The Connection Corner

A daily source of encouragement and inspiration to connect your heart to hope and faith.

Redirection Not Rejection

Psalm 16:7 — I will bless the Lord who guides me; even at night my heart instructs me.

Rejection hurts, doesn’t it?

Yeah, you know, I had been applying for full-time jobs when I moved home to Louisiana. And I was standing in my kitchen one morning and heard my phone ping. When I checked it, I saw these nine words.

“We’re sorry, we’ve decided to move in another direction.”

Oh that stung. It was a job I knew I was qualified for and confident I could do well. But there I was staring at my phone like a door had just slammed in my face.

Rejection makes you question everything. Your timing, your worth. Was I really called to move back home?

But I sat down and breathed. I let myself feel the sting because pretending it doesn’t hurt doesn’t help. Somewhere between that breath and my second sip of coffee, I started to sense God quietly steadying my heart.”

Though man had rejected me, God was redirecting me with love.

Scripture doesn’t promise approval from every hiring committee or affirmation from every inbox. But it does promise guidance. The Lord gives counsel, and even in the quiet of the night, the heart can be instructed and steadied by Him.

I realized something important: the steps that felt like setbacks were still steps. And they’re still ordered by God. He has a hope and a future planned for me, and He knows what He is doing.

So if you’re holding one of those emails today, maybe take a breath before you delete it. Let the hurt be honest, but don’t let it write the ending. Remember that you’re not behind. You’re not forgotten. And you’re not walking alone.

Because closed doors don’t cancel your calling; they sometimes clarify it.

A MOMENT TO REFLECT

Have you experienced a recent rejection that left you questioning your direction or worth?
How do you typically respond when something doesn’t go the way you hoped?
Can you remember a time when a “closed door” actually led to something better?
What might it look like for you to trust that God is guiding you—even when the path doesn’t make sense?
How can you create space to listen for God’s quiet direction in your life this week?

March 24, 2026/by Tammi Arender

Dreams That Don’t Stay Quiet

Daily Devotional, Kirstie Ford

Psalm 37:4 — Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires.

I’ve never been great with crowds.

Let me rephrase—I’ve never been great with all eyes on me. As a kid, that meant sweaty hands, red cheeks, and shaky knees. An open invitation to panic. From dance recitals, cheer tryouts, school plays, even stepping up to bat, each one brought out a paralyzing fear that I couldn’t escape.

Growing up didn’t magically fix that. If anything, I just became more aware of it. The difference was that I might forget what I said or did afterward, but my body still remembered the fear.

But deep down, I wanted to sing.

I wanted to encourage people with words. I wanted to lead. But I also knew I couldn’t do it in my own strength. Opportunities didn’t seem to come knocking anyway, so I placed those desires neatly on a shelf. Of course, like a pesky fly, they kept buzzing back.

But what God plants in your heart doesn’t disappear just because fear tells you to hide it.

Fast forward a few years—as my faith grew, so did my awareness of God’s prompts. I learned that when God nudges me toward something, the thought doesn’t knock once on my heart and then go away. It replays over and over until I listen.

The idea of being a part of our worship team at my church was one of those promptings that wouldn’t go away.

Then one Saturday night, while half-listening to a podcast, I heard the words: “Give back what God has poured into you.”

Convicting? Yes. Comfortable? Not at all.

So naturally, I turned the podcast off and played music instead. If we’re being honest, we’ve all dodged a nudge from God like that. It felt like making a sudden U-turn in the grocery store when seeing someone I know.

But the first song that played was about surrender. And the line that kept repeating? “It’s yours anyway.”

At that point, I looked up and said, “Okay God… if I’m supposed to be on the worship team, You’re going to have to put someone right in front of me to ask me.”

The next day, I was walking out church and the worship leader came to me and said, “A little birdie told me you can sing. Do you want to try out for the worship team?”

That moment felt like God smiling. Moments like these are a gentle reminder that He’s been paying attention the whole time. That heaven is closer than we think.

Somewhere along the way, I stopped focusing on what I was afraid of and started focusing on who God is—His goodness, His presence, His faithfulness. That’s what it means to delight in Him.

For a long time, I thought that meant God would eventually hand me what I wanted. But I’ve learned it’s deeper than that. When we delight ourselves in Him, He reshapes our desires to look like His—and then brings them to life.

The desire He planted in my heart as a little girl didn’t disappear. It was turning into worship. Now, I sing in front of a crowd on Sunday morning. I’ve spoken to rooms full of women and launched a podcast. Fear didn’t vanish, but it lost its authority. Confidence didn’t come from me. It came from the One who’s been inside me all along.

When you surrender what you love to God, He doesn’t take it away—He teaches you how to carry it with Him.

And maybe that thing stirring in your heart—the dream you tucked away because it felt too scary or too big—that’s not random either. Maybe it’s an invitation. Not to be fearless or to be perfect. But to delight in the Lord enough to trust Him with it as He shapes you.

Because in the end, God sized dreams come from Him in the first place.

A MOMENT TO REFLECT

Is there a desire or dream in your heart that you’ve been holding back because of fear?
What does it look like for you personally to “delight in the Lord” in your everyday life?
Have you ever experienced God reshaping your desires over time? What changed?
Where might God be nudging you right now—and how have you responded so far?
What would it look like to trust God with that desire instead of keeping it on the shelf?

March 23, 2026/by Kirstie Ford

When Forgiveness Writes the Ending

Daily Devotional, Heart of the Artist, Stories About Songs

Colossians 3:13 — Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.

The fall happens so fast.

One minute Forrest Frank is skateboarding with his son—laughing, being a dad—and the next he’s on the ground, staring at the sky, realizing something is really wrong.

His L3 and L4 vertebrae are fractured. It’s the kind of injury that stops everything.

Back home, laid up in bed, his body is broken—but his mind won’t slow down. So he does what he’s always done. He sings. There he wrote songs about what he knew to be true. Songs about how “God’s got my back” and about Jesus turning his problems into lemonade.

He shares his journey on Instagram. Within days, Forrest’s back is miraculously healed. Around the same time, he posts another song to encourage David Crowder, who is recovering from a broken leg.

But the internet does what the internet does.

Parody videos start popping up—some playful, some careless. One comes from Cory Asbury. Though meant to be funny, it hits hard. Forrest and his wife remember the fear and pain of that day, and suddenly it feels like one of his worst moments is being reduced to a punchline.

Then Forrest does the bravest thing he knows to do. He posts online honestly. He admits the humor hurts. He knows no harm was meant—but it still hurt.

He doesn’t stop there. Instead of clapping back, he extends the olive branch by writing Cory a song. He posts it and invites Cory to help him finish it.

Cory sees it and takes the parody down immediately. He reaches out to Forrest and apologizes over the phone. He admits he didn’t stop to put himself in Forrest’s shoes, and what happens next is amazing.

What could’ve stayed awkward turns creative. Out of that conversation, the two artist collaborate to finish the song shaped out of forgiveness.

Forrest chose to forgive Cory fully, and there’s something so powerful about that. To admit your grievances and to do the hard work of forgiveness just like Jesus. It isn’t the way of the world. It isn’t trendy. But it is Kingdom. It is what breaks down barriers and turns enemies into friends.

So let’s choose the Jesus-way of forgiveness. Even when it’s hard, bear with one another and forgive as freely as you have been forgiven—letting grace guide your steps. Refusing to let a grievance define the relationship.

Because unforgiveness doesn’t get to tell your story. So refuse to let it write the ending.

A MOMENT TO REFLECT

Is there someone in your life who has hurt you—even unintentionally—that you’re struggling to forgive?
What makes it difficult for you to “make allowance” for others’ faults instead of holding onto the offense?
How does remembering the way God has forgiven you change your perspective on forgiving someone else?
Have you ever seen a relationship restored after honesty and forgiveness? What did that teach you?
What would it look like for you to take one step toward forgiveness this week—whether that’s releasing it in your heart or reaching out?

L Y R I C S for M I S U N D E R S T O O D

One, two, three

Sometimes words
Hit you in the chest
Sting you like a bee
And rob you of your rest
And Heaven knows sometimes
People try to mean well
But trauma from their past
Got ’em stuck inside of Hell

Well, it’s okay if you feel misunderstood
There’s a Man who did as well when they nailed Him to wood
And even through all the pain
Still, He forgave them, mm
So I can forgive somebody too (Mm)

Sometimes words (Sometimes words)
Can cut so deep (Cut so deep)
It’s hard to be kind
When anger’s all you’ve seen
The shadow of home can
Stretch long through the years
It covers up the sunshine
Even when the sky is clear

‘Cause it’s okay if you feel misunderstood
There’s a Man who did as well when they nailed Him to wood
And even through all the pain
Still, He forgave them
So I can forgive somebody too (Yeah)
I can forgive somebody too (Come on)

Well, sometimes two friends are just one call away
Years full of hurt could be gone in a day
We’re all part of one family
So, who am I to cut down the tree?

‘Cause it’s okay if you feel misunderstood
There’s a Man who did as well when they nailed Him to wood
And even through all the pain
Still, He forgave them
So I can forgive somebody too
I can forgive somebody too (Yeah, yeah, yeah)
I can forgive somebody too

‘Cause the good Lord first forgave me and you
Ooh

March 22, 2026/by David Hall