Ruth Chou Simons

I’M SPEECHLESS. My publisher surprised me with the news today in Nashville: 250,000 copies of The Way of the Wildflower sold in its first 11 months. 🥹

You see, I wrote and painted this book from a place of unexpected heartache and so I asked the Lord to meet every reader in the midst of their worries and anxieties too. 🙏 He is just too kind, and this milestone is more than I ever prayed or imagined.

So we celebrated. We planned. We gave thanks for the opportunity to change lives with the written word. (And I even snuck in a workout with Troy Simons, Ana-Lidia Anderson, and Andrew Stoddard. — cuz, you can’t have an upcoming book about daily choices that shape your becoming without putting some of it into practice with your publisher.)😉

THANK YOU for reading my words, and allowing my art to turn your eyes to Jesus. It’s an honor I’ll never get over. 🫶🏼

My TWELFTH Calendar over at GraceLaced is finally here, and it’s on sale!

Each purchase will also include 12 FREE lock screens - but only through 9/21.

Shop this deal while it lasts!

https://gracelaced.com/collections/2027-calendar

I can’t believe I’ve been doing this for over a decade…

I started creating 3-in-1 Calendars in 2015 and the very first one we sold was the Garden of Truth 2016 GraceLaced Calendar.🪴

Which means… that we’re releasing our TWELFTH 🤯 CALENDAR tomorrow at GraceLaced® Co. | RCS Studio: He Directs Our Steps. 🙌🏼

I’ve always created out of the overflow of what I’m learning so it’s probably no surprise that you can track a part of my personal walk with Jesus in the verses we pick and the paintings I paint each year. 🎨

So thank you for joining me year after year with this wall calendar — I pray it  helps you look to Jesus and hide his Word in your heart.

All that to say: He Directs Our Steps releases tomorrow at GraceLaced.com! 🎉

[Swipe for a little stroll down memory lane. 👉🏼For those who’ve been here awhile: Which ones am I missing in the lineup? 😉]

💬 Which one has been your favorite so far? (Mine just might be this 2027 one! 🫶🏼)

👉🏼 What if we choose to start where we are and use what we already have?

We just might find that THIS MOMENT, right in front of you, matters more than you know.

💬 What have you been given to steward this week?

After 28 years of marriage, quarter century raising 6 sons, years of home educating, and decades of public ministry, we’ve learned that the enemy puts a target on your back when you seek to make kingdom impact through your life, family, or marriage.

We’re not casual about guarding “us” anymore. If we’re not healthy and hope-filled, nothing we seek to do through our work, our parenting, our relationships, or our ministries will overflow from that posture either.

So, we find ways to pray and plan, repent and restore, have fun and choose rest. We rehearse the gospel that saves and sustains us, to ourselves and to each other. 🙌🏼

We don’t always do it well, and we certainly have so much more to learn, but we carve out space— an afternoon, a weekend, an intentional date night on the couch. ✨

Whatever it takes to tell the devil: We’re united. We belong to the Lord. You won’t get through these gates — not on our watch. 👊🏼

And by God’s grace, and his power alone, we persevere.

“There’s still so much time,” I used to think. I was raising six sons after all, with 11 years between the bookends. There was always another coming up right behind the last one.

But this year we’ve got a 9th and 10th grader and I don’t feel so nonchalant anymore. Mancub 6, my LAST ONE, is in high school. 🤯

Farsighted no more. What’s right in front of me is coming into sharp focus. These are the days. And now that my oldest is married, and boys are beginning to move out, I’m more convinced than ever: make the most of the season you’re in. 🥹

The best may be yet to come, but today is the gift you won’t get back. ✨

💬 How are you making the most of the season you’re in?