Tears started running down my face as I pushed my four-month-old on the trail. How could I even talk to God about this? Did He really see and really care about me? My little girl had already faced a life-threatening hole in her diaphragm; this just didn’t seem fair for her to have to face another major health issue. For the first time in my life, I pleaded and petitioned for my daughter’s life.

Real community happens through communion, conversation, and courage. And the deeper we connect, the more our differences settle beneath our unity.

The first step in understanding what to do when your priorities are out of balance is to recognize that things are “not okay.” Then you can bravely break away and rest.

Being bold isn’t just about pursuing outward acts that people can applaud. It’s about authentically pursuing God’s best for each area of our lives, one terrified step at a time.

There was a full-page quote that stood out like a neon sign. “God doesn’t call the equipped He equips the called.” In that moment, I knew I was being called and I knew I was woefully ill-equipped. After all, I was not confident in my leadership abilities and I had very little Bible knowledge.

Our dreams and desires aren’t always what is best for us, and God knows this.

This was God’s way of taking me gently by the hand and giving me space to just be His. The truth is, I needed rest. I needed time away to listen to all the things I usually am too busy to hear.

It’s easy to worship when life is good, but it takes grit to go to Him in the depth of depression when your heart is overwhelmed with grief. But what I found is when I bring God my praise in the wilderness, his presence becomes my greatest peace.

God knows we are going to get anxious at times, so he gives us ideas to help us through.

In a world of 3-second sound bites and meme theology, we need God’s Word to keep us grounded and growing, able to avoid distraction and discern truth from deception.

Life can be complicated, but reading the Bible doesn’t need to be.

This is my practice to overcome worry. It doesn't change the situation in the moment, but it changes my mind in the moment. It settles my heart rate. It allows me to breathe in deeply the love of God.

No matter what I’m navigating – from everyday challenges to dealing with an actual crisis – worship takes me away from my troubles to the feet of Jesus.

This verse came to mind one day as the prayer alarm rang, like a monastic bell calling me to task, to find my sustenance in the bread of life. He was the one that could help me not just survive, but thrive, on that day.

I was going through one of the most heartbreaking seasons of my life, a time when I could scarcely think, let alone come up with spontaneous prayers. Yet I was praying, showing up day and night in a posture of depending on God, leaning on words that have been said for centuries.