Amy Kannel

“Ours is like any marriage that lasts. We had to give up enough of ourselves to make room for the other person, but we had to retain a sufficient amount of who we were to avoid bitterness. All marriages become a third thing—neither one partner’s dream, nor the other’s, but a different glory, an ordinary one we made together.”
― Esau McCaulley, How Far to the Promised Land: One Black Family's Story of Hope and Survival in the American South

“Translated literally, Jesus replies, "I am, the (one) speaking to you" [John 4:26]. This word-for-word translation comes out awkwardly in English, so it's often broken up in our Bibles. But as New Testament scholar Craig Evans observes, Jesus's statement is "emphatic and unusual" in the original Greek as well. Smoothing it out in translation masks the fact that this is the first of Jesus's "I am" statements. ...This is the first time in John that Jesus explicitly declares he's the Messiah. And as he does so, Jesus makes an even more extraordinary claim. Each of Jesus's "I am" statements gives us fresh insight into who he is. At first, his words to the Samaritan woman seem like an exception. But if we look more closely, Jesus is giving us more insight about his identity when he says to the Samaritan woman, "I am, the (one) speaking to you." Jesus claims he's the Messiah and the one true covenant God. But he is also the one who is speaking to this sexually suspect, foreign woman. He could have just said "I am he!" But as we look at Jesus through this woman's eyes, we see him as the long-promised King and everlasting God, who chooses to converse with her.”
― Rebecca McLaughlin, Jesus through the Eyes of Women: How the First Female Disciples Help Us Know and Love the Lord

“We love being the one who gets to help. Being a helper is safe and it feels good to be needed. But when you finally take off the one-dimensional Helper costume you've so carefully crafted over the years and let yourself grow into the Giver/Receiver that you really are, this act of bold truthfulness will be a light.

It may not feel like it in the moment, but make no mistake: you're not just asking for help. You're also giving a sacred gift: permission for others to do the same. You are courageously, thread by thread, dismantling the crippling shroud of shame that teaches us to be embarrassed of our needs. You're creating an opening to a new reality of community and interdependence and shame resilience. Asking for help is really saying, 'Don't be afraid to dream big too. You're not alone. Let's do this together.”
― Liz Forkin Bohannon, Beginner's Pluck: Build Your Life of Purpose and Impact Now

“In moments of struggle, I've often muttered Jesus's claim and asked myself his question [from John 11]. A few years ago, in a period of intense relational turmoil--as I felt the psychological floor fall away under my feet--I stood in my bedroom clinging onto my dresser and rehearsed, "I am the resurrection and the life." "Do you believe this?" You see, if it's true, nothing that can happen in my life on earth can rob me of that everlasting life. And if it's false, nothing in my life on earth ultimately matters anyway. Either everything ends in death, or Jesus is the resurrection and the life.”
― Rebecca McLaughlin, Jesus through the Eyes of Women: How the First Female Disciples Help Us Know and Love the Lord