could. The physical refuge was simply a tangible reminder of the spiritual reality. God is our refuge. When Jeffrey and I chose to name this place Deep Woods Refuge, we weren't being cute or clever. We were making a theological statement about what we believe this place is meant to be, not just for us.
but ultimately flowing from what God is doing in us. A refuge isn't just peaceful, it's protective, and there's a difference. Peaceful might be a spa day or a quiet morning with coffee. Protective means something stands between you and what threatens your wellbeing. Protective means boundaries. Protective means you're not just resting, you're being shielded while you rest.
For years, Jeffrey and I have needed to be accessible, available, right in the middle of everything. And that served a beautiful purpose during the season of raising our kids and serving in ministry in certain ways.
But now we need protection. Protection from the tyranny of the urgent that masquerades as important. Protection from the constant availability that leaves no room for Sabbath. Protection from the noise that drowns out God's whispers. Protection from the cultural expectation that more activity equals more impact. The deep woods create that protection. They're not mostly decorative. They're a tangible,
EMB EP57 | Deep Woods Refuge (18:30.882)
physical buffer between us and the outside world. You can't just drop by Deepwoods Refuge because you were in the neighborhood. You have to want to come. You have to make the drive. You have to seek it out. And honestly, that's by design. Okay, so we found the cabin, we fell in love, and then we prayed that God would make it so. And then finally, an offer came in on our Franklin house.
After weeks and weeks and approximately 47 million showings, we got to stop showing it. We accepted the offer over Labor Day weekend, made an offer on the log cabin right after it, and they accepted it. It was going to happen. I was in shock, actual shock that what we'd prayed for was coming to pass. It felt too good to be true. I started getting everything ready as any good Enneagram one would do.
We set a closing date. We got in touch with movers. All systems were go. And then our buyer's company decided not to move him to Franklin after all. They were heartbroken. We were heartbroken. And more importantly, if we didn't get another contract soon, we would lose the cabin. and we had to start showing our house again. My nemesis had returned.
But here's where it gets beautiful. Through our agents, the sellers of the cabin, who we'd never met, sent us a message. They wanted us to know they were praying because they felt like we were supposed to have the house. Y'all, in the middle of discouragement, God sent us that, a bright spot, a reminder, a whisper that said, I'm still working. And miraculously,
After only about 10 days and multiple offers and counter offers, we had another buyer. The timeline was back in business. So I went into full Marie Kondo mode. I filled two five-ton dumpsters with things that we were getting rid of. And I'm not exaggerating when I tell you, I threw out some things that did spark joy, but that I just didn't need anymore.
EMB EP57 | Deep Woods Refuge (20:48.684)
With everything that went in those dumpsters and to donation places, I felt lighter physically and in my soul. My friend Jordan, who many of you met on the podcast several months ago, came to Tennessee to help us orchestrate the whole move. He is a professional, so he had it down to a science and I needed that peace of mind because I had to produce two events and speak three times during the approximately four days we'd be relocating our entire lives.
Remember that pace I was talking about? Yeah, it was in full swing. By Saturday night, our entire Franklin life was packed up into trucks and hauled away. We even went to the final walkthrough at the cabin that weekend and the piece was still there. Thanks be to God. Sunday, we had our house professionally cleaned in Franklin and then Jeffrey and I walked through those empty rooms thanking God for how he'd blessed us there.
and praying for the new family who would make memories in that space. We turned off the lights and closed the door for the last time. Or so we thought. We went to our hotel Sunday night, tingling with joy because at 8 a.m. Monday morning, the buyers would do their final walkthrough of our house. And at 9 a.m., we'd sell our house and buy the cabin in one fell swoop at closing. Except...
On Sunday night, I started feeling physically strange. And by Monday morning, I knew I was sick. Really full on sick. And that is when the real mayhem started. Paul, our amazing realtor, reached out at dawn on Monday to let us know there were quote, some issues with the buyer's paperwork and closing might need to push to later in the day.
Okay, fine, not ideal, but fine. Except it wasn't later that day. It also wasn't Tuesday or Wednesday or Thursday. And every single day, we waited most of the day to find out it wasn't that day at all. Meanwhile, our dogs have been boarded for a week, which...
EMB EP57 | Deep Woods Refuge (23:10.09)
Even at affordable places is still like millionaire money when you have two dogs. Our stuff had been on moving trucks since Saturday at $1,000 per day. And our hotel stay had ballooned from a couple of nights to almost a week. We were bleeding cash. Actually, hemorrhaging is more accurate. Then the moving company called. If we couldn't close,
They'd have to unload all our stuff into their storage facility that weekend, reload it later, and charge us all over again for all of it because they had other people to move that weekend and our stuff was taking up their trucks. Also, they couldn't move us until the following Monday afternoon anyway because of their schedule. All of this is completely understandable, but it was completely exasperating. And I want to be really kind here.
There were things happening on the buyer's side. And frankly, everything at a certain point is out of everyone's control except third parties. But I'm not going to lie to you. Hopelessness started setting in and fear, visceral white knuckled fear that this was all going to fall through. And remember the fun fact I told you, I was speaking three times and producing two events during all of this. So yeah.
It's a whole thing to be teaching the Bible while clinging internally in terror to everything you've staked your life on being true about God. But I'm here to tell you it holds. Eventually by Thursday afternoon, we asked Paul to just shoot straight with us. He said he didn't think it was going to happen Friday either, which meant it would be the following Monday at best before any money hit anyone's account for any sale.
Jeffrey and I looked at each other and realized we have to stop the financial bleeding. We have to stop paying for lodging, pet boarding and trucks full of everything we own. So that left us with only one option. We had to move back into our house in Franklin. Y'all, I wish I were making this up. I truly do. But on Thursday night,
EMB EP57 | Deep Woods Refuge (25:36.106)
After loading it all up the previous Saturday, our moving company moved everything we owned back into our garage in our Franklin house. Jeffrey and I picked up our dogs, checked out of our hotel, and took up residence on a mattress on the floor of our empty master bedroom, trying not to mess up the rest of the immaculately cleaned house. We huddled on that floor with the dogs, eating Chinese takeout,
me still feeling like absolute garbage and just stared at each other wondering, is it all gonna fall apart? We just paid for a move we never actually made and we were gonna have to do it all over again. Two full moves. Unbelievable. Eventually, we fell asleep giggling because honestly, what else was there to do? Sometimes you just have to laugh at the total absurdity.
Okay. So here's where I need to get real with you for a minute. In that moment, lying on a mattress on the floor of our empty house, which by the way, we didn't take the plastic off the mattress because it was too expensive to get all those mattress bags to begin with. And we certainly didn't want to undo them. So we were really lying on loud plastic on a mattress on the floor of our empty house surrounded by boxes in the garage having paid
thousands of dollars to basically move in a circle and go absolutely nowhere. I had a choice. I could lose my mind. I could rage. I could question everything. I could write strongly worded letters to anyone who would listen about efficiency and customer service and communication. Or I could remember what I teach. What I supposedly believe with my whole heart. God is sovereign. There's power in the pause.
Man plans his way, but the Lord determines his steps. And I had to ask myself, is it all true or not? And I did. I asked out loud about it. Because here's the thing. It's easy to believe in God's sovereignty when things are going well. It doesn't even make us break a sweat. When our prayers are answered the way we want, when our timelines work out, when we get the house and we make the move and everything falls into place exactly as planned. But what about when it doesn't?
EMB EP57 | Deep Woods Refuge (28:06.666)
What about when we do everything right, we pray, we seek wisdom, we make good decisions, we trust God, and it still falls apart? That's when the theology gets tested. That's when you find out if what you believe is just nice words or if it's actual bedrock. And I will be honest, I wanted to panic. I definitely wanted to control. I wanted to fix it all myself.
But somewhere in that absurd moment, eating Chinese food on the floor of an empty house, I just felt God whisper, I'm still here. This has not surprised me. I'm still working. Trust me. Look, anybody who's worth their salt that teaches for a living will tell you the things we teach, preach, and proclaim, we're teaching them to ourselves first.
When I stand in front of people and open God's word and talk about his sovereignty, his faithfulness, his perfect timing, I need those truths just as much as anyone listening and maybe more. And when life gives you the opportunity to live out what you've been proclaiming, that's not punishment, that's grace. Because it means God trusts you enough to let your faith get tested so it can become real. So if you're in a season right now where everything you thought you believed is being tested,
Welcome to the proving ground. Come on in. This is where your theology stops being theory and it becomes lived experience. And I'm not saying it's easy, but I am saying it's worth it. Because on the other side of the test, when you've clung to truth, even when circumstances screamed otherwise, your faith isn't just stronger, it's yours. Really, truly, deeply yours. So Friday morning.
Jeffrey and I got up off our mattress on the floor, got ready in our former bathroom, and headed to Lipscomb University, where I would shoot a full day of Advent content for Ch'kava.
EMB EP57 | Deep Woods Refuge (30:09.836)
So Friday morning, Jeffrey and I got up off our mattress on the floor, got ready in our former bathroom, and headed to Lipscomb University, where I would shoot a full day of advent content for Kavah, and Jeff would run sound. And let me tell you, it was convicting to be recounting the miracle of the Christmas story while reminding myself that my life is not unbearably hard. I could eat, I had shelter, my problems were objectively.
first world problems. But they were still my problems and God cares about those too. And then late Friday morning while we were shooting, Jeff got a call from rock star realtor Paul. We'd told everyone we couldn't do anything on Friday because of our commitment at Lipscomb. So Paul was calling to let us know that all the paperwork had finally come through and we could close. Here's where Paul became our absolute hero, even though let's be honest, he was a hero the whole time.
He didn't want us to wait any longer than absolutely necessary. So he had gotten a closing attorney who was also a notary, told them our situation and they both agreed to just drive to Lipscomb to meet us. We'd close right there during a break from shooting. And that's what we did. By the end of shooting on Friday, we'd sold our house and bought another one right there in the conference room at Lipscomb University while producing advent content about the miracle of God.
with us. You can't make this stuff up. In the meantime, Paul made another miracle happen. He called a friend who owned a moving company. They agreed to come load us up Sunday afternoon and wouldn't charge us to hold our stuff in the trucks overnight. That way we could get out of our Franklin house again for real this time, ensure it was cleaned and spotless, go to a dog friendly hotel for the night and be on our way to the cabin first thing Monday morning. And this time
Everything worked exactly like it was supposed to. Three weeks ago and seven days after it was originally scheduled by man, but all the while with the Lord determining our actual steps, we moved into our log cabin in the mountains of Tennessee, Deep Woods Refuge. And we're learning now what it means to live here. Can we talk about timing for a minute? Because I wanted to put my house on the market in July and be moved by August. I had it all planned out.
EMB EP57 | Deep Woods Refuge (32:39.608)
closing on this date, moving on that date, settled before fall really hit. But God had a different timeline. God's delays are not God's denials. His timing is not our timing and his ways, even when they make absolutely no sense to us, are always, always better. If we'd moved when I wanted to move, we wouldn't have had the story of God's faithfulness through the chaos. We wouldn't have had the testimony of peace in the middle of the unknown.
We wouldn't have learned what we're truly made of. When everything falls apart, God wasn't being cruel by letting the process drag on. He was being kind. He was refining us, me certainly. He was teaching us that our hope doesn't rest in closing dates or moving timelines or even log cabins in the mountains. Our hope rests in him. And when everything falls away, when the plan doesn't work and the timeline doesn't hold and you're eating Chinese food on the floor of an empty house,
He's still there, still working, still faithful. He makes everything beautiful in its time. Not our time, it's time, which is his time. And his timing is always worth the wait. So here we are, living at Deepwood's Refuge. And I wanna talk a little bit about what this place means to us because it's more than just a house, it's more than just a change of address. This is our refuge.
in the truest most biblical sense of that word. In the Old Testament, God established six cities of refuge throughout Israel. These weren't random towns that happened to offer safety. They were strategically placed, carefully designated, intentionally created sanctuaries. And here's what strikes me. These cities didn't exist for the perfect people. They existed for the broken.
the desperate, the ones who'd made mistakes and needed somewhere safe to land while justice and mercy did their work. Deepwood's refuge for Jeffrey and me is our city of refuge moment. We're not running from something terrible, thank God, but we are running to something we desperately need. We need protection from the pace that was killing us slowly. We need shelter from the constant demands that left no room for our souls to breathe.
EMB EP57 | Deep Woods Refuge (35:00.748)
We need space to process, to heal, to become who we're meant to be in this next season. And just like those ancient cities, this refuge is intentional. We didn't stumble into it. We sought it out. We chose it. We're building it into the sanctuary our souls have been crying out for. When we're here, we're protected, we're sheltered, we're covered. And that changes everything. So here's my question for you.
What would your refuge look like? Maybe it's not a log cabin in the mountains. Maybe it's not even a physical place. But what would it look like for you to create space, actual protected space where your soul can breathe? What would it look like to say no to the constant demands, to set boundaries around your time, your energy, your availability, to choose depth over breadth, quality over quantity, being overdoing?
Because refuge isn't a luxury, it's a necessity. Creating refuge in your life might look like saying no to good things so you can say yes to the best things, setting boundaries around your calendar that actually protect rest, limiting social media or news consumption that leaves you anxious, creating physical spaces in your home that are set apart for prayer and quiet, choosing relationships that refresh rather than deplete.
giving yourself permission to not have an opinion on everything, prioritizing Sabbath like your life depends on it because it just might. You don't have to move to the mountains, but you do have to be intentional about creating space for your soul to rest deeply because a depleted soul can't serve well, can't love well, can't live well. Your soul needs refuge and God wants to provide it, but you do have to be willing to seek it out.
So what does it actually look like to live at Deep Woods Refuge? So what does it actually look like to live at Deep Woods Refuge? What are we learning three weeks in? Well, first of all, I'm learning that I'm terrible at resting. Terrible. Jeffrey and I are both achievers, doers, people who feel most valuable when we're being productive. So the idea of sitting on the porch for an hour doing nothing but watching the light change through the trees.
EMB EP57 | Deep Woods Refuge (37:33.762)
Jeffrey and I are both achievers, doers, people who feel most valuable when we're being productive. So the idea of sitting on the porch doing nothing but watching the light change through the trees, that feels wasteful, unproductive, even wrong. But Deepwood's Refuge is teaching us, forcing us really to redefine what productive means. Is it productive to sit on the porch and do nothing? By our old metrics, no.
by what our souls actually need? Absolutely. Is it productive for Jeffrey and me to spend an entire afternoon talking about nothing and everything? By efficiency standards? No. By marriage health standards? Essential. Is it productive to let a writing project unfold slowly without deadline pressure? By publishing timelines? No. By creative sustainability? Yes.
We're learning to measure productivity differently. We're learning to measure productivity differently. And it's uncomfortable and holy and exactly what we need. This place is offering us layered shelter and multiple levels of protection. After years of feeling exposed, frankly, to criticism, to demands, to expectations, to the constant need to be on,
Layered shelter feels like the kindest gift God could give us. Here's what I want you to understand. Refuge isn't passive, it's active. The refuge isn't the end, it's the means to a different kind of engagement with the world. True refuge isn't just about your body resting, it's about your whole person, body, mind, soul, and spirit finding shelter. Physical rest
is the easy part. We can sleep in, we can take naps, check, check, check. But emotional rest, that's harder. That requires feeling your feelings instead of managing everyone else's. Mental rest, even harder. That requires turning off the part of your brain that's always planning, always three steps ahead. That requires being okay with open space in your calendar. And spiritual rest.
EMB EP57 | Deep Woods Refuge (39:53.144)
That might be the hardest of all because spiritual rest requires you to stop performing for God. Stop trying to prove your worth through your productivity. Stop measuring your faithfulness by your activity. Deepwood's refuge is meant to be a place where every layer of us can exhale, where we can be vulnerable with each other without pressure, where we can be authentic with God without performance, where we can be honest with ourselves about what we actually need.
And maybe for the first time in a very long time, we can just be. Yes, I'm still all in at Kava. Gloriously, we're primarily a remote work culture with the exception of our shoots and monthly in-person meetings. And it's my joy to drive to those. And I'm still traveling and speaking and leadership coaching regularly. And I love it. I'm in Franklin weekly because my beloved mama is still there.
Her mental situation has declined to the point that she doesn't remember where we live most days. And she introduces me as visiting from Atlanta when I'm there. So she'll be just as happy with our visits either way. And yes, we've officially had our last Sunday at Church of the City after such sweet years. And Jeffrey got to play. Thanks for that, Brantley. He was celebrated kindly during the pre-service meeting.
But a two hour commute to COTC is likely not what God has in mind for this new season. So we've officially closed that chapter with great gratitude. And now we're asking for clarity from God on our new church home when we're in town and able to attend. It will be a very new experience for us, but God's carried us this far. So he's got the next place already planned. So here's where I want to land this plane because this episode isn't really about me and Jeffrey in our log cabin.
It is about what God might be inviting you into though. Maybe you're in a season right now where you know something needs to change, but you can't quite name what. Maybe you're feeling that low grade restlessness that won't go away. Maybe you're exhausted in ways that sleep can't fix. Can I tell you something? That's not random. That's not just stress or busyness or life being hard. That may be like it was for me, your soul crying out for refuge.
EMB EP57 | Deep Woods Refuge (42:13.558)
And God hears it. He's not waiting for you to have it all figured out. He's just asking, will you trust me enough to start seeking what you need? So here's my challenge for you as you close. So here's my challenge for you as we close. First, get honest about what you actually need, not what you think you should need, not what looks spiritual or impressive. What does your soul actually need right now? More rest, better boundaries, different.
space, less noise, deeper connection with God, write it down. Second, ask God to show you what refuge could look like in your life. Maybe it's not moving to the mountains. Maybe it's creating better rhythms in the life you're already living. Maybe it's saying no to things that drain you. Maybe it's saying yes to things that refresh you. Ask him, he'll show you. And if you do want to move to the mountains, let me know. We can make some recommendations.
Third, take one step, just one. Remember, you don't need the whole plan. You just need to move in the direction God's leading. Maybe that step is a hard conversation. Maybe it's setting a boundary. Maybe it's researching something you've been afraid to explore. Maybe it's typing something into Google. Maybe it's giving yourself permission to dream differently. And fourth, find your people, the ones who will encourage you in this. That's what I did.
Find the ones who will pray for you, who will tell you the truth in love, who will celebrate with you when it goes well and sit with you when it falls apart. You're not meant to do this alone. You can't. None of my real relationships are suffering in this move. In fact, they're deepening. Turns out this is a refuge for them too. And lastly, trust the process. Even when it's messy, even when it doesn't go according to your timeline.
even when it costs more than you expected. Even when you have to move back into your house and eat Chinese food on the floor. Trust that God's timing is better than yours. Trust that his ways are higher. Trust that he's working even when you can't see it. Here's what I want you to hear more than anything else. You are worth protecting. Your soul is worth stewarding. Your peace is worth fighting for. Your margin is worth creating and your rest is worth
EMB EP57 | Deep Woods Refuge (44:38.606)
prioritizing. And the God who calls himself your refuge, he's not just willing to provide what you need, he's eager to stop running long enough to let him cover you with his wings. And when you emerge, and you will emerge, you'll engage with the world differently, from a place of fullness instead of depletion, from peace, instead of anxiety, and from rest, instead of striving.
That's what refuge does. It restores you so you can offer something real when you reengage. If you want to know more deeply and particularly about the spiritual and practical implications of Deepwood's refuge and what we're also hoping it'll be for others, you can check out my sub stack. I'm pouring out some more words there about this sweet season. But thank you for letting me invite you into this with us. Thank you for caring about our journey and I'd love to hear from you.
If this episode resonated with you, if you're in your own seeking season or you've found your own refuge or you're just trying to figure out what your soul needs, send me a message, email me, leave a comment. I want to hear your story too and I want to pray for you and encourage you in it if I can. I know what it feels like. As always, I'm so grateful you're here. I'm grateful for this community. I'm grateful that God makes everything beautiful in its time.
even when his timing makes absolutely no sense to us in the moment. So until next time, friends, may you find your refuge. May you rest deeply, may you trust wildly, and may you never forget that under his wings, you are always, always safe while he's making everything beautiful in its time. You, this community.
are one of the ways that I'm giving God so much gratitude in this season because I'm so, so thankful for you. So happy Thanksgiving from us to you and we'll see you next time.