I find that so interesting.

From the very beginning, our brains are wired to respond positively to the taste of sugar, but the same can’t be said for salt.

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I’m sure many of us can attest to this.

We’ve seen babies get a lick of ice cream and suddenly develop supernatural strength to grip that cone because they want another lick.

But again, the same is not to be said for salt.

Instantly, I thought about what Jesus said to His disciples - to us:

“You are the salt of the earth…” - Matthew 5:13

My initial thought was…salt is not liked…Jesus calls me salt…so maybe it’s okay if I’m not liked.

But after I went a little deeper, I started thinking, what does it really mean to be the salt of the earth?

And so naturally, I researched what salt does.

Here’s what came up in my search:

• It enhances flavour by making food taste richer.

• It preserves food by pulling out water and stopping bacteria and mould from growing.

• It improves texture, especially in baking.

• It helps balance fluids in the body.

• It can even be used for cleaning.

Salt has many uses and purposes.

And the more I thought about it, the more I realized that maybe the point isn’t whether salt is liked. Maybe the point is what salt does.

Salt has an effect. It serves a purpose.

And as disciples of Christ, I think that’s part of what it means for us to be the salt of the earth.

We’re meant to have an effect on the places God has put us. We’re meant to bring something. To preserve what is good and to uproot what is not. To bring flavour, so to speak. To live in a way that points people back to God.

Salt isn’t necessarily the thing you crave, but it is needed.

Quite frankly, we aren’t called to be palatable. We’re called to be useful.

And another thing…sometimes being salt is uncomfortable.

Sometimes following Jesus will require us to say the uncomfortable thing. To have the uncomfortable conversation. To draw a boundary line. To say no. To stand firm when it would be easier to just go along with everyone else.

Sometimes, that saltiness won’t even just be uncomfortable for the people around us, it’ll be uncomfortable for us too.

Being faithful…. it won’t always be comfortable.

Friend, there will be times when your faith makes you different.

There will be times when choosing righteousness means choosing the less popular option.

And that’s okay.

Because being liked isn’t the goal. Being faithful is.

So if you’ve been feeling a little different lately because you’re choosing to follow Jesus, don’t be so quick to think something is wrong with you.

Maybe you’re just being salt.

You don’t have to be palatable to everyone.

You are needed.

Friend, don’t lose your saltiness.

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I was sitting with my coffee, reflecting and thanking God, as I typically do most mornings after I wake up.

I was thinking about the life I’m blessed to live. The husband who kisses me every morning while I’m still in bed before he leaves for work. The apartment that somehow managed not to compromise on any of our needs…a short walk away from both of our offices, yet still close to a pocket of nature, with streams of water where I can take my daily prayer walks and feel so at peace.

As I sat there reflecting and thanking God, the following Scripture really came to life:

“O Lord, you have searched me and you know me.” - Psalm 139:1

God really knows me so, so well. He knows what I need, He knows what I like, and He knows all the things that matter to me.

There is so much peace in knowing that.

I wondered to myself…why?

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Why is there so much comfort in knowing that God searches our hearts and knows us - you and me - so completely?

I think part of it is because so much of our lives is spent wanting to be known by others.

We want our spouse, our family, our friends to just “get us”. We want people to understand what we mean, what we need, what makes us feel loved. We want to be seen on the inside just as much as people see us on the outside.

There’s a reason we talk so much about things like love languages. There are books, podcasts, workshops and entire conversations dedicated to helping us understand how other people receive love.

Because being known makes us feel loved.

But the thing is, so much of people knowing us is contingent on our ability to properly communicate our needs.

We have to explain what we value. We have to explain what we need. We have to explain how we like to receive love and how we like for love to be expressed.

And the truth of the matter is that even if you are the best communicator, someone who knows exactly how to take complicated thoughts and explain them in the simplest of terms, people can still miss the mark on loving you the way you desire to be loved.

And that is through no fault of their own.

They are only human and limited by their own capacity and understanding.

And even when someone does fully understand what you communicated and knows exactly how to follow it up with action, no one person will ever be able to meet all of your needs.

No one person can.

But to be known by God…that is something else entirely.

Psalm 139 continues:

“You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue
you know it completely, O Lord.”

There is something so comforting about this.

You don’t have to eloquently explain your thoughts to God, He already knows them. And yet, He still desires for us to share them with Him.

That’s just because God desires a relationship with you and me. Not because you have to help Him understand you.

I think that’s one of the beautiful things about prayer.

We don’t pray because God is unaware of what we need. Jesus says in Matthew 6:8 that our Father knows what we need before we ask Him.

You may be thinking, so then if He already knows, why do I have to ask?

Because prayer isn’t about giving God information, it’s about having a relationship.

Yes, He already knows, but He still says… come talk to Me.

Somehow, the God who knows everything about me still wants to hear everything from me.

There is so much peace in that, because with God, I don’t have to spend my time trying to make myself understood.

I don’t have to wonder if I’ve explained myself well enough or whether I’ve forgotten to communicate some important need.

God knows me more deeply than I know myself.

Before the words are on my tongue, He knows them completely.

I think if we began to search our own lives the way God searches our hearts, we might start noticing just how intimately He knows us, even down to the details of our lives that might seem insignificant to everyone else but feel so personal to us.

God created you. He knows you. He knows what you need.

And because He knows what you need, you can come to Him without having to have all the right words.

You can just come.

Oh, to be known by God…

deeply known…

and still loved.

What a relief.

What peace there is in knowing that before I ever find the words to say, my Father already knows what is in my heart.

And He still wants to hear them.

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I came across this line in Psalm 139:

“My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body.”

While I was reading this, I got stuck on the words secret place.

I’ve always understood the secret place to be my prayer closet.

In Matthew 6:6, Jesus says:

^“But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.”

Jesus describes the “secret place” as a place of privacy with God. A place where the door is shut. Where you can step away from the noise and turn your attention toward the Father.

But in Psalm 139, David is talking about how he was made in the secret place. He was woven together in the secret place. God saw him before he was even formed in the secret place.

I started thinking about how this secret place sounds like a different kind of place than my prayer closet.

David uses the language of the “secret place” to describe something hidden…the womb. The place where his body was being formed before anyone else could see him.

And I started thinking about the connection between the womb and our prayer closet, both being places of hiddenness with God.

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Think about the womb…it’s a place where a baby is growing and developing. As a matter of fact, if you’ve been pregnant before, then you know this very well. Every few weeks, you find out that your baby is now the size of a different piece of fruit. One day they’re like a strawberry, the next an orange, and eventually they’re the size of a watermelon.

The point is that the baby is growing.

But the baby is also growing in a place that is designed to nurture that growth. The womb provides the right kind of environment and nutrients needed for the baby to develop. What’s more is the baby is hidden, protected, and secluded from the outside world.

The Psalms let us know that the womb is a place of formation.

And I think the secret place as we know it today can be like the womb.

Stay with me for a second…if the womb is the place of formation, then our prayer closet is the place of re-formation.

It’s a place where you can have intimate fellowship with the Lord, where it’s just you and Him. There’s no noise, no distractions, so that you can grow, so that you can receive nourishment from the Lord…be it guidance, instruction or correction.

It’s where we continuously go to be re-formed in the likeness of Christ.

Because although we may have entered this world fearfully and wonderfully made, we also entered a world full of fear, sin, and pride.

And, if we’re being honest, we’ve picked up some of it along the way. And so we need Christ to deal with us.

We need Him to work on us. We need Him to show us the parts of ourselves that don’t look like Him. We need Him to renew our minds and change our hearts.

And where does so much of this happen? In the secret place.

I think a lot of the time we treat our time with God like we’re going to a meeting where we need to bring something.

We come in with our prayer list, our worship playlist, we have our Bible, we have everything we want to say to God, everything we want to ask Him for, everything we want Him to do.

And there’s nothing wrong with any of that. We ought to pray, we ought to worship, we ought to bring our requests before God.

But what if the secret place is less about what we accomplish there and more about what God does there?

Again, I’m not saying don’t pray or don’t worship. You should absolutely pray and worship. But what I’m saying is that many of us do all that we need to do in the place of prayer and don’t leave room for God to also do something back.

As soon as we’ve finished worshipping and praying, we head on out of the room.

But what I’ve learned is that those moments where you sit with God in silence, where you linger a little while longer after you’ve prayed, after you’ve worshipped, are so important.

Because the secret place isn’t just a place where we speak to God, it’s a place where we give Him room to speak to us.

I think this is where the womb analogy becomes even more interesting.

Babies don’t do much in the womb. They don’t perform, or prove their worth. They receive and they grow. They are formed. I believe we need to recover some of that posture with God.

We’ve become so accustomed to doing, producing, performing, and proving ourselves that even our time with God can become another thing we feel like we have to do right.

Sometimes the Lord is inviting us to the secret place simply to come and receive.

Sometimes He is asking us to be still in His presence, to listen, to let Him search us and see if there is any offensive way in us. Sometimes He is wanting to correct us or comfort us. Sometimes He is inviting us into the secret place to let Him re-form us.

Friend, we can’t go back to the womb.

We can’t return to the place where God first formed us.

But we can return to the secret place.

And we can let Him work on us again.

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I don't know if you've ever had one of those weeks where you actually say out loud “okay, things are starting to settle down" and then something else happens.

If that’s you… well then…maybe this letter is for you.

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I was sitting with James this week and the Lord has been reminding me of something I needed to hear. If you’ve been walking with the Lord for some time, you’re probably already pretty familiar with this Scripture.

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” - James 1:2-4

If we’re being honest, this isn’t always the easiest thing to do when you’re in the middle of a trial. How do you consider it pure joy when your back’s against the wall?

But here, James isn’t telling us to pretend like what we’re going through isn’t difficult or that it doesn’t hurt. He’s reminding us that the testing of our faith which happens in trial, produces perseverance. In other words, every trial is an opportunity to hold fast to our faith.

James goes on to say that when perseverance has finished its work, we become mature and complete, lacking nothing.

What I take from that is that God is far more concerned with who we are becoming than with how comfortable we are. Even in the trials we never would have chosen, He's at work, using them to grow our faith and mature us into the people He's calling us to be.

And the thing I’m learning more and more is that we don’t get to choose our trials. We don’t get to decide what we’ll go through. You may be facing a new trial in this season or you may even be facing the same one. And while we don't get to choose our trials, we do get to choose how we respond to them.

Will we allow them to pull us away from God, or will they drive us closer to Him?

It always comes back to our faith. Holding fast to it that is.

Why? Because Hebrews 11:6 tells us,

“…without faith it is impossible to please God…..”

That verse has challenged me. It’s challenged me to speak life instead of defeat in the face of a trial. It's challenged me to let God's Word have the final say instead of my circumstances.

Sometimes we spend so much time asking "God, why is this happening?" that we miss what He is bringing about in us.

Friend, your trial is not meaningless.

God doesn’t waste our pain. He uses our trials to produce perseverance.

And later as I kept reading James, there’s encouragement for us.

“As you know, we consider blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.” - James 5:11

James never said that those who never faced trials are blessed. He says those who persevered are blessed. Those who held fast to their faith.

Job's story reminds us that our suffering is never the end of the story. The same God who restored Job after unimaginable loss is the same God today. His compassion hasn't changed and His mercy never runs out.

So if you find yourself in a place where it feels like it’s pouring, don’t lose heart.

Keep holding fast to your faith.

One day you’ll look back and realize that what felt like it was breaking you was actually shaping you.

That the rain didn’t come to destroy your faith.

It came to reveal it.

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"Give me understanding."

That made me wonder…why?

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I believe it’s because one of the enemy’s greatest tactics isn’t always to get us to full on reject God’s Word. Sometimes it’s much subtler than that and he simply tries to get us to misunderstand it.

If he can distort our understanding, he can drive a wedge between us and God. Between us and the house of God. Between us and the people of God.

Full disclosure. I’ve experienced this myself.

Back in my early walk with God, when I had first started attending church more consistently and was still very much a lukewarm believer, the pastor was preaching from Exodus and quoted the verse:

“The Egyptians you see today, you will never see again.”

Now, I happened to be the only Egyptian in the church and for a brief moment, I actually felt offended.

Even writing that now makes me laugh because it’s obviously so ridiculous. The pastor wasn't talking about modern Egyptians and he definitely wasn't talking about me. The passage wasn't even about ethnicity at all, it was about God delivering Israel from slavery.

But that's exactly how deception works.

The enemy isn't picky.

He’ll use whatever you’ve got…your upbringing, your culture, your past experiences, your insecurities, your political views, your hurts, to try and convince you that God meant something He never said.

The goal isn’t necessarily to make you stop reading the Bible…the goal is to make you read it through the wrong lens.

I remember someone sharing a similar experience after attending a wedding. During the ceremony, the priest read one of the passages commonly read at Christian weddings about wives submitting to their husbands (Ephesians 5:22). Before the reading was over, she had already decided she didn't like what she was hearing. To her, it sounded patriarchal, unfair and outdated.

Because she had already decided what the passage meant, she didn’t pause to consider what came next…that husbands are called to sacrificial love, and elsewhere Scripture says that a wife’s body belongs to her husband just as a husband's body belongs to his wife (1 Corinthians 7:4). When read in it’s wider context, what can first be seen as one-sided is actually describing mutual self-giving.

I can’t begin to name the countless number of instances where I’ve heard a similar story…someone being offended by a Scripture they heard.

Often we’re not reacting to the whole passage…we’re reacting to the part that came face-to-face with our assumptions. We block our ears the moment Scripture confronts something we've already made up our minds about.

How many times have we closed our hearts before we’ve finished reading?

How many times have we interpreted God’s Word through our wounds instead of through His character?

How many times have we been convicted and mistaken it for offense?

This is why I think the repeated prayer in Psalm 119 is so important.

“Give me understanding, that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart.” (Psalm 119:34)

The psalmist asks for understanding because he recognizes that understanding and obedience go together.

Later he prays again:

“Let my cry come before you, O Lord; give me understanding according to your word.” (Psalm 119:169)

According to your word…not according to my logic, to my experiences or to my emotions.

There’s a reason this prayer appears more than once throughout Psalm 119. It is entirely possible to read Scripture and completely miss what God is saying.

Psalm 119:130 says:

“The unfolding of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple.”

I love that image….God’s Word unfolds. As it unfolds, it gives us light. It gives us understanding.

But that unfolding happens as we linger in God's Word, as we ask Him questions, as we pray, and as we remain humble enough to admit that our first interpretation may not always be the right one.

The problem isn’t God’s Word, sometimes it’s the lens through which you’re reading it.

Maybe that’s why the psalmist keeps praying, “Give me understanding.”

It’s such a simple prayer, but it’s also a deeply humble one.

It begins with admitting that, left to ourselves, we don’t always see clearly.

We need God Himself to teach us.

Maybe before we open our Bibles tomorrow morning, our first prayer should simply be “Lord, give me understanding.”

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One is married and longs for her husband to take his walk with God more seriously. She prays that one day they’ll be equally passionate about pursuing Him.

Another is recently divorced after a marriage marked by infidelity and being unequally yoked. She’s now preparing to step back into the dating world.

A third confided that she sometimes wonders if her husband loves God as much as she does because he doesn’t seem “on fire” for Him.

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Before I go any further, I want to address that last thought.

I think some of us have confused being on fire for God with being visible for God. We assume it’s the charismatic leader, the one preaching from the stage, holding the microphone, leading worship, or serving in every ministry.

But being on fire for God has very little to do with the spotlight and everything to do with the posture of the heart.

It looks like loving God wholeheartedly. Loving people well. Being faithful with what He’s entrusted to you. Walking in humility. Obeying Him when no one is watching.

Even Satan had proximity to the things of God before his fall. External appearance has never been proof of a surrendered heart.

Now, to the first two women.

To the wife praying for her husband

A friend once told me she often prays that her husband would become more intentional in his walk with God. As we spoke, I couldn’t help but remember something she had shared years earlier while they were dating. Even then, there were areas of his life she hoped would change. She assumed marriage would naturally bring growth in those areas.

It didn’t.

That doesn’t mean people can’t change. God transforms hearts every day. But marriage itself doesn’t change someone’s character. It reveals it.

My mom always used to tell me, “Pay close attention to how a man treats you while you’re dating.”

Dating is often when people are on their best behaviour. They’re pursuing you. They’re intentional. They’re trying to win your heart. If there are consistent character issues during that season, don’t assume they’ll disappear after the wedding. More often than not, familiarity makes it easier, not harder, for people to become comfortable and complacent.

Of course, this isn’t to paint marriage as hopeless or to suggest things only go downhill after dating. A godly marriage is one where both husband and wife are continually being sanctified.

A man who truly fears God understands that he isn’t only accountable to his wife, he’s accountable to the Lord. He’s called to love his wife as Christ loved the Church, a love marked by sacrifice, humility, and service. That’s a weighty calling.

But if you’re already married and carrying the burden of wishing your husband were further along spiritually, what then?

Scripture gives us both encouragement and direction.

In 1 Peter 3:1–2, Peter writes that husbands who do not obey the word may be “won without a word” by the behavior of their wives when they see the purity and reverence of their lives.

Peter doesn’t tell wives to nag, pressure, manipulate, or endlessly argue.

Instead, he points them toward faithful living.

Your life can preach sermons your mouth never could. As your husband sees the fruit of the Spirit in you, as he witnesses your peace, your gentleness, your perseverance, and your unwavering love for Christ, the Holy Spirit is able to work in ways no argument ever will.

Pray for him.

Respect him.

Continue pursuing Christ yourself.

Trust God with the work that only God can do.

This is a little bit of a side note, but every time I read this passage I find myself thinking, "God is really such an advocate for wives."

One passage I've always found beautiful is 1 Peter 3:7, where husbands are instructed to be considerate of their their wives so that their prayers may not be hindered.

Throughout Scripture we're reminded that God hears His people, listens to their cries, and draws near to them. Yet Peter gives this sobering warning to husbands…how they treat their wives affects their fellowship with God. To me, that's another beautiful reminder of how seriously God takes the covenant of marriage and how deeply He values the women He has entrusted to their care.

To the woman who’s dating, or hopes to one day

Life is already complicated enough.

Why make it harder by choosing the wrong man?

Marriage can be challenging even when two people are fully submitted to Christ. You’re bringing together different personalities, different upbringings, different habits, different families, and different expectations. Unity doesn’t happen automatically.

Now imagine adding fundamentally different beliefs about God to that equation.

Being unequally yoked isn’t just about having different opinions. It’s about having different foundations.

Every marriage will face disagreements. The difference is where you go when they arise.

In my marriage, when my husband and I don’t initially see eye to eye, we always have somewhere to return.

We have a reference point outside of ourselves.

What does the Bible say about this?

What does God say about husbands?

About wives?

About forgiveness?

About money?

About raising children?

About serving one another?

The Bible becomes our shared authority. Neither of us has to win the argument because we’re both submitting to Someone greater than ourselves.

That changes everything.

I think being equally yoked is like having a head start in life. It doesn’t mean marriage will be easy, and it doesn’t mean you’ll never disagree. But when two people are running in the same direction, there is a level of alignment that removes some unnecessary battles. Instead of spending your marriage trying to convince each other of the foundation you’re building on, you get to spend that energy actually building.

For the woman who’s dating someone hoping he’ll eventually come to Christ because of her influence, I say this with love because I’ve been there before: don’t build a future around potential.

You can pray for someone without marrying them.

You can love someone without yoking yourself to them.

You can display the fruit of the Spirit without making them your spouse.

Too much energy can be spent trying to pull someone toward Christ while neglecting to build a healthy relationship. If you’re constantly trying to convince someone about the most foundational truth of your life, that energy isn’t being invested into stewarding the relationship itself.

Paul asks in 2 Corinthians 6, “What partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?”

Those aren’t popular questions today, but they’re necessary ones.

Growing up as a Christian Egyptian in Canada, my mom never stopped praying for my future husband.

Being part of a Christian minority, she understood the importance of intentionally protecting our faith and building a family with someone who shared the same foundation.

But her prayers weren’t born out of fear, they were born out of wisdom.

My mom had experienced firsthand how deeply a marriage can shape the course of your life. She knew the pain that comes when two people are not walking in the same direction spiritually.

She knew that marriage wasn’t just about finding someone you love. It was about finding someone who would love you the way Christ calls a husband to love his wife…with humility, sacrifice, and care.

Long before she knew his name, she was praying for the man I would one day marry.

That he would love Jesus, that he would be a man of integrity, and that together we would build a home centered on Christ.

She still does it today, except now those prayers are for my brother and the woman he’ll one day marry.

When I was younger, I don’t think I fully appreciated those prayers. Part of me thought she was just being protective. Or, if I’m really being honest, that she was trying to control who I could and couldn’t date.

Looking back now, I realize she wasn’t trying to limit me, she was trying to protect the kind of life I would one day have.

And now, having witnessed the marriages of friends, walked through my own life, and seen God's wisdom play out over and over again, I understand why.

Life at times will be hard, but your marriage doesn't have to be.

There will be seasons that stretch you, humble you, and require more grace than you imagined. But I am deeply grateful that my husband and I are walking in the same direction. When life becomes difficult, and it inevitably does, we’re not first trying to convince each other who God is before we face the problem in front of us.

We face it together, with the Lord’s backing.

Ladies, if you’re single, don’t compromise on something as foundational as faith.

And if you’re married, continue living faithfully before the Lord. Pray for your spouse. Trust the Holy Spirit to do what you cannot.

Because marriage was never meant to change someone’s heart.

Only Christ can do that.

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Whether it’s pursuing an idea, exploring a new career path, or finally sharing a piece of content I’ve been sitting on, I’ve often found myself saying, “I’m not going to do it unless God tells me to.”

I know that comes from a deep reverence for the Lord and a sincere desire to accomplish His will for my life. He is the Potter and I am the clay. The Lord can do whatever He wants with me. Because of that, I often find myself waiting for God to mould me a certain way or tell me exactly what steps to take.

But lately I've been wondering if there comes a point where what looks like faith is actually fear. Where waiting on God becomes an excuse to avoid taking responsibility for the decisions He's entrusted us to make. A point where we're stalling our growth and failing to produce fruit because we're waiting for instructions God may not have intended to give.

When I think about the parents God has given us, they aren’t constantly telling us what to do. Maybe when we’re very young and unable to think for ourselves, but as we grow, they give us principles, guidance, wisdom, and correction while allowing us to make decisions and learn along the way.

I've started to wonder if God, our Heavenly Father, often works similarly.

As we walk with Him, He guides us. He convicts us when necessary, redirects us when we're headed in the wrong direction, and provides wisdom through His Word and His Spirit. But that guidance often requires movement on our part. It requires us to start something, pursue something, choose something.

That led me to wonder…why are believers sometimes paralyzed when it comes to making decisions?

Why are we unable to do the thing we’re thinking about doing?

It's not always because we sense that the Holy Spirit is warning us against it. It's not because we feel convicted or unsettled. It's simply because He hasn't explicitly said, "Yes, go ahead. Move forward."

This isn't to say God never gives specific direction. He absolutely can. But I've begun to question whether every decision requires an unmistakable green light before we move.

When I look at Scripture, I see something interesting.

In Proverbs 16:3, we’re told:

“Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and he will establish your plans.”

Notice that the instruction here isn’t to wait until God gives you a plan.

The assumption is that you already have one.

A plan for your career, a plan for your family, a business idea, a creative project, a dream that's been sitting in your heart for years.

Scripture doesn’t condemn planning…in fact, it assumes it.

The question is what we do with those plans.

We’re called to commit them to the Lord. To surrender their direction, our efforts, and the outcome to Him. To hold them with open hands and trust Him with the results.

Then, just a few verses later, Proverbs 16:9 says:

“The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps.”

Again, we plan, but God is the one directing.

Many of us hesitate because we're afraid to try and fail. Or we’re afraid of choosing the wrong path. We fear falling outside of God's will, missing our calling, or somehow derailing the plans He has for our lives.

So we wait, and wait, and wait.

Not because God has told us to wait, but because we're afraid to act without absolute certainty.

Don’t get me wrong, there are seasons when God genuinely calls us to wait. Seasons where what is required is patience, discernment, and restraint. But not every decision you’re looking to make requires a supernatural confirmation.

Much of the Christian life is learning to walk in wisdom and trusting that God guides us as we move, not only before we move.

I wonder if many of us are waiting for God to steer a parked car.

We’re asking Him to direct our steps while refusing to take any.

A loving father doesn't expect his child to ask for permission before every single step they take. He teaches them how to walk, and then he walks with them.

All this to say, we still have a responsibility to make decisions and to take action.

As we seek God, submit our plans to Him, and remain sensitive to His leading, we can move forward with confidence. We can pursue opportunities, start projects, create, build, and serve, trusting that if we’re headed in the wrong direction, God is more than able to redirect us.

So friend, make the plan.

Bring it before the Lord.

Take the next step in faith.

And trust that the One who establishes your steps is faithful enough to guide you along the way.

With love,

Sandra

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David wanted to honor Hanun because Hanun’s father had shown kindness to him before he died. So David did what anyone would do in that situation, he sent men to express his sympathy and condolences.

But instead of receiving David’s gesture with gratitude, Hanun completely misinterpreted it.

Scripture says that Hanun seized David’s servants, shaved off half of each man’s beard, cut off their garments at the buttocks, and sent them away in humiliation.

Can you imagine that kind of humiliation? Among everything else, if my husband came home with half of his beard shaved off, I’d be so upset. And that’s exactly what David was….upset.

In fact, after this incident, Scripture says that the Ammonites realized they had become “a stench in David’s nostrils.”

Knowing they had offended David, the Ammonites hired thousands of Aramean soldiers to strengthen their defenses. When David heard about it, he gathered his fighting men, and war followed.

Long story short, the Ammonites and Arameans were no match for David’s army. They were defeated. Some of the kings made peace with David and became subject to him, and the Arameans became afraid to help the Ammonites any longer.

So let’s recap.

Hanun’s response to David’s kindness led to his people becoming enemies, losing battles, retreating into their city, and ultimately losing the support of their allies.

But here’s the part that stood out to me most…all of this started because of the advice Hanun listened to.

When David’s servants arrived, Hanun’s nobles said to him, “Do you think David is honoring your father by sending men to express sympathy? Hasn’t David sent them to explore the city, spy it out, and overthrow it?”

Fear-based counsel almost always leads to destructive decisions.

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It was immediately after listening to these voices that Hanun made the disastrous decision to humiliate David’s men and set this entire chain of events in motion.

As I read this passage, I couldn't stop thinking about how much trouble began with a single conversation. Hanun wasn't defeated because David arrived looking for a fight. He was defeated because he trusted the wrong voices. And that's what I'm trying to say, friend, we need to be careful whose counsel we allow to shape our decisions.

Yes, Scripture says that plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed (Proverbs 15:22). It also says that there is safety in an abundance of counsel (Proverbs 11:14). But that doesn’t mean we should accept every piece of advice we receive. We need wise counsel.

For instance, think about how often marital disagreements are taken to social media. Thousands of strangers who have no vested interest in the future of that marriage are quick to offer advice, “just leave him,” or vice versa. Compare that to seeking counsel from a mature, godly couple who share your values and genuinely want to see your relationship thrive. The quality of the counsel, and often the outcome, can be very different.

I’ve learned from my mom never to discuss matters related to my marriage or my children with just anyone, especially people who have no real interest in my family’s well-being. More often than not, you end up giving away information about your life to people who cannot actually help you with it. I’m not saying don’t seek help when help is necessary, but be careful where you seek it from.

Hanun could have avoided tremendous trouble if he had not acted on poor advice.

As Proverbs 13:20 says, “He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm.”

So how do we know whether the counsel we’re receiving is wise?

First, bring it before the Lord…ask Him about it.

“Lord, this person said this. What do You think?”

The Holy Spirit may challenge you, convict you, or stretch you. His guidance often requires faith, but it will never contradict God’s character and truth.

Second, consider the source.

Does this person have a genuine relationship with God? Do they practice what they preach? Is there evidence of fruit in their character, relationships, and daily life?

Fruit reveals what fluency can hide.

The older I get, the more I realize how important it is to have wise people around you, people you can learn from when it comes to marriage, raising children, business, and life in general.

We all need mentors, guidance, and wise counsel.

But friend, who you listen to is incredibly important because the counsel you receive can shape the course of your life.

I’ll leave you with this question: whose voice is shaping your decisions more than you realize right now? And have you asked God what He thinks about their advice?

With love,

Sandra

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“To what, then, can I compare the people of this generation? What are they like? They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling out to each other:

“‘We played the pipe for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not cry.’

For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ But wisdom is proved right by all her children.”

As I read this passage, I couldn't help but think about how exhausting it can be to live for other people's approval.

The topic of people-pleasing actually came up in several conversations I had with groups of women just this past week. And if I'm being honest, I've struggled with this too.

The need to please our boss, our parents, our friends, our peers, our spouse, just about anyone really.

I'm not sure exactly where this need to people-please comes from. If I take a minute to really reflect on it, maybe it comes from a good place, like wanting to love people well and meet their needs. Maybe it comes from the fear of being perceived as incompetent or inadequate. Maybe it comes from wanting to be liked, valued, or accepted. Or maybe it comes from years of being conditioned to put others' needs before your own.

Whatever the reason, people-pleasing often feels like an emotional plague in our generation.

And in this passage, Jesus compares “this generation” to children in a marketplace who can’t seem to be satisfied.

John the Baptist came with a very serious, set-apart kind of life, and they said, “He has a demon.”

Then Jesus came eating and drinking, spending time with people, and they said, “He’s a glutton and a drunkard.”

Two very different approaches to carrying out God's purposes, and yet both were criticized.

What we see here is that no matter what you do or what approach you take, some people will simply not be pleased. People will often find a reason to fault you.

But Jesus is also revealing something deeper here. The issue wasn’t really John’s approach, and it wasn’t really Jesus’ approach. The issue was the condition of their hearts. When people are resistant to what God is doing, they can find reasons to criticize it no matter how it comes.

They weren't actually evaluating the messenger fairly. They had already decided they didn't want the message.

And if they did it to Jesus, they absolutely will do it to you too.

There’s something incredibly freeing in that realization.

Friend, you will never be able to please everyone. Not because you’re doing something wrong, but because people see through different lenses, and sometimes those lenses are shaped by their own expectations, assumptions, or resistance.

If you build your life around the approval of others, you'll constantly be changing direction to keep up with opinions that were never meant to carry that much weight.

Instead, focus on faithfulness to what God has called you to. Walk in obedience. Stay rooted in your purpose. Be who you’ve been called to be, even when it’s misunderstood.

Jesus ends this passage by saying, “Wisdom is proved right by all her children.”

In other words, what is truly from God doesn’t need everyone’s approval to be validated. The fruit will eventually speak for itself.

I pray this brings you a little freedom today, like it did for me.

With love,

Sandra

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Humour me for a second.

“Do we still enjoy each other’s company the way we did in the beginning?”

“Do I still keep his attention?”

“Does my husband still like me as much as he did when we first met?”

The early stages of most relationships are marked by deep awe and admiration for the other person. You can’t wait to see each other, and it feels impossible to leave each other’s side. You linger as long as you can before finally saying goodbye and heading home to your own bed.

I remember when my husband and I were newly dating and my mom would literally have to call me and tell me it was time to come home.

This isn’t meant to become a “dating vs marriage” conversation. However, those thoughts had been sitting heavily on my mind one day.

And here’s what I’ve learned: when you’re dating, the enemy’s goal is often to tempt you into crossing boundaries and falling into sin. The goal is what I’d call “premature oneness”.

But when you’re married, the strategy shifts into almost the complete opposite and the goal becomes division.

And that’s because there is power in unity.

The enemy hates unity because unity reflects the nature of God and strengthens believers. Scripture repeatedly shows us the power of standing together:

Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves.” - Ecclesiastes 4:12

“Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven - Matthew 18:19

“Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation…every house divided against itself will not stand.” - Matthew 12:25

And what I’ve noticed is that the lies are rarely sown when you and your spouse are together and enjoying each other.

No, no, they usually come when you’re alone.

That’s when the thoughts start creeping in:

“Something feels off.”

“He’s not as interested anymore.”

“He doesn’t love you the same.”

We even see a similar pattern throughout Scripture, where the enemy often does his work in moments of isolation.

Of course, the solution is not to be attached at the hip at all times. That would be impossible and honestly unhealthy. We both have individual lives to live and I genuinely value my alone time.

But we also have to be aware of what enters our mind when we’re alone.

There are times where I feel emotional or unlike myself. Women go through so much hormonally each month and during those times I can become more sensitive. Sometimes I find myself wanting love to be expressed more openly and consistently.

Suddenly, I can start feeling like my husband doesn’t love me as much as he used to or isn’t as captivated by me anymore.

None of which is actually true.

In fact, my husband regularly tells me, “I love you more now than I did before.” He’s been saying that for years.

Looking back, it almost feels like the Holy Spirit knew I would need those reminders planted consistently over time.

But after entertaining those negative thoughts for long enough, my perception of my marriage started shifting. It was as if I began viewing the relationship through a distorted lens. Somehow, despite evidence to the contrary, my marriage no longer felt as good as it truly was.

Thankfully, my husband can usually tell when something is off and does a good job at addressing it.

So we sat down and talked.

As I began explaining how I felt, I could literally hear myself contradicting reality in real time. What I was feeling emotionally did not align with what was actually true.

And let me say this clearly, women are not “crazy” because of hormones. Sometimes an unmet need genuinely exists, sometimes our intuition is picking up on something important, but other times, emotional vulnerability can make certain thoughts hit harder if we are not careful. If left unchecked, the lies can slowly settle into our thinking and begin presenting themselves as truth.

That’s why communication matters so deeply in marriage. Sometimes resentment builds not because something terrible happened, but because unhealthy thoughts were never brought into the light and challenged.

By the end of our conversation, after my husband had responded with a lot of patience, wisdom, reassurance, and love, it felt like clarity returned to me.

Suddenly I felt grounded again….safe again….satisfied again.

Honestly, the whole emotional journey felt a little funny afterward.

But something my husband said at the end of the conversation really stayed with me.

He said, “You know, I love talking through these things with you, but I won’t always be able to catch every thought before it grows. At some point, you also have to be aware of the thoughts you entertain.”

And he was absolutely right.

As much as we may have loving spouses who reassure us and are happy to go through a debunking process with us, we are still responsible for discerning our thoughts. We have to learn to recognize what aligns with God’s voice and what is rooted in fear, insecurity, and deception.

Scripture says:

“We take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” - 2 Corinthians 10:5

I’ve learned that much of marital tension actually begins in the mind.

So we must learn to pause when negative thoughts arise and ask:

Does this align with reality?

Does it reflect God’s heart?

Or is it rooted in fear?

Not every thought deserves agreement.

Some thoughts must be challenged, some must be uprooted, and some must be surrendered to God immediately.

And in their place, we must intentionally return to truth through prayer, through communication, and through the Word of God.

With love,

Sandra

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That sentence stopped me in my tracks and had me flipping back a few pages because wasn’t it just in Matthew 3 that John knew exactly who Jesus was? Wasn’t he the one who recognized Jesus as the Lamb of God?

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In Matthew 3, John prepares the way for the Lord, and when Jesus comes to him to be baptized, John tells Him, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”

Then after Jesus comes up out of the water, a voice from heaven says, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

So it seems like John knew exactly who Jesus was.

Actually, if you go over to the book of John, you can read John’s testimony for yourself:

“I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him….I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God.”

So what happened between Matthew 3 and Matthew 11?

How does someone go from “I have seen and testify” to “Are you really the One?”

What we’re told before John asks this question is that he is now in prison.

That made we wonder, could suffering cloud someone’s confidence in who Jesus really is? Could the darkness of prison have caused John to become unsure of something he was once so sure about?

Maybe John wasn’t only struggling because he suffered. Maybe he was struggling because Jesus wasn’t unfolding the story the way John imagined He would.

I started thinking about us.

Maybe you’ve found yourself in your own kind of prison, weary, discouraged, isolated, unable to see clearly anymore. Maybe, like John, you’ve witnessed God move in your life before. Maybe you have seen His faithfulness with your own eyes. Yet in difficult seasons, you begin to question what once felt certain.

“God, where are you?”

“God, will you really do it?”

But what I love is what John does with his doubt.

He brings it directly to Jesus.

And what does Jesus do?

He answers him.

Jesus tells John’s disciples:

“Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor.”

Jesus reassures John by reminding him of who He is and what He is doing.

And what really moves me is that Jesus doesn’t rebuke him for asking. He doesn’t shame him for struggling.

Instead, right after this, Jesus says to the crowd,

“Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist…”

I love that.

I love that we serve a God who understands the condition we’re in, a God who reassures us instead of pushing us away, a God who is not intimidated…by our honest questions.

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It’s interesting, because this is something I used to have a hard no about for years. I may have entertained the thought, but I never considered it for real. Yet, over time, I’ve found myself becoming more and more open to it… maybe even drawn towards it.

When I look back on my life, I can see a pattern. Whenever God is preparing to lead me into a new season, He often begins by shifting my desires.

That’s actually how it was when I met my husband.

I wasn’t looking for a relationship at all. We had just come out of the global pandemic and I was focused on community building and creating a space for writers and spoken word artists to share their poems (as I had been writing all throughout lockdown, I thought maybe others had as well).

But when my husband came onto the scene, something began to change in me. Slowly, God softened my heart and made me open in a way I hadn’t been before. And actually, God used my poetry to lead my husband to me (but that’s a story for another day).

Now, I do want to say this because it matters. Not every desire we feel is from God. Some things are just us…our flesh, our emotions, our own plans. So discernment is important. Prayer, time with God, even fasting, those things help you figure out what’s actually from Him.

But that’s not really the main thing I want to get at. What I’ve been reflecting on more deeply is this: when you genuinely don’t know what your next step is, you can trust that God will make it clear when it needs to be. He’s not playing games with your life.

I was reading Matthew 1 recently, the part about Jesus’ birth, and something stood out to me in a way it hadn’t before.

Scripture tells us that Joseph had decided to quietly divorce Mary. He had considered it. He hadn’t acted yet, but his mind was made up. And then it says, after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and told him not to be afraid, to take Mary as his wife, because what was conceived in her was from the Holy Spirit.

And when Joseph woke up, he did exactly what he was told.

I don’t know why, but that detail…after he had considered this…really stayed with me.

God saw what Joseph was thinking before Joseph ever took action. He saw the internal wrestle, the questions, the uncertainty, and He responded. He stepped in and redirected him.

I’ve read this passage many times, but this time it was comforting in a way I didn’t expect because that means something for us.

It means the thoughts we carry, the doubts, the fears, the “what am I supposed to do?”, none of it is hidden from God. He sees it and He knows how to redirect us.

And if you keep reading, it doesn’t just happen once. Joseph is guided multiple times, warned in dreams, told where to go, how to protect his family. At the exact moments where direction is needed, God gives it.

But it’s also worth noticing that the only thing Scripture highlights about Joseph beforehand is that he was a righteous man.

In other words, he already had a relationship with God, so when God spoke, Joseph recognized it and obeyed.

I remember reading that and thinking, God, I wish it were always that simple. I wish You would just tell us exactly what to do while we’re sleeping so we could wake up and follow it without question.

But then another thought came…who’s to say God isn’t already speaking more than we realize?

Sometimes we expect God’s guidance to look dramatic…like dreams, angels, or clear instructions written in the sky. And yes, He can and still does work that way. But often, God is leading in quieter ways. Through conviction, through peace (or lack of it), through His Word, through consistent nudges we keep brushing off. God is not the author of confusion. His Spirit brings peace, wisdom, and clarity and He gave us the Holy Spirit as a helper for a reason.

Joseph’s story isn’t about dramatic guidance…

it’s about timely guidance.

God told him what to do when he needed to know. Not ten steps ahead and not all at once.

And I think that’s the part that requires trust.

So if you’re in a place where you’re not sure what’s next, I get it. That in-between space can feel uncomfortable but you don’t have to force clarity.

Bring your questions to God. Be honest about where you’re at and actually ask Him what to do next. Trust that He knows how to make things clear for you when it matters.

“I sought the Lord, and He answered me and delivered me from all my fears.” - Psalm 34:4

Friend, God sees you and He sees what’s going on inside your mind. He’s not confused about your life, even if you are. And God isn’t withholding direction just to keep you stuck.

Stay close to Him and keep walking in what you do know to do.

And when it’s time for your next step, He’ll make it clear.

“I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the Lord.” - Psalm 27:13–14

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Lately, I’ve been feeling like I always need to be somewhere, for someone.

One of the heaviest things I’ve been carrying is my relationship with a close family member. It often feels like I step into a role without even deciding to. I find myself listening, reassuring, smoothing things over, and managing the emotional tone of the conversation so it doesn’t tip too far in one direction. I often notice how tired I feel afterwards.

And it’s not just them. It’s exposing something deeper in me.

I’ve been thinking… I feel like I need to be more “selfish” with my time and energy just to survive. But that doesn’t sit right with me, because I want to be like Jesus, and being like Jesus is being selfless, not selfish.

But I’m starting to realize something.

Somewhere along the way, I started equating availability with selflessness and boundaries with selfishness.

And I don’t think that’s actually true.

Even Jesus had boundaries.

He regularly withdrew from the crowds, from His disciples, even from those closest to Him, and went to lonely places to rest and to pray to the Father. He wasn’t available to everyone at all times, so why do I feel like I have to be?

Boundaries aren’t just about protecting your mental health. They protect your intimacy with God.

And yet, I still struggle with what that means in practice. Because when I step back, I don’t always feel peace right away. Sometimes I feel guilt instead.

Still, if I’m always available to people, it becomes harder to be available to Him.

All throughout Scripture, God meets with His people in the quiet moments…in solitude, away from noise, distraction, and urgency.

And I think sometimes we stay so busy that we don’t even create the space to hear Him.

Because why would God speak if we’re not in a position to listen? How would we hear Him if we’re always occupied?

God desires one-on-one time with us and we need it too.

But it’s not just one relationship pulling at me.

It’s family, discipleship, marriage, friendships, work… so many places where I feel like I need to show up, perform, or be “on.”

It’s a lot…and when I try to carry all of that in my own strength, that’s when I start to feel like I’m losing myself.

Because the truth is, it was never supposed to be by my own strength.

“Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,” says the Lord of hosts. - Zechariah 4:6

And I keep coming back to this…if it’s all about Jesus, why does life so often feel like there is so much weight placed on us?

Some of us are trying to be the Source, when we were only ever meant to be the vessel.

And the more I sit with that, the more I realize a vessel isn’t meant to produce what people need. It’s meant to carry what it’s filled with.

We’re not the ones generating what people need. We’re meant to carry the presence of God, but that requires actually being with Him first.

Dwelling with Him. Being filled by Him.

Because everything we do flows from there.

We can’t show up empty and expect to give something real.

So I’m learning that it isn’t really about doing more or being better. It’s about learning to stay filled.

To step away when we need to. To return to God instead of trying to run on what we don’t have.

And then to show up from that place, allowing Him to work through us.

The outcome of that isn’t ours to carry.

So take a moment and check in with yourself.

Do you feel heavy or light right now?

And if you feel heavy…what are you carrying that might not actually be yours to hold?

Give those things to God. Like actually give it to Him. Name them and release them into His hands.

You were never meant to hold it all by yourself.

His burden is light and He’s still the one carrying what we cannot.

Prayer

Father, I thank You for this new day that You have made. I will rejoice and be glad in it. I thank You that You hear me when I pray. Lord, today I say that I need You. I need Your guidance, Your direction, Your help. Show me where to go, what to say yes to, and what to release into Your hands. Your Word says to cast our anxieties on You because You care for us, and I thank You that You truly do care. So I give You everything that’s been weighing on me. Fill me again. Lead me again. I decrease so that You may increase.

In Jesus’ name, Amen.

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Lot had been traveling with Abram, but there came a point where the land could no longer support them both. Instead of letting it turn into conflict, Abram said something really generous.

“If you go to the left, I’ll go to the right; if you go to the right, I’ll go to the left.”

Then Scripture tells us, "Lot looked up and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan was well watered, like the garden of the Lord…” So naturally, he chose that land for himself and went east. Abram stayed in Canaan.

And this is the part that got me.

Right after Lot left, the Lord spoke to Abram and said “Lift up your eyes from where you are… all the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever.”

From where you are.

Abram didn’t even pick that land. He gave Lot first choice and ended up with whatever was left. But somehow, what was “left over” became the very place God chose to speak blessing over.

As the story continues, we later see that the land Lot chose, the one that looked better, ended up being taken over, and Lot lost everything for a time while living near Sodom.

And this is what the Holy Spirit showed me:

The grass isn’t always greener on the other side.

The grass is green wherever the Lord is with you.

I started thinking…how often do we do the same thing as Lot?

We look at something and think…that looks better, that looks easier, that looks more fulfilling.

But, not everything that looks good is actually life-giving.

And not everything that feels like “less” is outside of God’s blessing.

Comparison has a way of draining your joy and making you discontent with what God may have already placed in your hands.

If we’re honest, sometimes we’re not actually upset about our lives. We’re upset that God has been good to someone else in a way we wish He was for us. And that’s something we need to take to Him.

If we’re not careful, we can start feeling some type of way when we see God moving in someone else’s life. And the truth is, it’s not that God hasn’t been good to us. It’s that we’ve overlooked it. We’ve gotten so focused on what He’s doing for someone else that we’ve stopped being grateful for what He’s already done for us.

I’ve seen this in relationships too. People struggle to commit because they’re always thinking, what if there’s someone better out there?

But the truth is, the grass isn’t always greener with someone else. There will be things you like and things you’ll have to work through there too.

Just like Lot chose what looked better in his eyes, we can be drawn to people or situations that seem more appealing on the surface. I could meet someone and think, wow, they have qualities my husband doesn’t have. But God didn’t call me to that person. He called me to my wonderful husband. And because of that, there’s blessing in staying, growing, and building where I am.

Friend, you have to tend your own garden.

If God is with you, He is watering it. He is growing something, even if you don’t see it yet.

It’s easy to look at others and feel like they’re ahead, or that their life is more fruitful. But the question isn’t whether God is watering your life, it’s whether you’re paying attention to it.

God doesn’t always make growth obvious at first.

So maybe the question is this…

What if God is watering your life right now, but you’re too focused somewhere else to notice?

What if things are growing beneath the surface, but you’re frustrated because you don’t see flowers yet?

This is a gentle invitation to lift up your eyes from where you are.

Because where God is, life grows.

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Shortly after, David makes it personal. He says he does not trust in his own bow and his sword does not bring him victory, it is God who gives it.

What really struck me is the connection I had never fully noticed before…the testimonies David heard shaped his trust. Because David knew what God had done before, he could confidently say, “I will not trust in myself, but in You.”

It made me think about how much weight our testimonies carry and how they shape the faith of future generations.

Scripture tells us that God is the same yesterday and today and forever — Hebrews 13:8

The “yesterday” is what we read in Scripture, it’s what God has already done in the lives of His people.

The “today” is what we hear in the testimonies all around us (from our parents, mentors and fellow believers) confirming that He has not changed.

And the “forever”? That’s where we come in.

Beyond my personal encounters with the Lord and what I read in His Word, so much of my faith has been strengthened by the testimonies I’ve heard from my parents, especially my mother. Their stories became much more than stories, they became evidence. Evidence that God still does miracles, that He still provides, that He is still faithful in real, tangible ways.

Now it’s our turn to carry that forward.

We build up future generations when we share what God has done. When we speak of His faithfulness, not just in Scripture, but in our own lives. Our testimonies become someone else’s foundation.

Could you imagine if previous generations had kept those stories to themselves?

Friend, I encourage you to take time to look back on what the Lord has done in your life and where He has brought you from. Consider how He has been faithful when you didn’t see a way forward.

I encourage you not to keep those moments to yourself, but to share them, to speak them, to pass them on.

Because one day, someone else may be strengthened enough to say:

“We have heard with our ears, O God; our fathers have told us what You did in their days.”
— Psalm 44:1

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I’d love to hear about the goodness of God in your life!

If you’re open to sharing, drop a testimony in the comments of something He has done for you.

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Be it a case of random food poisoning, a cold that took you out for a few days, your menstrual cycle, or maybe you were just plain tired, there are some days, even some weeks where we just feel kind of off and our prayer time doesn’t look the way we think it should.

I remember one night being in bed, I felt so drained from the kind of week I had, but I still wanted to check in with God before going to sleep. Not because I felt like I had to, but because I genuinely wanted to. I wanted to let Him in on how I was feeling. I wanted His peace. His comfort.

So I prayed without even speaking out loud. Just a few words in my heart. And when I had finished praying, I felt a peace come over me.

But the next morning, doubt crept in.

That wasn’t enough.

You didn’t give God your best.

You could’ve done more.

But at the same time, I knew I had nothing left to give. That quiet, wordless prayer was all I had in me.

Later, I opened my Bible and felt led to read 1 Samuel. I love God’s Word because it is truly alive and active. Right there, God met me in the middle of what I had been wrestling with.

1 Samuel 1:13 says:

“Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk.”

Hannah was pouring out her soul to God in deep anguish. When Eli questioned her, she responded:

“I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the Lord.” - 1 Samuel 1:15

In that moment, I felt the Holy Spirit comforting me.

It was like God was gently telling me: “Even when it’s short, even when it’s soundless, you’ve poured out your heart to me, and I have heard you.”

I was in awe. It’s in God’s nature to comfort us and remind us that He hears us, even when we feel like we’re falling short.

I was reminded that it’s less about how many words I utter and more about having a genuine heart-to-heart with the Lord, whatever that looks like in the moment.

Now, the Bible also tells us that we should pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17). At first glance, that might seem at odds with everything I just described. So how do the two fit together?

Praying in your heart and praying without ceasing are not mutually exclusive.

To pray without ceasing means to remain connected to the Holy Spirit. That can look like talking to Him at any time. It can look like thanksgiving, or asking Him for help in moments of need - no matter how big or small.

It doesn’t mean we stop praying when it feels hard or like it isn’t working. Rather, it’s about maintaining a constant awareness of God’s presence and a dependence on Him throughout the day.

Sometimes the most honest prayer is the quietest one…and God still hears every word.

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I even thought this about my husband when we first started getting to know each other. He was taking his walk with Christ very seriously and when he approached me about dating, I could tell he was trying to gauge where I stood in my faith. Because of that, many of our early conversations revolved around God.

I remember thinking, man… does this guy even have a personality?

But the more I got to know him, the more I realized how wrong I was.

Yes, he talked about God often, but he was also incredibly funny…the intelligent kind of humour that catches you off guard. He’d make random Disney jokes at the most unexpected moments. He was kind in a way I hadn’t experienced before. Thoughtful, patient and attentive. He noticed the little things, but he also helped me see beyond them. The world always felt bigger when we talked. He treated everyone around him with respect and dignity, no matter who they were.

Most of all, he made me feel safe and accepted.

Over time, I realized something important…following Christ doesn’t make you lose your personality.

But in a sense, you do lose something.

You lose the unhealed version of yourself.

When my husband first met me, I probably would have described myself as someone with trust issues. I had spent years feeling like I needed to defend myself, so defensiveness had become second nature. I carried wounds from different places…family wounds…relationship wounds.

And when we carry those things long enough, we start to believe they are simply part of who we are.

We say things like,
“I’m just someone who has trust issues.”
“I’m just an anxious person.”

Maybe you’ve said those same things about yourself.

We begin to claim these things as our identity, as if they are our personality.

But Scripture tells us:

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” - 2 Corinthians 5:17

In other words, the life we receive in Christ isn’t improved…it’s made new.

God did not design us to live permanently defined by our wounds.

As I began to know Christ more personally, something began to change in me. It didn’t happen all at once and it wasn’t perfect but slowly and steadily, layers I had once believed were part of my personality began to shed.

The anxious version of me.
The version that gets defensive at the sight of criticism.
The harsh version of me.
The version of me that had a hard time trusting.

Following Christ didn’t erase my personality. It revealed who I actually was underneath the wounds.

I’m still playful. I’m still someone who enjoys connection and laughter so intense your belly aches. Those parts of me didn’t disappear.

What disappeared, little by little, were the parts of me that had grown out of pain.

In many ways, that’s what spiritual transformation really is. It’s not becoming someone artificial or pretending to be someone else. It’s being restored to the person God originally created you to be.

The world often tells us that becoming a better version of yourself requires more strategies, more podcasts, more books, more techniques. And as someone who loves reading, I have nothing against books.

But the gospel offers something deeper than self-improvement.

It offers transformation.

When you walk with Christ, you aren’t just absorbing information and trying your best to apply it. His Spirit is actually at work within you, shaping your heart and renewing your mind.

Friend, you don’t need to become a copy of someone else’s version of a Christian. God created you intentionally, with your own personality, perspective and voice.

Part of growing in Christ is actually learning to live more honestly as the person He made you to be.

And along the way, I’ve learned that it helps to have friendships where you don’t feel the need to perform spiritually. Friendships where you can show up as you are…still learning, still growing…knowing that we are all walking the same path toward Christ.

The closer you grow to Him, the more you begin to know Him.

And strangely enough, the more you begin to know yourself.

After all, He is the one who made you.

And the more you trust Him, the more confident you become in who you are.

Not the version of you shaped by wounds, but the person God created you to be from the beginning.

Following Jesus doesn’t erase your personality….

It heals the parts of you that were never meant to define it.

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I talked about Esther in the first part and how if God wants you somewhere, you won’t have to break yourself trying to get there. In this second part I want to talk about her cousin Mordecai’s story and what I now refer to as the “Mordecai moment.” It’s the kind of moment where God reminds you that He hasn’t forgotten about you.

At the time, there was a man named Haman who served as one of the king’s officials. Haman despised Mordecai because Mordecai refused to bow down to him. So one night, Haman was talking with friends and family and they devised a plan to have Mordecai killed (y’all, be careful who you surround yourself with). Haman intended to go to the king the very next morning and request permission to carry out his plan.

That same night (while Haman was plotting), the king couldn’t sleep. It seems like the Lord kept him up. One interesting thing about the book of Esther is that God’s name is never directly mentioned. Yet throughout the story, you can clearly see His hand at work.

Scripture says,

“So the king ordered the book of the chronicles, the record of his reign, to be brought in and read to him. It was found recorded there that Mordecai had exposed two of the king’s officers who had conspired to assassinate him.” - Esther 6:1–2

In other words, Mordecai had once saved the king’s life.

As this was read aloud, the king suddenly remembered Mordecai’s act of loyalty and asked, “What honor and recognition has Mordecai received for this?”

As I read that part, the Lord began to teach me something…while someone may be plotting your downfall, God can already be working out your protection.

At that point, there’s no way Haman’s request could be granted. The king now wanted to bless Mordecai. God had already intercepted the attack.

And not only was God protecting Mordecai, He was preparing to elevate him.

The Lord reminded me that it doesn’t ultimately matter what others are plotting, what they’re saying about you, what their status is, or even what people in powerful positions may be thinking about your future.

God has the ability to bring your name back into remembrance at the right time.

He can place your name on the mind of someone in authority. He can cause someone to suddenly remember your work, your integrity, your faithfulness, or something you did long ago.

He can grant you what I call a “Mordecai moment.” A moment when your name is brought back into remembrance and they have no choice but to ask:

“What is it that can be done for _____?”

(Put your name there).

That’s exactly what the king asked about Mordecai, “What is to be done for the man the king delights to honor?”

As the story continues, we see something even more remarkable. God can go as far as using the very person who seeks your downfall to help bring about your blessing.

When the king asked how a man should be honored, Haman assumed the king was speaking about him. So he described an elaborate way the king could honor someone (royal robes, the king’s horse and a public parade through the city.

But the king took Haman’s suggestion and said, “Go at once and do all that you have suggested… for Mordecai.”

….this God is too good.

Just imagine that…the very man who wanted Mordecai destroyed was now commanded to publicly honor him.

This reminded me that God can cause the “kings” in your life, whether that’s a director, recruiter, official, teacher, or leader, to favor you. And sometimes, He can even use your opponent to carry out the blessing.

See how God turns things around for those He loves.

Mordecai went from having his life threatened and living outside the palace to having his life preserved and eventually being given a prominent position within it. Scripture tells us that his reputation spread throughout the province and that he became more and more powerful.

What Haman meant for Mordecai’s downfall became the beginning of Mordecai’s elevation.

When I considered why God did all this, beyond simply loving his people, Scripture says this:

“Mordecai worked for the good of his people and spoke up for their welfare.” - Esther 10:3

So here is my note to self and maybe to anyone reading this…the Lord preserves those who work to preserve the well-being of others.

Prayer:

Heavenly Father, thank You that Your eyes are always watching and that you see all things. Thank You for protecting me and my loved ones from things we see and things we do not see. Father, I thank You that no weapon formed against me or my loved ones shall prosper. Lord, today I ask that in Your perfect time You would bring my name and the names of my loved ones into remembrance before the right people, just as You did for Mordecai. May they ask, “What can be done for them?” I ask that You would reverse any negative circumstance in our lives and cause the tables to turn. Father, I pray that You may carry me to the place you have prepared for me. May no man, no woman, no force of darkness be able to stand against me. Lord, may You turn our sorrow into joy, and mourning into celebration. Father, when You bring me to the place you have prepared, grant me the strength and the grace I need to work for the good of others. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Reflection:

Where in your life might God be preparing a “Mordecai moment” that you can’t yet see? Sometimes the very night nothing seems to be happening is the night God is setting something in motion.

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Like someone might describe one visible part of you but not the rest of what’s underneath.

Maybe you’ve felt that too.

I often feel this discomfort when I’m reduced to just one thing, as if God hasn’t placed so much on the inside of us. As if we weren’t made in the image of a multidimensional God.

I am someone who likes to think a lot. Someone who is meticulous. Someone who feels deeply. I am a writer.

I am also a corporate professional. A mental health workshop facilitator. Someone who loves God and serves in leadership at church.

I am a wife. A daughter. A sister. A friend.

I love books, films, fitness, and spending time in nature. I like to drink black coffee and watch sunsets.

All of this is me.

And yet… I am not one thing.

There have been many moments when someone has known only one version of me. They know the corporate version or the church version and then something else comes up in conversation.

Their eyes widen.

“Oh… you lead mental health workshops too?”
“Wait, you write?”
“Oh… you perform spoken word?”

As if those parts don’t naturally belong together.

Sometimes I laugh. Sometimes I realize how quickly we reduce each other.

Why are we so surprised when God made us layered?

I think we feel pressure to show just one part of ourselves. To simplify who we are, so people can understand us more easily. We’re told to pick a lane, brand ourselves, be one thing.

But maybe the discomfort we feel about being “too many things” isn’t confusion. Maybe it’s design.

I don’t believe God created us layered by accident.

As a writer, I reach people who love words. As a corporate professional, I reach people in office spaces. As a mental health facilitator, I meet people seeking guidance. And at church, I serve whoever walks through the doors.

Each layer opens us up to a different room. Each part of us allows us to meet people where they are, people we might otherwise never reach if we were only just one thing.

Paul said it best in the First Epistle to the Corinthians:

“I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.” - 1 Corinthians 9:22

Paul wasn’t confused about who he was. He was flexible in how he expressed himself.

He shifted to relate to the people he was trying to lead to Christ.

I think God does the same with us.

Our gifts…our interests…our skills. They’re not meant to be confusing. They’re intentional.

Think of yourself as a prism.

A prism reflects one light…but in many dimensions. Suddenly, there is depth, there is color.

As believers, we carry one light (Christ), but it expresses itself in many ways.

If God is infinite in wisdom, creativity, justice, mercy, and beauty… why would those made in His image be one-dimensional?

You can be beautiful and wise. Simple and sophisticated. Soft and strong. Corporate and creative. Deeply spiritual and deeply strategic.

You don’t have to shrink to be understood.

The world may only see one side of you for now and that’s okay.

Be less concerned with convincing people you are more.

Be more concerned with expressing what God has placed on the inside of you.

Each expression may reach someone.

Friend, you were created to be a light in a dark world.

Not a flat light.

A prism.

A prism for His kingdom.

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Esther was a woman who it seems had rough beginnings. She had no father or mother and was being raised by her cousin, Mordecai. That alone tells you she had experienced loss. The Bible tells us she was beautiful and it was this beauty that opened the door for her to be taken into the king’s palace, along with many other young women who met the requirement of physical beauty.

But Esther’s story is not really about beauty, it’s about God’s hand on her life.

Scripture says that Esther pleased Hegai (the official in charge of the living quarters of the women in the King’s palace). Because of this, he provided her with beauty treatments, special food, seven maids, and the best place in the living quarters. And then I noticed this small but really important detail. The Bible says:

“Esther did not ask for anything beyond what Hegai suggested.”

It’s important because she could have…others probably did. This was essentially a competition for the position of queen and I’m sure some of the ladies in the palace were strategizing. But Esther didn’t overdo it, and yet the Bible says she won favour with everyone who saw her.

I don’t read Esther and think “God will make me win every competition.” I read it and think “if God wants me somewhere, I won’t have to break myself trying to get there.”

Her cousin had even warned her not to reveal her nationality or family background. She was an orphan…a foreigner…a young woman in a very competitive and vulnerable situation. She had every reason to feel insecure or “less than.” Yet favour distinguished her.

Reading this, I couldn’t help but think about how often we feel like we need to do more, exceed expectations, or compete harder to stand out. And while demonstrating excellence absolutely matters, there’s something about God’s favour that effort alone could never produce. It reminded me of something Scripture says about God’s authority over doors and destiny:

“What He opens no one can shut, and what He shuts no one can open.” - Revelation 3:7

The king was attracted to Esther more than any of the other women and she was crowned queen. Interestingly, the Bible never says she was more beautiful than the others…it only says that she obtained favour.

That stood out to me. When God gives you favour, that is what differentiates you. You don’t need to compete or exhaust yourself trying to be the best because He has already gone before you.

Maybe for you, favour looks like receiving a promotion among equally qualified colleagues. Maybe it looks like getting the job when resumes look similar. Maybe it looks like doors opening in spaces you never imagined entering.

Just like Esther and the other women, they all met the baseline requirement, but favour rested on her.

Maybe you’ve wrestled with feeling behind because of your background, your circumstances, or your qualifications. Esther could have easily felt out of place. She was navigating identity, loss and pressure all at once.

Yet favour overrode what could have been seen as a disadvantage.

When God’s hand is on your life, it distinguishes you in ways you cannot manufacture.

My friend, that’s the encouragement here.

Esther became queen not because she demanded attention, but because favour made room for her.

But here’s what’s important…Esther’s favour was not just about her personal success. It was positioning. Later in the story, we see that her being queen becomes the very means by which God preserves His people.

God’s plans are always greater than we can see in the moment. There is a purpose to everything He does and in where He places us.

The same God who positioned her is still positioning His people today for His divine purposes.

So maybe this season isn’t about striving…maybe it’s about trusting the Lord.

Prayer:

Heavenly Father, thank You that Your ways are higher than my ways and that Your thoughts are higher than my thoughts. I thank You that You know exactly what You’re doing concerning my life and the lives of my loved ones. Lord, help me to trust You more and the plans You have for me. Help me to understand that what You have prepared for me will not pass me by. Teach me to see beyond the present moment and to remember Your goodness and faithfulness in my life. And Lord, when You open the door for me, help me to steward the responsibility You’ve trusted me with, with wisdom, courage, and obedience.

In Jesus’ Name,
Amen.

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