Pure and undefiled religion before God the Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained from the world. - James 1:27If you want to know what matters most to someone, look at how they treat the people who can’t do anything for them. That’ll tell you everything. And throughout Scripture, one thing is unmistakably clear: God cares deeply for the ove...  Read More

Be diligent to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who doesn’t need to be ashamed, correctly teaching the word of truth.  — 2 Timothy 2:15We’ve all seen how a single sentence taken out of context can change everything. Someone hears only part of what you said, twists it, and suddenly you’re defending something you never meant. The same thing happens with Scripture. If we pull a verse...  Read More

He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; He set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. — Psalm 40:2Lament is never meant to be the last word. It’s important, it’s necessary, but it’s not where the story ends. God doesn’t lead us through grief, honesty, and community so we can sit in it forever. He meets us in it to help us stand up again. He gives us honest faith s...  Read More

But Samuel replied: “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.” — 1 Samuel 15:22We aren’t built to carry pain alone. But that’s exactly what most of us try to do. We bury it. We wear a smile in public while we bleed inside. We tell ourselves nobody would get it, or we think b...  Read More

Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. — Romans 12:19There are things in life that should break your heart. That’s not a lack of faith. That’s being human. When you see injustice, suffering, evil in the world — when things don’t look like they’re supposed to — there’s something inside you that sa...  Read More

O Lord, God of my salvation, I cry out day and night before You. — Psalm 88:1People say “time heals all wounds,” but let’s be honest. Time covers things up. It buries the wound under busyness or distraction, but the wound doesn’t go away. Some of us carry stuff from years ago like it just happened yesterday. It lingers because time alone doesn’t heal. God does. And part of how God does that is thr...  Read More