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Lauren Gaskill

Encouraging women to live in faith and joy

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Moving Beyond Brokenness to Experience Breakthrough

January 14, 2019 • 3 Comments

Jennifer Renee Watson joins me today for the first episode in our “Breakthrough” She Found Joy podcast series! Jennifer is an author, mother of two miracle babies and out-of-box minister’s wife. Her passion is to see women experience a real breakthrough and break up with their emotional baggage. Her debut book, Freedom! The Gutsy Pursuit of Breakthrough and the Life Beyond It comes out Feb. 19. You can enter to win a copy by heading over to the She Found Joy Instagram page.

In this episode of the She Found Joy Podcast, Jennifer and I chat about:

  • What true breakthrough is and why we should adapt a breakthrough (not stuck) mindset.
  • Why the Holy Spirit will always be stronger than what tries to break us.
  • How to move beyond our brokenness to move forward in our faith journey.
  • How even in the seasons when we feel like there is no fight left in us, we have someone fighting on our behalf.

P.S. If you’ve been blessed by the She Found Joy Podcast, or if this episode blesses you, it would mean the world to me if you left a review on iTunes. This will help more people find the show and learn more about the joy of Jesus.

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His Love Is Deep

December 3, 2018 • 1 Comment

My husband and I walked hand in hand, away from the shoreline and down Jennette’s Pier in Nags Head, North Carolina, my eyes growing wider with every step we took. The meteorologist on the morning news had warned us that Hurricane Michael was quickly approaching the Outer Banks islands, and the winds had picked up to at least 30 miles per hour.

I squeezed my man’s hand and leaned in close as the pier’s wind turbines whipped and squeaked at rapid intervals above our heads. To my left and right, the waves raged and swirled whitecaps at every angle, creating along with the wind a symphony of chaos and sound. Come midnight, Michael would hit the pier with all of its force and fury, about a month after Florence had threatened to take the islands out.

We reached the end of the pier and I stopped and stared out into the distance, marveling at the magnitude and beauty of the Atlantic stretched out before me.

How wide, how long, how high, and how deep my love is for you, daughter.

The wind and waves should have drowned out any other sound from making its way into my brain, but these words echoed crisply in my mind.

Yes, His love is stronger, wider, longer, higher and deeper than any pier, ocean or hurricane.

God’s Love Will Carry Us

I’ve spent a great deal of my life caught in what I like to call the undertow of doubt, fear and despair. When the waves of chronic pain, depression and anxiety came crashing over my head, I didn’t know how to overcome them, and so I closed myself off from receiving God’s love and believing things would get better. I heard people say His love was strong enough to save me, but after years of battling the same issues and seeing little to no progress, I had hardened my heart to the truth.

I can’t pinpoint the moment when God’s love finally broke through my incomprehension. It’s not as if I woke up one morning and instantly felt God’s love. Instead, much like my unraveling, recognizing and accepting God’s love was a process.

The more I prayed for God to reveal and help me feel His love, the more He showed up in the most amazing ways to woo me back to Him.

There’s not enough space here for me to tell you the many ways God’s love has carried me through the high sea battles I’ve faced over the years, but I will tell you this: the depths of His great love saved and continue to save me from sinking into the undertow of doubt, fear and despair every single day.

I don’t know what high sea battles you are facing today, but I do know that His love can and will carry you too. All it takes is a little courage and a tiny seed of faith that’s willing to say, “OK, God, I can’t face this storm alone, but I’m trusting You and Your love to carry me through to the other side.”

May we all have the power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ today and every day (Ephesians 3:18). And may we declare, right here and now, that the only thing we are going to drown in in this life is God’s deep love — not the deep waters that surround us.

Say it with me: Jesus, I need your love. 

Want to learn more about God’s deep love and go deeper in your faith? Read my new book, Into the Deep: Diving into a Life of Courageous Faith.

Why I Wrote a Book

November 6, 2018 • 3 Comments

into the deep lauren gaskill

“Did you hear about Jessica?” I overheard them whisper.

“She nearly overdosed at a party last weekend and now she’s in a treatment facility,” another added. “Poor thing. How sad.”

Poor thing. How sad.

While I didn’t know the Jessica whom they spoke of, I was pretty familiar with the words they used to describe her. Because every time I looked in the mirror that’s exactly what I said about myself.

I picked up my backpack, not wanting to hear more of their conversation, and beelined it for the library exit. But before my feet could take me down the ramp, I found myself headed for the Christian nonfiction department instead.

At this point in my faith journey and experience with chronic pain, anxiety and depression, I really struggled to read the Bible. In my pain, none of it felt real to me. The stories seemed like a distant fairy tale — something only for people who had it all together and not for someone as messed up as me. Maybe you can relate to feeling this way.

Though I didn’t find what I was looking for that day, later that night I came across an advertisement for Francis Chan’s Crazy Love. After years of praying and pleading for God to take my suffering away, the title of the first chapter stopped me in my tracks: Stop Praying.

Francis writes, “What if I said, Stop praying?” What if I told you to stop talking at God for awhile, but instead to take a long, hard look at Him before you speak another word?”

Now, this might not seem revolutionary to you, but for my 18-year-old self, it’s what God used to begin the healing process in my heart. Let me be clear: I didn’t wake up the next morning and feel completely set free from all of my pain. In fact, life got much worse before it got better about four years after reading the book … but while Crazy Love did not make my life better overnight, the book certainly ministered to me in one of the deepest valleys of my life. And for that, I am forever grateful.

Books are powerful, and it is through this experience that I 1) learned about their potential to change lives and 2) vowed to do the same for someone else by writing a book if it was God’s will someday.

Shortly after reading Crazy Love, I started blogging and finally picked up the Bible in an attempt to revive and go deeper in my faith. And you know what happened? As I dove deeper into my relationship with God, He pulled me up out of the undertow of doubt, darkness and despair, and into a place of joy, hope, peace, freedom and courageous faith as I learned to swim through life with Him.

And He can and will do the same for you if you reach out for Him!

My first book, Into the Deep: Diving Into a Life of Courageous Faith, is the story of God helped me rediscover and go deeper in faith, but it is also a love letter to you. All 201 pages are full of love and encouragement to help you go deeper in your faith journey — whatever you may be going through.

This book is a lifelong book because faith is a lifelong journey. 

This one is for the fighters.
The overcomers.
The ones who want to rise above.
This one is for the one’s who are tired of trying to swim through life’s deep waters on their own.
For the overwhelmed.
For the one who wonders … is there more to life?
For the one who wants to step out of fear and into courage and faith.

Order your copy today, and get ready to exchange fear and frustration for the boldness, courage, and holy confidence that lead to a life of deep faith and joy!

And remember: The waves of life are no match for those who are courageous enough to live by faith.

All my love,
Lauren

She Found Joy #10: Michelle Jewsbury: Healing From Abuse and Empowering Others to Do the Same

October 29, 2018 • Leave a Comment

Michelle Jewsbury joins me today for She Found Joy #10! Michelle is an author, actress, speaker and humanitarian. She is passionate about using her natural talents to make the world a better place by combating domestic violence worldwide. She is the founder of Unsilenced Voices, a nonprofit working to help men and women who are victims of domestic abuse worldwide.

In this episode of the She Found Joy Podcast, Michelle and I chat about:

  • What its like working on a movie set.
  • Healing from and speaking out against domestic abuse.
  • How to extend kindness and grace to ourselves and stop self sabotaging.
  • What to do with the God-sized dreams we feel called to pursue.

P.S. If you’ve been blessed by the She Found Joy Podcast, or if this episode blesses you, it would mean the world to me if you left a review on iTunes. This will help more people find the show and learn more about the joy of Jesus.

Links from the Show

But I Love Him book
Unsilenced Voices

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Domestic abuse is not your fault.” @mjewsbury #SheFoundJoyPodcast

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If you feel like you’re drowning today, reach out for Jesus and just keep swimming. #SheFoundJoyPodcast

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The Road to Joy Is the Road to Trust {Guest Post by Danita Janae}

October 17, 2018 • 6 Comments

Please join me in welcoming Danita Janae to the blog, as she guest posts about finding joy in God’s word, even if at first it irritates you.

Something you and Lauren and I have in common is our quest to find joy even in the face of chronic illness, depression, and plenty of other trials. But to be honest with you, I used to detest that verse that says, “Count it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you face trials of many kinds because the testing of your faith will produce perseverance,” James 1:2-3. That verse annoyed me. Why? Because if I read something in God’s Word, then I believe it’s true. And whenever I read something in God’s Word that doesn’t line up with my experience, it aggravates me. But in a good way. Bare with me here.

That aggravation is so much like what makes a pearl at the bottom of the sea. Stay with me. A tiny speck of irritation rubs and rubs against the inside of an oyster until it transforms into a little round reflection of the very thing it was irritating. Are you tracking? It’s like when I come to God’s Word, His radiant, luminescent, transcending Word, sometimes it irritates me. Like how “hot and cold should not come out of the same mouth.” I’m going to rub up against that Word because it irritates my flesh. But the glory of God is that you become Who you hang out with. So, the more you hang out with God’s word, the more He rubs off on you, and eventually, you become like Him. How do we “be holy as He is holy?” How do we find that “peace that passes understanding” and that “joy unspeakable” that everyone talks about?

It’s attainable. She found joy, (wink, wink) and I found it too. But the road to getting there wasn’t anything like I expected. I didn’t find joy when my physical illnesses were miraculously healed. I didn’t find joy when my mental illnesses were miraculously healed. I didn’t find joy when my mind was delivered from a butt-load of oppressive thoughts. I feel joyful thanks to each of these amazing works of God, but that’s not where I found joy. I first found joy in the trials, then later it was just a bonus to find joy again in the miracles. Because joy is not a thing to attain, it’s a Person to get to know. Joy is the Person of Jesus Christ.

The Road to Joy Is the Road to Trust

And here’s what I realized. Jesus doesn’t jump out of a birthday box on the day of healing and say, “Ta da!! You’re healed so you can have joy now!” Nope.

He is also there when you are bawling on your bathroom floor and kicking in the wall because you feel like this illness is never going to end. He is also there when you want to just take your life because you feel like what’s the point of enduring one more day?

Joy comes and sits down with you in that moment. And you get to decide how you will answer one basic question.

“Do you trust Me?” 

Your answer to that question is going to determine the level of joy in your life.

This transcends circumstances. Joy isn’t about circumstances. I’ve been through enough heartache and grief and depression to confirm that joy is not about circumstances.

Does that sound a little audacious to say such a thing? That the level of your joy is determined by how you answer one question? “Can you trust God?” Here’s my foundation for saying this. I have lived and experienced Romans 15:13 through my husband’s deployment, through heartache, through depression, and all kinds of trials. I clung to this Word. I rubbed up against it until it became a core part of my countenance and my identity:

“May the God of all hope fill you will all joy and peace as you trust in Him so that you may overflow in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit,” (Romans 15:13).

Isn’t that what everyone is after? Some hope and joy and peace? People are trying through their workouts, their social feeds, their coffee addictions, their pictures of unicorns and rainbows.  People are trying. We all want some hope and joy and peace. But I’m telling you. It was the trials and the sufferings that actually brought me to the place of joy and the Person of Joy. The key words for me in this verse are “AS YOU TRUST IN HIM.” Every time I write it out, I draw an arrow under those words, “as you trust” that points to “in Him.” As you trust in Him. That is the road to joy. It’s the road of trust.

So, let’s talk a little about that trust. It’s not a grit-your-teeth-and-bare-it type of thing here. It’s not a by-golly-I’m-gonna-do-this. Because see what it says, “by the power of the Holy Spirit.” That means it’s not on you. It’s His power that gets you to this place. Let’s rest in that right off the bat, shall we?

I believe the precursor to joy is vulnerability. And I believe that vulnerability and shame are in a war against each other within you. If shame wins, it squelches the joy. If vulnerability wins, trust grows, and as promised, the God of all hope fills you up with joy and peace as you trust in Him.

So, what does that look like in real life? It looks like being honest with God about what parts of His promises offend your way of thinking. That’s vulnerable. That’s an act of trusting God with your whole heart and where you’re really at, not pretending to be where you think you should be. It’s about being honest with God about your doubts. Did you know that telling God you have doubts is an act of faith? You demonstrate faith in God’s goodness and faithfulness to you to meet you in your place of doubt and to have to power to help you overcome it. That’s faith.

My challenge to you? This week, take note of where God’s truth irritates your flesh and your experiences. Take note and be honest with God about it. Quit pretending, stuffing, or saying, “I shouldn’t feel this way.” Be vulnerable and offer even those places of your heart and emotions to the Lord. Then, you have set your heart on the vulnerable path of trusting the Lord that will lead you to greater peace and joy.

Prayer: Lord God, help me be honest with you. Break down shame and facades that keep me from being vulnerable with you. Help me trust you more and fill me with all joy and all peace as I do so. In Jesus’ Name, amen.

Wanna go a little deeper with this? I’m sharing a real-life, practical example of how this plays out. A pretty vulnerable story about how being honest with my self-worth led me down the path to Joy. I’d love for you to stop by www.SplatterJoy.com, my little online home. We can pick up the rest of the conversation there.

Thanks for having me pop in, Lauren. You are a joy to me!

She Found Joy #9: Holly Christine Hayes: From Addiction to Freedom In Christ

October 15, 2018 • Leave a Comment

She Found Joy Podcast #9 with Holly Christine Hayes

The lovely Holly Christine Hayes joins me today for She Found Joy #9. After discovering Holly was a fellow writer and Cavalier King Charles Spaniel lover on Instagram, I just knew I had to have this likeminded sister on the show! Aside from being a wife, writer, speaker and dog mama, Holly is the founder of The Sanctuary Project, a community of trafficking, violence and addiction survivors and their advocates with a mission of creating beautiful products with messages of hope.

Sidenote: She Found Joy might be teaming up with The Sanctuary Project in Austin, TX as part of the 2019 Ladies Night Out Tour, so stay tuned!

In this episode of the She Found Joy Podcast, Holly and I chat about:

  • The dangers of escapism and how to break free from the chains of addiction.
  • Spiritual disciplines that lead to healing and wholeness.
  • The heart transformation and freedom Christ offers verses the behavior modification and sin management the world advocates.
  • Resting in the overwhelming love and grace of Jesus
  • How to help others going through addiction

P.S. If you’ve been blessed by the She Found Joy Podcast, or if this episode blesses you, it would mean the world to me if you left a review on iTunes. This will help more people find the show and learn more about the joy of Jesus.

Links from the Show

Sanctuary Project
From Basement to Sanctuary

Connect with Holly

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Tweet the Podcast

“My life changed with three simple words: God help me.” @holly_c_hayes #SheFoundJoyPodcast

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God cares about our pain but He cares more about our character. #SheFoundJoyPodcast

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Hi, dear friend! I'm so glad you're here. And though I wish we could be meeting face-to-face over coffee, I'm grateful for the chance to know you here. The community here inspires me, and I hope you feel like you belong while you're here. If you'd like to connect with me, please follow me on social media. I want to hear from you, so please reach out! And don't forget to sign up for my newsletter — you'll get access to special content and freebies.

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Introducing our sweet baby boy, Graham Gregg Gaski Introducing our sweet baby boy, Graham Gregg Gaskill! 

Our precious son made his long awaited arrival into this world 4/8/21 at 12:27 pm weighing in at 9 lbs. 5 oz. 

His name means gift of God, symbol of healing, watchful and wide awake, and valorous.

Graham: gift of God in some cultures, but it also can mean “grain,” and is representative of the new grain we’ve all been given access to — Jesus’ body broken for our healing. Gregg is after Alex’s dad and means wide-awake, watchful and vigilant. Gaskill: valorous. 

All I can say are the first words I uttered when I had the beautiful opportunity to catch him and pull him to my chest: He’s perfect. 

We are blessed. 🌈
Waves. They come and they go; they push and they p Waves. They come and they go; they push and they pull. All the while, the tides rise and fall, drawn by forces unseen.

Forces unseen ... It’s amazing to me that the same world that so easily acknowledges the unseen, powerful forces behind the ocean’s activity is often skeptical or unreceptive to the unseen, powerful forces behind the supernatural realm. 

And yet, if there is one thing I’ve learned in my journey of learning the things of the unseen Kingdom of God, it’s that what Paul communicated in 2 Corinthians 4:18 is true: What is unseen is eternal — greater and more real than what is seen. And the circumstances, emotions, and things we experience here? Well, they are temporary.

Your situation might not look like it’s changing, but I promise you as you focus on the things unseen God has showed you and promised you about your life, like the falling and rising of the tides, the power of the Holy Spirit is bringing the substance of those things unseen to pass right in front of your eyes. 

Seek, ask, believe, receive, and keep your eyes on Jesus, sweet friend. He’s not going to let you down. 

📷 @kate.mclaws
“I look up to the mountains and hills, longing f “I look up to the mountains and hills, longing for God’s help. But then I realize that our true help and protection is only from the Lord, our Creator who made the heavens and the earth. He will guard and guide me, never letting me stumble or fall. God is my keeper; he will never forget nor ignore me. He will never slumber nor sleep; he is the Guardian-God for his people, Israel. Yahweh himself will watch over you; he’s always at your side to shelter you safely in his presence. He’s protecting you from all danger both day and night. He will keep you from every form of evil or calamity as he continuously watches over you. You will be guarded by God himself. You will be safe when you leave your home, and safely you will return. He will protect you now, and he’ll protect you forevermore!” {Psalm 121 TPT} 

This is just one of so many sections of Scripture I’ve been declaring over our family in this season. What about you?
Isaiah 59 struck me in a new and powerful way this Isaiah 59 struck me in a new and powerful way this week. In verses 15,-16, the prophet writes, “Then the Lord saw it, and it displeased Him That there was no justice. He saw that there was no man, And wondered that there was no intercessor; Therefore His own arm brought salvation for Him; And His own righteousness, it sustained Him.“

The passage goes on to say that when the enemy comes in like a flood, the Lord lifts up a standard against Him. Yes, He always breaks through for us. And because He sent us salvation through Jesus when He saw the depth of our need for a Savior, we now carry that same spirit and person of breakthrough inside of us. 

More than ever, I am convinced that the breakthroughs we find ourselves needing in this journey called life are not somewhere “out there” waiting for us. Instead, Jesus is waiting for us to turn to Him, acknowledge every good thing He’s already placed in us, and rest in knowing that as we stand on His Word, He is bringing every promise to complete fulfillment in our lives. 

Drop a 🙌🏼 in the comments if you’re thankful the God of breakthrough lives inside of you today!
Sleepy boop 🐶 @boopmynose Sleepy boop 🐶 @boopmynose
Everything is starting to come back to life here i Everything is starting to come back to life here in Raleigh. The birds are singing. The trees, flowers, and bushes are budding — some even flowering. It’s amid this flurry of new life that I find my heart longing to awaken to an even deeper revelation of the truth of the new life that is living on the inside of me every day. I have tasted and seen bits and pieces of the goodness of this new life, but it’s not enough to simply know it exists. I want the new life that Jesus has given me to radiate from every part of my being. Not just my spirit, but my soul and body too. 

My hope is found in remembering that it is GOD who causes seeds to grow and bloom, both in the landscape of our world and in the garden of my heart. I yield my heart to Him and the truth of His Word, and He brings the increase by His grace. I cannot make the seed of His Word and new life grow. I can water it through communion with Jesus, but I can’t make it produce life in my own strength or by my own power of will.

This is what I hold onto in faith: That I don’t have to understand how He turns the winter into spring. But just the promise that He does. Even when spring seems like it has been delayed. It always comes. 🌿
I call this my “I love the Word of God speaking I call this my “I love the Word of God speaking face.” 😂😂 Hard to believe it’s officially been a little more than a year since I stepped onto a stage to minister the word of God. I’m so grateful for the many other opportunities God has given me to share the Word in this season of life, whether that be through a conversation at the gym, an interview, or a @shefoundjoy podcast episode, but goodness, am I looking forward to the day when I can share the love, goodness, truth, and power of Jesus to a room full of precious, smiling people. 

If your church is opened/opening up, please know I’m open to speaking opportunities, even after sweet Baby G is born! Message or email me for inquiries or booking info. (Thanks again to @rochelle.merrell for allowing me to speak at @catchthefireraleigh’s women’s event last year! We had such a blast!! And @_j_knee, that was when we became friends!!) 💜
If there is one thing pregnancy and preparing for If there is one thing pregnancy and preparing for birth have taught me, it’s that Jesus really does have to be my source for everything, and I wasn’t meant to carry burdens. (I’m sure motherhood teaches this on an even deeper level.) But really, we all need Jesus. And we weren’t meant to carry burdens. We were meant to carry LIFE. 

Whether or not you ever carry a child, your inheritance is to be a carrier of the light and life of Jesus for all of your days. That means saying no to holding on to negative emotions, memories, thoughts, or anything else the enemy of our souls wants to try and make us carry. 

With Baby G making his arrival any day now, I’ll be honest: The last few weeks have been brutal. Holy Spirit has been bringing a lot of things to the surface, and some days, all I can do is just cry, surrender, and choose to trust all over again that God will settle what still needs to be settled and be faithful to what He’s spoken over our family. But through this grueling process, I have learned in a greater way why it is so important to cast every burden and care on Jesus. Because if we don’t, the very weight of them will eventually crush us. 

What cares or burdens do you need to cast upon Him today? He is more than willing and able to carry the weight, and in exchange, fill you with His light and life.
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