232 - How to Choose the Best Word of the Year for Next Year
The Uncommon Normal with Twyla Franz
Release Date: 12/16/2025
233 - A Christmas Prayer for When You Need Real Hope
The Uncommon Normal with Twyla Franz
For every weary soul needing a bit of light, a scrap of real hope, a simple Christmas prayer. For every taxed mama and bustling grandma. Every newlywed and fresh divorcee. Every grieving heart. Every family scrambling to make Christmas happen. Wherever these words find you, and whatever heaviness fills the room, I pray for gritty, overflowing hope. I pray that the tender nearness of Jesus meets you in this moment. That His peace supersedes the pressure you’re feeling right now. When you’re emptied of all you can do on your own, when you’ve used up all the words, when your...
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232 - How to Choose the Best Word of the Year for Next Year
The Uncommon Normal with Twyla Franz
As I step back to see where I’ve gone wrong, I see three potential pitfalls where you might be stuck as well. Links mentioned: Get a list of 200 missional word-of-the-year ideas . Get the word-of-the-year month reflection sheets . To get a short, doable tip in your inbox every week to help you get to know your neighbors, sign up Read the written version of this episode
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231 - A Korban Christmas: How to Draw Closer to Emmanuel Right Now
The Uncommon Normal with Twyla Franz
Ann Voskamp says korban boils down to closeness: Sacrifice in Hebrew is korban, which literally means an approach, a moving closer. Sacrifice is not losing something but moving closer to Someone. Korban isn’t so much about loss as it is about proximity to Jesus. And to draw closer to Christ I must let rest all I try to do on my own strength. Links mentioned: To get a short, doable tip in your inbox every week to help you get to know your neighbors, sign up Read the written version of this episode
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230 - How to Unlock the Forgotten Language of Reverence During Advent
The Uncommon Normal with Twyla Franz
We slow-baked gratitude into our DNA for this. This! So that we might make space for awed worship, genuine praise, honest adoration. Links mentioned: To get a short, doable tip in your inbox every week to help you get to know your neighbors, sign up Read the written version of this episode
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229 - How to Make It Missional: Gratitude That Impacts Lives
The Uncommon Normal with Twyla Franz
It’s almost Thanksgiving, and maybe this year you’re just trying to make it through. Trying to smile through the “fixings” and the feasting while something feels empty inside. Maybe everything is right on the surface but stress is eating at your inner calm. Or you’re grieving a shift, an unwelcome season, a spot empty around your table. Perhaps the budget simply can’t cover the holiday spread you envisioned on your table. Can I reach a hand right through your screen—a hand to steady yours right now? You might not be able to see how yet, but you will make it...
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228 - How To Entwine Gratitude In Everyday Life Conversation
The Uncommon Normal with Twyla Franz
An accessible life is permeable. God can get in. God can ripple out through us. A no-place-off-limits openness to God welcomes the tender work through which He frees and heals us. Trust gives God permission to inhabit. He enters where He’s invited, never barging through barricades in our hearts, but knocking with patience and persistence. Openness in our relationships allows the work God is doing inside to show so that others may be drawn to His hope and light. It brings purpose and depth to our friendships: we get to point people to Jesus, as we were created to do,...
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227 - To the One Scrolling: How to Exhale Gratitude in Online Spaces
The Uncommon Normal with Twyla Franz
But what if we’ve tried to keep gratitude too quiet? What if it gets buried in the lines of our journals? What if gratitude is looking for a way to ripple beyond us–spilling over like uncontained laughter? Links mentioned: To get a short, doable tip in your inbox every week to help you get to know your neighbors, sign up Read the written version of this episode
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226 - Gratitude Out Loud: This Is What It Might Ignite in Your Life
The Uncommon Normal with Twyla Franz
But what if we’ve tried to keep gratitude too quiet? What if it gets buried in the lines of our journals? What if gratitude is looking for a way to ripple beyond us–spilling over like uncontained laughter? Links mentioned: To get a short, doable tip in your inbox every week to help you get to know your neighbors, sign up Read the written version of this episode
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225 - Reverse the Hurry of the Holidays With One Simple Trick
The Uncommon Normal with Twyla Franz
Reversing the hurry of the holidays sounds lovely, but let’s get practical. Without a plan, I get swept into the busyness of the holiday season. I don’t linger. I squeeze in more and move faster and connect less. You too? Links mentioned: To get a short, doable tip in your inbox every week to help you get to know your neighbors, sign up Read the written version of this episode
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224 - Confessions Of A Half-Marathoner: The Truth About Breaking Pace
The Uncommon Normal with Twyla Franz
You might find yourself in a similar situation, caught between what you think you should be able to do, and what you can, at this moment, achieve. Between the voice in your head that says slowing down is shameful and the kind tone you’d use to encourage anyone besides yourself. So until you have the courage to tell this to yourself, here is permission to break pace. Do solid B work. Set a boundary. Begin something brand new. Links mentioned: To get a short, doable tip in your inbox every week to help you get to know your neighbors, sign up Read the written version of this...
info_outlineAs I step back to see where I’ve gone wrong, I see three potential pitfalls where you might be stuck as well.
Links mentioned: