Devotionals for the Heart: Why we should pray to God when provoked

Provoked to Pray: What Do You Do with the Thing That Won’t Leave You Alone?
A devotional by Heidi Lewis-Ivey

“And her adversary also provoked her sore, for to make her fret, because the Lord had shut up her womb.”—1 Samuel 1:6 (KJV)

There’s a word most of us don’t like—provoked.

When we hear it, we think of something negative. Someone provoked me. Something set me off. It’s the word we use for irritation, for conflict, for the moment right before we say something we regret. We talk about being provoked to anger, provoked to violence, provoked to say the thing we can’t take back once it’s out of our mouths. Go back and think about the last time you used this word. I’d bet it wasn’t in a positive sentence.

And yet, if you trace this word through Scripture, you’ll find it doesn’t always point downward. Sometimes it points a person straight to the throne of God.

There’s a woman in the Bible whose whole story turns on this word. Her name is Hannah, and her story is found in 1 Samuel chapter 1. What happens to her—what’s done to her—is described using this exact word: provoked. But watch what she does with it. She doesn’t let it turn her bitter, or hard, or cynical—though she has every reason to. She lets it turn her toward God.

That’s the whole idea I want to sit with here: the same pressure that could break you can also be the very thing that drives you to your knees. The provocation doesn’t determine the outcome. What you do with it does.

Let’s explore this Bible story in the book of 1 Samuel, starting with the setting:

Hannah is married to a man named Elkanah, who loves her—the text makes that clear. But Elkanah has two wives, which was not God’s original design but was common in that culture. His other wife, Peninnah, has children. Hannah has none.

In that ancient world, a woman’s worth was often measured by her ability to bear children. So, Hannah isn’t just dealing with personal disappointment, she’s carrying a weight her whole community would have recognized, and in some cases, judged her for.

Peninnah knows it. 1 Samuel 1:6 (KJV) tells us Peninnah “provoked her sore, for to make her fret, because the Lord had shut up her womb.” This wasn’t occasional teasing. It happened year after year, every time the family went up to worship in the house of the Lord at Shiloh. Hannah’s pain had a source, and the source had a face, it was a person in her own household who knew exactly where to press.

Some of you know exactly what that’s like. Maybe it’s not a rival. Maybe it’s a coworker who never lets you forget your mistake, a family member who brings up the same wound at every gathering, or a voice in your own head that sounds suspiciously like someone from your past.

This wasn’t a one-time offense Hannah could shake off. It was a pattern, a season, where she had to keep showing up to the same feast, in front of the same rival, carrying the same wound, over and over again. Some of us aren’t dealing with a single provocation either. We’re dealing with a recurring one: the same argument at every family gathering, the same diagnosis update at every appointment, the same empty side of the bed every night, the same bill in the mailbox every month.

Hannah didn’t get to escape Peninnah. She was bound to that family, required by her faith to go up to Shiloh every year right back into the presence of the person who hurt her most. Many of us can’t escape our provocation either. We can’t quit that job yet. We can’t walk away from that family member. We can’t undo that diagnosis.

So, the real question Hannah’s story forces on us isn’t, “How do I get away from what provokes me?” For most of us, that’s not on the table. The question is: What am I going to do with it, since I have to keep facing it?

What Provokes Prayer

Provocation isn’t always sin, and it isn’t always someone else’s cruelty. Sometimes it’s just the ache of unmet longing, of delay, of grief and God can use that ache to move us toward Him.

God will use whatever gets your attention. For Hannah, it was a rival’s cruelty. For you, it might be a diagnosis, a prodigal child, a marriage that isn’t what you hoped, a bank account that won’t stretch far enough. The question was never whether you’d be provoked because life provokes everybody. The question is: Provoked toward what?

Peninnah and Hannah shared the same husband, the same household, the same yearly trip to Shiloh. But Peninnah had children and Hannah didn’t. That difference gave Peninnah daily intimate knowledge of exactly where Hannah was wounded, and she used it as a weapon rather than showing mercy. Hannah, with no equivalent advantage to strike back with, had only one real option for her pain and she chose the altar instead of retaliation. Two very different situations, but what stands out is what each woman did with what she had: one used her advantage to wound, the other brought her lack to God.

Hannah, provoked by a rival, becomes a woman of prayer. The provocation was real. The pain was real. But none of them let the provocation have the final word. They let it become the first word of a prayer instead.

What Provoked Prayer Looks Like

So, what does it look like when someone takes their provocation to God instead of letting it curdle into bitterness?

1 Samuel 1:10 (KJV) tells us this about Hannah: “And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the Lord, and wept sore.” Her bitterness didn’t disappear before she prayed. She didn’t clean herself up first or wait until she had the right words. She brought the bitterness with her into the presence of God.

1 Samuel 1:15 (KJV) gives us the phrase worth camping on: Hannah tells Eli, “I have poured out my soul before the Lord.” Poured out—not measured out, not carefully worded. Like a jar tipped all the way over, holding nothing back. Eli watches her lips moving with no sound coming out and assumes she’s drunk. That’s how undone this prayer looked from the outside. This wasn’t a tidy, church-appropriate prayer. It was a woman laying her whole broken heart out in the open, and it looked strange enough that a priest misread it entirely.

God is not asking us to compose ourselves before we come to Him. He’s asking us to come to Him. That’s the same invitation Jesus Christ gives in Matthew 11:28 (KJV). He says, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” He doesn’t say come once you’ve set your labor down. He says come as you are, and He’ll meet you there.

Many of us think prayer has to be dignified that we need the right theology, the right vocabulary, our emotions under control, before we’re allowed to approach God. A lot of us have been trained, not by Scripture but by habit and tradition, to believe God only receives the well-organized version of our pain. Therefore, we come to Him with our hurt filtered and edited when what He’s looking for is the truth. Psalm 62:8 (KJV) puts it plainly: “Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Selah.” God doesn’t say to come to Him after you’ve cleaned it up. He wants the unedited version of your prayers.

Provoked prayer isn’t neat. It isn’t quiet. Sometimes it’s tears with no words, like Hannah’s. I can remember my own seasons of sitting in God’s presence with nothing to say not because I had nothing to bring Him, but because the weight of it was too heavy for words. Just tears, silence, and a God who didn’t need me to explain myself before He understood. If that’s where you are, you’re in good company.

A Word on How to pray to God when you feel provoked 

It’s fair to ask: How do I do this? How do I take what’s provoking me and turn it into prayer instead of bitterness? Here are a few practical handles:

Name it out loud, to God, specifically. Hannah didn’t pray a vague prayer. 1 Samuel 1:11 records the actual content of her vow. She names her condition, her affliction, and her request. Vague pain produces vague prayer. Specific pain, named honestly, produces the kind of prayer that pours out a soul.

Don’t wait until you feel spiritual enough to pray. Hannah didn’t wait for her bitterness to pass she brought it into the prayer. Philippians 4:6 (KJV) says to bring everything to God “by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving” in everything, not after everything is resolved.

Let prayer be a place, not just a moment. Hannah kept going back to Shiloh. For people who are provoked, prayer usually isn’t one dramatic outburst that fixes everything it’s practice, a return trip, or a place you keep going back to.

Bring your provocation to God before you bring it to people. Hannah’s pain went to the altar before it went anywhere else. James 5:13 (KJV) asks, “Is any among you afflicted? let him pray.” Not, let him vent to everyone who’ll listen. That doesn’t mean you never talk to trusted people about what you’re carrying, but the reflexive move should be toward God first.

None of this requires a theology degree or perfect words. It requires what Hannah had: enough desperation to stop pretending, and enough faith to believe God was listening.

What Provoked Prayer Produces

Eli tells Hannah, “Go in peace: and the God of Israel grant thee thy petition that thou hast asked of him” (1 Samuel 1:17). Verse 18 adds something small but significant: “her countenance was no more sad.” This is important to note because it means Hannah was no longer sad about her situation before she’s even pregnant. Nothing had changed circumstantially, but something had shifted in her because she’d poured out her soul and trusted God with the outcome. Sometimes peace comes before provision. Sometimes prayer changes you before it changes your situation.

The story doesn’t stop there. Hannah conceives and names her son Samuel “Because I have asked him of the Lord” (1 Samuel 1:20). Samuel grows up to anoint Israel’s first two kings and hold a nation together in one of its most unstable seasons. His whole existence traces back to a woman who took her provocation to an altar instead of letting it turn into poison. Worth noting, too: The text says her answer came “in the process of time” (1 Samuel 1:20), not that same night. Lesson learned: If you’ve been praying a provoked prayer for a long time and you’re still in that in-between, remember her peace came before her pregnancy, not after. God sometimes gives peace before the answer because He wants you to trust Him, not just His timeline.

One more detail matters. When Hannah brings Samuel to Eli, she names publicly what happened “For this child I prayed” (1 Samuel 1:27) and then gives him back to God. Hannah said, “Therefore also I have lent him to the Lord” (1 Samuel 1:28). The very thing she was provoked to pray for, she surrenders the moment she receives it. Her prayer was never about winning an argument with Peninnah or proving something to her community. It was about giving God something He could use the difference between provoked prayer that stays selfish and provoked prayer that becomes worship.

I see the same pattern in ordinary lives, not just ancient ones. Some of the most fruitful ministries and faithful intercessors I know didn’t start out that way. They started out provoked by a loss, an injustice, or a need nobody else was meeting. Somebody buries a child and starts a ministry for grieving parents. Somebody survives an addiction and spends their life walking others out of the same pit. None of them would have chosen the provocation. But each one laid what was breaking them at an altar instead of letting it turn them hard and on the other side of that surrender, God did something with it they couldn’t have engineered on their own.

Where Is It Sending You?

Something in your life right now is probably provoking you. Maybe it’s a person, like Peninnah was for Hannah. Maybe it’s a circumstance, or a season of being hunted and misunderstood. Maybe it’s grief, delay, injustice, a diagnosis, or a silence from God that’s gone on longer than you expected.

You don’t get to choose whether you’ll be provoked. That’s just life in a fallen, unfinished world. None of us are exempt from it. But you do get to choose where the provocation sends you. It can turn you bitter, sharp-tongued and resentful—the way it could have turned Hannah toward Peninnah instead of toward God. It can turn you cynical about prayer altogether—so worn down by asking that you stop asking. It can isolate you, convince you that no one not even God really sees what you’re carrying.

Or it can send you to the altar of God. It can drive you to pour out your soul to Him without polish or pretense, trusting that the God who saw Hannah’s lips moving with no sound sees you too. It can turn you into someone who reaches out even when you have no right to expect anything. Someone who refuses to quiet down just because the crowd is uncomfortable with your desperation. Someone who keeps pressing even after it sounds like the answer is no.

So, here’s the question worth sitting with: What’s provoking and where is it sending you? If it’s sending you toward bitterness, toward silence, toward isolation, I want to invite you to let it turn. Not because someone’s telling you to, but because Hannah showed us there’s somewhere better to go with the pain to go.

Don’t let it make you bitter. Let it make you pray. And if that ache has no words yet that’s alright. Hannah’s lips moved and no sound came out, and God still heard her. You don’t need the right words. You just need to go to God.

Let’s Pray:

Lord,

Thank You that You don’t ask us to get ourselves together before we come to You. Thank You that You meet us in the mess, in the bitterness, in the ache we haven’t found words for yet.

You know what’s been provoking us, the face behind the pain, the weight we’ve carried year after year, the thing we’ve prayed about before and am still waiting on. We don’t ask You to explain the timing. We ask You to meet us in the waiting the way You met Hannah, with peace before the provision, with Your presence before the answer.

Our hearts are too heavy for words right now. You saw Hannah’s lips move with no sound, and You heard her. Hear what we can’t say out loud.

Turn what could make us bitter into what drives us to You instead. Where we’ve been holding onto resentment, loosen our grip. Where we’ve gone quiet instead of praying, give us the courage to pour it out. And whatever You do with what we bring You now, let it be for Your purposes not just our relief, but Your glory.

We pour out our heart and soul before You. Receive us as we are.

In Jesus’ name,

Amen.

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Song of Reflection #1: “A Secret Place” by Karen Clark Sheard. Listen to it here.

Song of Reflection #2: “The Lord’s Prayer” by Jubilee Worship (feat. Phil Thompson). Listen to it here.

Song of Reflection #3: “Jireh” by Elevation Worship & Maverick City. Listen to it here.

Song of Reflection #4: “Take It to the Lord in Prayer” by Aeolians of Oakwood University. Listen to it here.

Song of Reflection #5: “Come Just As You Are” by Crystal Lewis. Listen to it here.

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Author Bio:

Heidi Lewis-Ivey is an affirmed prophet and an internationally acclaimed speaker. 

She impacts audiences with her authenticity and bold style of delivery. She has had the opportunity to minister in Trinidad, St. Thomas USVI, Manchester and Liverpool (England).

Heidi is an award-winning and bestselling author. She is the author of Can I Rest Awhile? and Black Girl Cry: What Black Women Need to Know to Amplify Their Voices. She is a co-author in Soulful Prayers (Volume 1 and Volume 2) and Soulful Affirmations. Heidi is the convener of the Encountering the Courts of God movement and the founder of Visions International, a training ground for five-fold ministry gifts.

She holds a Master of Business Administration in Organizational Leadership from Norwich University and a Bachelor of Science in Management from Boston University. Heidi is the CEO of Nael & Associates Inc and franchise owner of Patrice & Associates recruiting firm. She is a member of the Pentimenti Women Writers Group, a former mentor with Year Up, former board member for Friends of Young Achievers, and a Diversity Equity and Inclusion Strategist.

Heidi is the proud aunt/great aunt of 14 nieces and nephews and two bonus nieces. They are her joy. The older nephews have become her protectors.

Heidi is an NFL football fan. As a child, she taught herself the game. In 2017 she won her NFL.com fantasy football league. Heidi is an avid reader (Audible listener) of romance novels, a lover of purses and handbags, and a tea snob who believes bling is always appropriate.

She lives in Boston, MA.

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Connect with Heidi:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamheidi01
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/heidi-lewis-ivey

Devotionals for the Heart: When you let God help you move the mountain

When the Mountain Won’t Move
A devotional by Kim McGovern

“The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights.”—Habakkuk 3:19 (NIV)

Are you so worn down that facing one more battle feels impossible?

Grief and endless demands can leave us staring at the ceiling at night, whispering into the dark, “I can't do this anymore.”

I carried that ache into a women’s retreat in the Colorado mountains, hoping the change of scenery might thaw my ice-cold, weary soul. But my grief felt as ancient and unyielding as the peaks around me—frozen beyond tears, untouched by the warmth I had come seeking.

On the first evening of the retreat, as voices rose in worship, I lifted my hands, not in adoration, but in surrender. My shoulders sagged under the weight of unanswered prayers as I begged God to break the hardened ground of my soul.

He met me there, not with spectacle but with a whisper strong enough to crack the ice within: “Daughter, I am fighting for you.” Not “I will fight.” Not “I fought.” But “I am fighting” at this very moment.

But how do you keep believing that God is fighting for you when everything in front of you still says otherwise?

The Old Testament prophet Habakkuk wrestled with that same question. Violence and injustice ran through his own nation, and God seemed to do nothing to stop it. So, Habakkuk dared to say the words most of us keep locked inside: “How long, Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen?” (Habakkuk 1:2, NIV).

God’s answer unsettled Habakkuk. Judgment would come to God’s people through a violent foreign army soon to sweep across the land. Still, he did not walk away. Habakkuk chose to watch, wait, and stay in conversation with God until hope stirred again.

God did not remove the threat or shorten the long wait ahead for His people. The danger still loomed on the horizon, and nothing in front of Habakkuk had changed. Yet neither had God's promise that “the righteous person will live by his faithfulness” (Habakkuk 2:4, NIV). He called Habakkuk to trust Him in the middle of it, and as the prophet kept bringing his fears and questions to God, trust slowly took root again.

By the end of his prayer, Habakkuk envisioned trust not as escape from the climb but as strength to keep walking, like a deer steady on rocky heights. The Bible says in Habakkuk 3:19 (NIV), “The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights.” God does not always move the mountain in front of us—but He does give us deer’s feet to climb it.

Maybe your mountain won't move either. Grief lingers. The marriage hangs by a thread. Responsibilities crush you, and loneliness refuses to lift. You have prayed, you have worshiped, you have poured out your heart—and still the path stretches steep and unrelenting before you. Take heart, friend. The same God who steadied Habakkuk and met me in my own dark night, walks with you now. He doesn’t ask you to be strong enough; He gives strength for each step, just enough for today, and then the next.

Our strength begins where Jesus Christ won our victory. At the cross, He climbed the steepest mountain we never could, bearing the full weight of our sin and death. And because He conquered that ultimate summit, rising from the grave on the third day, He now gives us sure feet for every climb we will ever face.

We are not promised that every earthly battle will turn out the way we hope, but in Christ we hold an eternal victory that cannot be taken from us. Nothing can separate us from Him—no failure, no heartbreak, not even the deepest grief. What Jesus completed on the cross holds firm forever.

The mountains still stood outside my window the next morning, as did many of the burdens I had carried into the retreat. But something within me had begun to shift. The ice around my heart was cracking. For the first time in a year, tears flowed freely as God began to thaw the frozen places within me. My circumstances had not changed, but I had. I left knowing I was no longer facing the climb alone.

Your mountain may not move today. But the Sovereign Lord is your strength. He gives you deer’s feet to take the next step when the path feels impossible.

Let's Pray:

Heavenly Father,

When grief lingers, prayers seem unanswered, and the mountain before us remains unmoved, remind us that You have not abandoned us. Thank You that in Jesus, the victory has already been won—one we would never achieve on our own. Help us trust You in the waiting and find our strength in You as we take the next step in faith. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.

Song of Reflection #1: “Trust in You” by Lauren Daigle. Listen to it here.

Song of Reflection #2: “Into the Sea (It’s Gonna Be Ok)” by Tasha Layton. Listen to it here.

Song of Reflection #3: “Worn” by Tenth Avenue North. Listen to it here.

Song of Reflection #4: “Battles” by The Afters. Listen to it here.

Song of Reflection #5: “Fighting for Me” by Riley Clemmons. Listen to it here.

Song of Reflection #6: “Victory Belongs to Jesus” by Todd Dulaney. Listen to it here.

Song of Reflection #7: “Move Another Mountain” by Helen Baylor. Listen to it here.

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Author Bio:

Kim McGovern is passionate about helping women reorient their hearts to the uninterruptible love of Jesus Christ. 

A former IT professional turned writer, she meets women in the messy middle of faith—where grief, joy, doubt, and hope often collide. Her work draws from decades of ministry leadership, special needs advocacy, and personal seasons of surrender that deepened her dependence on God's presence.

Kim's writing has been featured by Proverbs 31 Ministries, Encouragement for Today, Joyful Life Magazine, (in)courage ministries, Truly Magazine, and numerous other faith-based publications.

She and her husband savor the quiet rhythms of life on Florida's west coast in Homosassa, where the river serves as their backyard playground. They have four grown children and grandchildren who daily remind them that the best stories are still being written by God's grace.

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Connect with Kim:
Website: https://kimmcgovern.com/
Substack: https://kimmcgovern.substack.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_kim.mcgovern/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KimEMcGovern/

Devotionals for the Heart: How to sit in someone's sorrow and share hope

A Love that Won’t Try to Fix Anything
A devotional by Patti Schultz, Ed.D.

“Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.”

—Romans 12:15 (NKJV)

There is a love that never tries to fix anything. It pulls up a chair. It sits down in someone else's sorrow and refuses to leave early. Scripture gives that love a name.

Grief rarely knocks. It just arrives; however it wants, and it never leaves the way it came. Denial doesn't announce itself. It shows up in small, harmless-looking ways: two cups of coffee poured out of habit before she remembers or a hand reaching for the phone to call someone who won't answer. This is not foolishness. It is a heart taking in only as much truth as it can hold. If you love someone in this fog, don't correct it. Just sit with her.

Then anger comes, and it comes hot. Her fists clench. Her questions grow edges. Why this? Why now? This fire is usually love with nowhere left to go. I've learned it doesn't need to be tidied up. It just needs room to burn.

Bargaining follows close behind, the quiet negotiations that circle back at two in the morning. What if we had caught it sooner? What if that last conversation had gone differently? These thoughts rarely lead anywhere, and they do not have to. They only need somewhere safe to be spoken aloud, and sometimes that somewhere is simply you, listening without trying to answer.

Depression settles in without asking permission. It moves into her shoulders, into her mornings, into the space behind her eyes. There is no silver lining that fits here. What she needs is someone willing to sit down inside the weight with her, unafraid of the quiet.

And somewhere in there, unevenly and without a schedule, acceptance arrives. Not because the loss shrinks but because she learns to carry it differently. It rarely comes on the timeline anyone expects, and no one should feel late for it. I learned all of this in a season I never would have chosen. I was moving through recurrent pregnancy loss, one IVF cycle after another, grief tucked into ordinary moments: a grocery aisle, a baby shower I couldn't skip, and the silence after another test result.

One cold evening I returned to a support group, to show a young woman how to compound or mix her own in vitro fertilization (IVF) injection medication. Her hands were shaking, just as mine had been through the years. I expected this support group, this task, this assistance would be too emotionally hard for fragile me. Instead, I felt a peace I hadn't felt in years, not because my own grief had lifted, but because it had finally found somewhere to go. Holding her hand steady, I watched two griefs sit in the same small room without either one needing to leave.

That is the day Romans 12:15 stopped being a verse to me. It became something I lived. To mourn with those who mourn is to walk into someone's sorrow and stay a while. No agenda. No timeline. No requirement that she feel better before you're willing to sit down. This is love with its sleeves rolled up.

Let's Pray:

Lord, teach us to sit before we speak. Give us the courage to stay in rooms that feel too heavy, and the humility to receive comfort when we are the ones grieving. Where we are angry, meet us gently. Where we are numb, meet us patiently. And when you place someone in our path who is hurting, let our presence be enough. Let it look like You. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen.

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Song of Reflection #1: “Rest On Us” (feat. Brandon Lake & Eniola Abioye) | Maverick City Music | UPPERROOM | TRIBL Listen to it here. 

Song of Reflection #2: “Way Maker” by Leeland (ASL cover by Deaf Millennial Project). Listen to it here.

Song of Reflection #3: “Build My Life” by Pat Barrett (ASL cover). Listen to it here.

Song of Reflection #4: “Sound of Surviving” by Nichole Nordeman. Listen to it here.

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Author Bio:

Dr. Patti Schultz’s inspiring journey weaves a tapestry of compassion, resilience, and divine hope. 

Formerly a public school principal, professor, teacher, and interpreter for the deaf, she now dedicates her life to a heartfelt ministry rooted in her personal experiences.

As a mother to three miracle boys here on Earth and a member of a heavenly soccer team, Patti’s story is one of unwavering faith and profound love. Her decade-long battle with infertility and recurrent loss fuels her deep compassion for grieving mothers, guiding them toward healing through the comforting embrace of Jesus Christ’s garment.

Patti’s gentle wisdom offers a safe haven for women navigating pain, reminding them they are never alone. Through her ministry, she seeks to envelop grieving mothers in divine comfort, encouraging hope, renewal, and the reassurance that God's love is always near, wrapping them in His compassionate hem as they walk the path to healing.

Living in northern Michigan, she cherishes precious moments with family and community, drawing strength from faith and connection.

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Connect with Patti:
Website: pattischultz.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dr.pattischultz/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Dr.Patti.Schultz
Email: dr.patti.schultz@gmail.com

Devotionals for the Heart: Jesus Christ invites you to rest when you feel weary

Rest for the Weary
A devotional by Erica J. Hill

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

—Matthew 11:28 (NIV)

As another school year ends for both my children and me, I find myself feeling heavier instead of lighter. The nights seem shorter, the mornings come quicker, and somehow, we have already made it to June. I know this feeling all too well. It is the feeling of being weary—not simply sleepy or overwhelmed but exhausted from carrying too many responsibilities at once.

For so long, my solution was simple: keep going. Push through. Finish the next task. But eventually I learned something important—sometimes the holiest thing you can do is sit down and rest. What does rest look like for you? For me, rest can look like stretching out on the bed, putting the events of the day behind me, and reading an enjoyable book. But true rest is deeper than simply stopping your body. True rest begins when your spirit learns to let go.

I was born a Martha. I am incredibly good at getting things done, but rarely did I just sit still. Even while watching television, I felt the need to fold laundry, cook dinner, iron clothes, or clean something around the house. Sitting still with nothing to do felt unnatural to me. Rest was not a concept I was taught. I used to believe everything on my to-do list had to be completed before I could end my night, and somehow it all had to be done perfectly. That mindset left me exhausted. My nights stretched long after everyone else had gone to bed, only for me to wake up before everyone else the next morning and begin again.

Eventually, my body started responding to the exhaustion. I dealt with headaches, knee pain, and restless nights. I would fall into bed tired yet still toss and turn because my mind refused to rest. That is when I realized there is a difference between sleep and true rest. Sleep may restore the body, but only God can restore a weary spirit.

Slowly, I began shutting down my mind and body before bed. Instead of lying awake replaying problems and responsibilities, I started thanking God for the day I was leaving and the day I was entering. Little by little, I realized that physical rest often begins with spiritual rest.

There was a time when waking up in the middle of the night meant starting another task such as putting clothes in the washer or making a grocery list. Now when I wake up, I pray. At one point, I kept waking up at the same time every morning until I finally said, “Speak, God, your servant is listening.” In those quiet moments, God taught me that rest is not simply inactivity. It is learning to be still enough to hear His voice.

Psalm 55:22 (NIV) tells us, “Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you;
he will never let the righteous be shaken.” So often we cannot rest because we are carrying burdens God never asked us to hold alone. Throughout the Bible, we see examples of God giving His people rest before continuing their assignments. God gave Elijah rest before sending him to Mount Sinai. Jacob rested before dreaming of a ladder reaching to Heaven. Even Jesus Christ stepped away from the crowds to spend quiet time with God. In the same way, we need moments where we step away from the noise and demands of life so God can refresh our spirit.

As women, many of us were raised believing rest must be earned. Even now, many women struggle to truly relax without multitasking. We continue moving even while calling it rest. But constantly doing is not the same as being restored. When we choose to rely on God more than ourselves, we begin to experience true rest, and rest brings clarity. Some responsibilities we once thought were necessary are revealed to be things we can release altogether.

Perhaps that is where some of us are right now—not lazy, not failing, just weary. And maybe God, in His love, is reminding us that we were never meant to carry everything alone. Surrender to God and learn to rest well in this season because the strength you conserve now is what you will need in the next season.

Let’s Pray:

Heavenly Father,

Thank You for being a place of rest for the weary. Teach us to release every burden, worry, and responsibility into Your hands. Quiet our anxious minds and help us trust You with the things we cannot control. Restore our spirits, renew our strength, and remind us that true rest is found in You. Help us to slow down, hear Your voice, and walk in peace instead of pressure.

In Jesus’s Name, I pray. Amen.

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Song of Reflection #1: “Breathe” by Maverick City Music (feat. Chandler Moore, Jonathan McReynolds & DOE). Listen to it here.

Song of Reflection #2: “Rest” by Maranatha! Music. Listen to it here.

Song of Reflection #3: “Be Still My Soul (In You I Rest)” by Kari Jobe Carnes. Listen to it here.

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Author Bio:

Erica J. Hill is a wife, mother, and proud grandmother living in Georgia. 

With a career spanning both elementary education and higher education, she has served as an elementary and middle grade English Language Arts (ELA) teacher and now works as an administrative assistant in higher education. Currently pursuing her master’s degree in Instructional Technology and Media Center Specialist, Erica’s love for learning and teaching runs deep.

Raised in the Southern Baptist tradition, she has faithfully served as a Sunday School teacher and now as one of the youth directors at her church. A lifelong writer at heart, Erica once set her passion aside to pursue other career goals—but recently felt God’s undeniable tug to pick up her pen again, this time to write for His Kingdom.

She is currently working on her first book, Worthy. Whole. Woman. It is a devotional that she hopes will be an encouraging resource created to uplift and empower women—especially women of color—to walk confidently in their God-given identity.

Through her words, Erica blends faith in God, personal reflection, and practical wisdom to inspire women to heal, grow, and embrace the fullness of who God created them to be.

Originally from Atlanta, Erica now calls Macon County home, where she lives with her husband and children. In her free time, you’ll usually find Erica curled up with a good book, working on DIY projects, or planning her next travel adventure.

~*~
Connect with Erica:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/leahsgrace2931/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leahsgrace2931/

Interview with Nancy Naigle about her new novel "Home No Matter Where"

Author Interview with Nancy Naigle about “Home No Matter Where”

Alexis: Congratulations on the release of a new novel! Why did you write this book?

Nancy: After To Light the Way Forward came out last year, I wasn’t ready to leave these characters behind. I fell in love with Tug and Rosemary’s relationship, and while Nina found her footing by the end, I knew there was more healing to come. That thread stayed with me and wouldn’t let go. Whelk’s Island was calling. And then there was Fisher. He showed up with a quiet strength and a story of his own that unfolded in such a meaningful way. Writing him was a joy.

This book came from that place, wanting to see what happens next when people choose to keep showing up for each other, and for themselves.

Alexis: How does the title “Home No Matter Where” play into the theme of your story?

Nancy: Home No Matter Where is about discovering that home isn’t a place on a map, it’s the people who hold you steady when life shifts. On Whelk’s Island, three generations of women learn that even when everything changes, love, grace, and connection can lead you back to a place of peace, and a feeling of home.

Alexis: Is the setting of your story, Whelk’s Island, a real location on Earth or completely imagined by your mind? Share how you created this setting for your story.

Nancy: Whelk’s Island is a fictional town on the coast of North Carolina, but it’s rooted in places that feel very real to me. I’ve always loved the Outer Banks, especially around Kitty Hawk, and those beautiful barrier islands like Atlantic Beach and Emerald Isle. When I created Whelk’s Island, I imagined a stretch of coastline that doesn’t really have anything built out yet and let my heart fill it in. I pulled from my own memories of growing up in Virginia Beach, along with years of visiting the North Carolina coast, to shape the rhythm, the charm, and the sense of community you feel there.

It may be imagined, but it’s built from places and moments that are very real to me, and I think that’s what makes it feel like somewhere you’ve been, or somewhere you’d like to go.

Alexis: Why is Whelk’s Island special to the characters in your story?

Nancy: Whelk’s Island is special to these characters because it becomes home in all the ways that matter. For some, like Tug and Fisher, it’s where they’ve always belonged. For others, like Rosemary and Amanda, it’s where they found healing, connection, and a fresh start. It’s not just a place on the map, it’s where life changes, hearts mend, and people find their way back to what matters most.

Alexis: Tell us about Nina, who is the leading lady of your story. What are the desires of her heart as she tries to heal from her divorce?

Nancy: Nina is trying to find her footing after a life she counted on falls apart. More than anything, she wants peace, for herself and for her daughter. She isn’t one to ask for help, but when Kendra starts acting out, Nina lowers her guard and asks for help. As she and Kendra both heal, they begin to see that home and happiness don’t have to look the way they used to.

Alexis: Kendra is Nina’s daughter and she apparently is a challenge to her mother. Why does Kendra give her mother such a hard time?

Nancy: Kendra is giving Nina a hard time because she’s hurting. Her world changed in a way she didn’t choose, and she doesn’t know how to handle it. The anger and acting out are really about feeling lost and unsure. At her core, she just wants to know she’s still safe, still loved, and that her family isn’t completely broken, even if it looks different now.

Alexis: When Nina brings her daughter to Whelk’s Island, planning to spend a restorative summer with Rosemary, who is Nina’s mother, does everything go as planned? Why or why not?

Nancy: Not exactly, but in some ways it turns out even better than Nina expected. Her relationship with Rosemary becomes a source of comfort and strength. But Kendra struggles more than Nina anticipated, even running away when things get overwhelming. It’s not the smooth summer she planned, but with the help of Tug and Fisher, it becomes something deeper, a season of growth, healing, and second chances.

Alexis: What was your favorite part of telling this story featuring three generations of women (Rosemary, Nina and Kendra) being under one roof for the first time in years? Describe the conflict and the sweetest moments of their time together.

Nancy: I loved writing the dynamic between Rosemary, Nina, and Kendra because it’s full of love, history, and real-life tension. The conflict comes from each of them handling change differently, Nina trying to hold things together, Kendra pushing back, and Rosemary gently holding space for both.

The toughest scenes to write were when Kendra runs away. I could feel Nina’s urgency and fear as I was writing them, and that stayed with me.

The sweetest moments are in the quiet shifts, softer conversations, shared laughter, and the way they slowly find their way back to each other. I especially loved the family getaway in the mountains. There’s a sense of breathing room in those scenes that lets their relationships settle and grow.

These folks aren’t perfect. But the situations are real and rooted in love.

Alexis: Who is Fisher? Describe his role in this story and explain what makes him so attracted to Nina as well as what draws her to him.

Nancy: I love Fisher! We first meet Fisher in To Light the Way Forward as the easygoing surfer who’s always willing to lend a hand, just a genuinely good guy. But in this story, he steps forward as the hero, and we get to see so much more of who he is, his backstory, his quiet strength, and even a few hidden talents that make him stand out in ways Nina doesn’t expect.

Fisher has a way of showing up without being asked, which is exactly what Nina needs, even if she’d never say it out loud. He offers steady support without pressure, and that allows her to start letting her guard down.

What draws him to Nina is her strength. She’s doing her best to hold everything together for her daughter, even when it’s hard, and he sees that. And for Nina, there’s something about Fisher’s calm, grounded presence that makes her feel safe in a way she hasn’t in a long time.

Together, they find a balance, he brings a sense of peace to her world, and she reminds him what it feels like to truly connect and open his heart

Alexis: How do the real-world themes of forgiveness, growing up, letting go, and healing from pain play into your fiction storytelling with these characters?

Nancy: These themes are at the heart of the story because they’re part of real life. Each character is facing something, and their journeys show that forgiveness, growing up, and letting go don’t happen overnight. Healing comes in small steps, in choosing to show up for each other, and in finding hope again, even after things fall apart.

Alexis: Why does it require bravery to start anew? Explain how you showed this in your story.

Nancy: Starting over takes bravery because it means stepping into the unknown. It means letting go of what you thought your life would look like and trusting that something good can still come from what’s ahead.

In this story, Nina shows that kind of courage. She leaves behind the life she knew and brings her daughter to Whelk’s Island, not because she has all the answers, but because she knows something has to change. That’s not easy, especially when things don’t go as planned.

Kendra shows it too, in her own way. Growing up and facing hard truths about family and change takes a kind of bravery that doesn’t always look pretty.

And even Fisher, with his quiet strength, has his own journey of opening up and letting someone in again.

I wanted to show that starting anew isn’t about having it all figured out, it’s about taking the next step, even when you’re unsure, and trusting that healing and hope are still possible on the other side.

Alexis: In what ways do you hope this beautiful book will impact people who read it?

Nancy: I’ve always said if one of my books helps one girl through one bad day, then it’s done its job. My hope for this story is that it reminds readers there is still hope, even when life doesn’t turn out the way they planned. That healing is possible, that some relationships can be mended, and sometimes loving someone might mean making hard, healthy choices when it comes to protecting your heart.

If someone closes this book feeling a little more patient, a little less alone, or a little more open to what’s ahead, then that means everything to me.

Alexis: Thanks for the interview, Nancy! Would you like to share closing thoughts? If so, please write that now.

Nancy: Thank you for sharing The Shell Collector novels with your friends. You know, this all started with The Shell Collector written as I grieved the loss of my husband.

These characters have walked with me through the toughest times of my life and have become so special to me. It means more than I can say to share their stories with readers. These are the books of my heart. I hope this release, Home No Matter Where, leaves folks feeling encouraged and maybe reminds y’all that no matter where life takes you, you’re never as far from home as you think.

~*~
Author Bio:

USA TODAY and ECPA bestselling author Nancy Naigle writes uplifting coastal women’s fiction and sweet romance that feels like a deep breath of salty air. Her stories invite readers to slow down, escape to the shore, and rediscover hope, healing, and the comfort of close-knit seaside communities. 

Her breakout novel The Shell Collector debuted in the Top 20 on the ECPA Bestseller list and was adapted as a Fox Original Movie. Along with beloved coastal reads like Sand Dollar Cove, later brought to life as a movie on the Hallmark Channel, Nancy’s stories deliver heartfelt summer escapes filled with family ties, second chances, and quiet moments of grace found along sun-washed beaches and weathered piers.

A former Senior Vice President at Bank of America, Nancy now writes full-time from small-town Virginia, inspired by coastal traditions, handwritten notes, and the simple joys that make a place feel like home. Her books are perfect for readers who love clean romance, emotional women’s fiction, and feel-good beach reads that linger long after the tide rolls out.

If you’re dreaming of a story that feels like a seaside getaway and a gentle reset for the heart, welcome to Nancy Naigle’s coastal story worlds.

~*~
Book blurb for Home No Matter Where:

Three generations of women confront their pasts and discover it's never too late for new beginnings in this heartwarming novel of second chances and unconditional love—from the bestselling author of The Shell Collector. 

“In Home No Matter Where we travel to beautiful Whelk’s Island, where a close-knit community puts us right at home. Along the way we meet compelling characters caught in realistic storms and learn faith-filled lessons about weathering them.” —Denise Hunter, bestselling author of More Than Friends

Nina is at her wit's end with her teenage daughter, Kendra. Still dealing with her own wounds of divorce, Nina hopes a change of scenery will help. She and Kendra head to the serene coastal town of Whelk's Island to spend a restorative summer with Nina’s mother, Rosemary—bringing three generations under one roof for the first time in years. Amid the island's charm, old wounds begin to heal, and as new friendships bloom—especially with the steady and enigmatic Fisher—light begins to break through the cracks of Nina’s tightly controlled life.

Kendra's reckless behavior continues but Fisher’s intervention during a critical moment for Kendra sparks a sense of hope in Nina that she thought was lost. Still, change is never easy.

As the women navigate the tides of forgiveness, growing up, and letting go, healing begins and new love brings surprises. While Whelk’s Island may not hold all the answers, it has a way of reminding people that moving forward doesn't follow a set path—it requires the bravery to start anew.

~*~
Buy Nancy’s book:

Amazon

Audible

Barnes and Noble

Books-A-Million

Christian Book

~*~
Connect with Nancy:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NancyNaigleAuthor/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nancynaigle/

X: https://x.com/nancynaigle

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@nancynaigle

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/nancy-naigle

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4575284.Nancy_Naigle

But most importantly, sign up for my newsletter and stay connected with me on my website www.nancynaigle.com where I post a blog under the FOR READERS tab, and my event calendar is kept, plus I keep subscribers up to date on sales, events and other cool happenings.

Interview with Sarah S. Brown, author of "Even the Ashes Bloom" (book)

Author Interview with Sarah S. Brown about her book “Even the Ashes Bloom: Finding Beauty When You Feel Broken”

Alexis: What inspired you to write this book?

Sarah: There were seasons in my life where I felt deeply broken. Disappointment, heartbreak, unmet expectations…the kind that shake your identity and leave you wondering who you even are anymore. And in those moments, I found myself asking: God, what are You doing here? Can anything good really come from this?

As I began to heal, I realized something powerful—God wasn’t just meeting me after the hard parts. He was present in them. Gently restoring, reframing, redeeming. This book was born out of that journey and the answer to a prayer I prayed for many years—that God would use my story to help others.

I wrote Even the Ashes Bloom for the woman who feels like her life didn’t turn out the way she prayed it would. For the one sitting in the aftermath—of loss, betrayal, disappointment—wondering if beauty is still possible.

This book is a reminder that God does some of His most tender, redemptive work right there in the ashes.

Alexis: How did you create the title “Even the Ashes Bloom: Finding Beauty When You Feel Broken”?

Sarah: The title came from this image that kept coming back to me—How, after a wildfire, certain seeds only open because of the fire. They’re called “fire-followers.” What looks like complete devastation becomes the very condition for new life. That felt like my story.

Even the Ashes Bloom is a reminder that the very places that feel destroyed aren’t beyond redemption. They’re often where God is doing His most meaningful work. And the subtitle—Finding Beauty When You Feel Broken—speaks directly to the heart of the reader. Because most of us don’t walk around saying, “I’m in a season of transformation.” We say, “I feel broken.” And I wanted to meet women right there.

Alexis: How did God bring beauty out of the very thing that broke you? Share the story.

Sarah: There was a season in my life where everything I thought my life would be…wasn’t. A marriage that didn’t last. Expectations that unraveled. A deep sense of shame I didn’t know how to name, much less release.

But as God began to untangle the lies I had believed about myself and replace them with truth, He showed me that my identity was never rooted in my circumstances—it was rooted in Him.

What I've come to see now is that the very thing that broke me became the place where God rebuilt me. Not into the person I thought I was supposed to be, but into someone more grounded, more honest, and more anchored in Him than I had ever been before.

He took what felt like ashes—loss, disappointment, shame—and grew something new in that same soil: deeper faith, restored identity, and a hope that isn't dependent on everything going right. He didn't waste a single part of it. And that's the beauty I didn't see coming.

Alexis: What was it like to share your journey through heartbreak, healing, and hope? Was it hard to be transparent?

Sarah: Yes…and no. There were definitely moments when I paused and thought, "Do I really want to say this out loud?" Because once it’s on the page, you can’t take it back. But I kept coming back to this: Someone else is living this too. And if my willingness to be honest could help someone feel less alone, less ashamed, or more seen by God, then it was worth it. I didn’t want to write from a place of perfection. I wanted to write from a place of healing.

Alexis: In what ways do you hope your story will help your readers?

Sarah: More than anything, I want readers to find peace in the middle of pain and uncertainty—and to release the shame that has told them they are too far gone. I want them to rediscover their worth in Jesus Christ, to see how faith can flourish even in barren seasons, and to embrace healing through reflection, journaling, and prayer. And above all, I want them to trust that as long as they are alive, God is still writing their story.

Alexis: What do you mean when you say God is planting seeds of new life in scorched places?

Sarah: Sometimes growth doesn’t look like growth. It looks like loss. It looks like silence. It looks like everything falling apart. But just because we can’t see what God is doing, doesn’t mean He isn’t working.

I know this to be true because I’ve lived it. The areas I wanted to hide, the ones that felt the most barren, those became the places where He began reshaping me from the inside out. Not all at once, and not in ways that were always obvious. Because seeds don’t grow overnight and they don’t grow where everyone can see them. They grow in the dark. In the waiting. In the quiet work that feels hidden but isn’t wasted. Over time, what once felt lifeless begins to tell a different story.

Alexis: Was it hard to make the book part memoir and part devotional?

Sarah: It was a balancing act. The memoir pieces required vulnerability—going back into real moments, real emotions, real memories. And the devotional pieces required clarity—Asking, “What is God inviting the reader into here?”

The most challenging part was making sure the story always served the reader—not just my own processing. But the most rewarding part? Watching those two elements come together in a way that doesn’t just tell a story but transforms one. Because it’s not just about what I’ve been through—it’s about what God wants to do in them.

Alexis: How did God help you find peace in the middle of your pain and uncertainty?

Sarah: Peace looked like small, quiet moments. Sitting with Scripture, whispered prayers, and choosing to trust God when I didn’t understand what He was doing.

There were still questions and uncertainty. That part didn’t magically disappear. But over time, I began to realize that peace wasn’t the absence of pain—it was the presence of God in the middle of it. It was the sense that I wasn’t alone in what I was walking through. That even when everything around me felt unstable, I was still being held.

Alexis: How did God help you release shame and discover your worth in Jesus Christ?

Sarah: Shame has a way of convincing you that you are what you’ve been through. It doesn’t just remind you of your past—it tries to redefine you by it.

For a long time, I carried that weight. I believed the lie that my worth was somehow tied to my mistakes— that I had to spend my life making up for them or proving I was still enough. But God began to show me that shame is not from Him. It’s something He came to remove.

And He didn’t do that all at once—it was a process. Through Scripture, prayer, therapy, and the steady encouragement of people who spoke truth over me when I couldn’t see it for myself, God started to gently unravel the lies I had believed. He kept reminding me that my past does not define my worth—and that I don't have to earn His love. It was already mine. Little by little, that truth began to take root. I started to see the difference between conviction and condemnation. One draws you closer to God, and the other pushes you into hiding.

Over time, I began to understand that my worth wasn’t something fragile I could lose—it was something secure in Christ. I realized that God was never asking me to carry shame. He was inviting me to lay it down. And when that finally settled into my heart, it didn’t just change how I saw myself, it changed how I lived.

Alexis: What has God taught you about how faith can flourish in barren seasons?

Sarah: He taught me that barren doesn’t mean empty.

Some of the deepest growth in my life didn’t happen in seasons of abundance. It happened in seasons where I felt stripped down to almost nothing. The things I once relied on were gone or shaken, and I didn’t have the answers I thought I needed. But that’s where something shifted. Because that’s where my faith stopped depending on circumstances and started depending on God.

In those barren seasons, I learned that faith isn’t proven when everything is going right—it’s formed when you choose to trust God when nothing makes sense. When prayers feel unanswered. When the outcome is unclear. When all you can do is take the next step in front of you.

God showed me what looked like a barren season was a season of preparation. God was strengthening my foundation, reshaping my understanding of who He is, and teaching me that even when life feels still or uncertain, He is always at work.

Alexis: How did reflection, journaling, and prayer help heal your pain?

Sarah: They gave my pain somewhere to go. Instead of carrying everything internally, I was able to process it with God honestly and openly, without filtering or trying to “clean it up” first.

There were moments when I didn’t even know what I was feeling, just that it was heavy. Journaling helped me slow down enough to name it. To get it out of my head and onto the page. It was in those pages that I began to see patterns—lies I had been believing, fears I hadn’t acknowledged, and places where I was still holding on instead of letting God in.

Prayer became less about saying the “right” words and more about being real with God. Sometimes it was just a sentence. Sometimes it was silence. But it was a space where I could bring everything—the questions, the anger, the grief—and trust that He could handle it.

Reflection helped me look back and recognize something I often missed in the moment: God had been with me all along.

Even in the seasons that felt the most confusing or painful, I could begin to trace His presence—through people, through small moments of provision, through the quiet ways He sustained me when I didn’t think I could keep going.

It didn’t take the pain away overnight. But it helped me process it, release it, and slowly begin to heal instead of just carry it.

Alexis: What is the BLOOM framework? How does it work?

Sarah: The BLOOM framework is a simple, intentional way to move from reading to transformation. Each chapter ends with this rhythm:

• Believe – Anchor yourself in a core truth
• Linger – Sit with Scripture and let it speak to you
• Observe – Notice what God is doing in your life
• Offer – Respond through prayer
• Magnify – Shift your focus to God’s presence and respond through action

It’s not meant to be overwhelming. It’s meant to be invitational. My hope is that readers don’t just close the book feeling inspired but equipped.

Alexis: Thanks for the interview, Sarah! God bless you and your book.

~*~
Author Bio: 

Sarah S. Brown is a Christian author and speaker who helps women anchor their identity in Christ and find renewed confidence through life’s hardest seasons. 

A former teacher, she contributed to Hope for the Holidays, A Year of Hope, and bestseller Stories of Good Grief, Vol.2. Sarah was named a Woman of Influence by the Nashville Business Journal. Her book, Even the Ashes Bloom, invites readers on a faith-filled journey from brokenness to spiritual renewal. 

Sarah lives in Tennessee with her husband and two sons and believes strong coffee and shared stories can change the world.

~*~
Book Blurb:

Have you ever wondered if God could bring beauty out of the very thing that broke you? 

In Even the Ashes Bloom, Sarah S. Brown invites you on a heartfelt journey through heartbreak, healing, and hope. After walking through the devastation of divorce, Sarah discovered a God who doesn’t discard broken soil—He restores it. Through her story, you’ll find comfort in knowing that your pain isn’t wasted, your story isn’t over, and God is already planting seeds of new life in the very places that feel scorched.

Part memoir, part devotional, Even the Ashes Bloom weaves together Scripture, storytelling, and soul-nourishing reflection to help you:

• Find peace in the middle of pain and uncertainty
• Release shame and rediscover your worth in Christ
• See how faith can flourish even in barren seasons
• Embrace healing through reflection, journaling, and prayer

Each chapter ends with Sarah’s signature BLOOM framework—a guided rhythm of believing, lingering in truth, observing, offering prayer, and magnifying God’s presence in your life. Perfect for personal reading, small groups, or quiet time study, this book will meet you tenderly in the ache and remind you that God’s grace writes better endings than we ever could.

Even when all you see is ashes, God is already growing something beautiful.

~*~
Buy Sarah’s book:

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Books-A-Million

Walmart

~*~
Connect with Sarah:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authorsarahsbrown/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorsarahsbrown

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/authorsarahsbrown/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/authorsarahsbrown/

Website: sarahsbrown.com

"He Calls Me Daughter" (film) is now streaming online via Angel Studios

When Momentum Influencers Network (MIN) asked me to share more about the film titled “He Calls Me Daughter”, I agreed because my life was positively impacted through watching this film a few weeks ago and I believe this documentary would make a significant difference in the lives of females who are suffering from father wounds and struggling in their faith walk with Jesus Christ.

He Calls Me Daughter will start streaming via Angel Studios this April 23. Angel is a platform for deeply personal, healing-centered stories rooted in faith.

Before I share my review with you, I’d like to share words from Angel Studios about this film: He Calls Me Daughter is a deeply personal and emotionally powerful film that explores what it means to carry a father wound and what it takes to heal from it. Through raw storytelling and spiritual insight, the film reveals how unmet needs from an earthly father can shape identity, relationships, and self-worth. But it also offers a path forward. One rooted in the love of a Heavenly Father who restores, redeems, and redefines what it means to be a daughter. This is not just a story about pain. It is a story about healing, forgiveness, and identity.

Here’s some additional info from Angel Studios with some notes from me:

What happens when the one meant to protect you is the one who hurt you?

Now there’s a movie filled with real-life stories and ending with practical resources to help you heal those wounds from your earthly father and show you the pure, healthy and protective love of your Heavenly Father.

This documentary is for: Women navigating pain, abandonment, or broken relationships with their fathers. Faith-based audiences seeking healing, identity, and restoration. Parents, especially fathers, who want to better understand their role and impact. Viewers drawn to emotionally resonant, testimony-driven storytelling.

Core Themes in this film are:

1. God as the Perfect Father

Even when earthly fathers fail, God’s love remains constant, personal, and healing. He steps into the gaps left behind and restores what was missing.

2. Healing the Father Wound

The “father wound” shapes how daughters see themselves, love others, and relate to God. This film brings language and clarity to that pain, while offering hope for healing.

3. Forgiveness Through God

Forgiveness is not easy. It is a process made possible through a relationship with God, who enables true release and restoration.

4. Identity as a Daughter

At the core of the film is a powerful truth: your identity is not defined by what you lacked, but by who calls you His.

5. A Message to Fathers

Fathers play a critical role in shaping their daughters’ sense of worth and security. This film is both a wake-up call and an invitation to show up, love deeply, and lead well.

Why Angel Matters

Angel provides a home for stories that go beyond entertainment and into transformation. He Calls Me Daughter is the kind of film that resonates deeply but is often overlooked by traditional platforms. Angel ensures stories like this are seen, shared, and experienced by the people who need them most.

This film speaks directly to the pain many women carry but rarely name. We want women to know: Healing is possible, even from deep father wounds. Your identity is not defined by your past, but by your Heavenly Father. Forgiveness is not weakness, it is freedom. Fathers have the power to shape, protect, and affirm their daughters.

The tone and style of this film is:

● Emotionally honest and vulnerable

● Hopeful, healing, and faith-centered

● Reflective rather than preachy

● Personal and relatable

● Uplifting without minimizing pain

If your relationship with your dad left wounds, this film is for you.

Call to Action: Watch He Calls Me Daughter now on Angel and experience a story of healing, identity, and restoration. Join the Angel Guild to support more stories that bring hope, healing, and truth to the screen.

~*~

My Review of “He Calls Me Daughter” (film):

Captivating. Poignant. Transformational.

Those are three words to accurately describe this film aptly titled “He Calls Me Daughter”. If you are a female who has had a complicated relationship (or no relationship) with your earthly father so much so that it has distorted your view of your Heavenly Father, then this movie is for you.

Filled with real-life stories and testimonies from women in the real world, this movie will touch your heart and transform your mind to see God as who He really is—a loving Heavenly Father who will heal your wounds inflicted by your earthly father if you let Him.

This movie highlights the pain of several women—a few who are not well-known but have influence and the rest who are famous, including Christian comedian Chonda Pierce and Lynsi Lavelle Snyder-Ellingson who the owner and heiress of the In-N-Out Burger company that is popular in the state of California. The testimonies shared by these ladies are both heart-touching and heart-wrenching at the same time. But the powerful point in everyone’s story is how God has touched the broken hearts of these women and carefully restored their faith in His Love which is greater than the love any earthly father can give his daughter.

I like how this movie showed a full-circle journey for each woman featured. I also appreciated how they featured stories that a variety of women from different backgrounds, ethnicities, cultures and backgrounds can relate to. This movie leaves no stone unturned in getting their core message across to women who are hurting.

This film was worth the time I spent watching it. At the end of the film, the hosts talk to the audience for a few minutes to point them to a resource you access by scanning a QR code. The resource is a curriculum for women who need help healing from their father wounds.

I highly recommend this documentary to all females who are suffering from father wounds and need a healthy dose of hope and healing from their Savior.

~*~
Watch the trailer for He Calls Me Daughter here.

Visit the official website for He Calls Me Daughter film here.

Join “He Calls Me Daughter” via Angel Guild:
https://www.angel.com/guild/join/he-calls-me-daughter

~*~
#HeCallsMeDaughterAngelMIN #MomentumInfluencerNetwork

Disclosure: Many thanks to Angel for providing a sample of this product for review. Opinions are 100% my own.

Devotionals for the Heart: When you're tired of being tested by God

How Much Testing is Needed?
A devotional by Terry Overton

“And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not.”

—Deuteronomy 8:2 (ESV)

I laughed at a meme on social media and shared it on my page. The meme made me reflect on how we often look back at old photos and are surprised by how young, how thin, or different we looked, unaware of it at the time.

After my initial laughter, I considered it more deeply. I have certainly changed, mostly through facing difficult experiences and challenges. While time now shows on my face or in the color of my hair, the change that matters most has happened within. Changes that happened during overwhelming tests of loss, family crises, and health issues. At times in the years that passed, I wondered, “How much testing is needed? How much more, Lord?”

But then I went back to Scripture, and I was reminded that I am far from the first person to ask that question. I think of Moses who born to a Hebrew woman but raised by Pharoah’s daughter in the royal palace of Egypt. It was a world that did not welcome him as a Hebrew boy, yet he was raised in riches. Later, Moses would return to a humble heritage and be tested beyond anything I can comprehend.

Although Moses had been raised within the royal court of Pharaoh and called by God to lead the Israelites to freedom from slavery in Egypt, he would later spend 40 years in the wilderness and never enter his destination (the Promised Land). That season likely felt like a detour that was far removed from purpose. Yet it was in the desert, in obscurity and humility, that God shaped Moses into a leader who learned to depend fully on Him. God did not waste a single day of it. Moses at last led the people of God to the edge of their promised land. But this had to happen after years of being shaped by God in ways he never would have chosen for himself.

Similarly, the Bible story about Joseph offers another perspective. He was disowned by his brothers, sold into slavery in Egypt, and while there, he was unjustly put in prison for a crime he did not commit. Joseph’s father gave up hope of ever seeing Joseph again after his other sons told him a wild animal had killed Joseph. His father didn’t know the true story about Joseph’s brothers selling Joseph into slavery. After a while, Joseph’s father gave up hope of ever seeing his favorite son again. Yet, after unbelievable hardship, testing, and dedicated work while Joseph was in Egypt, God enabled Joseph to save the family that disowned him. His journey reminds us that testing serves a greater purpose.

These Bible stories are only a few examples about how God tests us before He blesses us. Testing often feels like an interruption, a delay, or even a defeat. Yet throughout Scripture, we see a different truth—testing is God’s tool for preparation, revealing what we cannot see or know in comfort. Testing is part of God’s plan for us. It prepares us for where He wants us to be and for our purpose.

The greatest test with a purpose was what God planned for His own Son (Jesus Christ). Jesus lived His life in human form on Earth. He suffered. He rejoiced. He mourned like we do. Jesus traveled without provisions. He endured ridicule. Humiliation. Ultimately, he died on a wooden cross. None of that was outside the plan of salvation that Christ and His Father (God) put in place to save humankind well before we knew we needed to be saved by Him. The story of Jesus shows us something important: Testing is not always about escape. It is about obedience.

Each of these people I mentioned in the Bible stories were tested before they were used by God. Each of them had no idea while they were being tested and in the throes of despair, that God was still writing their story that would end in victory. Their stories reveal that what seems uncertain now can have significance later.

What looks like the end of your story may be the very place God is writing the most important chapter. Trust Him in the wilderness. Trust Him in the waiting. Trust Him in the suffering. He has never wasted a season. Not one.

Let’s Pray:
Heavenly Father, I won’t pretend the testing doesn’t hurt. But I know You are not absent in it. Help me hold on long enough to see what You are building. In Jesus’s Name I pray. Amen.

Song of Reflection #1: “God is in this Story” by Katy Nichole & Big Daddy Weave. Listen to it here.

Song of Reflection #2: “It is Well with My Soul” by Audrey Assad. Listen to it here.

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Author Bio:

Terry Overton is a retired university professor of educational and school psychology. She has an Ed.D. in Special Education and a Ph.D. in Psychology. 

Her professional experience includes teaching public school, teaching at the university level, and being a college dean.

She has two children, seven grandchildren, and one great granddaughter.

Her previous writing and publication experiences include textbook and journal articles in the fields of special education and school psychology. She now seeks to answer God’s call to share the good news and grow the church by writing Christian books and devotionals.

Over the years, Terry’s books have won the Mom’s Choice Award, Christian Indie Award, Firebird Book Awards, American Writing Winner Awards, Bookfest Winner Awards, Pencraft Award, Reader Views Silver Reviewers Award, and International Book Award Finalist. Her writing examines real world events with a Christian worldview. She enjoys writing for young children, middle grade readers, YA fiction, and adult level novels.

Terry’s background in teaching adults and children shine through her stories that often include a character with educational or learning challenges. Her Christmas series, The Oddball Ornaments, features a box of misfit ornaments who first learn the meaning of Christmas and then discover the meaning of forgiveness. In The Underground Book Readers series, one of the main characters is on the autism spectrum yet is one of the leaders of the group of teens. Book one of a new series, The Messiah Brigade, features an awkward middle school nerd who helps his school turn around a bully gang of kids. Adoption and family issues are the focus of her new book, Charlotte McMaster and the Messenger Angel.

Terry lives in Texas and enjoys reading, taking pictures for devotional posts on social media, visiting with her family, playing golf, and writing.

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Connect with Terry:
Website: https://www.authorterryoverton.com
Blog: https://terryovertonbooks.com
LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/overtont

Devotionals for the Heart: There is hope for when life looks hopeless

Seeds of Hope
A devotional by Colette Christopher

“We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.”—Romans 5:3-5 (NLT)

“Life has been hard,” I said silently as I slowly picked up my Bible.

I paused in midair with my Bible in my hands. I could barely open this book without tumultuous thoughts tumbling through my mind as I reflected on my journey through life. I wanted to see evidence of God’s handprint over my life. I realized that hardships were common but wanted to see if God walked with me in these trials. I needed to know if anything had changed in my walk with Him.

My mind focused on thoughts about my marriage that ended in divorce, fears I had as I struggled to raise my daughters alone, and the financial stress I faced. I couldn’t help but think how the pressures of those situations that I thought would have broken me, didn’t. I’m still standing. I’m still here. But there were times when my heart started hardening towards the Lord. I asked him, “How could You allow those situations to happen to me?” And gently just above a whisper, the gentle voice of the Holy Spirit asked me to look deeper.

My body slowly began to relax as I closed my eyes and invited the Holy Spirit to bring to my mind the scenes of those times when I doubted His Presence. As I looked at the story of my life, a single tear rolled down my face as I marveled at what I saw: God walking beside me.

The Apostle Paul wrote these verses (Romans 5:3-5) based on His experience as a way of encouraging us in times of hardship and trials that we as believers we will face. But it is important how we will allow them to work in our life. Will our trials and tribulations produce endurance within us, the ability to stand under pressure flatfooted knowing that our God will keep us no matter what and we will not let go? Or will we let go because we doubt God’s ability to keep and preserve?

I saw something that I missed all these years, life was hard yes, but I endured. I saw myself on my knees, praying for God to strengthen me. It was then that I realized that where I am now was only because I was forged in the fire. Standing strong in the intense heat and flames and allowing God to see me through those tough times produced a strength within me that I didn’t know I possessed. But it was only through God’s love, grace and mercy.

I looked at my heart and with tears rolling down my cheeks, I fully saw that the woman I was then isn’t the woman I am now. God worked on my character because she stood up under the trials. I bent under pressure, swayed with the tide but didn’t let Him go—even when I wanted to—I held on for dear life.

I gently placed my Bible on the bed, wiped the tears from my eyes and thought of the seeds of hope that has been sprinkled throughout my life. The ripple effects of tribulations produced within me perseverance and strengthened my trust in God. I realized how Jesus Christ carried me through these years when I was so heavy-hearted and overwhelmed with despair that I could barely walk. These realizations brought a fresh sense of hope surging within me. Is saw how Jesus has been my hope who has always been there, carrying me in the most difficult of times.

I remembered the prayers I prayed for my children and the days I toiled for them. As I meditated on the goodness of God, I lifted my hands in worship to my God who is my Heavenly Father. I committed my current struggles to the Lord in that moment. God gave me renewed knowledge that there is purpose being birthed in the hard places, and He will use it all for His glory. I opened my Bible to Romans 8:18 (NLT) and read aloud this verse: “Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later.” Next, I read aloud Romans 8:28 (NLT): “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them.”

Today you may be in a place of trials and challenges. I want to encourage and remind you that it’s impossible for God to fail you. You may be going through some difficult days and you may be wondering where God is in the middle of this. But the question to ask God during this tough time is, “What is it that you are producing in me through this my Lord?”

I know it’s not easy to ask that question. If it was possible we would avoid hardships if we could, but seeds of hope are planted in the hard places. They spring up strong and tall when we allow the Lord to simply have His way in your life. But first you have to choose to remain in the fire and let God forge you. Remember, God is always with you just like He promises to us in Psalms 23:4 (NLT): “Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me.”

Let’s Pray: Spirit of the Living God, I pray for the person reading this today. May You strengthen their heart, fortify their resolve to stand resolute in you when they come under fire from the enemy. I pray that endurance, character and hope will be built up within them like a wellspring, and they will look back over this time and not only see your handprint, but what you have allowed to keep them. Give them a strong hope in your ability to not only save, but to deliver. In Jesus’s Name I pray. Amen.

Song of Reflection #1: “Goodness of God” by CeCe Winans. Listen to it here.

Song of Reflection #2: “Deserved” by Anthony Brown & Group Therapy. Listen to it here.

Song of Reflection #3: “Spirit of the Living God” by Meredith Andrews. Listen to it here.

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Author Bio:

Colette Christopher is an empowered woman who inspires women to be who they were created to be. Her core message is empowerment. She is an author, certified life coach, podcast host, and trainer with the Maxwell Leadership team. 

Colette believes that an empowered woman empowers others and is powerful in knowing who she is and what she can accomplish. Colette is on a mission to impact the lives of the women assigned to her, whether she is their coach or trainer or shares a word that will transform their lives.

Colette utilizes her Christian principles as the base of all her engagements. She is passionate about fulfilling her life purpose of empowering women to know who they are, rebuild their confidence, and use their voices as tools to uplift themselves and others.

​​She is the founder of the M.E.E. Movement L.L.C., a faith-based empowerment ministry business that helps women of faith rebuild their confidence and use their voice to walk in their purpose through life coaching, mentoring, and empowerment speaking. Colette believes in using the gifts God has given her to help women be who God has called them to be and ultimately fulfill the purpose for which they were created. She lives by Romans 8:28 (NIV), that promises, “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."

A native of Jamaica, Colette resides in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. She is the mother of two beautiful young women, a son-in-love, and two grandsons. Colette enjoys reading, writing, watching good movies, and chatting with her daughters and friends.

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Connect with Colette:
Blog: https://www.colettemarie.online/blog
Website: https://www.colettemarie.online/
Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2367935
Email: Colettemarieonline@gmail.com