“My former boss’ words made me feel ashamed of my personality trait. It seemed as if being quiet or introverted, and displaying attributes that made others think I was “too quiet,” was shameful. This notion that quietness is embarrassing or undesirable lingered with me long after I left the magazine—and moving to a different country a few years ago compounded my struggle with being labelled as such.”

“I felt a chasm widening between me and God. Despite decades of believing, years of serving and leading, and dozens of mission trips, I started to wonder if faith was any good at all. The God I thought I knew seemed indifferent and remote. And I often gave Him the silent treatment right back.

As my physical heart struggled to keep beating, so did my spiritual one.”

“The interesting thing about the walk of faith is that it is literally a journey of step-by-step, decision-by-decision as we traverse the adventure of our lives every day. It isn’t something we receive validation in immediately, but I believe that what is being produced in us as we choose to follow, even when the way seems uncertain, are the stepping stones to fulfilling His plans and purposes in our lives.”

“A season of suffering had led me to this moment. Covid hit our family hard, landing my husband and me in the hospital simultaneously. We left the hospital with oxygen tanks and blood clots in my lungs. A scan revealed the clots were gone six months later but revealed a mass growing in my uterus. Two weeks later, my father was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer that would take his life in one month.

My shoulders shook as I stood staring at the vastness before me, weeping, “God, I can’t take anymore! I am drowning from the tsunami of losses. Please roll back the storm clouds and let the light shine again.”

“Everything that happened in my life had reason and purpose, something I always knew would have meaning one day. Decades later, not only did I find understanding, but I felt His strong guidance pointing me to my next steps.”

“Through this journey, I’ve come to realize God is pretty unconventional (thank God because His plans are so much greater and grander and filled with immeasurably more than we could ever ask or think). He can and will use anything as a vehicle to carry out His will and calling in our lives. He can and will use anything to bring forth the gold within us. He can and will use anything to help shape us into the people He’s calling us to be.

But it takes us being willing to jump in.”

“I walked into that fall with my head down–defeated and utterly lost. How could I return home and pick up where I left off after so much had happened? It felt impossible to move forward from a summer I felt I had wasted and with a broken heart. I wish I could say that I remained faithful to God from the get-go, but that wouldn’t be the truth. I doubted His goodness, and I didn’t know if He could be trusted.

But week after week, I encountered God in new ways.”

“…we can feel pressured to be something we’re not—almost like the strength of our faith is going to determine how our season ends.

That’s how I used to think about faith until I was met with a season where I didn’t have the strength to work my way out on my own. Instead, I learned a precious lesson: simple faith is enough for complicated seasons.”

That’s why these stories felt important to share. There’s power in vulnerability, in pulling back the curtain and sharing the humanity of faith that is real and evolving. To give a glimpse into the doubts that shook us and the faith that rose up anyway.