The Connection Corner

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

Growth is Pressing Through

James 1:4 — So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.

Sometimes growth hurts in ways you’d never expect.

I’m sitting in the pediatric office with Lennox, trying to look calm while he squirms in my arms. He’s here for a follow-up on a little ear infection. The nurse checks him. The doctor does too, and everything seems fine. No fluid. No infection. Still, he keeps tugging at his ears like they’re bothering him.

I frown. “Well, if there’s nothing wrong with his ears, what is going on?”

The doctor smiles and keeps investigating. She shines her little magical flashlight in his mouth, tilts her head, and says, “Oh… yep. His top teeth are super swollen. They are about to break through.”

I try to picture what that even looks like. Teeth? Ear pain? How is that connected?

She laughs at my expression. “A lot of times, that will cause pain in the ears,” she explains.

I nod slowly, the dots connecting. It’s in his mouth, but it’s pulling at his ears. Growth in one part of his body is actually having a ripple effect outward to other parts of his body.

I sit back and think, quietly, “Okay, Lord. I see it now.”

Sometimes that’s how spiritual growth feels like too. For example, if God starts to grow us in patience, He might challenge us to swallow our pride and love difficult people. But take heart. James 1:4 says, “So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.”

Just like Lennox’s teeth, the Lord is working in places we might not expect. Patience grows, but it can tug at our thoughts, our moods, and our reactions. Love stretches us, but sometimes that stretching feels tight in our hearts or minds. The discomfort isn’t random. The tugging isn’t accidental. It’s proof that change is happening, slow and steady, shaping us into completeness we can’t yet see.

I watch Lennox chew on his finger, ears still a little red, and I realize—in life we have to trust the process, even when we don’t understand the discomfort. The tugging doesn’t mean we’re broken. It means something is pushing through, and once it’s fully in place, the rest will make sense.

So maybe the question isn’t why it hurts. Maybe it’s whether we notice the places we’re growing, the small ripples of change that touch everything else in our lives. And if we do? Then maybe we can smile, just a little, knowing that the tugging, the stretching, and the small irritations are all part of becoming more complete, whole, and like Him.

A MOMENT TO REFLECT

Where in your life do you feel discomfort that might actually be connected to growth God is doing beneath the surface?
Have you ever noticed how growth in one area of your life affects other parts—your thoughts, emotions, or relationships?
What does it look like for you to “let it grow,” even when the process feels inconvenient or uncomfortable?
How does James 1:4 encourage you to trust God’s work in you, even when you don’t yet see the full result?

January 8, 2026/by Bri Dunn

Broken But Bright

Brenda Price, Daily Devotional

Romans 8:18 — For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

You know, sometimes we have got to get broken in order to grow.

I have got this great story. Oh, I love it, and It goes like this.

“The other night, I was in the dollar store, and there was a mom there with her kids. One was a big kid, and the other one was a toddler. The bigger one had a pack of glow sticks, and the toddler was screaming for them.

So the mom opened the pack and gave him one, which stopped his tears. He walked around with it, smiling, but then the bigger boy took it. The toddler started screaming again. Just as the mom was about to bust, the older child bent the glow stick and handed it back to the toddler.

As we walked outside at the same time, the toddler noticed that the stick was now glowing, and his brother said, ‘I had to break it so that you could get the full effect of it.’

Wow.

When I saw that happening, I could hear God say to me, I had to break you to show you why I created you. You had to go through it so you could fulfill your purpose.”

That precious child was happy just swinging that unbroken glow stick around in the air because he didn’t understand what it was created to do, which was glow.

There are some people who will be content just being unbroken, but some of us know that God has chosen us. We have to be broken. We have to get sick, we have to lose that job. We have to bury our spouse, our parents, or our best friends.

In those moments of desperation, God is breaking us, but when the breaking is done, then we will be able to see the reason for which we were created.

Just like it says in Romans 8:18, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”

What if the places that broke you were never meant to end your story? What if they were preparing you to shine in ways you could not imagine until now?

A MOMENT TO REFLECT

Can you think of a season in your life that felt like breaking—but later revealed growth, purpose, or deeper faith?
Where might God be inviting you to trust Him in the middle of suffering you don’t yet understand?
Are there places in your story you still see only as pain, rather than places God may be preparing to bring glory?
How does Romans 8:18 change the way you view hardship—not as the end of the story, but as part of a bigger one God is still writing?

January 7, 2026/by Brenda Price

Changing in the Checkout Line

Daily Devotional, Tammi Arender

Colossians 1:11 — We also pray that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need. May you be filled with joy.

I only needed a few groceries—which is Southern for this should’ve taken ten minutes, tops.

It was one of those days where my to-do list had a to-do list. I was already behind, but I though I would just run in the store really quick. No browsing. No wandering. Just get the milk, get the bread, and get gone.

I picked the shortest check out line. Naturally. But that’s when the woman in front of me opened her purse.

Now listen—folks don’t really use coupons like they used to. But this woman? She had a stack thick enough to fan herself with. One coupon. Beep. Didn’t work. Another. Beep. Still didn’t work. The cashier tried again, then leaned over and typed like she was cracking a safe.

I could feel it in my body. My jaw got tight. My foot started tapping. I start doing that slow inhale, exhale thing because I had to remind myself I am a grown woman, saved, and I am not about to lose my Jesus over a box of cereal.

And right there—in the check out line of all places—I remembered a verse I’d read once.

Colossians 1:11, “Being strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy.”

That’s what I needed more than anything. I needed to choose endurance, to choose patience, and to choose joy. And you know, not through gritted teeth or by faking positivity.

Now, the coupons still wouldn’t scan, and the cashier still had to call for help. But as I sat with that verse, I loosened my grip on the cart. I gave up my frazzled stress, and I chose a better attitude.

When I walked out to my car, groceries tucked under my arm, I realized something: endurance isn’t about how fast we get through stuff. It’s more about what comes out of us while we’re being tested. And patience—real patience—has a way of pointing people back to the heart of God because of the way we treat them.

Most days, we’re not tested in the big moments. We’re tested in checkout lines and traffic and interruptions we didn’t plan. And Colossians 1:11 reminds us we’re not white-knuckling our way through it alone. There’s strength available. There enough endurance, patience, and joy to spare.

So maybe today, when things get a little frustrating, you’ll let that verse find its way back to mind. And maybe—right there in the middle of it—you discover that strength looks a lot like choosing grace when nobody would blame you for choosing frustration.

A MOMENT TO REFLECT

Where in your life right now are you being asked to practice endurance and patience instead of speed and control?
What does it look like for you to rely on God’s strength—not just to get through frustration, but to respond with joy in it?
How might choosing grace in small, unnoticed moments point someone else to the heart of God today?

January 6, 2026/by Tammi Arender