The Connection Corner

Love that Lifts Us Up Again

Proverbs 24:16 – “For the righteous falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked stumble in times of calamity.”

Hadassah sat at the top of the hill, gripping her handlebars with all the confidence in the world. Her legs bounced with excitement, her feet barely staying on the pedals. I crouched beside her.

“You ready?” I asked, resting a steadying hand on her back.

She nodded eagerly. “I’m ready, Daddy!”

“Okay,” I said. “Just remember—”

But before I could finish, she launched forward, her laughter trailing behind like a banner. For a few glorious seconds, she was weightless. Fearless.

And then I saw it—the hesitation in her shoulders, the slight panic in her grip.

She did not know how to stop.

“Hadassah!” My voice cut through the air. “Squeeze the brakes!”

She didn’t. Instead, her feet shot out, dragging against the road.

“Not your shoes!” I winced. “Those are brand new!”

Her bike wobbled and swerved, and then she crashed. I was running before she hit the ground. By the time I reached her, she was crumpled in a heap. Her scraped knees were pulled up to her chest, and hot tears spilled down her cheeks.

I knelt, scooping her into my arms. “Oh, sweetheart. I’ve got you. You’re okay.”

Her sobs hiccupped as she clung to me. I held her close, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.

“That was scary, huh?”

She gave the tiniest nod. I squeezed her a little tighter. “I know. But you were so brave.”

She sniffled. “I didn’t know how to stop.”

I smiled, smoothing a hand over her back. “That’s okay. You’ll get it. You’re still learning, and that’s what matters.”

And isn’t that how life goes? We take off, thinking we have got everything figured out. We stumble. We fall. We scrape ourselves up in ways we never saw coming.

But, every single time, our Heavenly Father comes running.

Not with anger. But with arms open wide. His grace meets us in the dirt, not with disappointment, but with love.

Hadassah would ride again, and next time, she’d remember how to stop. And when life throws you and me off balance and we stumble, I believe we will too because…

“You’re still learning, and that’s what matters.”

April 28, 2025/by Andy Youso

How Grace Changes Everything

Daily Devotional, Lauren Kitchens-Steward

Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

John Newton couldn’t outrun the weight of his past. At just eleven, he left school and stepped into a world of cruelty, selling human lives into slavery—decisions that would one day haunt him like a ghost he could not shake.

But one night, everything changed. A storm of unimaginable fury descended upon his ship. As monstrous waves threatened to sink the vessel, fear gripped his heart.

Desperate, he reached for a book—a Christian one filled with words about mercy, conviction, and a God who could redeem even the worst of men. As he read by flickering lantern light, something broke loose inside of him. If grace was real, maybe, just maybe, it could reach even him.

He survived the storm, but the man who stepped onto dry land was not the same one who had set sail.

Years later, as a pastor, Newton longed to help others grasp the mercy that had changed him. He saw that people needed more than rehearsed prayers and ancient psalms. They needed songs they could feel in their bones—songs that told the truth about being lost and found.

So, he began writing.

“Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost, but now am found;
Was blind, but now I see.”

Maybe you have believed the lie that your past defines you. That you have gone too far, done too much, or strayed too deeply into the mess of life to ever be redeemed. But if John Newton’s story tells us anything, it is that grace is real. It reaches into the darkest places. It finds the lost. And it is still as amazing today as it was then.

Lyrics:
Amazing grace
How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost, but now I’m found
Was blind, but now I see

‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear
And grace my fears relieved
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed

My chains are gone
I’ve been set free
My God, my Savior has ransomed me
And like a flood His mercy reigns
Unending love, amazing grace

The Lord has promised good to me
His word my hope secures
He will my shield and portion be
As long as life endures

[2x]
My chains are gone
I’ve been set free
My God, my Savior has ransomed me
And like a flood His mercy reigns
Unending love, amazing grace

The earth shall soon dissolve like snow
The sun forbear to shine
But God, Who called me here below,
Will be forever mine.
Will be forever mine.
You are forever mine.

Music video by Chris Tomlin performing Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone).

April 27, 2025/by Lauren Kitchens-Steward

When God Says Go

Daily Devotional, Lisa Williams

Jeremiah 29:11 – “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

I have always admired people who have a plan—the ones with career goals, retirement savings, a five-step strategy for their life. But that was not me at 21. I was just a girl praying like my life depended on it and asking God what on earth I was supposed to do.

And then, out of nowhere, I heard one word in my heart: Radio.

It made no sense why God would say this. I had no background, no connections, and no idea where to even begin. But not long after, I was listening to a Christian station, and I heard them mention a position in Camdenton, Missouri.

Something about it felt important. So, I grabbed my trusty 1990s atlas, traced the highways with my finger, and found it. It was less than a day’s trip away. That was doable.

Monday morning came, and I hit the road to apply for the job.

Tuesday, they called me back for an interview.

Wednesday, they offered me the job.

And on Thursday? I was live on the air.

I still remember the feeling of sitting in that studio, headphones on, heart pounding as I opened the mic for the first time. My voice—broadcasting out to people I had never met. It was thrilling, terrifying, and absolutely right.

For five years, I showed up, spoke, and trusted that somehow, God was using it. Then, like all things, that season came to a close as God opened other doors in radio.

But even now, after all these years, I look back and think—what if I hadn’t gone to Camdenton, Missouri? What if I had let fear keep me from the road that led me there? But I did go. I showed up, scared but willing. And because of that, I got to step into something I never could have planned for myself.

Maybe that is where you are right now—standing at the edge of something big, uncertain, and maybe even a little terrifying. Maybe you don’t feel ready, or maybe the road ahead looks impossibly unclear. But the truth is, God doesn’t call us to have all the answers—He just calls us to take the next step.

And when you do? You just might find yourself in the middle of a story only He could write.

April 26, 2025/by Lisa Williams