Tag: Trusting God

Posted in Faith in Real Life

I Know Who I Am

Posted on by Vikki Lynn Sorensen

I’m going to be preachy here.

Very preachy.

Because there is something I hear often in the church that has started to bother me: “I’m just a sinner saved by grace.”

I understand what people mean when they say it. Usually, it is intended to be humble. We are acknowledging that we didn’t save ourselves, that we didn’t earn our salvation, and that we desperately needed God’s grace.

I agree with all of that.

But I don’t agree with identifying myself as a sinner anymore.

I am saved by grace.

There is a difference.

I Know Who I Was

I was a sinner.

I have absolutely no problem saying that. I know who I was. I know what I’ve done wrong, the mistakes I’ve made, and the ways I’ve failed. Trust me, I’m not confused about my imperfections. I may very well be one of the most imperfect people I know.

But my imperfections are not my identity.

When I placed my faith in Jesus Christ and was born again, something changed.

Second Corinthians 5:17 says in the NLT, “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!”

The old life is gone.

A new life has begun.

So why would I continue introducing myself by the old one?

I Am a New Creation

This is where I think we sometimes get stuck.

We know we’re saved, but we continue thinking of ourselves primarily as sinners who happen to be saved.

But Scripture tells me I am a new creation in Christ.

That doesn’t mean I’m perfect. It doesn’t mean I never sin or won’t make another mistake tomorrow. I absolutely will. I still need Jesus every single day.

If you need the reminder that following Jesus doesn’t require becoming Super Christian Wonder Woman, I’ve written about that, too.

But there is a difference between committing a sin and identifying as a sinner.

I can fail without making failure my identity. I can stumble without deciding that stumbling is who I am. I can need forgiveness without believing that my past has the authority to define me.

Jesus changed that.

Jesus Paid for Sin Once and for All

And this is where grace gets even more beautiful.

Hebrews 10:10 tells us that we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all time.

Jesus didn’t pay for the sins I had committed up until the day I accepted Him and then leave me responsible for figuring out the rest. His sacrifice was more than sufficient.

First John 1:7 tells us that the blood of Jesus, God’s Son, “cleanses us from all sin.”

All.

That includes my past sin. It covers the things I still fail at today and the things I will do tomorrow that I haven’t even messed up yet.

Now, that doesn’t give me a license to sin. Quite the opposite. It makes me want to live differently.

Grace Is Not a License to Keep Sinning

Let’s be very clear about this because I know exactly where someone’s mind could go.

If Jesus has paid for all my sin, does that mean I can just do whatever I want?

No. Absolutely not.

Romans 6:1-2 addresses this very idea. Paul asks whether we should keep sinning so that God can give us more and more grace. His answer is essentially, of course not.

Grace isn’t permission to live however I want.

Grace is the reason I want to live differently.

When I understand what Jesus has done for me, I don’t want to casually walk back into the things He rescued me from. I want holiness. I want obedience. I want my life to look different because my heart has been changed.

I Want to Live From the Throne Room

This is why the phrase “living from the throne room” means so much to me.

Ephesians 2:6 tells us that God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus.

That is an extraordinary statement.

I’m not saying I’m God. I’m not saying I’m perfect. I’m not saying I deserve anything. I’m simply saying that because of Jesus, I have access to God.

Hebrews 4:16 tells us that we can approach God’s throne of grace with confidence so that we can receive His mercy and find grace when we need it.

So I don’t want to spend my life standing outside the throne room thinking, I’m just a sinner. I’m not good enough. I don’t belong here.

Jesus says otherwise.

The door is open.

Come in.

Receive mercy.

Receive grace.

And then go live differently.

Holiness Is a Daily Choice

Living from the throne room doesn’t mean sitting back and doing nothing. It means allowing my relationship with God to transform the way I live.

I read my Bible because I want to know Him. I study Scripture because I want to understand what He says. I pray because I want an active relationship with my Father, not a Sunday-morning relationship with Him.

I worship, repent, listen, learn, serve, forgive, and try again when I fail.

I ask God to show me the places in my life that don’t look like Him. And when He shows me something, I don’t want to defend it with, “Well, I’m just a sinner.”

No.

I’m His daughter.

And because I’m His daughter, I want to become more like Him.

That’s the difference.

I Am Not Perfect. I Know That.

Please don’t misunderstand me.

I’m not walking around thinking I’ve arrived. I haven’t. I’m a work in progress. I’m imperfect. Sometimes spectacularly so.

There are days when I get it right and days when I get it very, very wrong. I still lose my patience. I still say things I shouldn’t. I still have attitudes I need to surrender. I still have areas where God is working on me.

I still need repentance.

I still need grace.

I still need Jesus.

But I don’t need to call myself a sinner to acknowledge any of that.

I can say, “I failed.”

I can say, “I sinned.”

I can say, “I need forgiveness.”

And then I can get back up.

Because my failure is an event.

It is not my identity.

I wrote more about this in Grace For Failure Days, because sometimes failure gets much louder than the truth.

I Know Who I Am Because I Know Whose I Am

This is really what I want us to take away.

I don’t want to identify myself by what Jesus came to save me from. I want to live from what He has done for me.

I was a sinner. I’ve been saved by grace. I am a now new creation.

I am His daughter.

And I’m still growing.

Those things can all be true at the same time.

I don’t need to pretend I never fail in order to know who I am. I simply need to believe what God says about me.

Because words matter.

Identity matters.

And I don’t want to keep introducing myself as someone defined by sin when Jesus has given me a new life.

I know who I was. I know what I’ve done. I know how imperfect I am.

But I also know what Jesus has done.

And because of Him, I know who I am.

I am saved by grace, and I am learning every day to live from the throne room of God, pursuing holiness not because I’m trying to earn His love, but because I already have it.

And that, my friends, is worth being preachy about.

A Little Encouragement for You

If you’ve been carrying an identity built around your past, your failures, or the things you wish you could undo, I hope you’ll take a moment today to remember who you are in Christ. You are not defined by your worst moments. You are His.

What would change in your life if you began living from that truth?

Posted in Walking Through the Bible

Walking Through The Bible: Deuteronomy

Posted on by Vikki Lynn Sorensen

I keep a journal that I write in daily. Nothing fancy – just my thoughts, what’s happening in my life, or whatever happens to be on my mind at the moment.

Every once in a while, I like to go back and read it. Sometimes, I can see how far I’ve come on certain journeys. Other times, I realize I’m still stuck in places I thought I had already moved beyond. But either way, looking back has become a useful tool for helping me move forward.

In a lot of ways, Deuteronomy felt like that to me.

As I read it, I felt like I was sitting beside Moses while he looked back over everything Israel had experienced. He knew his time on earth was coming to an end. God had already told him that he would not enter the Promised Land. Yet Moses didn’t simply walk away. Instead, he spent his remaining time reminding Israel who God was, what God had done, and what they needed to remember after he was gone.

So, as I finished Deuteronomy, these are the things that stood out to me. 

1. Faithfulness doesn’t end just because our time is almost up.

Moses knew his time was done. He knew he would die, and God had already told him so.

Yet Moses remained faithful to the work God had given him right up until the very end.

That really struck me.

We sometimes think of our purpose as something that belongs to a particular season of our lives. But Moses reminds me that as long as God gives us breath, there is still something He can ask us to do.

We don’t get to decide when our usefulness ends.

Moses didn’t.

2. God made sure the Israelites understood the assignment.

There really wasn’t much gray area.

God laid out some fierce and mighty blessings for obedience and some equally fierce and mighty consequences for disobedience.

That might sound harsh to modern ears, but I think there is something incredibly loving about making the choices and consequences clear.

God wasn’t playing games with them.

He told them what He expected. He told them what would happen. And then He let them choose.

Which brings me to the next thing I learned.

3. God gives us a choice.

Too often, I think people view Christianity as a giant list of things God is going to make us do.

“If I become a Christian, God will make me give this up.”

“God will make me start doing that.”

But that’s not what I see in Deuteronomy.

God gives us a choice.

He doesn’t force our hand. He doesn’t drag us into obedience kicking and screaming. Instead, He gives us the opportunity to choose Him, choose obedience, and ultimately choose to accept His unconditional love.

And maybe that’s what makes the choice so meaningful.

Love that is forced isn’t really love.

4. Moses reminded Israel where they had come from.

Throughout Deuteronomy, Moses recapped Israel’s journey out of Egypt and everything God had done for them.

And he didn’t leave out the ugly parts.

Israel had rebelled. They had complained. They had forgotten. They had messed up.

And yet God continued to provide.

Moses reminded them of God’s grace, His faithfulness, and His supernatural provision.

In other words, he was telling them, Don’t forget what God has already done.

That is something I need to remember, too.

Because sometimes when I’m staring at what’s wrong right now, I forget to look back at everything God has already carried me through.

5. God’s Word was meant to be passed down.

One of the things that really stood out to me was the importance placed on teaching God’s instructions to the next generation.

The Book of Instruction was to be read and taught regularly, including at the appointed seven-year gathering. The purpose wasn’t simply for the people who were there. It was about remembering, teaching, and making sure the next generation knew what God had done.

In a very loose comparison, it was their version of having God’s Word available to them, long before we had the Bibles we can pick up and read today.

That made me think about how easily we can take access to Scripture for granted.

We have it everywhere.

We can read it on our phones. We can listen to it in the car. We can have multiple Bibles sitting on a shelf.

But having access to God’s Word and actually passing it along are two very different things.

6. God Himself buried Moses.

This one stopped me.

When Moses died, God Himself buried him.

God took care of Moses even in death.

I don’t know about you, but there’s something incredibly intimate about that.

Moses had spent his life walking with God, talking with God, arguing with God, obeying God, and sometimes getting things spectacularly wrong.

And yet, at the end of his life, God was still there.

There is something beautiful about that relationship.

7. Moses loved God deeply and he talked to Him plainly.

Moses wasn’t perfect.

He faltered. He made mistakes. He became frustrated. He even lost his temper.

But through all of it, he never wavered in his love for God.

The relationship between Moses and God feels incredibly personal to me.

And that’s another thing I took away from Deuteronomy: we don’t have to talk to God like we’re writing a letter to a king.

No King James English required.

No Shakespearean vocabulary necessary.

We can talk to God plainly.

We can tell Him when we’re angry. When we’re afraid. When we’re confused. When we’re grateful. When we don’t understand what He’s doing.

Moses certainly wasn’t afraid to speak honestly with God.

And I think there’s something comforting about knowing that God doesn’t require us to put on a performance before we come to Him.

Final Thoughts

If I had to wrap up everything I learned from reading Deuteronomy in one verse, it would be this:

“Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live!”

— Deuteronomy 30:19, NLT

Moses spoke those words to the Israelites.

But when I read them, they feel like they come straight from the heart of the Father.

Choose life.

Choose God.

Choose grace.

Choose love.

Choose Jesus.

Because ultimately, that’s what I believe Deuteronomy taught me.

God has given us a choice.

And every day, in big ways and small ones, we get to decide which way we’re going to walk.

Posted in Health & Wellness

Weight Loss and Menopause

Posted on by Vikki Lynn Sorensen

Let’s Talk About Weight

Let’s talk about my favorite subject: weight loss.

Or weight gain, in my experience.

Or really, weight anything, which bothers me because I was not born into a family known for being “skinny.”

Now, I don’t want to turn this into a “poor me, I’m fat” post. I also don’t want to go on a rant about why fat-shaming still seems to be acceptable in the media when apparently everyone gets offended by everything else.

And I don’t want to spend this post talking about doctors who discount plus-size people the second they look at us and decide they already know what’s wrong.

Because honestly, that one deserves its own post.

How many serious health problems were missed because a doctor looked at a number on a scale and decided that explained everything?

But this post isn’t about any of that.

It’s about my struggle.

More importantly, it’s about what I’m learning in this menopause season of life.

Menopause Is a Beast

Menopause is a beast.

And I don’t think we’ve even discovered all the ways this beast can affect a woman’s body.

One of the most obvious symptoms I’ve experienced?

Weight gain.

Now, I know all the things I could and should be doing to lose weight.

Eat better.

Move more.

Drink more water.

Sleep better.

Manage stress.

And apparently stop eating Oreos like they are part of my treatment plan.

I know all of it.

But that’s not what I want to talk about.

I want to talk about how the weight creeps up on you.

And then…

BOOM!

Fifty pounds has somehow taken up residence on your body.

Overnight.

Okay, maybe not literally overnight.

But it sure feels that way.

And the strangest part?

I didn’t feel like I was doing anything dramatically different from what I had done before.

Yet suddenly, there it was.

And getting it off?

That battle is real.

Because unlike weight loss before menopause, this feels like a battle of the mind and emotions as much as the body.

I’m no doctor, so let me be clear: I’m speaking strictly from my own experience.

Before Menopause, It Felt Simpler

Before menopause, losing weight felt like more of a decision.

Decide.

Find a plan.

Execute.

And, for the most part, my body cooperated.

I could lose weight much more easily than I can now.

Unfortunately, for me, and probably for many women my age, there’s another part of this equation that nobody seems to talk about enough.

Menopause + COVID + Life

Menopause started for me at 50.

And it happened at a particularly difficult time.

I had just lost my mom.

I changed jobs.

I changed housing.

And then…

BOOM.

COVID lockdowns.

Stay home.

No contact with family.

Little contact with the outside world.

No going into the office.

No normal routines.

Just me.

At home.

Day after day.

If women who weren’t going through menopause experienced depression, isolation, anxiety, and what everyone jokingly called the “COVID 20,” imagine what all of that did to someone whose hormones were already doing their own version of a demolition derby.

Looking back, I can see how much those circumstances affected me.

Fast-forward to now, and I’m struggling.

The One Thing I Haven’t Fully Given to God

Here’s where this gets personal.

This may be the one area of my life that I haven’t consistently taken to the Lord in prayer.

Oh, I’ve prayed about it.

Sort of.

I’ve prayed:

“Lord, please help me not eat this Oreo.”

“Lord, help me get up and walk more.”

And even:

“Lord, please make this broccoli taste more like a bite of chocolate.”

And then…

Nothing.

Well, not nothing.

It’s not that God didn’t hear me.

In fact, there are times when I can almost hear Him laughing.

Not because He doesn’t care.

But because I suspect He knows exactly what I’m doing.

I’m asking Him to help me while still trying to maintain control of the situation myself.

And He probably looks down at me and thinks, “Are we ready to surrender this yet, Vikki?”

Fair question, Lord.

So I’m Going Small

In all seriousness, I’m desperate to take this to the Lord and completely surrender it to Him.

God knows me.

He knows that big goals overwhelm me.

He knows that when I look at a giant mountain, I sometimes spend so much time staring at it that I forget to take the first step.

So here’s my plan:

Little goals.
Little movements.
Small changes.
One day at a time.

Has this all been done before?

Yes.

But two things are different this time.

Two Things I’m Doing Differently

1. I’m Done Chasing Numbers

I refuse to look at numbers anymore.

They bother me.

They discourage me.

And I’ve had enough doctors throw numbers at me along with medication recommendations designed to make those numbers fit into the ever-moving goalposts they call “normal.”

I don’t want my entire health journey reduced to a number on a scale.

I want to focus on being healthier.

Stronger.

More active.

Better nourished.

And able to do more of the things I want to do.

2. I’m Giving This Battle to God

This is the big one.

God has faithfully fought so many other battles with me.

Why I haven’t completely yielded this one to Him is honestly beyond me.

Maybe because some things I still think I can handle on my own.

But Scripture reminds us that God is our very present help in times of trouble.

And I need to remember that includes this.

Galatians 3:13 reminds us that Christ has redeemed us from the curse.

And Psalm 104:14–15 reminds us that God provides the earth with food for us to enjoy and that food brings nourishment and strength.

I love that.

There’s even a little skincare reference in there.

Apparently, God was ahead of the beauty industry, too.

I Don’t Have to Figure It All Out

Clearly, God wants to be involved in this part of my life.

And why I’ve been so reluctant to completely yield it to Him is something I’m still working through.

But I know this much:

I don’t have to figure everything out.

I don’t have to know exactly where this journey will lead.

I don’t have to have the perfect plan.

I just need to obey.

Take the next step.

Make the better choice.

Move my body.

Eat food that nourishes me.

Rest when I need to rest.

And rely on strength that isn’t my own.

My health is still good, and I’m grateful for that.

But I want to do better.

I want to be able to do more with my grandchildren.

I want to be there for them.

But more importantly, I want to do more for myself.

I want to feel stronger.

I want to move more freely.

I want to enjoy this season of my life instead of constantly fighting with my body.

And I want to stop treating my health like something I have to figure out all by myself.

So this time, I’m giving it to God.

One little goal.

One little movement.

One small change.

One obedient step at a time.

And if I mess up?

I’ll start again.

Because apparently, grace applies to diets, too.

Although, I really do wish with all my heart that somewhere in the Bible it specifically mentioned ice cream, chocolate, and cupcakes.

Because clearly, I have questions.

And I feel like Jesus and I could have worked that out.

Posted in Life, Lately

Monday Blessings

Posted on by Vikki Lynn Sorensen

Monday is never, ever my favorite day.

The weekend is over, and a long week stretches ahead, full of what I like to call “busy nothings.”

If you’re anything like me, you start dreading it on Sunday night as the Great Reset begins. Prepping lunches. Setting up the coffee pot. (I don’t do Keurig, and my Nespresso is reserved for afternoon lattes, should I desire one.) Choosing clothes for the week. Maybe putting away whatever laundry was done over the weekend.

I just don’t like Mondays.

And I don’t like feeling that way.

It makes Sunday go by far too quickly. And since it’s the Lord’s Day, I feel a certain twinge of yuck spending the latter half of it all grousy because Monday is coming.

I was thinking about this last night as I sat with a cup of tea, Percy at my side, wishing I could do anything – ANYTHING – other than work a 9-to-5.

But God has been dealing with me lately about ingratitude over things I once asked Him for. And as I sat there, He reminded me of that.

Suddenly, my mind was flooded with little snapshots from the past weekend, and I realized just how much I have to be grateful for.

Then I wondered: What if I started Monday differently?

What if, instead of beginning the week thinking about everything I don’t want to do, I began by thanking God for everything He has given me?

What if I started Monday with gratitude?

Thankful for the blessings of the weekend. Thankful for the good things that happened during the week. Thankful for the specific, ordinary things that can so easily get overlooked.

So I decided to make it a habit.

And just like that, Monday Blessings was born.

Each Monday, I’ll share at least five specific blessings I’m thanking God for. These won’t necessarily be the big, obvious blessings we enjoy every day – the blood of Jesus, our freedom, our families, our jobs, our homes.

Those are blessings worth thanking God for every single day.

But these will be the specific blessings. The little things. The things that happened this week that made me stop and say, “Thank You, Lord.”

So let’s begin.

1. Two new ladies on my team

The two ladies joining our team at work are wicked smart and absolutely amazing. I can’t wait to work with them, learn from what they know, and finally have some input into how I can grow what has, up until now, been a pretty solitary role.

I’m really looking forward to what this could become.

2. My sister and her selflessness

Once again, my sister cared for Percy while I traveled for the weekend.

He does so well with her, and I’m incredibly grateful that I don’t have to board him when I’m away. Knowing he’s home, comfortable, and being loved makes traveling so much easier.

3. A new perspective

God has given me some new inspiration concerning my overall attitude toward my blessings.

Honestly, just having an attitude change about anything at my age is pretty cool.

But this one feels especially important.

4. Time with my Sophia

I cannot overstate this one.

Every time I see Sophia, there is something new. New growth. New abilities. New movements. New little things she can do that she couldn’t do the last time I saw her.

And I cannot get enough of her hugs.

They are life.

5. Coming home to a home-cooked meal

Again, courtesy of my sister.

But there was just something magical about coming home, sitting down to a lovely home-cooked meal, having a cup of tea, and then settling into my chair.

Nothing spectacular.

Nothing Instagram-worthy.

Just home.

And sometimes, that’s more than enough.

So here I am on Monday morning, trying something new.

Instead of looking at Monday as the end of everything good and the beginning of another long week, I’m choosing to stop and notice what God has already given me.

Because maybe Mondays aren’t the problem.

Maybe I’ve just been looking at them from the wrong direction.

What blessings are you grateful for this Monday?

Photo by Amanda Selby on Unsplash
Posted in Faith in Real Life

When You Miss the Season You Prayed For

Posted on by Vikki Lynn Sorensen

There is a quiet moment that often comes in midlife when we begin looking at our lives a little differently. It is not always because something is wrong. Sometimes it happens because something inside of us has changed. After years of moving through responsibilities, raising families, building careers, and simply doing what needed to be done, we finally have enough space to look around and ask deeper questions.

Did I become the person I thought I would become? Did my life turn out the way I imagined? Am I where I thought I would be by now?

Those questions can bring up so many emotions. Sometimes they fill us with gratitude because we can see how faithfully God carried us through seasons we never thought we would survive. Other times, they bring a sense of sadness because we realize some dreams did not unfold the way we expected.

I think many women quietly carry that feeling.

The grief of the life we imagined.

The career path we thought we would have.

The relationships we hoped would look different.

The version of ourselves we thought we would become.

But one of the greatest lessons God has been teaching me in this season is that the life I planned and the life He created are not always the same thing. And learning to trust Him with that difference has brought a deeper kind of peace than I ever expected.

The Weight of Comparing Our Lives

One of the hardest parts of living in today’s world is that comparison follows us everywhere. We see other people’s accomplishments, homes, careers, vacations, and celebrations, often without seeing the struggles, disappointments, and difficult seasons that exist behind the scenes.

It becomes easy to look around and wonder if we somehow missed something.

Maybe someone else’s life seems more successful.

Maybe someone else appears more settled.

Maybe someone else reached a goal we are still waiting for.

Before we realize it, we begin measuring our lives against someone else’s story instead of appreciating the one God is writing for us.

I have had to remind myself that God never asked me to live someone else’s life. He asked me to faithfully live mine.

Galatians 6:4 says, “Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else.”

That verse has become more meaningful to me as I get older because comparison steals our ability to see the blessings right in front of us. When we constantly look at someone else’s path, we miss the beauty of the road God placed beneath our own feet.

Releasing the Dreams That Did Not Happen

One of the most tender parts of midlife is learning how to hold our dreams differently.

Some dreams are still waiting to happen. Some dreams have changed. Some dreams need to be released because God has something different in mind.

That does not mean those dreams were foolish.

It does not mean those desires were wrong.

It simply means God sometimes writes a story that looks different from the one we imagined.

For years, I think many of us believed that if our lives did not follow the plan we created, something had gone wrong. But what if God was not behind schedule? What if He was simply leading us somewhere we could not see yet?

Isaiah 55:8-9 reminds us, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

There is so much comfort in remembering that God sees the entire picture when we only see one small piece.

Finding Peace With the Life You Have Today

One of the greatest gifts of this season has been learning to appreciate the life right in front of me.

Not the perfect life.

Not the imaginary life.

The actual one.

The one filled with answered prayers and unanswered questions. The one filled with beautiful memories and lessons learned through difficult seasons. The one where I still grow, still change, and still need God every single day.

Sometimes we spend so much time waiting for the next season that we forget to notice the one we are living right now.

Psalm 118:24 says, “The LORD has done it this very day; let us rejoice today and be glad.”

This verse reminds me that today is not just a waiting room for tomorrow. Today is a gift. This season matters. This moment matters.

Even the ordinary days that seem small are still part of the story God is creating.

God Is Not Finished Writing Your Story

One of the biggest lies we can believe in midlife is that our best days are behind us.

Maybe life looks different than we imagined. Maybe some doors closed. Maybe some opportunities passed. Maybe certain dreams took a different direction than we expected.

But God does not waste a single season.

He uses everything.

He uses the years we spent raising children.

He uses the years we spent working hard.

He uses the years we spent caring for others.

He uses the years we spent learning, struggling, growing, and starting over.

Every piece of our story matters.

Philippians 1:6 gives us this promise: “Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

God began a work in you long before this season, and He is still continuing that work today.

You are not finished.

You are still growing.

You are still becoming.

The Freedom of Letting God Lead

I think one of the most freeing things we can do in midlife is loosen our grip on the timeline we created for ourselves.

Instead of constantly asking, “Why didn’t my life happen the way I thought it would?” we can begin asking, “God, what are You showing me in this season?”

That question changes everything.

Because surrender does not mean giving up. Surrender means trusting.

It means believing that God’s plans are not smaller than ours. They are often deeper, richer, and more meaningful than anything we could have created for ourselves.

Jeremiah 29:11 says, “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’”

That promise was not only meant for the younger version of ourselves.

It is meant for the woman sitting here today.

The woman who is still learning.

The woman who is still growing.

The woman who is discovering that God is not finished yet.

Learning to Love the Story God Is Writing

Maybe midlife is not about chasing the life we thought we wanted. Maybe it is about finally recognizing the life God has been creating all along.

Maybe the dream was never only about what we accomplished. Maybe it was about who we became along the way.

The woman who learned patience.

The woman who found strength.

The woman who discovered grace.

The woman who realized she does not have to prove her worth because she was already loved by God.

I am learning to stop looking backward at everything I thought should have happened and start looking forward with open hands. The same God who carried me through every chapter before this one is still holding my story today.

And I trust Him with what comes next.

Let’s Keep the Conversation Going

I would love to hear from you. Have you ever found yourself grieving the life you thought you would have? What is God teaching you about trusting Him with the story He is writing?

Share your thoughts in the comments. Your words may encourage another woman who is walking through a similar season.

If this encouraged you, share it with another woman who may need the reminder that her story is not behind her.

God is still writing.