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Tara Johnson

sharing stories through writing, speaking and singing

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Walking with God

My Word for 2021

December 30, 2020 By Tara Johnson 3 Comments

Most of us are ready to kiss 2020 goodbye. It’s been a marker of disease and death, upheaval and shock. Yet simply turning over the pages of a calendar doesn’t mean life magically rids itself of pain. No one but God knows what the next year holds which is why I’ve been so thoughtful about what word I’ll choose to meditate on during this upcoming year. After much prayer, I feel God leading me toward the word HOPE. Years ago, Steve Westbrook ingrained in my Read More

Filed Under: Walking with God Tagged With: discouragement, encouragement, God's promises, haggai, hope, word for 2021

Is It Better “To Do” or “To Be”: How a Goal-Driven Person Seeks God

December 27, 2020 By Tara Johnson 4 Comments

Not long ago, I finished up a beautiful study on the book of Hosea by Jennifer Rothschild. She challenged her readers to do something I love: to make a to-be list instead of a to-do list. I’m prolific at creating master to-do lists. They give me a sense of control, a sense of accomplishment and keep my cluttered mind from letting crucial jobs slip through the cracks of my faulty memory. (Correction: these things give me illusion of control, accomplishment and clearer brain function.) Despite Read More

Filed Under: Walking with God Tagged With: checklists, goal oriented, goals, God's presence, New year's resolutions, seeking God, to do or to be, walking like Jesus

Will You Take the 30 Day What-You-Say Challenge?

October 29, 2020 By Tara Johnson Leave a Comment

Words are powerful. They can build up a life through language doused in love, or they can cut a life down like a scythe slicing through brittle grass. When I recently asked my oldest daughter what she loved most about her best friend at school, she replied, “I’ve never heard her say a bad word about anyone. She speaks the truth, sometimes very directly, but always with kindness of love. She’s not a backstabber. It’s hard not to love being around someone like that.” Her Read More

Filed Under: Walking with God Tagged With: 30 Day What You Say Challenge, attitude of gratitude, complaining, content heart, gossip, gratitude, negativity, power of life and death, power of words, taming the tongue, thanksgiving, the tongue

When Love Rescues

August 27, 2020 By Tara Johnson 2 Comments

The pastor walked back down the dirt trail etched in the side of the Arkansas mountains, his heart heavy. The new visitor at church had begged and pleaded. “Please, sir. Please visit my family. They live up in the mountains just outside of town. I’ve been telling them about Jesus, about how he changed me but I don’t think they’re listening.” The young man’s ears reddened. “My family is a mite…peculiar. Superstitious. They think I’m confused but I believe they might listen to you.” He Read More

Filed Under: Walking with God Tagged With: big cat, God rescues, lion, love rescues, rescue, sacrifice, the love of Jesus, what love is

How a Pandemic is Stripping Away My Idols

June 26, 2020 By Tara Johnson 2 Comments

The year 2020 was supposed mean vision. 20/20 laser focus on what’s important. At least, that’s what a friend recently told me. She scratched her head. “This was supposed to be the year for clarity. Why does it feel more like I should be watching for a plague of locusts on the horizon?” It’s been rough. COVID-19, riots, murder hornets, food shortages, natural disasters, and economic instability has left the world reeling with anxiety. To be honest, I took most of the upheaval in stride. Read More

Filed Under: Walking with God Tagged With: 2020, COVID-19, idols, learning from COVID, needing God, the new normal, year of clarity

When The World is Spiraling Out of Control…What Do We Do?

June 3, 2020 By Tara Johnson Leave a Comment

During this tumultuous season in our nation, its easy to raise our voices, to shout our opinions, our convictions, and our testimonies. In all honesty, I feel that social media can become a riot of its own…a mob of anger, name-calling, opportunities to be ‘seen’, and pointing fingers. Little of it is effective. Some of it causes the wounds to deepen. We live in a sin-sick world, filled with broken people who have been grieved and hurt by other wounded people. The ripple effects of Read More

Filed Under: Walking with God Tagged With: Christian's response to unrest, love God, Love People, prejudice, racism, turmoil, when the world is in chaos

How to Find Joy in Failure

May 15, 2020 By Tara Johnson Leave a Comment

The Arkansas State Police is a happening place to be, especially in the motor vehicle office and even more so from one to four when they are administering driving tests. I recently took a family member to fill out some paperwork, which provided me plenty of time to sit in the waiting room and watch people coming and going. Anxious teens milled around, some of whom were too cool to show their jitters. Nervous mothers smacking gum contrasted against parents who rolled their eyes, muttering Read More

Filed Under: Walking with God Tagged With: failure, Freedom, good attitudes, learning from failure, success, teachable

Breaking Free Part Two

March 15, 2020 By Tara Johnson Leave a Comment

In part one, we looked at the very real possibility that many of us, although we accepted the freedom Jesus bought for us, continue to have our minds and emotions stuck in the ‘slavery mindset’. It conditions a person to accept harmful circumstances to themselves as the natural order of things. They view their own worth through their master’s eyes. They believe about themselves what they have been told to believe, whether it’s true or not. The dichotomy between our freedom and the slavery mindset Read More

Filed Under: Walking with God Tagged With: breaking free, Forgiveness, Freedom, identity in Christ, wounds

How to Break Free from the Chains

March 5, 2020 By Tara Johnson Leave a Comment

“I freed a thousand slaves. I would’ve freed a thousand more, if they only knew they were slaves.”  ~Harriet Tubman If they only knew they were slaves… In writing and researching the Civil War, I learned Confederate plantation owners often made it their goal to break the will of their enslaved.  They would make it their goal to have the slave accept their “station” as a mindset. After all, ‘normal’ is whatever you grow up with. ‘Normal’ is what you’ve always known. Frederick Douglass put Read More

Filed Under: freedom, Walking with God Tagged With: breaking free from satan's lies, breaking free from slavery mindset, Freedom, lies, satan's lies, slavery

What is my 2020 Word of the Year?

January 1, 2020 By Tara Johnson 5 Comments

Each year I pick a word to meditate on…I know. The whole concept can seem a bit hokey, but for wordsmiths, this concept is an exhilarating gem. It’s a way for me to stay focused on God, and His character, throughout the ups and downs and crazy distractions that mark each year. Past words of the year have been bold, peace, presence…you get the idea. After much thought and prayer, 2020’s word of the year is follow. This word wasn’t chosen lightly. This past season has Read More

Filed Under: Blog, Walking with God Tagged With: chasing God, follow, Jesus, Shepherd, Word of the year

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Jocelyn Green

Engraved on the Heart by Tara Johnson

“Lovers of Civil War fiction will rejoice to add Engraved on the Heart to their collections.” Read more “Jocelyn Green”

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Laura Frantz

Engraved on the Heart by Tara Johnson

“Johnson weaves a tale of selflessness, and service . . .” Read more “Laura Frantz”

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Engraved on the Heart by Tara Johnson

“Engraved on the Heart brings Savannah, Georgia, during the Civil War to life.” Read more “Sarah Sundin”

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Engraved on the Heart by Tara Johnson

“Tara Johnson delivers a stirring tale of danger and hope.” Read more “Robin Lee Hatcher”

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Meet Tara

Tara JohnsonTara Johnson is a writer, singer, speaker and passionate lover of stories. Tara uses fiction, nonfiction, song and laughter to share her testimony of how God led her into freedom after spending years living shackled to the expectations of others. She lives in central Arkansas with her husband and children.

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