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Cara Ray | Writer

The secret to enjoying God's Word is looking at it as a means of holy leisure. Holy leisure is the modern-day answer to our soul's thirst to slow down and savor God and the Bible. Subscribe to receive weekly devotionals about life, leisure, and the pursuit of holiness.

Beautiful Writing and the Pull Toward God
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This will change the way you see beauty 🌹

Have you been late in loving beauty? Reader, That might seem like an odd question, especially since our culture is obsessed with beauty. Beauty stops us, and sells us. But there's a world of difference between noticing beauty and seeing God in beauty. When Augustine connected his love of beauty to God, he proclaimed of his discovery, "Late have I loved you, Beauty so old and so new: late have I loved you." He had admired beauty his whole life, but he was late in truly seeing it. Once he...

When Life Gets Busy, Keep Abiding

When Life Gets Busy, Keep Abiding Reader, Do you ever say to yourself, "I'll read my Bible, after I ____ (fill in the blank)." You have every intention of sitting down and spending some time with the Lord, but first you have to check your email, fold some laundry, and pack the kids' lunches. Before you know it, those good intentions are lost to an endless list of to-dos and interruptions. I've often wondered if Martha had similar intentions. Maybe she had planned to sit at Jesus' feet, but...

When the gift of a new car is out of order Reader, If you've ever given a gift that didn't land quite right, or received one that felt 'off' in some way, perhaps something in the relationship was disordered. Maybe the gift was tainted with impure motives. It wasn't just a gift to be enjoyed, but something the gift-giver used toward their own desired end. That was the case for my friend Tiffany, who once received what I thought was the pinnacle of a cool-girl car, a VW Cabriolet Rabbit....

The Christian Writer’s First Obligation Is to See

Have you ever had a flash of truth? Reader, You never know when or where they'll strike, but chances are you've had one. That moment when truth breaks through to your soul. Something you once believed in error is dismantled, or something yet unknown is suddenly made clear. Augustine called this a "flash of truth." As Christians, we know that truth isn't just a principle, but a Person. And as Christian writers, we can learn to notice flashes of truth and invite our readers to do the same. The...

The Spirit of Adoption: What it Really Means to Be a Child of God

What's your relationship with adoption? Reader, Over the years, I've had the privilege of seeing several close friends adopt children from near and far. We've welcomed them at the airport as their parents have spanned the globe to go get them and bring them home. And we've rejoiced when phone calls came in from social workers at a hospital nearby. Whatever their circumstances, all of these children were wanted, chosen, and prayed for. You may not have first or second-hand experience with...

Class of 2026: Timeless Truths in an Age of Brain Rot

Hail to the conquering graduates! Reader, Next week, my daughter graduates from high school. (How can it be?) I wanted to mark this milestone by leaving her and the other 2026 graduates with some timeless wisdom from God's Word. If you've heard teenagers talking lately, you might've thought you were hearing a foreign language. You weren't going crazy. It does sound like a foreign tongue sometimes, and it takes some context clues to figure out what they're saying. What you heard was likely...

The Most Important Doctrine You've Never Heard Of

This truth changes everything! Reader, This week, I taught at my church's women's Bible Study on 1 John, and we looked at 1 John 4:15. "Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God." The end of that verse reveals an often-overlooked doctrine. Inside those eight words are massive, life-changing, Bible-expanding, worship-producing truths. "God abides in him, and he in God." It just might be the most important doctrine you've never heard of. I hope you'll take...

How Holy Leisure Helps You See More Clearly

Are you spiritually nearsighted? Reader, If you've ever struggled to enjoy reading God's Word, or if it feels like a box you check before moving on with your day, you might be spiritually nearsighted. That's when you can see what's right in front of you, but everything in the distance is blurry. It means we move through the motions of devotion without the right heart posture. We "lose sight" of 'why' we go to God's Word in the first place. Holy leisure helps us refocus our attention on who...

The Pursuit of Holy Leisure: Enjoying God in Everyday Places is Now Available!

The Pursuit of Holy Leisure is finally HERE! Reader, It's hard to believe, but the day I thought would never come is finally here. Today, my first book, and the theme of my heart, is now available. The Pursuit of Holy Leisure: Enjoying God in Everyday Places is born! I must admit, it's a little overwhelming, and there's a lot unknown at this point. It's a similar feeling to driving away after dropping your kids off at college. Your heart somehow detaches from your body, and you've got to let...

The Head: An Easter Poem

He's the head of all things! Reader, I've been studying 1 John lately, and thinking about John the Apostle's unique vantage point as an eyewitness to Jesus' life, death, and resurrection. John saw it all β€” from beginning to end. He even saw beyond the end, receiving the Revelation. This Easter, I wanted to consider the redemption story through John's perspective. Specifically, snapshots of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection that capture his physical head. In these moments, we see his...