Not Mine to Carry

There are things in life that hurt us in ways we never expected. Sometimes it is something someone did. Sometimes it is something they failed to do. Sometimes it is a loss, a disappointment, an unanswered prayer, a relationship that changed, an opportunity that disappeared, or simply the painful realization that life did not turn…

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Somewhere in the World

There are little things that happen in life that make you pause and quietly feel grateful. Not the big, life-changing things. Just small moments that remind you that perhaps our lives touch one another in ways we don’t always see. Lately, I’ve been having one of those moments. I’ve noticed people from different parts of…

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The Prayers We Outgrow

This morning, I found myself thinking about some of the prayers I used to pray. Not the prayers I pray now. The old ones. The ones I prayed when I was younger and life looked very different. The ones that felt so important at the time that I couldn’t imagine being okay without the answers…

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Come and See

There is something about the story of the Samaritan woman that I keep coming back to. Jesus knew where He was going. He knew Samaria. He knew the woman He would meet there. He knew her story before she ever stood at that well. And still, He went. He didn’t meet her by accident. He…

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Look Again

There is something interesting about the way we come to know people. At first, we are curious. When someone is new to us, we want to hear their stories. We notice the little things. We listen closely. There is a natural curiosity about who they are, what they think, what has shaped them. But as…

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Let God Handle What I Cannot

There was a time when I thought understanding why God allowed certain things to happen would finally bring me peace. I wanted to understand the pain. The disappointments. The seasons that seemed to stretch far longer than I thought I could endure. I wanted to know why some prayers seemed to take so long to…

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Fluent in Silence

Some nights I pray with words. Some nights they come easily. Gratitude spills out before I even know what I’m saying. Hope feels natural. Faith feels effortless. But there are other nights. The kind that arrive quietly. The kind where the day has taken more than it gave. Where disappointment lingers a little longer than…

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The One He Saw

I wonder if one of the saddest questions we can ask ourselves is not, “Who have I become?” But rather… “What happened to the person God always saw?” Not the person others expected us to be. Not the person shaped by disappointment. Not the person hidden beneath fear, betrayal, or years of trying to survive….

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The Shape of Love

I have been thinking lately about how easily we say the word love. We love coffee. We love summer. We love a favorite song. We love a place we’ve visited once. We love people. We even say we love God. The same word carries everything from a passing preference to the deepest commitment a human…

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The Storm Doesn’t Test the Leaves, It Tests the Roots

When a storm passes through, our attention is often drawn to the leaves. The branches bending in the wind. The visible damage left behind. The things we can immediately see. But the storm is rarely testing the leaves. It is testing the roots. The leaves may tell us how strong the wind was. The roots…

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