Exciting News: I’m Moving to Substack: Introducing Comfort & Joy Letters and Podcast
My website and archives will remain here, but my new writing will be published on Substack. I hope you’ll come along with me. Your support through the years has meant the world to me.
Dear Loyal Readers,
I’m thrilled to announce that I’m moving my writing to Substack! After much thought (and lots of writing in notebooks last year) I’ve decided to take this leap as a way to better connect with you and grow our community.
Why Substack?
Substack is a platform designed to help writers to reach their readers. Substack allows me to continue to write long form, build community, and offer a more streamlined way to send posts directly to your inbox or the app without an algorithm getting in the way.
Moving to Substack opens up new possibilities for me to share more of my heart and vision with you (and meet more readers, too). As I write more memoir style posts, devotionals, and continue paying attention to the world through the lens of faith, I want to invite you to be a part of it. Whether you’re here for my creativity, my personal stories, or my reflections on life and God’s word, there’s more to come.
Why Your Support Matters
Your support on Substack means I can continue doing what I love—sharing stories, insights, and encouragement that resonates with you and other readers. By subscribing and engaging with my content, you’re helping me keep up my writing and encouraging my creative life. I appreciate each and every one of you who chooses to be a part of this new chapter.
What This Means for You
By subscribing on Substack for free, you’ll get access to all my weekly “Threads” posts delivered straight to your inbox, making it even easier to follow along. Paid subscribers will enjoy additional posts on the creative life as well as anything else I add to the site in the future.
Substack also allows me to better interact with you—whether it’s through comments, voice posts, community discussions, or even exclusive offers, the experience will be more personal and intentional than ever before, and I can’t wait to share it with you.
I Need You!
Ready to join me? Just click the button below to subscribe to my Substack newsletter and be part of this exciting new chapter!
To express my gratitude for your continued support, every new Substack subscriber (between now and Jan. 5 at midnight**) will be entered into a drawing to receive the gift box below with products from some of my favorite local stores and brands: Liberty Vintage Marketplace, Something Special Covington, Worn Jewelry, Vine & Branches, and a gift from me, too. A Winner will be notified by email on Jan. 6. I want to thank the vendors listed here for their confidence and support in my creative ventures.
Warmly,
Emily Cook
Here is a sample of what subscribers will receive on Wednesdays.
Threads Bonus Post: Begin with the End in Mind
Bonus Post for You:
As a writer, I’ve found writing great stories starts with me figuring out the ending and working backwards. That’s how I write and how I teach my students to write. When you know where the story is heading, the middle doesn’t get lost, and it keeps readers engaged. Without that clarity, the story can feel like it’s wandering, and that’s when people put the book down. But when you have the ending in mind, you can create something much richer.
This is how I approach Scripture—not as disconnected stories, but as a meta narrative, woven together by God Himself, with an ending so amazing and full of hope that it changes the way we see everything before it.
Let me share that ending with you: “God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” (Revelation 21:4 KJV).
Can you picture it? A world where tears are gone, where sorrow is swallowed up by joy, and where God’s presence heals every hurt from the past. This is the future before us as believers—the final chapter that gives meaning to every page that came before in the whole of scripture and in our personal stories, too.
But to really grasp the fullness of that ending, we need to rewind all the way to the beginning. In Genesis, though tears aren’t directly mentioned, we can imagine them: Eve’s tears of regret after everything changed, Adam’s tears of sorrow over the separation from God, both of them walking out of the Garden, leaving behind a world now marked by pain and longing for what was. From that moment of rebellion, humanity’s story has been intertwined with tears—tears of loss, repentance, and longing.
And yet, even in those earliest chapters, the ending is already there, quietly promised. In the curse of the serpent, God made a way for us to get back to Him: “he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel” (Genesis 3:15 NIV). The Author, knowing the end from the beginning, plants a seed of hope right from the start. The story is not over.
Now, let’s fast forward to the heart of the story. The Messiah enters the scene. And we read: “For the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2 KJV). Here’s the pivotal moment. Jesus, fully aware of the ending, chooses to endure unimaginable suffering for the joy that awaited Him—the joy of redemption, the joy of everything being made new, the joy of seeing every tear wiped away.
This is how I read Scripture and approach life: with the end in mind and victory in view. When we know the story ends in joy, we can better understand the purpose behind the pain, the beauty of enduring hardships, and the thread of hope running through each chapter. As a writer, I’m amazed how God’s story unfolds—each piece marching toward the grand finale.
So as I write through the Chronological Bible this year, I’m going to keep the end in mind. I hope you’ll join me in reading through the Bible, too, but if not these posts will still add encouragement to your everyday by looking at the bigger picture. I think you’ll greatly benefit in spiritual and personal growth. I sure hope I do.
The tears of Genesis will one day be wiped away in Revelation. And in the pages between, we will see God’s faithfulness in every season, and I hope in our own lives, too. The story of redemption is the one we are invited to live.
Warmly,
Emily Cook
**Contest Rules:
This giveaway is not sponsored, endorsed, or administered by Instagram, WordPress, Threads, or Substack. Open to U.S. residents aged 18+. Void where prohibited. By entering, you confirm you’re 18+, live in the U.S.
**Beware of scammers. Please do not respond to anything unusual. Emily will personally contact the winner on 1/6/25.
Thank you for supporting my writing and my fav local businesses! Let’s spread comfort and joy into the new year!
Create Everyday 