Come Home. Be Restored. Choose Life.
Most of us do not struggle with obeying God when it is visible.
When obedience is affirmed.
When it is noticed.
When it comes with encouragement, momentum, or approval.
That kind of obedience feels rewarding. It feels purposeful. It feels like it is “working.”
The harder obedience is the kind that happens in silence.
Obedience without applause. [Read more…] about Obedience Without Applause: Following God When No One Is Watching
There is a picture that lives deep in the human soul.
It shows up early, long before we have words for it. It is not about winning. It is not about conquest, recognition, or survival. It is about standing when retreat would be easier, about holding the line when the outcome is already decided. It’s about choosing to lay down your life.
A few against many.
A narrow place.
Time bought with flesh and breath. [Read more…] about Lay Down Your Life: The Losing Battle That Calls Us Back to God
I have spent far too much of my life focused on what I do not have.
I notice what is missing faster than I notice what is present. I catalog what went wrong more easily than what went right. Even in prayer, I have often come to God with a running list of needs, frustrations, and disappointments, as if scarcity were the truest thing about my life.
It is not. [Read more…] about Thankfulness as Worship: Rebuilding Faith at the Altar of Praise
Everywhere I turn, I hear the same language.
Choose yourself.
Protect your energy.
This is my year.
I’m focusing on me now.
I’m not giving myself to everyone anymore.
It sounds wise. It sounds healing. It even sounds spiritual. But the more I listen, the more uneasy I become, because none of this sounds like Jesus. [Read more…] about Deny Yourself and Follow Christ: Why Biblical Faith Rejects Self-Focused Living
I am not writing this because I figured something out.
I am writing this because I finally stopped pretending I was fine.
I believe in God. I always have. That part never broke. What broke was my ability to rest in Him. Somewhere along the way, belief stayed intact while refuge quietly slipped out the back door. This season of trying to return to God has forced me to admit something uncomfortable: I learned how to obey without trusting Him to be my safety. [Read more…] about Trying to Return to God: A Raw, Honest Confession
Control has always been my safety.
That didn’t start as an adult. It started when I was very young. And when I say young, I mean young. I learned early that if something was going to get handled, I was probably the one who had to handle it. If a problem was going to be fixed, I was the one who had to fix it. There wasn’t anyone I could fully trust to step in and take care of things for me. [Read more…] about Letting Go of Control When Control Was How I Survived