Free To Be Real

09/01/2026

the God who is unimaginably vast is also unimaginably personal.

the same God who created oceans and wove forests and colored the sky, who spiked the earth with flowers and filled the air with birds, who hung stars in darkness and taught the tide where to stop…

thinks of me.

Not just knows that I exist.
Not just remembers my name.
Thinks of me.

Psalm 139 almost sounds overwhelmed by the realization:

“How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them!”
Psalm 139:17

and maybe that is the wonder of being His daughter before being anything else.

the Creator of everything has no shortage of magnificent things to behold, and yet I am not lost in the enormity of His creation. I am known within it.

the God who keeps planets in orbit has thoughts toward me.

He knows when I sit down.
He knows when I get up.
He knows the thought I haven’t said out loud yet.
He knew me before anyone had ever laid eyes on me.

I occupy His thoughts. I am known.

08/23/2026

For those who prayed for Lillian… please continue to pray for her family and friends.

Last night Lillian ran from our arms to the arms of Jesus.

The injuries to her brain were too severe for her little body to recover from. Everyone did everything they could to keep her here. We are heartbroken and honestly do not know what to do next. How do we put one foot in front of the other without our girl?

Our foundation is still in Jesus. We didn’t get to keep our girl but we watched miracles happen on her behalf. We believe God is good. He will give us strength when we have none left. He’s given us a community of support that I don’t think can be found anywhere else in the world. Lil would have loved seeing everyone come together and she would have been right in the middle of it trying to help where she could.

We are devastated. We know you are too. Pray for our boys. They are going to need it so much. Pray for our friends and family, they are so sad and somehow still showing up for us. Pray for us, we won’t be able to do this without it.

We are so grateful to you for loving our girl.

08/21/2026

Pray for Lillian.

🚨 UPDATE FROM PARENTS:

The doctors spoke to us yesterday about the extent of the swelling Lillian has as a result of the parasite. It is significant.

Today we are choosing to praise God for her and celebrate her birthday.

Every minute is a different emotion for us. Every day holds new challenges and mercies. We have huge decisions weighing on us right now, bigger decisions than most will make in a lifetime, and need so much grace as we navigate those.

Please know we still need prayer and the Lord is still a gracious and loving Father. We are clinging to our faith right now because without it we wouldn’t be able to hold ourselves together for our girl and her precious brothers.

Say her name. Lift her to the Lord. He is a God of miracles and he’s already shown us that.

Much love
Daniel and Rebecca

‼️ A 7-year-old girl is fighting for her life against a rare brain infection believed to have come from something millions of families do every summer: swimming in a lake.

Now her mother is begging people she may never meet to put one name on their lips today: Lillian.

“Storm heaven with prayers for our baby,” Rebecca Smart wrote as her daughter fights from a pediatric ICU in Shreveport, Louisiana.

This happened frighteningly fast.

Rebecca says Lillian started running a fever Thursday. By Saturday, she was still extremely sick and fatigued despite testing negative for COVID, flu and strep.

Then Lillian complained that she was seeing double.

Her mother noticed her pupils were no longer the same size and immediately took her to the hospital.

Doctors initially diagnosed bacterial meningitis after a spinal tap.

According to the Ruston Leader, doctors later determined Lillian was battling a Naegleria fowleri infection, which the newspaper reports was most likely acquired while she was swimming in Lake Claiborne.

Her condition became critical.

Rebecca shared a photo taken with her daughter only about five hours before Lillian began rapidly declining. Even while feeling so sick, this little girl was still trying to smile with her mom.

“I took this photo with my girl about five hours before things began to rapidly decline. Even when she was so sick she was doing her best to smile and take a fun pic.”

Now Rebecca and her husband Daniel are beside their little girl praying for doctors to control the pressure in her brain, stabilize her temperature and blood pressure, and stop the infection.

And they aren’t praying alone.

Back home in Ruston, an entire community is joining them. First Baptist Ruston opened its worship center for an all-day prayer vigil, inviting people to pray specifically for Lillian.

And there has been a glimmer of hope.

In the family’s latest update, Lillian had begun showing small movements in her arms and legs, while her pupils had gotten smaller.

Her family says her doctor considered those neurological responses encouraging, while cautioning that she remains critically ill and has a long road ahead.

“The sunrise brought hope. The bold prayers are being felt and small victories are being seen.”

Rebecca isn’t hiding how desperately she wants her daughter back.

“I am begging you to pray for my child.”

So today, I’m asking this page to help Ruston do exactly that.

Her name is Lillian Smart.

She’s 7 years old, she’s critically ill, and her mom and dad desperately want to bring their little girl home.

Please pray for the pressure in Lillian’s brain to come down, for the medicine to work, for those encouraging movements to continue and for this little girl to keep fighting her way back to the parents who love her.

Rebecca asked people to “wake the lion in your lungs.”

Let’s make sure she can feel just how many people heard her. ❤️🙏

Love for Lillian

08/21/2026

Tonight, I just want to declare this over you:

“The joy of the Lord is your strength.”
Nehemiah 8:10

May the gracious hand of God be upon you.

May He strengthen your hands for the work in front of you.

May He remind you that you do not have to manufacture strength for tomorrow when He has promised grace for today.

You don’t have to feel strong or even feel joyful tonight. Your strength isn’t found in what you can stir up within yourself, but in the God who is holding you.

May you remember the Lord, who is great and awesome.

May you rise and build what He has placed before you.

May you recognize His goodness in places you almost overlooked.

And if you are tired tonight, rest.

You are not the source of your own strength.

The joy of the Lord is. 🤍

08/17/2026

One of my boys and I were driving the other day, and he was just talking away as he drove along.

A truck beside us was getting increasingly angry because, without realizing it, my son’s speed was keeping the other driver from getting over. My son kept driving and got over in the other lane (still unaware of the other drivers aggravation). The driver pulled alongside us, glaring, flipping us off, and sped forward.

My son never saw him.

I did.

But I didn’t say anything.

I just sat there listening to my boy talk, knowing there was absolutely no reason for him to carry something he didn’t even know was happening.

Eventually traffic shifted and slowed to a crawl, and there was the truck again, and there was that middle finger again. 😂

And strangely, it became this little picture of God for me.

My son had no idea what was coming against him as he was driving along.

But I did.

I saw what he couldn’t see.

And I found myself thinking about how many times the Father has done the same for me.

Not that nothing painful has reached me. It has.

Not that following God means nothing will ever hurt us. Because I’ve defintely experienced hurt.

But how many things have I never even known about because He saw what I couldn’t see?

How many doors didn’t open?
How many conversations happened without me?
How many things passed right by me while I was simply going about my life, completely unaware that the hand of God was protecting, redirecting, restraining, or covering?

I have spent a lot of time looking at the things God has allowed me and my boys to walk through.

But that silly middle finger on the interstate reminded me there is another category too:

The things He never let reach us.

My son didn’t need to see that driver.

I saw him for him.

And maybe there are things today I don’t need to see either, because my Father already does.

Sometimes protection looks like deliverance or rescue.

And sometimes protection looks like never knowing there was anything to be delivered or rescued from.

A few reminders: “You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me.”

“The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them.”

And every bit of Psalm 91 …

08/01/2026

An apology can feel hopeful, especially when you have been praying for peace, connection, or transformation.

You may want to believe the words because you love the person, or because you remember who they can be. Often hope feels easier to hold than the possibility that nothing is changing.

But words without changed patterns become confusing.

The apology says one thing, but the behavior says another.

And over time, that gap can make you question what is real.

Real repentance is not proven in one emotional conversation. It begins to show itself through honesty, humility, responsibility, and different behavior over time.

Remorse may cry, but repentance changes direction.

That does not mean people change perfectly or instantly. But genuine change becomes visible. It does not ask you to keep trusting words while the same harm continues.

Truth to carry: Behavior is a language.

07/31/2026

Have you ever wished you could just skip past something?

Sometimes grief does not arrive because someone died.

Sometimes it comes when a truth is revealed, a relationship changes, or the life you thought you were living no longer feels recognizable.

There is a word for some of what happens next: disorientation.

Disorientation is the unsettled feeling that comes when what you believed to be true no longer matches what you are now experiencing.

You may begin questioning the past.

What was real?

What did I miss?

Can I trust my own memories?

You may also feel afraid of the future because the plans you were building rested on something that now feels uncertain.

This is one reason betrayal, divorce, friendship loss, family changes, and other painful transitions can be so difficult to explain. You are not only grieving what happened. You may also be grieving the story you believed you were living.

Carry with you:
“I am allowed to grieve what was lost, even if other people do not understand the loss.”

06/13/2026

Limited spots available!

There are a limited number of spots for our "Journey through the Tabernacle" women's event in July! Go sign up!

https://wrcchurch.churchcenter.com/registrations/events/3633796

05/17/2026

Fervent 2026! Who is going?

Join renowned Bible teacher, NY Times bestselling author and actress, Priscilla Shirer and her brother, worship leader and songwriter Anthony Evans for FerVent 2026! This engaging, impactful event is back for just six consecutive nights in 2026!

05/05/2026

After 10 years of pouring out, building, gathering, and growing, we feel the Lord inviting Free to be Real into something different for 2026.

A Sabbath year. ⚔️

Not because anything is wrong but because something deeper is being formed through the refining.

In Scripture, God called His people to let the land rest (Leviticus 25). God was asking them to trust that even in the pause, He was still providing, still working, and still preparing what was next. 📈

This biblical blueprint is what this year will be for us. A Sabbath year to trust, walk in obedience, and tend the ground F2BR was built on.

A year to:
– rest
– receive
– recalibrate

For those of you who attended F2BR 2025, you know I shared some deeply personal things, so this season holds a lot of transition for me, and I sense clearly that I’m being invited to tend to a personal reset, deep spiritual heart work, and ministry evolution. 🐝

And here’s the beautiful part…

I don’t believe this is the end of anything.
I believe it’s the cultivation of something sweeter. Acceleration is at hand. 🌟

> “Taste and see that the Lord is good…” — Psalm 34 34:8
> “I would satisfy you with honey from the rock.” — Psalm 81 81:16

So we’re trusting that 2026 is where the hidden honey forms… 🍯
and in 2027, we’ll come back richer, deeper, and carrying a sweetness that could only come from Him.

If you’ve been watching from the outside and feel drawn to what God is doing through Free to be Real, we would love to invite you into whatever He has for us in the next chapter. 📖

We may be resting publicly and privately… but God is still building the team.

If you’re interested in being part of what’s ahead, send us a message or email us ([email protected]). 🤍

The ground may be quiet but God is cultivating in the quiet.

Something is growing. Something sweet is coming. 💛