The Connection Corner
A daily source of encouragement and inspiration to connect your heart to hope and faith.
A daily source of encouragement and inspiration to connect your heart to hope and faith.
Media Ministries, Inc.
101 N. 2nd Street, Suite 200
West Monroe, LA 71291
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Mailing Address:
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Monroe, LA 71210

Longing Less, Living More
Brendan McClain, Daily DevotionalSummer is both my favorite and my least favorite season.
I love the sun… but sometimes it feels unbearable.
I love the sand… but I hate how it sticks to everything.
I dream all year about sitting by the pool with a cold slice of watermelon, but when it finally comes—I’m hot, sticky, and already thinking about fall.
We spend so much time longing for what’s next that we don’t fully enjoy what’s right in front of us. Summer turns into fall, fall into winter, and we keep chasing the next feeling, the next season, the next moment that will finally satisfy us.
But it never quite does.
There’s always a small part of us still longing.
And if we’re honest, the problem isn’t the season—it’s the belief that something else will finally fill what only God can.
That’s the amazing thing about following Christ. Our deepest longing has already been met. We are not waiting for His love, presence, or promise. It’s already here.
Sure, we wait patiently as His plans unfold. But we are not waiting on His heart.
His love is already ours. His presence is already with us. Right here, right now.
He is the kind of God who doesn’t just notice empty places—He fills them. He’s the one who meets our real thirst with something that actually satisfies, deep down where nothing else seems to reach.
And when we begin to live from that truth, everything else starts to fall into place.
We can enjoy summer without needing it to be perfect and look forward to fall without wishing away today.
We can sit in the in-between—the longing and the having—and still feel at peace. Because the greatest desire of our souls isn’t something we’re chasing anymore. It’s something we already have.
So maybe today looks like this:
Feeling the sun and letting it be warm, not overwhelming. Laughing at the sand instead of fighting it. Eating the watermelon and actually enjoying it.
Not because everything is perfect—but because the One who satisfies us never changes.
A MOMENT TO REFLECT
Running Home to Rest
Daily Devotional, Denise PaganoThe alarm goes off, and your thumb hits snooze before your eyes ever open.
Then you hit it again…and again…and again.
At some point, you stop counting because counting would ruin your day.
You tell yourself you’ll go to bed earlier tonight.
But somehow, that doesn’t always happen.
Because that is the rhythm now. You call it “winding down,” but your mind never really does. You don’t sleep—you scroll, replay conversations, and answer texts that could’ve waited until morning.
And eventually, it catches up.
Researchers have found that even one night of very little sleep can increase stress hormones and leave your body feeling more anxious and on edge. Your heart works harder. Your mind feels foggier. Everything seems heavier.
But even a short nap or a season of intentional rest can help your body recover and reset.
That’s the power of rest.
And maybe that’s what this means for you and for me: rest isn’t laziness.
It’s repair.
God designed our bodies with a reset button, and sometimes that reset looks less like grinding harder and more like closing your eyes.
I know we live in a world that glorifies burnout, but maybe that’s why rest can be such an act of faith.
Because Scripture paints a picture of someone who isn’t striving or scrambling. They’re dwelling in the shelter of the Most High. They’re resting in His shadow.
They rest not because life is easy, but because God is safe.
Trust that God is still holding everything together even when you’re not.
And if that’s true…
Then maybe rest isn’t something to feel guilty about.
It’s something to run home to.
A MOMENT TO REFLECT
When Joy Fills Rooms
Daily Devotional, Heart of the Artist, Stories About SongsThe room is loud before the first note even lands.
Lights rise, hands follow, voices spill forward like they’ve been waiting all week for this. From the stage, Darren Mulligan, the lead singer of We Are Messengers, saw what most people couldn’t.
A girl near the front is singing, but her mascara is running. Off to the side, a man stands still as stone. His eyes are shut tight, like if he opens them everything might fall apart.
And still… they’re singing.
There was a time Darren would’ve called the feeling in a room like this “happiness.” Everyone’s singing. This is it.
But life has a way of telling the truth after the music fades. Because happiness is loud. It rises fast. It disappears just as quickly.
Joy, though… joy is stubborn.
These aren’t people who showed up because they were happy. They came because they were looking for Jesus.
And in that stubborn reaching toward God, something was happening. You could almost feel it rising in the room. Like a current running underneath every voice. A gladness that doesn’t wait for life to make sense. It wasn’t shallow or forced. Together, the crowd was declaring, “God is still good. He’s still worth it. He’s still here.”
There on the stage, Darren was struck by this thought.
“Those who go looking for Him somehow find gladness. Real joy meets people in their hunger and desperation for Jesus. And the ones who’ve tasted even a little of His rescue can’t help but say it over and over again: ‘To God be the glory.’”
Maybe that’s what these songs are for. Not to help you escape—but to help you find God. To trade the fragile kind of happiness for something stronger. And over time, almost without noticing, your own song will start to rise…one that sounds like this.
To God be the glory.
A MOMENT TO REFLECT
When the ground beneath my feet
Is shaking like a leaf
God, You’re still good to me
When my hope is all but gone
And I’m barely hanging on
God, You’re still good to me
When my heart can’t find the beat
When it’s dark and I can’t see
I will put my hope in You
I’ll trade ashes for beauty
I’ll trade joy for my mourning
I’ll trade, to God be the glory
To God be the glory
I’ll trade strength for my weakness
I’ll trade pain for my healing
I’ll trade, let this be my story
To God be thе glory, oh
You love mе at my best
You love me in my mess
God, You’re so good to me
There’s one thing I am sure
Your promises endure
You make a way for me
When my heart can’t find the beat
When it’s dark, and I can’t see
I will put my hope in You
I’ll trade ashes for beauty
I’ll trade joy for my mourning
I’ll trade, to God be the glory
To God be the glory
I’ll trade strength for my weakness
I’ll trade pain for my healing
I’ll trade, let this be my story
To God be the glory
to God be the glory
(Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh)
And whatever comes my way
I will always praise Your name
I will put my hope in You
When I run into Your courts
I will fall into Your arms
I will sing a song of praise
I’ll trade ashes for beauty
I’ll trade joy for my mourning
I’ll trade, to God be the glory (forever and ever)
To God be the glory
I’ll trade strength for my weakness
I’ll trade pain for my healing
I’ll trade, let this be my story (forever and ever)
To God be the glory
I’ll trade ashes for beauty
I’ll trade (I’ll trade), joy for my mourning
I’ll trade, to God be the glory
To God be the glory
I’ll trade strength for my weakness
I’ll trade pain for my healing
I’ll trade, let this be my story
To God be the glory
Songwriters: Ran Jackson / Darren Mulligan / Taylor Hill / Andrew Lee Bergthold