FIVE spots left AND the Power of Community!

Tracie Tackett
Sep 1
7 min read

Happy Labor Day, and welcome the beginnings of Fall!

I love people. I love community. I love sharing stories. I love hospitality. Transformation happens in community.

We are wired for human connection.

We have 5 spots left to join the Holy Pause Community! This community of women launches Monday, September 8th, from 6:30-8:00 pm! If you are longing to grow in a deeper relationship and connection with Christ and other women, come and join us! Check out all the details at holypause.com. You can register and read more about the community.

September is the launch of another new offering…

Life Coaching!

Do you feel like you are on the hamster wheel of life yet longing to live life differently?

I help women create a modern-day rule of life where they discover how to live from a place of rest, not rush, through the REALIFE Process.

therealifeprocess.com/

Yes! I will be offering spiritual direction and life coaching! You might be wondering what the difference is between the two. I am so glad you asked!

Spiritual Direction is an invitation to pause with a trained spiritual companion who meets you where you are. They will come alongside you to listen to your story with love and compassion and invite you to see where God is at work in your story.

Life Coaching is creating space with a certified life coach to return to that sense of clarity and forward movement, but with a trusted companion who listens, encourages, and asks the right questions to help you take the next step in becoming more of who God created you to be!

To learn more about spiritual direction and life coaching, go to https://www.holypause.com/learn-more

Community changes people! Inviting others to do life with you and to learn and grow from each other can truly be transforming.

Jesus loved gathering people! He loved spending time with others in community. He gathered twelve for His inner circle. He gathered thousands at times to reveal that He was the Son of God and the Savior of the World. He gathered the one to reveal how much He loved them and show compassion and grace. He gathered close friends around a table for a meal and fellowship.

Since the beginning of time, He reminds us He is a communal God. He and the Son and the Holy Spirit are always working together to bring about His purposes and plans.

I love the story of Jesus inviting His disciples to come and have breakfast. They had just witnessed a miracle of the catching of 153 fish, and then He invited them to enjoy their catch! Their LORD was inviting them to enjoy breakfast on the beach and remember He is the LORD of their lives. There is something about people gathering around a meal that can lead to healing and transformation.

"Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so with the fish. This was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead."

John 21:12-14 ESV

“Come and eat with me.” Breakfast on the beach with Jesus? Sounds great to me! But this wasn’t just breakfast — He was revealing more of Himself to them as they gathered.

Why did Jesus love gathering people?

He was the focus of this gathering. He wanted to be with them. He deeply loved them. He taught us community matters!

I have been doing some reflecting lately on the power of community. Growing up, I remember how much I enjoyed being with others. Those times we spent at church or gathered around a table or skiing on the lake or playing in our neighborhood… I remember the joy and fun that came from those times of being together with family and friends. I remember the time I got invited to a Bible study after moving to a new city shortly after getting married. This was a community of women of all ages who wanted to study God's Word. The Lord was forming something in me during that time as I look back. It was a time of transformation. As I sat around a table each week and we opened God's Word and shared what we were learning about Him and ourselves, I loved listening to others and what God was showing them. I was being shaped and formed, and my desire to offer this beautiful space one day to women was growing inside of me. Oh, I didn't know at that time, but after taking time to reflect on my life story and look back, I now see what God was doing in me and how He was inviting me. It actually started as a very young little girl in the basement of my home as I would gather my friends in 'my classroom' that my parents created for me to play 'school.' Teaching others has been a desire that God placed within me long, long ago.

When you think back to your childhood, can you recall a time when your community was a space for growth and connection? Take a few minutes to recall the spaces you experienced in community.

Community changes us. Dr. Phil Carson shares that the most vital thing we can do for longevity of health is to be connected to God, friends, family, and ourselves. We see the importance of community so clearly in Scripture. God chose a group of people, the Israelites, to be His people and learn to follow Him in community. Jesus also taught us so much about gathering with others. He gathered people around tables, weddings, beaches, campfires, walks, homes, mountains, and His Bride, the Church!

Why does community matter?

Jesus never meant for this life to be isolated or lonely, yet we all find ourselves there along the way. I wonder if we could change that as His followers. Take a minute to think about community. Where are those life-giving communities you are a part of? Maybe you are longing for a community where you feel welcome just as you are, yet still able to grow alongside others.

Community can be a place of both safety and peace, and learning and growing. It can be the place where we discover more about ourselves and more about God.

A recent Holy Pause Retreat, ‘Beloved Daughter,’ reminded me of the value of community! Broken, messy women gathering to be reminded that God's love is deep, wide, high, and long.

This was our focus verse for the day!

^"I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."

Ephesians 3:16-19 NIV

We are His Beloved ones — not for what we do, but because of who and whose we are. We are His and we are chosen!

The Beloved Daughter Retreat a few weeks ago was such a beautiful time of women gathering to lay down distractions for a day, pause, share stories, and have time with God to listen, notice, pray, and grow in this spiritual journey. In this community, many did not know each other at first, but they left feeling refueled as we made space to be with God, each other, and ourselves. We met new friends, listened as others shared their stories of how they were experiencing God in their time of retreat, and reflected together on just how deeply loved we are and how God calls us HIS BELOVED.

God made us for connection and community. Are you longing for that? Are you looking for a community of women who desire to grow in their relationship with Christ? If so, I would love to talk more with you about that!

You can reach out at tracietack@gmail.com.

Here is our Holy Pause Practice for the month. You can print this off and use it as you spend time with God reflecting and growing. We practice Pausing, Praying, and Following. May this bless you as you journey with Christ. You can also do it with a friend or group.

Holy Pause… Pause to notice what is going on in and around you. Jesus is with you.

Take a couple of deep breaths. Maybe you want to light a candle. Invite God's presence to be near.

Take a minute and reflect on the communities in your life. Think back to your growing up years, too. Write a few down, and write a few words to describe those communities.

Communities in My Life & Words to Describe Them

Neighborhood growing up~Friends gathering to play in each other’s homes, laughter, friendship, creating together, joy, belonging, encouraged each other, free to be kids, explore, play
Church Community~together weekly, small town church, learning about Jesus and a relationship with Him, friends, fun, wasn't perfect, change, belonging, growing, becoming

What do you notice about those communities?

For me, they weren't perfect, but God was forming things in me. This happens in community. A sense of belonging was felt because I had others to do life with.

Take some time to write what you notice.

What is God inviting you to notice?

What I noticed: People mattered to Jesus — it is why He came to save us. He wanted to invite us to follow Him, and He wanted us to extend that invitation to others. He did that in community because He knew we needed each other to be transformed to be like Him.

Reflect on this verse with Jesus. Imagine being there with Him having breakfast.

“Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.”

Matthew 8:19 ESV

Where is He inviting you to come and follow Him and send you out? What resonates in this verse? A word or phrase. Spend a few minutes reflecting.

Pray… Invite the Lord into a conversation.

Breath Prayer~

(Breathe in) "Lord,

(Breathe out) Here I am."

Repeat a few times.

Take a few minutes to go for a prayer walk. Allow God's presence to be with you. Imagine Jesus with you. No words are needed. Just notice. Reflect on community. Reflect on God's desire for us to be in community. Simply notice what comes up for you as you pause and notice with Jesus.

Follow… Help me go where you go.

Are you in community, allowing yourself time to grow with others and be connected to God and others?

Where is God inviting you to follow Him?