The multiple blisters peppering my daughter’s feet shouldn’t have been a surprise to either of us. Take a rushed award’s day morning, a pair of missing shoes, having to borrow the shoes of a sister with slightly smaller feet, then throw in a lot of walking up and down stairs to a stage, and voila – painfully battered feet.  

The moment of realization of how poorly her body fared due to her misplaced shoes could have led to several different conversations. There could have been a cold, “Well, that’s what you get for not keeping up with your things.” I could have dismissed her pain, “You’ll be fine. It’s just a few blisters.” But as we sat together at the end of her day, the Holy Spirit helped me see how those blisters were actually an open door for a much-needed conversation.

You see, I have three daughters, and as much as I have tried to encourage each of them individually while discouraging comparisons, they have still wrestled with doubts and questions. They have wondered if their sisters are more talented, more lovely, more needed.

This battle is not one I can judge them for, since I often find myself in the thick of it. The world is teeming with beautiful, gifted women accomplishing astounding feats. All it takes is opening up your phone for mere seconds to find yourself immediately inundated with the knowledge that this woman has written another book, that woman is getting her master’s degree, and those women have immaculate homes and picture-perfect bodies.

Suddenly, you find yourself wondering if you need to be more like them. Are you behind? Not enough? Should you sign up for online classes even though your life feels achingly full? Should you try to eat like her, exercise like her, dress like her, be her in some form or fashion? If we listen to comparison’s discouraging diatribe for too long and try to be just like these other women, stepping into their shoes and forcing our lives into rhythms that do not fit us, is it any wonder our souls soon feel rubbed raw?

All of which brings us back to that fateful blister-filled day when I got to look into my precious daughter’s eyes and encourage her to mark it down – that God never intended her to wear either of her sisters’ shoes. Obviously, not their literal shoes, and more importantly, not the purposes and callings God has on their lives. Trying to be someone she was never designed to be will be uncomfortable initially and eventually excruciating. She has her own meaningful purpose in Him, and He is not waiting for her to try to be anyone else, not when He put so much love and attention into how He designed her.

It reminds me of the hope found when we dig a little deeper into a familiar passage of Scripture. Psalm 139:13-14 (ESV) reads,

“For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.”

Another way to translate “fearfully and wonderfully made”  is “fearfully set apart.” We have been set apart as His! Everything about us – from our looks to our personalities and areas of giftedness – is by design. He created us on purpose, with purpose, and He gets to define what those purposes are for His glory. To look around at the lives of others, pick out what we think looks lovely, and then try to shape our lives to fit is folly. Soul-wearying, heart-breaking, shame-inducing folly. Folly that I have fallen into myself far too many times.

The battle to believe that our gifts are good, our bodies are good, and what we offer to the Kingdom and others is good is a continual one, especially if we spend a lot of time gazing longingly at the good God has placed in the lives of our sisters in Christ. If you struggle with this, too, I so want to encourage you. You were never meant to wear your sisters’ shoes.

We are each one His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10) Let’s ask the Lord to help us celebrate our sisters while simultaneously allowing Him to settle it deep in our hearts that He is delighted with how He designed us. Let’s cheer one another on as we run and walk our own races at the pace He sets for us. Let’s fix our eyes on Jesus and follow Him faithfully and joyfully in our very own well-fitting shoes.

Cheering you on, dear friends,
Kimberly

When my husband and I went through premarital counseling, I remember the Lord impressing on my heart that we wouldn’t make it unless we let Him be the glue holding us together. My young, earnest heart took His words as truth, but there was no way I could fully grasp what He meant. Not then. Not yet.

I was thinking “glue” more along the lines of Jesus showing up like sticky, sweet caramel holding together two sheets of sometimes bitter, sometimes sweet chocolate when things got a little nuts. But what I am seeing after almost 27 years now is that what holds a marriage together isn’t too much unlike the covenant-keeping love that held Jesus to the cross. Less caramel, more nail. Less sugary sentiment, more surrender, sacrifice, and self-giving love.

I realize none of that sounds very romantic. Honestly, it could make marriage sound painful and best avoided. But don’t we want what we profess at the altar? For better or worse? In sickness and in health? Those things profess easy, and then can live not quite so easily. This is where I pause and say that I love being married. Marriage comes with so much that is sweet, truly good, and utterly priceless. I can’t imagine life without my husband by my side, and I would say “yes” to him again and again.

But when regular life shows up incredibly hard, when you wound one another like broken humans do, ooey-gooey romance isn’t what holds you together. Colossians 1:17 says of Jesus, “He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.” I realize this verse points to His power to hold all that He created together – sun, moon, stars, and the very cells in our bodies. And I’m by NO means a marriage expert (I’m more adept at messing up and learning the hard way), but I’m finding that holding to the ways of Jesus is what will best help us hold together. Marriages and other vital relationships hold together best when BOTH people do their best to hold to His ways. (I see you, dear friends, who fought hard, but your spouse did not.)

In HIM, we hold together. Surrendered to Him. Following Him. Choosing to live for Him and like Him with His help.

This can look like maintaining rhythms of grace and truth and love and forgiveness and serving and preferring one another. It’s choosing to take up your cross, die to self and selfishness, and follow Jesus’ loving lead. It’s forgiveness when everything in you wants to cling to bitterness. It’s intentional gratitude to help fight off resentment and complacency. It’s sincerely asking Jesus to quiet your heart (annnnnd maybe your mouth) when you’re riled up and ready to strike. It’s looking to His Word and the patterns of His life, praying for Holy Spirit guidance, and walking in surrender and trust. It’s remembering you need Him to be the glue every single day, even when all seems to be going well. Because we will never not need Him.

I’m not sure who I’m typing this out for today. Maybe you need to know there’s nothing wrong with you because you really, really need Jesus to help you love and honor your spouse right now. You, my friend, are not a failure when you go through trying seasons. I’m not sure I trust anyone who says marriage is always easy and never costly. (Also, please don’t misunderstand this post. Is abuse of any kind present? Seek help. Immediately. Need extra help processing past pain or present problems? Seek wise, biblical, and even professional counsel.)

I have found that some of the sweetest days in our marriage have come after my surrender to doing things Jesus’ way. There is life on the other side of surrender that can feel like death.

So for the ones deep in the daily fray, fighting for a love that lasts, I’m praying for you. And because God created the covenant of marriage, I believe Jesus is praying for you, too. Hold to Jesus. Let Him be your God and your Savior, refusing to expect your spouse to fill those roles. Hold to His ways, even when everything in you wants to do things your way. Know that while you cannot choose the ways of Jesus for your spouse, you can pray fervently for them to choose Jesus and choose you. He wants them to live for Him, too. And as you trust Him to work as only He can, you can hold your heart out and ask Him how you can best hold to His ways. You aren’t in this fight alone. What the enemy has intended for evil in your marriage, I pray that the Father uses for good. I pray for better days ahead.

Love and prayers,
Kimberly

Some days, it feels hard to believe there was ever a time way back in the very beginning when Adam and Eve stood before God and one another naked and unashamed. In our lives now, post-fall and full of sin, it seems we can’t look at our phones or stand in a grocery store checkout without seeing people who are practically naked and leaving us feeling covered in shame about the state of our own bodies.

We go from happily cruising through our day to questioning why we can’t be smaller, curvier, younger, lovelier, look better in a swimsuit. All. The. Body. Demeaning. Soul. Crushing. Joy. Stealing. Thoughts.

But the Lord recently dropped another thought into my heart on a particularly low body image day. And it’s simply this…

He wouldn’t apologize to anyone for how He made my body.

Ummmm… wow. Let me just sit and shed a few unstoppable tears.

God’s not apologizing for how He made my body! He wouldn’t apologize for the shape of any part of it. He wouldn’t apologize for the look of any part of me. He’s not sorry He didn’t make me look more like this woman or that woman. He made NO MISTAKES when He was making me. The same is true for you.

And here is where it’s going to get personal and maybe a little bit painful, but I am praying that it will be freeing to anyone who feels bound in a “not good enough” body.

God wouldn’t apologize to your spouse for the body He gave you.

God wouldn’t apologize to your parents, the ones who feel like it’s their duty to make commentary. (Let me go ahead and tell you… it’s not.)

God wouldn’t apologize to your siblings, your friends, the online world, or anyone else who has ever made comments about how you look.

And, sweet friend, He’s not apologizing to you or me for how He made our bodies either. He delights in how He made us. He was purposeful in how He made us. His definitions of beauty aren’t anything like the continually moving and shifting beauty standards of this world. He loves you in the body He gave you. Your uniquely shaped and designed, naturally aging (it happens to us all!!!!!!!), perhaps currently sick or broken, never quite the same if you have had babies, body. And He loves me in the body He gave me, too.

I realize this is the kind of post that invites negative commentary. I’m not talking about “letting ourselves go.” OF COURSE we need to care for these temples. But NOT so that we can be worshipped or applauded for how we look. Not so that we can be objectified or objectify ourselves. We care for these bodies to the best of our abilities so that we can walk out our callings in Christ with strength and joy. So we’re not “letting ourselves go”, a phrase honestly just used to heap on unhelpful shame. What we’re letting go of is the lie that there is a perfect body and we need to exhaust our resources, our time, our hope, our peace, and our joy as we try to achieve it.

God loves you in the body He gave you!!! Yes, we have the hope that one day, we’ll all have glorified bodies. But right now? God’s not apologizing to anyone for your body.

Psalm 139:13-14 reads,
“For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.”

Another way to translate “fearfully and wonderfully made” is “fearfully set apart.” You have been set apart as His! HE gets the final say on your body. Not anyone else.

Oh, how I’m praying we see ourselves through His eyes today – eyes that look on us with pure love and delight. Eyes that take us in fully and smile, knowing full well that the work He did when He knit us together isn’t just good. It’s very good.

And if you struggle with being unkind to yourself? Too hard on the person staring back at you in the dressing room mirror? I hope you’ll take a minute to read this post I wrote.

Blessings, beloved friends,
Kimberly

“I don’t think you love me.”

My then-teenage daughter’s words stunned me. These were not words spit out in a fit of rage. There was no manipulation at play, just a quiet parking lot confession as I asked questions to gauge the underlying cause for the growing distance between us.

My thoughts raced. I knew something had been off, but me not loving her? How had she come to that heart-wrenching conclusion?

Before I drove away from dropping my daughter off at school, I asked more questions and reiterated my love for her. She shared words and actions she perceived as a complete lack of love and understanding on my part. I wept as I drove home. Certainly, I gave thanks that we were getting somewhere. The root of our discord was being exposed. But I could tell that healing and repair would take much time and effort. There were lies to dismantle and trust to rebuild.

I felt like such a failure as a mom – feelings I held out to the Lord in prayer. I knew that instead of trying to defend myself to her, reinforcing the walls between us, I had to let the Holy Spirit show me what I needed to own. While there was much for me to see about my sins and mistakes, the Lord also tenderly reminded me of how He loves me perfectly, yet I often question and misunderstand His love, too. Why should I be so surprised that the imperfect love I offer my daughter would leave her with questions and misunderstandings? Just as she pulled back from me, how often did I pull back from Him in doubt and confusion?

I had not expected Him to touch on my relationship with Him as my Heavenly Father. My prayers centered on desiring restoration with my daughter – which He has slowly helped us find. But He also longed to open my eyes to the distance growing between me and Him. Places where the space I put between us exists as a declaration, “I don’t think You love me.”

Perhaps you recognize some of these scenarios.

When God tells me no, it can leave me questioning why He would hold out on me. When He says yes to someone else while simultaneously telling me no, He can feel unfair and untrustworthy. When He makes me wait tremendously long times to see Him move, it feels painful since I know nothing is too hard for Him. When He seems silent, I can begin to feel abandoned or forgotten. When He allows difficult circumstances He could prevent, His love no longer feels safe or sure.

If I’m not careful, every day becomes an exhausting examination of circumstances and personal feelings to discern if God sincerely loves me. I live like His love is a question mark, not a fact. Yet Scripture teaches His love is an unchanging, unending truth upon which we can build our lives. Romans 8:38-39 reminds us, “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (ESV) Psalm 136 tells us twenty-six times that “His steadfast love endures forever.” Twenty-six!

Ultimately, what my heart needed to hear then and still now is what I wrote on a notecard for my daughter: “You are already and always loved.” I wanted her to know that my love for her will never be a question mark. She doesn’t have to wake up each new day wondering if I love her. I already and always love her – good days and bad.

The same is true for me with the Lord. I don’t have to question and analyze His love for me continuously. I am already and always loved. That means I can stop looking at circumstances and depending on my finite human reasoning and instead consider the cross. I love Henry Blackaby’s reminder in Experiencing God, “Settle in your mind that God has forever demonstrated His unfailing love for you on the cross. That love will never change.”

God is infinitely gracious and mercifully kind in His pursuit of us. He could give up on us when we misunderstand Him and pull back from Him, refusing to believe and receive His love. But He keeps pressing in. He keeps pursuing. He seeks to close the distance we have made. It’s what He did through Christ, and it’s what He is still doing by His Spirit and through His Word today.

Are you holding God at a distance? Could it possibly be connected to doubts about the sincerity of His love?

He won’t give up on you, and I am praying that His goodness and steadfast love, the very things Psalm 23 states are chasing after us, overtake and overwhelm you in beautiful and needed ways. I am praying you turn and see He is already moving to help you close any gap your fears, doubts, and misgivings may have made.

Move toward Him. Because there is no question about it – His love for you is sure, and you are already and always loved by Him.

Love in Christ,
Kimberly

Can I just be honest with you? Sometimes I’m afraid to get my hopes up. I feel like I’ll probably just be disappointed again, hurt again, so why bother, right? But living so jaded, so cynical… it’s not good for these hearts of ours.

The Lord brought to mind Proverbs 13:12 the other day as I talked with Him in my car: “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.”

It’s certainly true that when the things we desire, hope for, even expect seem to be postponed, delayed, too long in the arriving, our hearts can feel worn down and weary with the grief of waiting.

I have a lifetime full of placing my hopes in all the wrong places -wanting things that will never satisfy, hoping for things God never actually promised, setting my heart on what I believe is best, and wondering why God isn’t moving how and when I want. And of course, our hearts can also grow weary as we wait for things He HAS promised. I think of those who were watching and waiting for the promised and prophesied Messiah – no short or easy wait, yet all fleshed out in God’s perfect timing.

But there are also times we end up with weak and weary hearts because we put off hoping in God. Again, we’ve been disappointed before, hurt before. Why hope in Him again? But what if we’ve actually been putting our hope in the wrong places – in our desired outcomes instead of Him, in the hope of lives free of discomfort and pain instead of trusting in His power to redeem? What if we’re pulling back because we don’t like how other things turned out? And as we refuse to hope, we end up making things infinitely harder on our hearts.

Romans 5:2-5 tells us, “Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” (ESV)

Suffering WILL be a part of this life, but HOPE does not put us to shame! The CSB phrases it, “This hope will not disappoint us.”

We can get our hopes up! Not placing it in our ideas of what needs to happen, but placing our hope firmly on the Lord. Hope in Him? It does not disappoint because He will always prove faithful. He will always prove true. He will always be with us. He will redeem that which looks and feels so horrifically bad and use it for good. He will bind up our broken hearts. He will one day wipe every tear from our eyes. He will strengthen and deliver and perfect us.

1 Peter 5:6-11 encourages us, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.”

And maybe this is part of hope. Hope is HUMBLE. It stays expectant but isn’t demanding. It trusts in God’s timeframe, not insisting on its own. Hope must also be WATCHFUL, ever aware that the enemy is gunning for it, seeking to devour it. Hope stands firm, knowing God is now and forever FAITHFUL.

Oh, friends… we can get our hopes up! God is doing more than we can see. God can and is working all things together for good. God will hold true to every one of His promises. Our hearts become sick when we think we have no hope, but we will never regret putting our hope in Him.

Proverbs 13:12 ends by referencing a tree of life, something we see in Revelation 22:1-5: “Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.”

Today is not the end of our story! We. Have. Hope. There will be a day when night will be no more, and for now? Jesus is our light of hope as He sees us all the way home. Let’s ask Him to help us hold on to hope, hold on to Him, and know that it’s always safe to get our hopes up with Him.

He is faithful and true and good.

“I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord
in the land of the living!
Wait for the Lord;
be strong, and let your heart take courage;
wait for the Lord!”
Psalm 27:13-14

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13 (NIV)

Hoping in Him with you,
Kimberly

Today is the day during Holy Week that held the Last Supper. Bread broken, wine poured out, a new covenant declared, a powerful practice set in motion that leads us to remembering.

And I think there are a lot of people who don’t know it’s okay to do this kind of remembering at home. To grab a chunk of bread or the corner of a cracker. To pour liquid, crimson and sweet, into a simple cup. To take communion. Just you. In the sanctuary of your home. In the quiet of your backyard. No official church environment required.

Because there’s just something about it. About the way breaking a piece of bread can break our hearts once again for Jesus’ body broken for us.

And there’s just something about it. The way drinking from that cup can remind us of all that His blood poured out purchased for us. Salvation. Forgiveness. Healing. Wholeness. Cleanness. Peace.

And there’s just something about it. The way it can settle something deep inside of us and yet stir us deeply all at the same time.

I don’t know if you’ve ever taken communion at home before – just you and the Lord. But I want to be the gentle nudge encouraging you to. To sit for a few sacred minutes in His presence. To remember all that He has done for you. To remember just how loved you are. And to give Him time to stir your heart once again with holy joy and wonder. (1 Corinthians 11:23-25; Luke 22:14-20, Matthew 26:26-28)

I wrote out a list several years ago of the things He might want us to remember. Because He said it. Jesus said, “Do this in remembrance of Me.”

Why? What are some of the things He might want us to remember? Here are a few thoughts: 

*We need to remember the day He redeemed us from the enemy. The reason given in Psalm 78 for the Israelites sinning in the wilderness was that “They did not remember His power; The day when He redeemed them from the enemy.” (Psalm 78:42) We are redeemed. We are forgiven. We are no longer slaves to sin. We can live differently. I am more prone to sin when I forget that I am free. (Colossians 1:13-14, Romans 6:17-18, 22-23)

*We need to remember the seriousness of sin. The enemy would love for us to think that our sin is no big deal. But the wages of sin is death. It separates us from God, and it cost Jesus His life. We cannot just wink at sin. We cannot just ignore it. It spreads and brings devastation and separation. But Jesus offers forgiveness and freedom. We need to take any sin hiding out in our lives seriously, repenting quickly instead of allowing it to grow. (Romans 6:23)

*We need to remember we are saved by grace. We can easily slip into trying to earn our salvation with rule-keeping and performance. The blood of Jesus instituted a new way. A new covenant. One of salvation through belief. It is a gift. (Ephesians 2:8-9) This also helps keep us from becoming prideful, as if we saved ourselves. 

*We need to remember we are fully forgiven because of the cross. The enemy loves to remind us of our sins, throwing them in our faces. But God tells us that when we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us. He remembers them no more. He throws them behind His back. We are clean. We are justified because of the sacrifice of Christ. His blood IS enough. (1 John 1:9, Colossians 2:13-15, Psalm 103:8-14, Isaiah 38:17)

*We need to remember we are free. We don’t have to run errands for the enemy anymore. We don’t have to live bound to our old sins and ways of life. We don’t even have to live bound up in condemnation because we can never be good enough. Christ’s blood was enough. And it is for freedom Christ has set us free. (Romans 6:1-7; Galatians 5:1)

*We need to remember that our freedom cost Jesus. He paid a high price for us. We can allow this truth to stir gratitude in our hearts and cause us to live for Him, love Him, praise Him, obey Him, and trust Him. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20, 1 Corinthians 7:23, 1 Peter 1:18-19)

*We can remember how powerful His blood is. The blood of Jesus restored us to a right relationship with God… an IMPOSSIBLE chasm was breached. How much more is He able to help us bridge the chasms in our lives with other people? He is a restorer. A bringer of peace and wholeness. A healer. (Ephesians 2:13, Romans 5:1-2)

*We can remember the beautiful truth of Isaiah 53:4-5: 

“Surely he has borne our griefs
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.”

*We can remember both our worth and the worth of others. Jesus died for us willingly… and He did so while we were yet still sinners. (Romans 5:8) He died for us and every other single human being on the planet. We can rest safe in His love for us, and we can also remember He died for whoever is standing right in front of us – especially when we are finding that person difficult to love. 

*We can remember that we are loved and that love costs. Again, Jesus was willingly broken for us. His life spilled out. Do we live willing to be spilled for others? Or do we live selfishly? His blood and his sacrifice can remind us we are called to live differently. 

What grace and kindness that He would give us a tangible way to remember the hope and forgiveness we have in Him. To remember our sure salvation and freedom in Him. To remember we are called and empowered to live and love more and more like Him. It’s like He is saying, “Take the cup and the bread in your hand. Taste them in your mouth. Feel them going down. Let your heart and mind go over all that I am and all that I have done for you and all that you have in Me. Receive me. Remember Me. Let this remembering fill you, humble you, strengthen you, heal you, empower you, and send you out in My love and My name.”

What do you need to remember most from the list above? I pray today is a day we lean in close to all that Jesus is and all He has done. I pray that we remember.

“For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, ‘This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.’” 1 Corinthians 11:23-25

In Christ,
Kimberly

Sometimes it’s hard, isn’t it? Not knowing how things will turn out in difficult circumstances. Wondering what God will allow. Questioning what He will and won’t “fix” according to our personal desires and plans.

I was recently praying through some circumstances that still feel painfully tender some days – knowing He is good, but still wrestling with what He allows and the reality that He hasn’t promised I won’t walk through similar things again. Everything in me wants to step in – as if I can control people and life’s outcomes. But as I prayed, a gentle reminder landed in my heart.

God is not incompetent.

I know it’s not a word we would ever openly assign to Him. We wouldn’t say it out loud in our Small Groups or Bible Studies – “Look at this mess! Look at all of the painful and confusing things going on in the world. God is obviously incompetent.” You may even be taken aback that I would even need to hear that reminder from the Holy Spirit. “Kimberly! Of course God’s not incompetent.”

But I’m afraid that all of the fear we nurse and the many ways we are found trying to fix, control, and manipulate situations reveal that maybe, just maybe, we do doubt His competency and His care.

Incompetent means “lacking the qualities needed for effective action, inadequate to or unsuitable for a particular purpose.”

But there isn’t a single circumstance in our lives where God lacks the qualities needed for effective action. When it comes to our infinitely wise and eternally good God, there isn’t one drop of inadequacy for any task or purpose. There was no incompetency on His part in what did happen (even if it looks and feels “bad” to us), and there will be no incompetency on His part in what happens next.

Job reminds us of God, “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.” (Job 42:2) And in Isaiah 46:10, God Himself declares, “I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.’”

He is sovereign. He is mighty. He is loving. He is holy. He is good. And He is ABLE.

I’m not sure what circumstances have you in fearful knots today, but perhaps you need to make this your prayer just as I did in my personal journal:

“Father God, I’m so thankful that You are not incompetent. You do not lack the qualities needed for effective action in _________________. Move as only You can. Your Kingdom come, Your will be done. Amen.”

He knows what needs to happen.
He knows just what to do.
And we can trust when and how He moves.

Our God is not uncaring, nor is He incompetent.

“Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act.” Psalm 37:5

Love you, dear friends. Honored to pursue Him with you.
Kimberly

There’s this moment in Exodus 4 when Moses is spelling out all of the reasons he shouldn’t be the one to go to Pharaoh, and the Lord tells him that his brother Aaron will be coming to meet him and speak for him. (Exodus 4:10-16) Then, at just the right time, the Lord tells Aaron, who has not seen Moses in at least 40 years, to go and meet Moses in the wilderness. They couldn’t call each other. They couldn’t text. The only possibility was the divine orchestration of God coupled with their individual obedience.

And this is one of the many things that astounds me about God – He is a God of divinely-appointed, rightly-timed connections. He meets our needs and weaves our lives and stories together with the most tender care and the most impeccable timing. He sends the right words, the right people, and glimmers of hope just when we need them the most.

In my life right now, there is a precious woman I met years and years ago in passing, but the Lord has reconnected us. He knew how DEEPLY she would minister to my heart. He knew her texts, wisdom, friendship, and personal walk with Him would buoy me on difficult days. And this isn’t the first time He has done this! I look back over my life and see relationship after rightly-timed relationship that I praise Him for.

He even does it with His Word and the books and studies He places in my life. I am continually FLOORED by how just one sentence, just one phrase can convict, challenge, or comfort me perfectly.

All of this to say, don’t give up hope if your life feels void of help. First and foremost, we can give thanks that our God of connection sent His Son so that we can have connection with Him! We are never alone, and we can cry out to our God, who hears and loves us. Secondly, it’s okay to ask Him to do these things. Ask Him to send the right people at the right time. Ask Him to send the right words at the right time. Not to take His place in your life but to be His mouthpiece in your life.

Ask Him to send you to others, as well! There are people who need you. People who need your gifts, your wisdom, your love, your prayers, your presence, and your kindness. Ask Him to send you, and go where He leads. You never know what God can do through His divine orchestration coupled with our surrender and obedience.

God is so good and so kind, and we get to receive His goodness from others and be a part of His goodness poured out onto others. How loving and attentive God is our God! How grateful is my heart!

I pray you see His goodness all over your life today, friends,
Kimberly

As I drove and prayed over friends and loved ones yesterday, the number of physical bodies I lifted up stretched out long. Person after person, body after body, facing surgeries and recoveries. Cancer, illnesses, and issues that still linger as mysteries.

But this is what I know. God cares. He cares about these bodies. He cares about these vessels He knit together so intricately within our mothers’ wombs. He is not blind to the pain or deaf to the cries for help or uncaring in the face of all of our not knowing.

So, I just want to speak a blessing and a prayer over you today. Over those whose bodies feel wholly uncooperative. Over those who are hurting and longing for healing. Over those whose bodies may, quite honestly, never truly get “well” this side of eternity.

Your body is BELOVED. God is intimately acquainted with your body, down to the most intricate workings within you and out to the number of hairs on your head. His hands formed your hands. His breath gave you breath. His body was willingly wounded so your body might one day know ultimate healing. His eye is upon you. His heart is for you. Your body is beloved, and so are you.

Your body is ORDERED. There is no cellular function, no muscle, no neural pathway, no organ that He did not set in place and that He cannot see right now. He knit you together with wisdom and care, and He knows exactly what your body needs. You can absolutely ask Him to re-order all that feels like it has become utter chaos. But in the waiting, you can trust that He orders your steps. He orders your days. He has ordered your body, and even when it feels like everything is out of order? It is still a vessel of His goodness and for His glory. It is still a vessel into which He longs to pour an abundance of His steadfast love.

Your body is DEPENDENT, and that is a good, good thing. Our God is the giver of life and breath. We are alive because He wills it, and every breath we take is in thanks and praise to Him. We will never not need Him to be able to function. We are every day dependent on Him. And you can trust that the One your body depends on is good. The One your body depends on is just and wise. The One your body depends on is merciful and kind. The One your body depends on is trustworthy and NEAR. The One your body depends on is holy, and He cannot sin and has not sinned against you.

Your body is YAHWEH’s. You belong to the Creator and Sustainer of all things, and you are infinitely dear to Him. Nothing – no disease, no diagnosis, not even death – can snatch you from His hands. He alone holds the final say on your body – not doctors or well-meaning friends or cynical family members. His blood and His love will always speak a better word over your body. Sickness may say your body has been forsaken or forgotten, but it has not.

Your body is Beloved.
Your body is Ordered.
Your body is Dependent.
Your body is Yahweh’s.

Maybe you need to speak those four words over your body today – laying hands on your head, heart, or whatever is bringing you distress, declaring these things to be true…

My body is not forsaken or forgotten.
My body is Beloved.
My body is Ordered.
My body is Dependent.
My body is Yahweh’s.

I pray for your healing, dear friend. But I also pray that you know you are loved as a whole, your body included. I pray that anything that is out of order in your body, that the God of order will re-order it. I pray that you will know that dependence isn’t a punishment but a gift as we get to cling to the One who loves us most, the One who gave His body for us. And I pray that you will know you are His. These struggles don’t mean He has abandoned you. Nothing, nothing, nothing can snatch you out of His loving hands.

(Psalm 139; Isaiah 53; John 10:27-29)

You are loved and prayed for,
Kimberly

I wasn’t expecting God to wreck me on my morning walk. But when Alisa Keeton’s kind voice reading the audio version of her book The Body Revelation declared over me, “God will never stop desiring you,” I knew she had touched on a deeply buried, unhealed place. It was all I could do not to hit the asphalt in tears.

My story isn’t unusual. Before I married, I had a string of relationships that did a lot of damage as I sought love in all the wrong ways, in all the wrong places. I will spare you the details. But there are a few that stand out in my mind. Like that time in middle school when one of my favorite teachers came up to me in the hallway to tell me she was so sorry this guy had broken up with me. The stunned look on my face quickly let her know that I had yet to be informed of this breakup. Nice.

There was an older guy who wanted to keep our relationship a secret. I was too young, insecure, and naive to see I was being used. And the long-term boyfriend who eventually decided he wanted to try dating another girl but didn’t officially want to leave me. And. I. Stayed. I’m not telling you any of this to speak poorly of them. There was a lot of wrong on their part. But my heart was also SO unhealthy. Without a relationship with Christ, I had no idea of my worth. I was just desperate to be loved.

Even now, as an aging, married woman whose body is changing, I have to fight the lies that bombard me about what makes a woman desirable. What makes me worthy of love. I have to wrestle down deep-seated insecurities of, “What if he stops desiring me?” I have to look to Jesus for grace and truth.

But I don’t think I had ever realized how I had transferred those insecurities onto God. I didn’t know I needed to hear it declared over me that He will NEVER stop desiring me. And by desire, I mean longing to be in a deep, connected, intimate relationship with me. The relationship He paid for and made possible through Jesus’ death on the cross. The one where He willingly abides in me, and I abide in Him. He won’t stop desiring that relationship. He won’t stop desiring me as my body ages and my beauty fades according to the world’s vain definitions. He won’t stop desiring me when I’m messy and broken, and I feel like I’m too much. He won’t stop desiring me when others might label me too much of this or not enough of that. He loved me when I had NOTHING to offer Him. He chose me when He saw the whole of my timeline and knew all of the ways I would fail Him. And He would STILL choose me if He had the opportunity to all over again. He would still choose you, as well.

Maybe you need to hear that today. Our stories may be quite different, but I am sure there are spaces where the insecurities left by pain are the same. I don’t know where people have wounded you, let you down, or completely left you in their humanness and sinfulness. This post isn’t meant to drudge those things up but to speak healing into those places. To remind your heart and mine that God’s love is the most secure love there is and will ever be. He will never stop desiring you. He isn’t looking to replace you. And He isn’t ashamed to be seen with you. You are His beloved, and that will never change.

May we rest in His unearnable, unlosable, unquenchable, unmatchable, unfailing love today. Oh, what a joy and a gift it is to be His and to be loved by Him.

In Him,
Kimberly

” For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39)

“For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:6-8)

“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
for his steadfast love endures forever.
Give thanks to the God of gods,
for his steadfast love endures forever.
Give thanks to the Lord of lords,
for his steadfast love endures forever.” (Psalm 136:1-3)