The Connection Corner

A Faith that Finds You

Psalm 37:5 – Commit everything you do to the LORD. Trust Him, and He will help you.

Mark was never one for church. He liked his weekends quiet, his plans organized, and his problems solved on his own terms. But when his marriage ended, all that order fell apart. The walls of his apartment started to feel smaller, the silence heavier. He could fix a lot of things, but not this.

One night, he went for a drive just to escape the stillness. He passed a small church with its lights glowing against the dark. Something about it made him stop.

Inside, a man offered him coffee, a woman smiled, and nobody asked him to explain himself. He did not realize it then, but that was the first thing that felt right in a long time.

The next Sunday, someone remembered his name. That simple act did more for him than a thousand sermons could have.

As the weeks went on, he started to listen. One Sunday, the pastor spoke about grace—not as something you earn, but something that finds you when your life has gone sideways. He thought about how hard he had worked to hold it all together, how tired he was of pretending.

After the service, he stayed in his seat. The sanctuary was nearly empty. He whispered a few words under his breath. Nothing rehearsed, nothing grand. Just surrender.

“Okay, Jesus.” He said, “I’m yours.”

He walked out the same doors, but something inside was different. The world did not look fixed, but it felt lighter. And maybe that was the point.

Psalm 37:5 teaches us, “Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him, and He will act.“ So, Maybe faith is not about having all the answers. Maybe it is about discovering the one who never needed you to.

A MOMENT TO REFLECT

Can you think of a time when you reached the end of yourself and had no choice but to surrender? What happened when you finally let go?
Psalm 37:5 calls us to commit our way to the Lord. What might it look like for you to hand Him something you’ve been trying to control?
In Mark’s story, it wasn’t a sermon that moved him—it was kindness and being remembered. How has someone’s simple act of love pointed you back to God?
What area of your life still feels “unfixed”? How might trusting God with it bring peace, even before you see the outcome?
Surrender can sound scary, but what if it’s really freedom? What would trusting God more fully look like for you this week?

November 5, 2025/by Brenda Price

Cheering Each Other On

Daily Devotional, Tammi Arender

1 Thessalonians 5:11 — Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

There is something about Louisiana in the fall that feels like home. The air smells faintly of roasted peanuts and dew, and the sky burns orange just before the lights come on at Malone Stadium.

This was the big kickoff to high school football season, Bayou Jam, and folks from every corner of our region had come out to fill the stands.

I found my seat among the chatter and brass-band energy, letting my eyes wander down to the field. There she was on the sidelines—one of the cheerleaders soaring high into the air. My niece. My reason for being there.

She has been a cheerleader since ninth grade, and now it is her senior year. Watching her there, so full of joy and confidence, I felt a swell of pride. See, I do not have children of my own, but my nieces and nephews might as well be. And she has grown into such a remarkable young woman—steady, kind, and ready for whatever comes next.

It made me think back to my own senior year, that strange in-between season when you stand on the edge of adulthood with a thousand voices telling you who to be. Life pulls at you from every direction. But when I look at her, I see someone who knows her worth, even when the world tries to test it.

Sitting there, I realized something simple but true: we all need people who cheer us on.

Maybe you are not the one out on the field or flipping through the air, but everyone has the chance to stand in the crowd and shout, “You’ve got this!” That kind of encouragement carries people farther than we know — and Scripture reminds us to do exactly that.

1 Thessalonians 5:11 says, “Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.”

Friend, this life is a lot like Bayou Jam—full of noise and nerves and bright lights. But the victories feel sweeter when we know someone else is cheering for us from the stands.

That is what I believe we are all called to do: keep showing up, keep encouraging, keep believing the best. After all, who knows what strength our words might give to someone who just needs to know we are in their corner?

A MOMENT TO REFLECT

Who are the “cheerleaders” in your life — the people who have encouraged you when you needed it most?
Think about someone who might need your encouragement this week. What’s one simple way you could cheer them on?
1 Thessalonians 5:11 reminds us to “encourage one another and build one another up.” What does “building someone up” look like in your daily life?
When was a time someone’s belief in you gave you strength or courage you didn’t know you had?
How might your words today help someone else feel seen, valued, and supported — even in small, quiet ways?

November 4, 2025/by Tammi Arender

One Thought at a Time

Bri Dunn, Daily Devotional

2 Corinthians 10:5 — We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.

The baby was asleep on my chest, his little fingers curled around my shirt. The kind of grip that makes you not want to move, even if your arm goes numb. Sunlight slipped through the curtains and stretched across the floor.

The house was quiet for once. There was no monitor beeping, no laundry cycling. It was just the slow, steady rhythm of breathing between the two of us.

You’d think that kind of peace would settle a person’s mind. But mine didn’t seem to get the memo.

I was in postpartum, and even in the calm, there was noise. Not the kind you can shush with a lullaby—just thoughts that crept in uninvited. Some were small, like wondering if I’d fed him long enough. Others were heavier, the kind that made me question if I was cut out for this at all.

One afternoon, I sat cross-legged on the living room floor surrounded by burp cloths and bottles and baby socks that never seemed to match. I remember feeling like I was drowning in my own head. Then, almost out of nowhere, I remembered something my pastor once said:

“You don’t have to believe every thought that passes through your mind.”

It sounded too simple to help, but it did. I closed my eyes right there, took a deep breath, and whispered a quiet thank-you to God. The longer I sat with that truth, the lighter it felt.

I realized I’d been treating every anxious thought like it was the voice of reason. But not everything I think deserves to be treated like the truth.

So I decided to start paying attention. When a thought came that sounded harsh or afraid, I held it up to what I knew about God and His Word. If it didn’t sound like Him—if it didn’t carry peace or mercy—I’d let it go. If it did, I’d hold onto it. That was my new rule.

That’s when 2 Corinthians 10:5 came to mind — “We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.”

So I decided to start paying attention. When a thought came that sounded harsh or afraid, I held it up to what I knew about God and His Word. If it didn’t sound like Him—if it didn’t carry peace or mercy—I’d let it go. If it did, I’d hold onto it. That was my new rule.

It wasn’t perfect. No, some days I forgot. Some days I didn’t have the strength to test a single thought. But little by little, the noise started to fade.

Now, the house is far from quiet. There are still toys everywhere, cries from the monitor, and always some responsibility to handle. But my mind? It feels steady again. Not because the thoughts stopped coming, but because I finally learned which ones to believe.

And maybe that’s something you need too. Maybe your mind has been chaotic lately, and you don’t know what to do. If so, start small. Trade one anxious word for one good one.

And do it again tomorrow. Because God’s words have a way of clearing the clutter. They always do.

A MOMENT TO REFLECT

What kind of thoughts tend to take up the most space in your mind during stressful seasons?
How does 2 Corinthians 10:5 challenge the way you think about your inner thought life?
When you feel anxious or unworthy, what truth from God’s Word can you use to “take that thought captive”?
Can you remember a time when replacing a fearful thought with God’s truth brought peace to your heart?
What’s one small step you can take today to filter your thoughts through faith instead of fear?

November 3, 2025/by Bri Dunn