I Choose Today...

I Choose Today to Let God Uproot the Weeds

Have you ever felt like you’re doing all the right things on the outside, but something still feels off on the inside? You show up. You serve. You pray. You keep moving forward. Yet underneath it all, there’s a weight you can’t quite explain. I’ve been there. There was a season when I was doing all the “good Christian things,” but deep down I was just trying to survive. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I had built layers of protection around my heart, old wounds, painful experiences, and lies I had believed for far too long. Then God gave me an unexpected picture. Not an onion. An artichoke. At first, it seemed like a strange illustration for spiritual healing. But the more I studied it, the more I realized it perfectly reflected what God was doing in my life. An artichoke is actually the flower bud of a thistle, a weed. Yet hidden inside that weed is something valuable. Something tender. Something worth protecting. The heart. As I looked at the structure of an artichoke, I began to see three layers that often exist in our own lives. The Thorns: Our Defense Mechanisms The outer thorns are

Read More »

I Choose Today to Know It Very Well

Have you ever read a verse so many times that you stopped really hearing it? A verse you can quote. A verse you believe for other people. A verse you have highlighted, underlined, and maybe even memorized. But if you’re honest, your soul hasn’t fully embraced it for you. That’s where I found myself recently with Psalm 139. Over the last several weeks, these verses have appeared everywhere, in conversations, meetings, quiet times, and unexpected moments throughout my day. I’ve learned something over the years: when a passage of Scripture keeps showing up, it’s usually the Holy Spirit inviting me to pay attention. To slow down. To sit with it. To let it move from my head to my heart. Psalm 139:13–14 says: “For You formed my innermost parts; You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks and praise to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, and my soul knows it very well.” Another translation puts it this way: “Thank You for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.” The phrase that has captured my attention is the last one: “My soul knows it

Read More »

I Choose Today to Receive God’s Comfort in the Valley

There are seasons in life where it seems like everyone around you is walking through some kind of valley. Fear. Grief. Uncertainty. Loss. The kind of situations that remind us how fragile life really is. Lately, I’ve found myself sitting with a lot of hurting people. Not fixing. Not rescuing. Just sitting with them in hard places. And it has reminded me of something I learned in one of the deepest valleys of my own life after losing my son Bobby. God comforts people in valleys. Not always by immediately removing the valley… but by being present in it. I think many of us expect comfort to feel dramatic. We expect some overwhelming emotional moment where suddenly everything feels peaceful again. And sometimes God absolutely does bring supernatural peace in that way. But often, His comfort comes through people. A phone call. A meal. A text message. Someone sitting beside you. Someone praying for you when you don’t have the strength to pray for yourself. That’s still the comfort of God. After Bobby died, people began showing up at our house within hours. Some cleaned. Some mowed the lawn. Some brought food. Some simply sat with me. And I’ll never

Read More »

I Choose Today to Slow Down and Be with God

Lately, I’ve been realizing something about my relationship with God. Life gets loud. Responsibilities pile up. Schedules fill up. Even good things, even ministry things, can slowly begin crowding out simple communion with Jesus if we’re not careful. Over the last several months, I started recognizing something in my own heart. Somewhere in the middle of all the creating, writing, recording, editing, planning, serving, speaking, and pouring out, I stopped slowing down long enough to simply sit with God. Not because I stopped loving Him. Not because I stopped believing. And not because I’m walking away from ministry. Actually, it’s the opposite. As many of you know, I’m preparing to step into a sabbatical season this summer. During that time, the podcast and blog will continue through reposted content and “best of” episodes, but I won’t be creating new material for a season. And I want you to hear my heart clearly: this is not spiritual collapse. This is a spiritual reset. It’s an intentional slowing down to reconnect with my first love. Because I realized something: I don’t want to spend all my time producing things about God while neglecting simply being with Him. And honestly, I think many

Read More »

I Choose Today to Return to My First Love

I almost didn’t record this episode. Not because I didn’t have time… but because I didn’t feel like I had anything to give. I just got back from a trip to Colorado. It was full, full of people, full of moments, full of connection. At the end of my trip, I attended the Kerygma Conference in Hendersonville, Tennessee. Over a thousand women gathered together, powerful messages, beautiful worship. And yet… if I’m being completely honest, I still felt distant. Not from people. From the Lord. That’s hard to admit, because I never want this space to feel negative or heavy. But I’ve learned something important, if I only show up when everything feels strong and steady, then I’m not inviting you into a real walk with God. I’m inviting you into a filtered version of one. So today, I’m not coming to you full. I’m coming to you honest. And for me, this is what it’s looked like. Before I stepped into ministry, I was pouring into the people around me, but it came out of the natural rhythm of life. It wasn’t forced. It wasn’t constant. It just flowed from being with the Lord. But somewhere along the way,

Read More »