When It Hurts to Trust
Jesus Wants You To Know...
Combating The Unreliable Narrator Within
He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you,
but will rejoice over you with singing.”
I’m a words girl. Always have been, always will be. Whether it’s reading or writing, stories have always been a part of my DNA. In recent years, I’ve found myself drawn to plotlines full of twists and turns I could never predict, an effect sometimes created through an unreliable narrator.
An unreliable narrator is a storyteller who is not completely trustworthy, either intentionally (because they’re lying) or unintentionally (because they don’t know what is true). While this makes for a creative literary device, it can be treacherous when applied to real life.
Here’s what I mean …
From the time we’re born, the world begins applying labels to us. Some are lovingly given - others not so much. And while true and well-intentioned words often tiptoe in with a gentle whisper, lies and mean-spirited labels seem to march in with trumpet fanfare and make themselves at home. If we’re not careful, we become the unreliable narrator of our own story, not knowing what is true. We may live from the faulty core belief that we are, in fact, ugly. Incompetent. Unworthy of love. (Insert your chosen lie here.)
With each lie we believe, we shrink down in our soul just a little bit more, certain God Himself must view us in the same way.
But let’s consider these words from God's prophet Zephaniah: “The LORD your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing” (Zephaniah 3:17).
When I read this verse, I don’t see a God who looks on us with disgust. Instead, I see One who unashamedly loves His children despite our flaws. One who delights in us so deeply He can’t help but burst into song.
That God is our Creator, the Author of who we are. And as our Author, despite any lies we may believe about ourselves, only He gets to determine what’s true.
Throughout the pages of Scripture, He says we are:
Created in His image (Genesis 1:27).
Chosen (Ephesians 1:4).
Wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14).
Accepted (Romans 15:7).
Loved (John 3:16).
Worth dying for (Romans 5:8).
If He says all these things, among many others, about us, who are we to say otherwise?
Today, let’s stop the unreliable narration. Let’s hold our heads high and listen to the only voice that matters: the voice of God, our Author.
Father, in the sea of voices surrounding us, help us to focus on Your voice and the words You speak over us. Help us to live from the truth of who You say we are, created and loved by You. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
- Stacy J. Lowe
Provided by "Proverbs 31 Ministries"
Jesus Wants You To Know...
"Do not let fear of mistakes immobilize you or make you anxious. In this life you will err sometimes because you’re only human, with limited knowledge and understanding. When you’re facing a major decision, learn as much as you can about the matter. Seek My Face - and My help. I will guide you with My counsel as you think things out in My Presence. When the time is right, go ahead and make the decision, even though the outcome is uncertain. Pray for My will to be done in this matter, and release the results to Me."
Verse: 1 Peter 5:7
..casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.
Scripture: Isaiah 5:20
When people see no distinction between good and evil, destruction soon follows. It is easy for people to say, "No one can decide for anyone else what is really right or wrong." They may think getting drunk can't hurt them, extramarital sex isn't really wrong, or money doesn't control them. But when they make excuses for their actions, they break down the distinction between right and wrong. If people do not take God's Word, the Bible, as their standard, soon all moral choices become fuzzy. Without God, they are headed for a breakdown and much suffering.
- "Life Application Bible Notes" by Laridian
Jesus Wants You To Know...
"Everyone likes to feel protected by someone who is bigger and stronger. I am bigger and stronger than any fear you’ll ever face. Sometimes you may feel as if you’re all alone and without anyone to look out for you - but you’re not! Talk to Me, reach out to Me, and I will reach out to you with My watchful, loving Presence."
God Gets It
Application of God's Word: Ezekiel 36:26
I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
Application:
Jesus Wants You To Know...
Discovering Your Purpose
The Church Is You!
Don't Let Fear Have The Final Say!
So much wickedness surrounding us. Videos of people literally dying in front of our eyes. Fear trying to grip us. Hope vanishing slowly. Compassion evaporating. Hate becoming an epidemic. But the enemy won’t win. This isn’t a time for us to backdown. It’s time for us to rise up and PRAY! Our nation is hurting. Families grieving… but GOD! Our newsfeeds are full of sadness, anger and reality. But.. GOD!!
God commands us to Love Him with all our hearts and souls and to love our neighbor.
Tonight, rest in this And know in the middle of the pain, God’s Word leads us to HOPE and PEACE!Life Seasons
Life has seasons where everything feels flat, where nothing seems to bring joy, and those seasons can feel endless. But they don’t define your worth, and they don’t define your future.
Jesus Wants You To Know...
Cultivating The Fruit Of The Spirit
What happens when a garden is neglected? Weeds choke out flowers, thorns overtake pathways, and what was once beautiful becomes a tangled mess.
Now imagine stepping into a well-tended garden - vibrant colors, sweet fragrances, and life flourishing everywhere. The difference isn’t simply in the soil’s potential but in the gardener's care.
The Apostle Paul used agricultural imagery in Galatians 5 to remind us that Christian life, in a sense, is like a garden. We have two potential influences vying for control of our hearts: the sinful flesh and the Holy Spirit. Each produces dramatically different fruit.
Philosopher and writer James K. Smith, pulling from Saint Augustine, uses this illustration: Think of your heart as a “love pump.” When the flesh is in charge, that pump is constantly working to draw love, attention, and validation toward itself. The result? A scarcity mindset that produces jealousy, strife, selfish ambition, and envy - what Paul called “the desire of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16).
But when we follow the lead of the Spirit, something beautiful happens. That same love pump begins working differently - our hearts draw from God's infinite love and pump it out toward others. The result is this: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The law is not against such things” (Galatians 5:22-23).
An interesting detail is that "fruit" (in Greek, karpos) is a singular noun here. This isn't nine separate fruits we must strive to produce independently. It’s singular because it’s ordered and produced by one Spirit of peace. One fruit with nine expressions - all driven and framed by love.
Love is mentioned first in Galatians 5:22 because it's the source from which all other spiritual virtues flow. Love is the greatest virtue, according to 1 Corinthians 13:1, by which we live and execute the gifts of the Spirit.
Galatians 5:16-25 gives us the practical steps: “Walk by the Spirit … led by the Spirit … live by the Spirit … keep in step with the Spirit” (CSB). All of us are walking toward something and being led by someone or something - the question is what and whom.
The beautiful truth is that every morning, we can decide: Will I choose the anxious striving of the flesh, or will I invite the Spirit to cultivate His fruit in me?
This choice happens in the small moments when someone cuts us off in traffic, when we’re overlooked for recognition, or when relationships disappoint us. We can either react from the flesh's scarcity mindset or respond from the Spirit's abundance.
No matter what condition your life is in right now, the Spirit of God stands ready to pour out His life-giving presence.
Holy Spirit, I invite You to tend the garden of my heart. Help me walk in step with You today, producing fruit that nourishes others and brings glory to God. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
- Dr. Joel Muddamalle
Provided by "Proverbs 31 Ministries"
Jesus Wants You To Know...
How Can God Be Good If I Feel This Broken?
Even here, even now, you are not alone.
- Ellie Mont
Tending To The Inner Storm Of Anxiety
and it began to fill with water. Jesus was sleeping …”
It was a chaotic day, and my body was holding the stress. I felt like someone had plugged me into a jolting electrical socket.
Do you know that feeling of being both “tired and wired”?
Anxiety can feel deeply disorienting and disconnecting. I’ve often returned to one scene in the Gospel of Mark that puts vivid imagery to the landscape of an anxiety-riddled inner life.
Jesus and His disciples were on the Sea of Galilee when a fierce storm came upon them: “High waves were breaking into the boat, and it began to fill with water. Jesus was sleeping …” (Mark 4:37-38).
This fierce windstorm mirrors what happens in our bodies when we’re anxious. Anxiety is the body’s way of responding to threats, real or imagined, that trigger the nervous system into survival mode. Our bodies tighten and our minds race because deep down, we don’t feel safe. Anxiety is always about a felt sense of catastrophic aloneness and isolation.
When I feel those churning waves and stormy waters brewing within, I relate to the disciples’ desperate cries: “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re going to drown?” (Mark 4:38, NLT).
God, do You see me?
Do You care?
Why aren’t You doing anything?
How long will this go on?
With the simple command, “Be still,” Jesus calmed their external environment (Mark 4:39, NLT). He moved toward them, bringing His presence to their fear. But what captures my attention is how we find Him just moments before: asleep.
His sleeping wasn’t an absence of care but an embodiment of the deeper rest He invites each of us into. A kind of rest that can settle our inner world - not in the absence of external storms but despite them.
Here, Jesus embodied the psychological experience of living anchored in God. We can rest in the “still waters” of God’s love and care (Psalm 23:2, ESV) even when the winds and waters of our external world churn. Jesus models what the field of psychology has only recently discovered:
The antidote for anxiety is not calm; it’s safety.
While calm might bring short-term relief, true relief from anxiety comes when our bodies experience and internalize a felt sense of safety.
Some of us have been taught to view anxiety as a character flaw, but it’s not. Anxiety is appropriate in situations that are unsafe or overwhelming. God's invitation is not to pretend there is nothing to fear. Rather, when we feel the storm of anxiety churn within us, we are invited to sink into the indwelling presence of our Resting One, who can help us navigate our fear.
I wish I could tell you that I stay in this grounded, connected place all the time. I don’t, but I’m learning to return more quickly. We can come back to this still and holy place within, experiencing an internal sense of safety with the God who never leaves — who has been there all along.
Dear God, help me rest in You today. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
- Taylor Joy Murray
Provided by "Proverbs 31 Ministries"
You Are Not Alone...
Maybe what you need right now isn’t to have all the answers or to force yourself to be okay. Maybe what you need is just to survive this moment. To take one breath at a time. To be honest about the pain instead of pretending it’s not there.
God Is Still There
Think About What You Think About
“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind …” Romans 12:2 (ESV)
Thoughts. We cannot see them. We cannot buy them. We cannot always predict them. But we cannot deny this about them: They define our lives. If we think well, we live well. If we think poorly, we live poorly.
But do we understand that we can manage our lives by managing our thoughts?
Not only does neuroscience back this concept, but the idea is also embedded throughout Scripture, including in our key verse, Romans 12:2: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind …”
In this verse, the Apostle Paul contrasted two types of people: one who is conformed and one who is transformed. One is shaped by society; the other is renewed by the work of God.
The word “conformed” reminds me of the Play-Doh kit I had as a kid. It came with a dozen or so containers of “modeling compound.” Assorted colors of clay could be pressed, smooshed, squished, rolled, squeezed, and shaped. Nothing in the Bible would incline us to think that the Apostle Paul played with Play-Doh. But abundant messages from his pen allude to the very real pressure to conform to the world.
The mastermind behind these attacks? The devil.
Satan aims to derail us with unruly and ungodly thoughts. When our thinking goes off-track, so does our life. But by the power of Jesus, we can avoid being conformed and instead “be transformed by the renewal of [our] mind” (Romans 12:2).
What a choice word! Paul, writing in the Greek language, chose the verb metamorphoo, which we translate as “transformed.” Anyone who paid attention in middle school science class remembers that the process of turning a caterpillar into a butterfly is also called metamorphosis. The squirmy, furry worm is transformed into a winged, colorful, high-flying butterfly.
God promises you an even greater transformation.
Stuck in your head? Hounded by regrets? Weighed down by worry? Change is possible! The thoughts that have characterized your past need not characterize the rest of your life. God will move you from worm to butterfly, from clay-like to Christlike.
The part of Romans 12:2 that says “be transformed by the renewal of your mind” is also in the passive voice, meaning that God does the work! A new mind is less the result of human effort and more the result of divine intervention. God made our brains; He can retrain our brains. He renews our minds. He reroutes our thought patterns.
With God as your Helper, you will discover a new way of thinking and a better way of living. Could there be a greater promise to ponder? Could there be a greater time to ponder it?
Tame your thoughts and transform your life!
Dear heavenly Father, thank You that You have not left me alone with my thoughts. I pray that Your Spirit would reveal to me the negative thoughts I’m believing and renew my mind with truth. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
- Max Lucado
Are you struggling with out-of-control thoughts? God has not left you alone in the battle of your mind. In Tame Your Thoughts, Max explores three biblical and practical tools and then applies them to the most common thought problems: worry, guilt, anxiety, and others.
Jesus Wants You To Know...
When God Comes To Heal What Hurts
It was such a small moment - insignificant to most. A little girl was spinning and dancing while her dad smiled and clapped. But as I watched her, a sob caught in my throat.
She was unapologetically herself and so free in her father’s delight. And something about it broke me.
In that moment, I realized I had once been that little girl. But somewhere along the way, I replaced freedom with striving and took on shame in the areas that once brought me joy.
I was surprised by the sadness that hit me, but I knew deep down this wasn’t just a tearful moment. It was an invitation to heal something that had long been hurting.
Maybe you’ve been carrying your own quiet grief.
You’ve learned to ignore it - all those times you believed something was wrong with you when you were left out. Or the pain of carrying a shattered heart that has left you broken. Or perhaps you’re weary of trying to be so faithful yet still feeling so invisible.
Then comes a moment - or a whole season - when you can no longer ignore what you’ve been tolerating. The pain surfaces in a new way. And suddenly, you sense God inviting you to look at it. But how do you even begin?
Oh, friend. You’re not alone. What I’m learning is that when the Lord asks us to step into a season of healing, it’s never to shame us but to restore us.
Psalm 147:3 says, “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” It’s His job to heal. Ours is simply to come. God is committed to restoring every part of us, even the quiet, hurting places in our souls. He is asking us to trust Him with our broken hearts and our wounds.
Healing isn’t always a one-time prayer or a single moment. It’s a continual walk with God, a process of bringing Him what hurts, letting Him replace lies with truth, and surrendering to His timeline, not ours.
Watching that little girl delight in who she was, fully at home in her father’s love, opened a window to the healing God was inviting me to experience. It moved me deeply because in that moment, I remembered that’s still how He sees me. And I realized just how much I missed that version of myself.
Friend, you and I are like that little girl. And our heavenly Father wants us to live in that same freedom.
God is not asking for us to give a better performance but for us to come into His presence. He invites us to walk bravely with Him and let Him do the healing, one step at a time.
Lord, I bring You the pain I’ve learned to tolerate, and I ask You to heal me. I have been hurting for a long time, but I know Your heart for me is always good. Help me take the next step toward You. You are my good Father, and I will keep running into Your safe arms. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
- Ashley Morgan Jackson
Provided by "Proverbs 31 Ministries"
Jesus Wants You To Know...
"Expect troubles - they are just part of living in this world. Stop trying to figure out a way to avoid every problem. An easy life is not the answer. An easy life tricks you into forgetting that you need Me. But everyone needs Me. When you come to Me for help - when you depend on Me - I give you the power to live above your problems. But don’t just expect troubles; expect the impossible too. There will be times when you have no idea what to do, when you can’t possibly handle the situation you’re facing. Don’t try to run away from this situation. It’s actually the best place to find Me in all My Power and Glory." - "Jesus Calling for Kids" by Sarah Young
Daily Bread
Give us this day our daily bread.
Matthew 6:11
- Excerpt from “Experiencing God Day-By-Day” by Henry and Richard Blackaby