Faith is only real when and once it’s been tested

& patience is definitely something that tests and strengthens our faith

(whether we want it or like it or not!)

patience is a fruit of the spirit & is important to our faith so it’s worth growing in! patience is something God wants to grow & build in us for our good and His glory. in a season of waiting, we get to learn how to joyfully surrender our lives into His hands.

God is actually patient with us! His timing is kind because it’s for our good and His glory!

Do not give up in the waiting! Do NOT settle for what is easier. God’s path and way is often the narrow road, but submitting to His will and choosing to follow Him anyway is WORTH IT. Rest & Trust because He is worthy of our trust. God wants our full hearts to be captured by HIM & work in every single part of us and the deepest parts of our hearts.

Waiting that leads us to God and strengthens our trust in Him is better than rushing that leads to disappointment.

Often times a season of waiting is also a season that God is preparing your heart for something good. Ultimately, God is always preparing our hearts for eternity with Him!

Truths to Cling to in the Waiting:

• God is using this time to prepare you for something GOOD. Try looking at a season of waiting as a season of preparation.

• He WILL fulfill his promises to you. He has already fulfilled lots of them! He will do it again.

• HOPE in God & nothing else.

• Root yourself deeply in the word of God

• Don’t let this be a time of wandering or letting your curiosity get the best of you. Keep your eyes on Jesus & stay the narrow but better path!

• Grow more attached to Jesus, and less attached to things of this world

• Know that God protects you & intercedes for you even when you don’t see it

• NO hard thing for the people of God is outside His wise and gracious sovereignty and rule - He IS in control

• Rest & Trust! Sometimes it is the time to act & sometimes it is an act of obedience to be still (gonna have to let you use your own discernment on that one!)

Thank you for reading! If this helps one person, it’s worth it! Thankful for YOU !!!

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He wants to and is capable of healing your hurt that comes from living in a broken and sinful world. He is a reliable rock and refuge to turn to!

the hurt you’re experiencing right now is not from God. our loving God does not wish hurt upon anyone. our loving God knows that hurt is a result of the realities of living in such a broken and sinful world. Even when it feels like God’s not doing anything about, He HAS and IS actively working.

There is no love so great and so wonderful as the heart of Christ. He delights in sharing mercy and is ready to support the sorrowful and suffering. Jesus understands your pain and agony. His heart is full of deep and overwhelming compassion. He is gentle, humble, caring and loving. He draws near to and cares for the brokenhearted. He heals. He loves you.

Look to the cross & fix your eyes on Jesus! The cross is indisputable proof that God loves you because it’s the place where He gave his absolute best for you. He pursues you and wants to love you in the midst of your mess. The cross also shows us how much Christ understands the depths of our pain, even more than we could imagine. He has been crushed by darkness and felt forsaken. Lastly, the cross proves God can take the worst and bring good out of it.

what’s helpful when we’re hurting:

• take it one day at a time & then one week at a time

• Meet yourself where you’re at & have grace with yourself

• Hold fast to what is GOOD! (and what’s good is from God)

• Cling to the cross. Jesus is enough & you are enough through Jesus’ finished work on the cross.

• meditate on and trust the word of God

• it’s ok to ask someone to open the door for you when your hands are full. the same applies for the burdens you’re carrying. let your people in, ask for help & accept the love that God and others want to give you.

• take care of the basics: eat, sleep, move your body & get some sunshine

• pray, pray, pray - just start talking to God. (He can & wants to carry your burdens)

• rest secure in God’s care. He protects you and intercedes on your behalf.

• count the joys!!!! there are tiny joys ALL around

• God will provide: ask for what you need and want. He delights in giving His children the desires of their hearts.

• Forgiveness is everything. Accept God’s forgiveness, forgive yourself and forgive others. It’s our calling and it’s for our own good.

• look for the lesson when you’re ready. God will form you more into the likeness of His image through this if you allow Him to. He will deepen your faith, strengthen your character, more clearly reveal His love for you and that is valuable.

Thank you for reading! If this helps one person, it’s worth it to me! Love you !!!!

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The more we come to understand how desperately we are in need of God’s grace and mercy, the more we can turn to and accept it from Him!

The people next to us don’t need the gospel more than we do; they need it differently. All people sin and fall short. When we humbly admit our need and brokenness, that’s the exact moment we allow Jesus to enter into it and fill it with himself!

The way we view and understand ourselves in relation to God, will also shape how we view and treat others. It is urgently important that we reflect the true heart of the Lord that is generously merciful and forgiving, rather than judgmental.

but this tends to be easier said than done! our human nature is self-centered and self-focused apart from God’s constantly interceding grace.

The good news is that we have God’s amazing, forgiving, rescuing, transforming and delivering Grace available to us through Jesus’ finished and complete work on the cross for us.

The cross is indisputable proof that God loves you because He gave his absolute BEST (His perfect and only son) for you and me !!!!

God delights in pursuing us in the midst of and meeting us in our mess!

Confession and Prayer Activity:

1. Confess our sinful nature, brokenness and desperate need for God

2. Thank God for the gift of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, and our only hope

3. Pray and ask God to fill our need, and to give us His heart of love, grace and forgiveness

4. Pray for our Christian communities: ask for God’s help to cultivate a welcoming, loving and forgiving environment always, and pray for us to always reflect a true “aroma of Christ” in the way we act and speak.

Thank you for your support and consideration of my writing! Live in His grace & walk in His love today! As always, I would love for you and welcome you to share with me any prayer requests HERE.

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A new year is an opportunity to let God renew, refresh, and reenter our soul and spirit. The new year offers an invitation to reorient our minds, hearts, and lives to the most important thing - Jesus! He is our rock and refuge. He knows you fully and loves you deeply & intimately. He will never leave or forsake you. What a gift that we can rest securely in Him!

Elisabeth Elliot wisely said “The demise of our own plan can reveal to us and shatter a false God”. Surrendering our plan actually gives us complete freedom to worship and give ourself fully to the true one. Let’s run to the real deal this year!

The reality is Jesus is the only person who will never let us down, the only person worthy of our full trust, attention, adoration and affection.

this year, let’s wake up every morning and give ourselves & our day to God. He is the Creator and Sustainer of all things good and all good things! When we connect more deeply to Him, we will be shaped to be more like Him.

let’s seek God more deeply this year together. let’s chose to have our joy in Him, even if we don’t see the fruit of it!

let’s love boldly, truthfully, kindly, freely and vulnerably. & do everything through prayer. lets do this 2025!!!!!

Books that bring hope for a new year!

The Heart of Jesus: How He Really Feels about You

In The Lord I Take Refuge: 150 Daily Devotionals through Psalms

Suffering is Never for Nothing by Elisabeth Elliot

Forgive: Why Should I and How Can I by Tim Keller

Thank you for your support and consideration of my writing! As always, I would love for you and welcome you to share with me any prayer requests HERE.

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God wants to heal your rejection & turn it into redemption!

Rejection - something i always think is gonna get easier but somehow gets harder the older we get & the more we care. Whether it’s not getting the job, making the team or getting the invite, we all face rejection at some point in our lives in different ways or to varying extents.

In the moment, it can be isolating but I hope it is actually comforting news to you that we all deal with at some point - You are so not alone!

rejection can be exhausting and defeating.

1. it felt like over a 100 internship applications, around 30 interviews, and only 1 offer that I got two days before I left for New York.

2. I was crushed when I didn’t get the captain spot on my high school dance team. (iykyk how I cared wayyyy too much about this hahaha)

   anyway, that is just to say that i promise you, i get it!

what I would tell someone dealing with rejection & some things we should cling to:

1. You are fully accepted by God as His Beloved child! Through Jesus’ work on the cross, you are sufficient just as you are. Rest secure in this identity because there is nothing you can do to lose it. He’s got you!

2. God is FAITHFUL and PRESENT in the application or tryout process and waiting periods, even when we don’t feel or see it.

3. He is working for your good and His glory, even when we don’t recognize it.

4. God knows the big picture & knows what is best for you!

5. God is worthy of our PRAISE! The gospel is filled with hope & joy in all circumstances!

6. It’s ok to focus on healing your hurt before moving on to redirection. He wants to care for you & wants to care for you (and so does ur people! let them into it!)

7. Try to focus on who Jesus is and what He’s done for you & the steady love He has for you (honestly this is just always a good idea! )

8. Turn to God! & Turn to Prayer! & Turn to your Support System!

9. KNOW YOU ARE LOVED !!!!! & more precious than gold in your Father and Creator’s eyes! & so valuable!

Questions to reflect on to turn ur rejection into redirection:

• God, what are you trying to teach me through this?

• How can this experience make me more like Jesus?

• Where is this experience redirecting me?

• Could this rejection actually be protection and guarding my heart?

A Post-Rejection Prayer:

God, you know me and know my hurt. Please enter into this with me, be with me and heal me. Help me rest in your love for me and find my confidence in who I am as Your Beloved Child. Help me tune out the distractions and focus on you. I know you want to heal & redeem my hurt for a greater good and purpose. Lord, lead me where you want to and use me how you want to as your humble servant. Teach me to love others like you would with more compassion and empathy. Amen.

Guess WHAT?! I have seen GOD redeem my rejections!

1. i absolutely love my job in New York that I never would have thought to apply to on my own. It’s fun & exciting & I love my team & what I’m doing. God knew better than me! I got my official offer 2 days before I left to New York. He had good plans for me & His timing was perfect. I just had to keep trusting Him & following Him obediantly.

2. not getting captain of my high school dance team opened my eyes to new and different goals, dreams & passions. it pushed me to chase my dream of collegiate dance! I worked hard & made Texas Pom where I’ve met my best friends and made the best college memories. God redirected my path. God is in the business of redemption.

and these are only two examples - i could go on and on! really, ask me about it!

Helpful Resources:

*Sweet As Honey: “Finding Power in Rejection & Letting God Direct Your Path” by Claire Waldorf & Jennifer Amburn

*Serenity in Suffering’s “Overcoming Rejection with Belonging”

I pray this gives you a glimpse of light & hope in whatever you are going through!

Thank you for your support and consideration of my writing! As always, I would love for you and welcome you to share with me any prayer requests HERE.

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We can cling to the hope that the light of the gospel brings!

We do not lose heart! We don’t?! I feel like I do sometimes!

Living in this broken world, it’s easy to lose heart or lose hope sometimes. I get it, I’ve found myself there often. There is lots of empathy and compassion for that.

BUT!!!! I want to share an invitation into hope that the gospel always offers.

The gospel literally means good news!

God is in the business of healing and redeeming our hurts and wounds that living in this broken world causes us. He knows you and gets you as you are His Beloved child. He wants to bring light to the darkness.

With our eyes fixed on Jesus, the gospel, the things that are unseen but eternal, the kingdom of God, we are suddenly gifted with the grace of lots more joy, hope, peace, and perspective to live with. He is a generous and good God!

This is available to us, so cling to it today and do not lose heart!

Funny story: This past week, I was walking home from pilates and some random man started asking me questions and filming me. I was so caught off guard and creeped out! I didn’t know this guy’s account is actually a thing and everyone knows about him, his account and his questions. I was so spacey and trying to run away. I also got anxious because I had no idea where this video was going to go and I got a feeling some question where I would have to choose to mention Jesus or not would come up.

If you are new here and reading this because of that video, WELCOME! I am seriously so happy you are here and that God used that silly little video to connect us!

God wants to use you today and every day wether it feels big or small to you. He has created us for his workmanship, and gone before us, and we just get to walk in His plan and will for us. What a gift and what a light and unburdened way to live. I would encourage you to this week be extra attentive to the ways you think God might want to use you.

Take every opportunity to live and share the gospel and goodness of God! I pray that as followers of Jesus, we would walk with confidence in Him and boldness. He is worthy of all the glory and praise in our lives.

Thank you for your support and consideration of my writing! As always, I would love for you and welcome you to share with me any prayer requests HERE.

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Consider this your afternoon Pick-Me-Up!

Let Jesus add a little joy to your Thursday!

What’s your reason to get up in the morning? Obligation or excitement?

I want to make it my goal this summer to have Jesus be my reason first and foremost! He can be and He wants to be. Life with Him and living for His greater purpose is filled with fun, adventure and excitement!

He longs to fill His Beloved children (us!) with joy, peace, and strength to guide our every day & life. and that is a gift of grace! Out of intimate relationship with Him flows abundance and fullness of life. Living this way, we find true freedom.

He is powerful, strong, and capable of leading us and providing for us emotionally, spiritually and physically. AND has the selfless heart and character to want to do that! That is good news for us and can tangibly apply to our lives if we accept Him and let Him in!

In the Bible Recap this morning, I was in Exodus and the 10 commandments. I was once again reminded of the importance of and gift that God’s word/Scripture truly is. The law was fulfilled through Jesus but not abolished! Living in the new covenant, scripture is an important part of knowing what God’s will is for our lives, and letting God guide us. God’s character and ways are worthy of our trust!

Little life update: I’m living in New York City this summer working and studying! I’m settled into the west village and my first week here was more like a vacation, but now my parents are gone and I’m doing the dang thing! This is a little random and spontaneous! Last night, I got to attend the summer intern community group at Redeemer, the church I plan on attending this summer. I am already encouraged by the interns from all over the country who went out of their way to find a church, christian community to live life with, and seek mentorship to be poured into by. These things are a gift and are so important to living the Christian life. My prayer for this summer is that I would grow in reliance on Jesus and maturity in Christ, learn more deeply what it means to live as an ambassador to Christ in my work and in this secular city and world, & that I would live in the joy of Lord in this little adventure!

Thank you for your support and consideration of my writing! As always, I would love for you and welcome you to share with me any prayer requests HERE.

Summer Book Recommendations : John Marc Comer’s Ruthless Elimination of Hurry, Live No Lies & Practicing the Way

Local Ministries to Support or get plugged into: Reformed University Fellowship (RUF), Younglife & Revive Texas

Sunday’s Sermons To Watch: All Saints, Providence, Austin Stone, The Well, Austin Ridge

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How sweet it is to be loved by God! and YOU ARE!

We are all God’s beloved children. You reflect Him, his heart, and character in a one of a kind, beautifully unique way. We are made to function and live out of relationship with Him and in His love for us!

The All Saints sermon this week was about how God is our source of LIFE. We can’t do anything apart from Him and trying is not worth our time and is lesser.

How recently have you heard that He delights in you? Well, here is a reminder!

The Bible is God’s love letter to us! We read over and over how He pursues connection and relationship with His children (us!).

God wants our hearts first and fully. Connection and intimacy with Him is a gift! Through deep relationship with Him, he wants our full hearts to complete His deepest work in us. He guides us through life and makes us more like Him in the process - making us more loving, joyful, patient, kind, good, faithful, and gentle people (Galatians 5:22).

Jesus is strong and gentle. He always uses his strength for the good of His people. He’s compassionate, wants the best for us, and leads us to good places. Following Him is an open invitation for all!

Q: How would you like to receive Him and respond to God’s grace this week?

Some ideas or examples: Prayer, Scripture, Gathering with other believers, try a new spiritual practice, making a little extra intentional time to connect with Him

Thank you for your support and consideration of my writing! As always, I would love for you and welcome you to share with me any prayer requests HERE.

Song on Repeat: American Idol’s Goodness of God performance (on Spotify also!)

Devotional Recs: New Morning Mercies, The Blue Book, & The Bible Recap

Sunday’s Sermon Recs: All Saints, Providence & Austin Ridge

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Welcome to Coffee Date with Kate! My name is Kate Rogge and I’m delighted that you’re here. I have always loved to hear, write and tell stories. If you know me, you know I also love a good coffee date! Whether it’s the company, the atmosphere, the drinks, a good book, work, or a rainy day - I have always gravitated towards spending quality time in a good coffee shop, it is just my happy place!

My hope and prayer is that my words here would uplift, encourage, console you, and ultimately always point you to Jesus. Maybe it would even speak to you personally, or spark a new idea in your own faith!

The Lord loves to guide, lead, and teach us through life with Him. Just as we spend more time with someone like a good friend we become more like them, the same is true with Jesus. As we walk with Him, He makes us more like Him and we take on His heart and character. I would love to invite you into learning more about Jesus and learning what that means for us with me.

In each email newsletter, there will be a google form at the bottom where you are welcome to leave a prayer request and share as much or as little as you want.

Some topics I plan to write on in the near future are; the urgency of the gospel, the gift of grace that waiting can be, the necessary relationship between Truth and freedom, and how He longs to turn our sorrow into joy. I only ask that you would keep reading and consider what I have to say!

I hope the little emails will be a little glimpse of light, hope, and joy of the gospel in your life! Thank you for reading - more to come so soon !!!

Thank you for your support and consideration of my writing! As always, I would love for you and welcome you to share with me any prayer requests HERE.

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