Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.” — Psalm 42:11 Before You Read These are important. Don’t rush past them. When did hope start feeling naive to you and what happened that made expecting good things feel dangerous? Is there something specific you’ve stopped hoping for because hoping for it and not receiving it was too painful? What would it feel like to hope again and what is the

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” — Jeremiah 1:5 Before You Read Have you ever felt a pull toward something a specific kind of work, a way of serving, a purpose that won’t leave you alone that you’ve been afraid to take seriously? Do you believe that calling is only for pastors and missionaries or has something in you always suspected it might be for you too? What would you do with y

“Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” — Psalm 139:23–24 Before You Read Sit With These Questions Take a real moment with these before you continue. Let them land where they need to. What is the thing you are carrying right now that nobody in your life knows about not fully, not honestly? How long have you been carrying it and what has the weight of hiding it cost

Before You Read Who is the person you have the hardest time forgiving and when you think about them right now, what do you feel in your body? Have you ever confused forgiving someone with saying what they did was okay? How has that confusion affected your ability to move toward forgiveness? What has holding this unforgiveness actually cost you in your peace, your relationships, your relationship with God? Let’s be honest about something before we go any further. Forgiveness i

Before You Read Sit With These Questions Who do you miss right now and when did you last let yourself fully feel the weight of that missing? Have you been performing okayness around a grief that is still very present and very real? Is there something about the person you lost that you haven’t said out loud to anyone something you’re still carrying alone? Missing someone every single day is one of the most ordinary and most devastating experiences a human being can have. Limit

Before You Read Sit With These Questions Take a moment. Don’t rush past these. Let them find you where you actually are. Have you ever done everything right and still watched things fall apart and what did that do to your understanding of how God works? Is there a part of you that believed faithfulness was a kind of protection and has life tested that belief in ways you haven’t fully processed? What is the honest, unfiltered thing you want to say to God about the season you’r

Before You Read Sit With These Questions These are for you. Before the article. Before the sermon. Just sit with them. What did you want to be or do before life got practical and you talked yourself out of it? When was the last time you thought about that dream and what did it feel like when you did? What specific thing did you tell yourself that made you put it down? And where did that message come from? Before I get started if you enjoy my Walking with Jesus newsletter plea

Before You Read Sit With These Questions Don’t skip past these. Give them a real moment before you continue. When someone asks how you are, do you instinctively redirect to how everyone else is doing? When did you last do something just for you without justifying it to yourself or anyone else? If the people in your life were truly honest, would they say they know the real you or a very giving, very capable version of you? Before I get started if you enjoy my Walking with Jesu

Before You Read Sit With These Questions Take a moment before you dive in. Don’t rush past these. Let them land. When you look back at this year, what is the first emotion that surfaces and have you allowed yourself to actually feel it? Is there a version of “I’m fine” you’ve been performing for other people that doesn’t match what’s actually been happening inside you? If you could say one honest thing to God about this year unfiltered, no religious language what would it be?

“And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” — Micah 6:8 Before I get started if you enjoy my Walking with Jesus newsletter please consider supporting my work for only $5 a month here: Subscribe now Let’s start by dismantling the question slightly. Because the phrase “the best Christian” already carries a risk the risk of turning faith into a performance metric, a standard to be achieved, a ranking system in which

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” — Romans 8:28 This is one of the hardest places a person of faith can find themselves. Before I get started if you enjoy my Walking with Jesus newsletter please consider supporting my work for only $5 a month here: Subscribe now Not doubt in the abstract. Not a theological question you can sit with comfortably from a distance. This is the specific, per

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.” — Ecclesiastes 3:1 There is something uniquely emotional about the end of summer. Before I get started if you enjoy my Walking with Jesus newsletter please consider supporting my work for only $5 a month here: Subscribe now It is not just the calendar changing. It is something more layered than that the particular quality of late August light, the way the evenings start getting shorter before

“Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” — Colossians 3:13 Trust, once broken, does not simply repair itself with time. Before I get started if you enjoy my Walking with Jesus newsletter please consider supporting my work for only $5 a month here: Subscribe now This is one of the most painful discoveries a person can make and one of the most common. We are told that time heals all wounds, th

“The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” — Deuteronomy 31:8 There is a fear that lives very close to love. Before I get started if you enjoy my Walking with Jesus newsletter please consider supporting my work for only $5 a month here: Subscribe now It doesn’t announce itself as fear. It shows up dressed as responsibility, as care, as the weight of being someone that other people

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” — Romans 8:18 This is the question that has stopped more people at the door of faith than almost any other. Before I get started if you enjoy my Walking with Jesus newsletter please consider supporting my work for only $5 a month here: Subscribe now Not the intellectual arguments. Not the philosophical debates. This one. The personal, gut-level, imposs

“Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.” — Galatians 6:7 You are being formed right now. Before I get started if you enjoy my Walking with Jesus newsletter please consider supporting my work for only $5 a month here: Subscribe now Not in the big moments not in the church services or the retreats or the crisis prayers or the dramatic turning points. In the ordinary, unremarkable, afternoon of your life. In what you just clicked on. In how you just

Today’s Verse “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” — John 20:21 Today’s Inspiration Your faith was never meant to stay inside four walls. You are someone’s answer to prayer this weekend. Before I get started if you enjoy my Daily Bible newsletter please consider supporting my work for only $5 a month here: Subscribe now Today’s Message The week is ending. The weekend is beginning. And for most of us, the next two days will be filled with ordinary things errands, mea

“Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” — Philippians 1:6 Somewhere along the way you absorbed a timeline. You probably didn’t choose it consciously. It assembled itself from a hundred different sources what your parents expected, what your peers seemed to be achieving, what culture said success should look like by certain ages, what you imagined for yourself when you were young enough to im

Today’s Verse “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” — 1 Thessalonians 5:16–18 Today’s Inspiration You can’t be fully grateful and fully anxious at the same time. Gratitude wins every time you choose it. Before I get started if you enjoy my Daily Bible newsletter please consider supporting my work for only $5 a month here: Subscribe now Today’s Message Three commands. Six words. An entirely differe

Today’s Verse “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” — Matthew 11:28–29 Today’s Inspiration Jesus didn’t say earn your rest. He said come and receive it. Before I get started if you enjoy my Daily Bible newsletter please consider supporting my work for only $5 a month here: Subscribe now Today’s Message Midweek and already r