Every mental struggle, underlying worry or prideful tendency can be traced to what I’m believing about God in that moment. The same with every deep joy, grateful thought or confident decision.

In every moment I have a choice to either believe the true God or the God I’ve fashioned with bricks of my own understanding, experiences and others’ opinions.

The threatening wave of shame or condemnation is a chance to lean in to His arms and know love, instead of hiding or perfecting.

The temptation to compare is an opportunity to seek His face and words for how He wired me uniquely and walk confidently, instead of heaving the burden of envy, discontentment and insecurity to my shoulders.

The minute escaping to pleasure or comfort seems easier than prayer and Scripture is a moment to admit you need help, instead of disconnecting and pretending.

The tendency to fight for control is a chance to remember again how sovereign and good and powerful He is, instead of collapsing inward in self-protection and fear.

My feelings and thoughts and impulses, sometimes true, sometimes good, sometimes distorted, must be fit into the structure of life shaped by Christ. The current moment is the ground where we encounter the real God, because He says He is with us, that He helps us, that He holds us up. And what is true about God is always true about God. He is immutable, unchanging in the face of my sin, struggle or silence.

Hal-le-lu-jah.