5 Friday Favorites: July 25, 2025
It's time for my Friday link up with A Little Bit of Everything and Momfessionals.
On Fridays I share things that made me happy from the week - a photo, a song, a quote, a beauty product, a recipe, a pair of cute shoes, etc. If it's a product, sometimes it's something I actually own and sometimes something I just saw online that gave me a smile. Sometimes it's serious and sometimes it's silly. I suppose I believe that God is in the simple details of life and yes, I can even find Him in a tube of lipstick.
Good morning, Friends! Happy Friday! It’s been an exciting and stressful week with some meetings with publishers and lots of writing opportunities - devotionals, a book proposal, the actual book manuscript and the beginnings of a talk I’ll be giving in mid-August. All that to say, there has also been a TON of praying that God will be near and direct my steps.
I also have been looking into Substack which is basically an email service that many writers use. I’m not sure I will have my account up and running in time for this newsletter, but we’ll see. A warning: it’s possible you’ll get two emails with the same newsletter today, but I’ll have that figured out by next week.
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Thank you for hanging in there with me as I work out some kinks to help me expand the reach of my writing. I appreciate each and every one of you. Here are some favorite things from this week.
1. A Beautiful War: Finding Hope in the Darkest Moments by Amanda Scarborough
I came home from the Speak Up Writers Conference with an armload of books by some of the incredible people I met. A Beautiful War is one of those books and Amanda Scarborough is one of those people. Amanda’s story relays her fight through postpartum depression after the birth of her son. Amanda did not simply write this book to put her story out into the world. After only speaking with her for a few minutes, it was clear to me that she is passionate about helping women suffering the same horrible darkness by pointing them to practical solutions and to the ultimate healer, Jesus. I struggled with PPD after my son, Drew, was born and this book would have helped me to feel much less isolated. If you know someone suffering, please point them to Amanda’s website and to this heartbreaking, but hopeful story.
2. Shy Velvet Summer Linen Maxi Dress
I’ve seen this dress numerous times and it looks so comfortable. Being that every time I go outside I think I’m going to burst into flames and the humidity is around 1,000%, dresses that are flowy and barely touch my body seem like an excellent idea. This one comes in tons of colors and the reviews are great.
Sidenote: This is where I would like to give a shout out to all of my male buddies - especially some distinguished gentlemen from my Wednesday Bible Study - who are so wonderfully supportive of me that they subscribe to this newsletter. My friend, Sam, told me at church that he wasn’t sure that the red denim jumpsuit from last week was his style, but he enjoyed reading. Thank you, Sam, Dick, Bob, Chris and the rest of you guys. You’re all gems.
3. I’ve Witnessed It
I heard this song for the very first time at the Speak Up Conference. It is so beautiful. Especially these lines:
I’ve witnessed Your faithfulness. I’ve seen you breathe life within.
So I’ll pour out my praise again. You’re worthy. God, You’re worthy of all of it.
Your promises never fail. I’ve got stories I’ll live to tell.
So I’ll pour out my praise again. You’re worthy. You’re worthy of all of it.
Cue the boohooing from the girl who wants to write stories for Jesus.
4. Salonpas Pain Relief Patches
This is a terribly sad entry into Friday Favorites, but I’m just being real. These are top of the favorites for this week. Speaking of my friend, Sam, he was the first to tell me about these patches almost a year ago when I pulled a muscle in my back. Now these are a staple on my shopping list. If you seem to be at a stage in life when you hurt yourself simply by waking up in the morning, these might be your new best friend.
5. On Living without Regret
I’ve been thinking about the word “regret” a lot in the past few years. Maybe it’s because at my age I’m reflecting a lot on my life. Maybe it’s because at my age I’ve experienced the loss of my mother and the aging of my father. Maybe it’s because at my age I’m realizing that my children are no longer children.
Shall we pause while I sing a few bars of “If I could save time in a bottle . . .”?
It occurs to me that there are two types of regret. There’s regretting an action taken and feeling sorry about that. And there’s regretting an action that wasn’t taken and feeling like an opportunity was missed.
Here’s the thing I’m noodling on. I wonder if, as Christians. one of our greatest sins - one that possibly grieves the heart of God more than any other - is living a life filled with regret.
Maybe the phrase “No regrets!” conjures up a guidance counselor’s office poster depicting someone skydiving out of a airplane. Or maybe it seems ludicrous to imply that any of us imperfect human beings who sin on the regular could possibly live without regret. What kind of a delusionally conceited person would suggest such a thing?
Pretty insane. But the reason I think it’s possible has nothing to do with me. And everything to do with Jesus.
We all fall short of the glory of God. We all need to repent, make amends and ask forgiveness both of people and of Jesus. We need to discern the lessons and wisdom God offers us through the consequences we face when we fail. But then, as believers in the good news of the Gospel, we must immediately acknowledge the work of the Cross. We must immediately remind ourselves of exactly who our God is - a God who is outrageously merciful and quick to redeem. I think the problem comes when we refuse to leave our regrets at the foot of the Cross once and for all. Perhaps the greatest sin is stooping down to pick them back up, carrying them around and staying steeped them.
I understand that this is not easy. And I know people who have lived immersed in regret for years and years. It breaks my heart, so it must break His. Seems to me that consistently replaying what you should or should not have done, at best, fails to recognize what Jesus did and at worst, vehemently rejects it. If we believe He took our shame and sin on Himself to save us, then what an incredible offense it must be to Him when we stay stuck in shame.
This is the difference between God and me. God does not want to continually remind me of my mistakes and watch me suffer, like I tend to do. He wants me to be free. Today, let us lay our regrets down, leaving them there for good. Let us accept His mercy, grace and wisdom and then turn to walk in the freedom His death provided us. No regrets.
Have a blessed weekend.
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