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

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I Choose Today to Speak Life

Words carry weight. They shape atmospheres, build hearts, and plant seeds that grow long after the conversation ends. And if we’re honest, most of us know what it feels like to long for a life-giving word… and not hear one. When I was a kid, I can remember wanting someone to notice me. Just one kind word. One sentence of encouragement. One moment of being seen. I can still feel that ache, that yearning for someone to speak life into me. And when it didn’t come, it made me feel invisible. Alone. Like my voice or my presence didn’t matter. And maybe you’ve had a season like that too, where affirmation was scarce, and silence spoke louder than kindness. When I became a believer, one of the biggest adjustments was learning how to receive encouragement. To let myself be seen. It still catches me off guard sometimes, because it touches the part of me that remembers what it felt like to go without it. But maybe that’s why this matters so much to me now. Because I don’t ever want my words to wound or disappear into silence. I want my words to flow from the throne of grace,  life-giving,

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I Choose Today to Believe God Still Revives What Looks Dead

Have you ever experienced the death of a dream… a relationship… a job… a family… your innocence? In our own strength, we are powerless to resurrect what’s been lost. But I have hope-filled news for you today, I know Someone who does have the power to resurrect the dead. His name is Jesus. There is a historical account in Scripture of Lazarus, one of Jesus’ close friends. Lazarus became sick and died rather quickly. His sisters had sent for Jesus, hoping He would come and heal him, but Jesus didn’t arrive before Lazarus passed. And then four days after his death, Jesus finally showed up. To Martha and Mary, it must have felt like all hope was gone. But with Jesus, being “too late” is still right on time for the impossible. Because healing may have passed, but resurrection had not. In John’s Gospel, we see Jesus respond to Martha with these powerful words: “Jesus told her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. Do you believe this, Martha?’” (John 11:25–26, NLT) “Do you believe this, Martha?”

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I Choose Today to Let God Heal Every Part of Me

Have you ever been in pain or in a painful situation that just felt inescapable? You prayed for God to take the pain away or to take you out of the situation, but it didn’t seem to happen quickly…or maybe at all? If that’s you, I want to give you this reminder: God is always at work, even in the healing. A couple of years ago, I injured my knee from overuse. At first, it was manageable, so I ignored it. But over time, the pain grew worse. Then one day, my knee gave out completely—I could barely stand. I finally went to the doctor, tried physical therapy, did everything I was supposed to do, but nothing seemed to help. One night I woke up in intense pain—not just in my knee, but in my other knee, my hip, and my foot. Lying there, I cried out to the Lord: “What am I doing wrong? I’m doing all the right things, but the pain just keeps spreading!” And in that quiet moment, I sensed the Spirit whisper: “Sometimes coming out of a painful situation means healing all that was affected, not just the knee.” That truth hit me deeply. While

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I Choose Today to Believe Healing Runs Deeper

I was reading Acts 3 this morning—the story where Peter and John encounter the man crippled from birth, sitting at the temple gate called Beautiful. He was asking for money. That’s all he knew to ask for. He had likely given up hope for anything beyond daily provision, let alone complete healing. He was surviving, not thriving. His condition defined him. And then… everything changed. Peter looked straight at him and said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” And he did. But here’s the part that really struck me: the physical healing wasn’t the end of the story—it was just the beginning. It wasn’t about muscles suddenly working or legs straightening—it was about an invitation into a whole new life. A soul restored. A testimony birthed. So often we stop at the surface. We look for God to fix what’s broken in our lives—to meet the need in front of us—and we miss that He’s offering something much deeper: eternal healing, restoration, and relationship. This man had only ever known life from a crippled position. Just like sin cripples us from birth,

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