I Choose Today...

Even in the Silence, He Is There (As featured on (in)courage)

The world didn’t stop. It kept turning, kept moving forward, as though nothing had changed. But for me, everything had. I remember stepping outside that tragic morning, my heart shattered beyond words. My neighbor stood in his yard, watering his flowers, exclaiming about what a beautiful June day it was. I could barely comprehend his words. How could anything be beautiful in this moment? My voice came out flat, almost detached from the reality crashing around me:“Well, my son just died, so I don’t know how beautiful a day it is.” Grief has a way of making everything around you feel distant, like you’re watching life from behind a thick pane of glass. You see it, but you’re not part of it. You exist in a different space—one that is heavy with sorrow and filled with deafening silence. Had God forgotten me? I had always believed in His presence, but grief has a way of testing even the deepest faith. If God was with me, why did I feel so alone? Why did my prayers seem to go unanswered? And how was I even supposed to pray in this kind of pain? What does one say to the Almighty when

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I Choose Today to Be Anchored in the Middle

The Ordinary – Part 5 This morning, during my quiet time, one word kept surfacing and pulling at my heart: The middle. It kept circling—gently, quietly, but persistently. Like the Lord was inviting me to lean in and listen. So I did. And this is what came out: What happens in the middle? In the middle of an asked and answered prayer. In the middle of a crisis. In the middle of the ordinary. In the middle of healing. Forgiving. Trusting. Believing. Growing. Being still. Surviving. Thriving. Crying. Mourning. Trauma. Tragedy. Sickness. Uncertainty. Loneliness. Hoping. Waiting. The middle isn’t usually where we want to be. We love beginnings—the excitement, the spark, the newness. We long for endings—the relief, the closure, the breakthrough. But the middle? The middle feels slow. Unsettling. Foggy. Often painful. And sometimes… silent. But here’s what I’m learning: The middle is where most of life happens. It’s where our faith gets stretched. Where our roots grow deep. Where transformation begins to unfold—not in an instant, but in the unseen, ordinary, day-by-day steps. And I think that’s why so many people get lost in the middle. Because without an anchor, without hope, it’s easy to drift. Easy to

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I Choose Today to Open the Door to More

One of my favorite things is to have a meal with family and friends. For a long time, I had wanted a big round table—one where everyone could visit easily, rather than being limited to just the people sitting near them at a rectangle table. A few years ago, I finally got my table and have put it to good use! For our Bible Study group, we share a meal together each week before we have our study. We sit around our large round table, relaxed, sharing stories, sharing our desires, hopes, and sometimes our pain. We bond over each other’s experiences; we laugh together, cry together, dream together. We open up our hearts to each other and give a glimpse of ourselves. Sharing a meal with them is an intimate time of connection around this large round table. One of my favorite times of my week. Have you ever had that experience with your family and/or friends? Does it bring a smile to your face and joy in your heart like it does mine? Now, imagine that same warmth, that same connection—but with Jesus Himself. Jesus wants this type of opportunity with you too. He said it Himself in

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I Choose Today to Believe God Can Use Me

The name of God is nowhere to be found in the book of Esther. It is as though He was absent. Instead, the narrative of Esther mimics our own experiences today—an era of dominance and oppression where power belongs to the elite. It was a time of opulence, where the who’s-who flaunted their wealth and influence, and where those in authority made reckless decrees without wisdom or justice. In our world today, we see something similar. Society elevates influencers who seem to have it all—wealth, status, and the admiration of millions. They hold positions of power, appearing wise and all-knowing while often using their influence to serve themselves rather than others. Many of us are left feeling insignificant in comparison, wondering if our lives truly matter. But then, there’s Esther. God used a lowly, orphaned girl to upend the most powerful empire of her day. She came from an oppressed people, living in exile, treated with contempt and abuse, considered unworthy and powerless. And yet, when the time came, she was the one God used to change history. She wasn’t royalty by birth, she wasn’t highly educated, and she certainly wasn’t the logical choice to stand before a king and

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I Choose Today to Practice

The other day I was watching the show Amazing Race. The participants were challenged to learn a dance from another culture and then perform it in front of judges who would determine whether or not they got all the steps and nuances correct. They would pick an instructor to teach them what they needed to know. But it wasn’t until they went out to preform the dance, did they understand where they needed to practice some more. Watching their instructors was not enough, they needed to practice and refine their skills to succeed. This reminds me of what Paul says in Philippians 4:9, where he encourages us to put into practice what we’ve learned in our faith. “Keep putting into practice all you have learned and received from me-everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.” Just like the contestants on The Amazing Race, we can’t just watch others live out their faith—we have to step out and do it ourselves. We can read the Bible, listen to sermons, and learn from great teachers, but at some point, we have to apply what we’ve learned. And just like those contestants,

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