Kelly Needham
Who I Am What I Believe Favorite Books Our Adoption Story
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Kelly Needham
Above All Else... Devotion to Christ
LATEST POSTS
I'm Writing a Book
Connecting with God through the Word
Replicating Our Faith
Biblical Womanhood & the Gospel: an audio message
Happy Galentine's Day?
Arrows to Jesus: Gift-Giving to the Glory of God
The Everyday Woman's Guide to Revelation
A Solitude Guide
Kelly's Story on TryingCollective.com
A Light in the Darkness: An Update on Redeem Halloween
Your Letter to Your Future Spouse
It's always a good time for truth
How to Cultivate Connection
Dying to Self: For Your Good and His Glory
Danger Ahead: When Mature Leaders Rely on Experience
The Greatest Work You Can Do in College
A New Kind of Couple: When Best Friends Become Romantic
Leave Neediness Out of Mentoring
True Friends Are Hard to Find
Worship the Father, Not a Lesser Shadow
Satan Wields Ignorance of the Word as a Weapon
Don't Skim the 'Minor' Bible Stories
The Unexpected Temptation in Spiritual Maturity
Why Adoption is Worth Every Obstacle
The Antidote for Apathy
More Than BFFs: When Friendship Goes Too Far
Are You Using God?
Rely on Your Savior, Not a Resolution
Disappointment in December
Women & Sexual Temptation: Learning to Talk About Lust
 
 

 

Kelly’s UPCOMING book:

friend-ish

 

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KNOWING GOD
Connecting with God through the Word
A Solitude Guide
It's always a good time for truth
Dying to Self: For Your Good and His Glory
The Greatest Work You Can Do in College
Worship the Father, Not a Lesser Shadow
The Unexpected Temptation in Spiritual Maturity
The Antidote for Apathy
Are You Using God?
Rely on Your Savior, Not a Resolution
Women & Sexual Temptation: Learning to Talk About Lust
Why Do We Suffer?
Silencing the Noise
[Food & the Bible] When Eating is Sinful
3 Metaphors for Mentorship
Let Me Fail
Waiting: The Fruit of Faith
[Friendship Gone Wrong] Unseen Neediness
A New Goal
The Bible is a Witness; Not a Savior
When Feelings and Faith Disagree
Painful Pruning: An Unavoidable Season
A Posture of Repentance
Exercising an Idle Mind
Wanted: Friends Desperate for God
Corrie Ten Boom: Extraordinary Faith in the Face of Danger
How to Handle the Grief of Miscarriage
The Threat of Joy In Ministry
The Sabbath: The Antidote for Achievement-Addicts
So you want to do something great for God...
FRIENDSHIP
I'm Writing a Book
Happy Galentine's Day?
How to Cultivate Connection
A New Kind of Couple: When Best Friends Become Romantic
Leave Neediness Out of Mentoring
True Friends Are Hard to Find
More Than BFFs: When Friendship Goes Too Far
[Friendship Gone Wrong] Unseen Neediness
Wanted: Friends Desperate for God
There is only One.
A Theology of Singleness
[Friendship Gone Wrong] The Trend of Romanticization
[Friendship Gone Wrong] The Journey to Freedom
[Friendship Gone Wrong] What's the Purpose?
[Friendship Gone Wrong] 15 Questions to Diagnose Idolatry
[Friendship Gone Wrong] No Safe Zones
[Friendship Gone Wrong] A Tale of Two Friends
The Lost Art of Letter Writing
SUFFERING
Kelly's Story on TryingCollective.com
Dying to Self: For Your Good and His Glory
Why Adoption is Worth Every Obstacle
Disappointment in December
Why Do We Suffer?
Grieve to the Glory of God
When Feelings and Faith Disagree
Painful Pruning: An Unavoidable Season
Corrie Ten Boom: Extraordinary Faith in the Face of Danger
How to Handle the Grief of Miscarriage
Just Because
No Good Thing Does He Withhold - Part 2
No Good Thing Does He Withhold - Part 1
 
 
 
 

I'd love to come teach at your event.

 
 
 
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ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS
Happy Galentine's Day?
Your Letter to Your Future Spouse
It's always a good time for truth
Dying to Self: For Your Good and His Glory
A Wife After God's Own Heart, Part 2
A Wife After God's Own Heart, Part 1
A Theology of Singleness
A Heart for Home: Part 1
Women, We Are Influencers
Womanhood for the Glory of God
PARENTING
Arrows to Jesus: Gift-Giving to the Glory of God
Why Adoption is Worth Every Obstacle
Grieve to the Glory of God
How to Handle the Grief of Miscarriage
How Caring for Children Changes the World
So you want to do something great for God...
There is only One.
A Jesus-Heart for Children, Part 3
A Jesus-Heart for Children, Part 2
A Jesus-Heart for Children, Part 1
A Heart for Home: Part 1
Womanhood for the Glory of God
Servanthood: the Path to Greatness
Just Because
Safer Than a Known Way
Children: Burden or Blessing?
The Influence of a Woman
Norwegian Lessons
Lessons in Sleeplessness
A Greater End
Fullness of Joy
No Good Thing Does He Withhold - Part 2
No Good Thing Does He Withhold - Part 1
FOOD & THE BIBLE
[Food & the Bible] Do We Give Food Too Much Glory?
[Food & the Bible] When Eating is Sinful
[Food & the Bible] Not by Bread Alone
[Food & the Bible] Good Food, Bad Food
Food & the Bible
“Faithful beats famous.” . Just heard my husband say this on the panel at the #letuslinger conference. . So proud of this man who has really lived what he’s preached these last few years, serving the local church in lieu of his normal rhythm of touring and releasing records. I’d follow him anywhere. . Let’s all apply this truth and pursue faithfulness where God has placed us instead of chasing fame where he hasn’t placed us. . 📸: @charityclaytonphotography
This is love: that while I arrogantly opposed God in my sin, he died for me. That while I persisted in my self-centered and self-righteous ways, he pursued me and made me his own. I only understand love and am able to love because of how he’s loved me. He is my first love, my eternal husband, my everlasting father. . The song @jimmyneedham wrote to propose to me is based off of Isaiah 54:10. (Read it below) And I love that. From the beginning, our marriage has existed to display the glorious love of God through Christ. Our marriage is the shadow, but knowing Jesus is the substance. . Are you single today and longing to be pursued? Are you in a painful and difficult marriage today and depressed by the loneliness you feel? Are you widowed or divorced and wondering if the painful memories will ever fade and if there is hope for something new? . My friend, there is hope. Romantic relationships are only the shadow of a far superior reality that is available to you today! Jesus today offers you the only relationship that will ever fully satisfy. And though you cannot see him with your eyes and touch him with your hands and hear him with your ears, he is no less real and his love is no less satisfying. Meet him today in the pages of your bible. Wait for him today on your knees. Keep asking him for to be present until he answers. . If there is one thing I want to convince the world of it’s this: that nothing—NOTHING—compares to the surpassing greatness of knowing Jesus Christ. Marriage, romance, career success, friendship, children, food, money—all are a loss compared to the joy it is to know the Creator. May you fight to believe that it’s true today! . “For your husband is your Maker, Whose name is the LORD of hosts; And your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel, Who is called the God of all the earth. "For the LORD has called you, Like a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit, Even like a wife of one's youth when she is rejected," Says your God. "For the mountains may be removed and the hills may shake, But My lovingkindness will not be removed from you, And My covenant of peace will not be shaken," Says the LORD who has compassion on you.” ‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭54:5-6, 10
It’s official: friendship is now responsible for the creation of 2 new national holidays: Friendsgiving in November and today, #GalentinesDay. . I think it’s safe to say that friendship is rising in it’s importance in the lives of Americans, especially young Americans. With the largest population of singles in United States history, are we surprised? People might not be getting married and settling down, but they’re still looking for a sense of community, belonging, and stability. And their gaze is turning to friendship. . I think we’d all agree that having deep and meaningful friendships are unequivocally a good and necessary thing. But can our they hold up under the pressure of being a primary source stability and belonging? What happens when our #BFF moves away? Or our #bestie gets engaged? Or a new friend changes the dynamics of our #squad ? . With so much emphasis on #friendship, we’re faced with a new batch of questions and concerns. We find ourselves in new situations and scenarios. And that’s why I wrote Friend-ish, my upcoming book. . Because while most people are convinced of their need for friendship, many are confused about the problems and disappointment they experience in this area. . My hope is that this book will give you clarity to understand the problems you face in friendship and confidence to pursue stable and satisfying friendships in every season of your life. . Check out the link in my profile for more info on the book and how you can help me get the word out! . Also, thanks to my amazing friends who joined me in a friendship photo shoot recently!! ❤️ . 📸: @charityclaytonphotography . #friendshipgoals #galentinesday2019 #bffgoals #bestiegoals #squadgoals
Where do you need strength today?⠀ .⠀ Maybe you need courage to have a hard conversation. Or lots of patience with your kids. Or endurance to keep believing God's promises because they just don't seem true today. Or energy to be the caregiver for that family member. Or a willingness to keep doing the work you're called to but are becoming weary of.⠀ .⠀ The reality is, if you are a Christian, then God has opened a bank account and funded it with all the strength you could ever need. And he's put your name on the account! In Him, you have more than enough strength for today and every day.⠀ .⠀ If this is true, then why is it so difficult for us to look to God for the strength we need? I think it's because receiving God's strength requires the only thing we hate to possess: need. We hate being needy. We hate being in situations where we need more than we ourselves can provide. But that is the very requirement of accessing God's abundant strength. Notice it with me in these verses:⠀ .⠀ Isaiah 40:29 says, "He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength."⠀ .⠀ 2 Corinthians 12:9 says, "But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for kmy power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me."⠀ .⠀ Who gets the strength and power of God? The faint. The one with no might. The one with weaknesses. To receive God's strength we must forsake the American narrative that makes us the hero ("Look at how hard I worked and what I accomplished.") and embrace a Biblical narrative where God is the hero ("Look at how weak I was and all the strength God supplied.")⠀ .⠀ Where do you need strength today? Don't look inward to yourself for what you need. Take your need to storehouses of God and find in Him all the strength you need. ⠀ For "they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength;⠀ they shall mount up with wings like eagles;⠀ they shall run and not be weary;⠀ they shall walk and not faint." (Isaiah 40:31)⠀ .⠀ 📸 : @charityclaytonphotography
Two years ago, we met you. Two years ago, we welcomed you into our arms as our son. You have infused our lives with more joy than I could ever imagine! . Happy Gotcha Day, Benjamin! . #gotchaday #indiaadoption #internationaladoption #adoptionjourney #ouradoptionstory
Sure, it my look like me, but there’s someone different underneath. An entirely new person with new desires, new preferences, and new tendencies. . It’s interesting to me that when Paul answers the question, “shall we continue to sin?” he appeals not to right or wrong but to our new identity. . “How can we who died to sin still live in it? We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God.” - Romans 6:2, 6, 22 . Our former self is as gone as a corpse in the grave. We are dead to sin now. We are slaves to God now. So how does it even make sense to continue in sin? . Our new identity in Christ and our union with Him is Paul’s argument against our temptation to sin. It’s just not who we are anymore. . Like the butterfly trying to crawl through the dirt like the caterpillar he once was, when we go back to our sin we embrace an old way of life no longer fitting to who we are now. When we go back to our sin, we choose a constricted life on the ground when we’ve been given wings to fly. Why would we even want to stay in the ground? Why go back to eating leaves when we have been made to drink the sweet nectar of the flower? . We might not have the same external evidence of metamorphosis like the butterfly, but the change within every Christian is just as real and permanent. . If you are in Christ today, if you have trusted Jesus to be your righteousness, then you are a new creature! Your old self is dead and buried. You’ve been given wings to fly, so use them. You’ve been given new taste buds, so eat accordingly. You’ve been united permanently to the risen Christ, so walk in newness of life today. . Why should we resist the temptation to sin today? Because it’s not who we are anymore. Christian, you’ve already been made righteous. So be who you are. Taste and see how much better God is than the empty and bitter flavors of sin. We’ve been given wings to fly, so why stay on the ground? . 📸: @charityclaytonphotography
I’m thanking God today that I am married to a man who goes on frequent prayer walks and still wants to date me. A man who doesn’t get discouraged by conflict but sees it as an opportunity for learning and growth. A man who reads the Bible to our kids and takes them on one-on-one dates. . If you’ve been impacted by anything I’ve taught or written, you should know that the discipleship, leadership, and direction I’ve received from @jimmyneedham is behind it. I would not be doing what I’m doing now without him. Submission to him is a joy because I am flourishing underneath his leadership. . If we will fix our eyes on Christ—not each other—in marriage, our joy will multiply. When we look to Jesus, not our spouse, for satisfaction and purpose, things like headship and submission fall into place so naturally that it’s hard to imagine doing it any other way. . If you’re married, love Jesus, look to Jesus, find your joy in Jesus. And then serve your spouse for the glory of God! Few things are as joyful as this! . 📸: @charityclaytonphotography
The Bible is clear that the created world is a teacher. It educates us in who the Creator is. As Paul says it: “For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.” (Romans 1:20) . Rocks and leaves and animals and sunsets and spiderwebs and rainstorms and stars and seasons all teach of God’s eternal power and divine nature. . The question is: are we listening? Are we paying attention? Are we slowing down enough to learn the lessons nature has to teach us? . Are we thanking God for who he is or are we making the same mistake of the fools in Romans 1:21 by avoiding his existence all together? . Today, notice the way the light brings out the veins in a leaf and thank him. Notice the sparkle of the snow on the ground and thank him. Notice the warmth you feel in the sunlight and the way the grass perks up after the rain and thank him. Don’t miss the lesson creation is offering today. . 📸: @charityclaytonphotography . #naturephotography #naturelovers #nature_photo #seekthelord