The Connection Corner

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

Better Than Yesterday

Colossians 2:6-7 – And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him. Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.

The locker room smells like sweat and disappointment.

A few boys stare at the floor, as if it might explain what just happened. The scoreboard still glowing in their minds, even though they’ve walked away from it. This is that painful place after a loss where nobody’s sure yet what this game says about them.

Their coach stands in front of them. They brace for correction. Maybe frustration. A breakdown of everything that went wrong. Instead, he pauses and reframes the moment.

He doesn’t deny the loss. He doesn’t soften it either. They didn’t play well. Mistakes were made. But he refuses to let the loss be the final word.

“You didn’t win today, but you didn’t walk away emptyhanded.” He says, “You’re better today than you were yesterday.”

Not because they won. They didn’t. Not because it feels good—it doesn’t. But because today gave them something yesterday couldn’t. Experience. Exposure. Clarity. They saw how another team exploited their weaknesses and their lack of miscommunication. They saw what pressure does to their focus.

Later—after the noise fades and the bus ride home goes quiet—that same truth shows up again. This time in an email from their coach. Near the bottom, it reads, “You are better today than you were yesterday.”

Even on a bad day. Especially on a bad day.

Because this is a Christian school, he goes one layer deeper. He reminds them that how they process the loss matters. God is shaping their hearts in real time—using disappointment and perseverance as tools. They now have more to work with than they did yesterday.

More roots. More depth. More formation.

That’s the hope of the Gospel—that it meets people who are unfinished and failing and still becoming. Before Jesus, failure only meant shame or finality. But now, even our missteps can be redeemed and repurposed.

“Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving” (Colossians 2:6–7).

Real life faith feels a lot like that locker room. We are all learning to move forward. No one graduates from growth. Layer by layer, root by root, God is working on us and helping us to become more like Him.

So today doesn’t have to feel like a win to be a step forward. Stay planted. Keep walking. Take the next faithful step of obedience that you can see.

Because growth counts—even when the scoreboard says otherwise.

A MOMENT TO REFLECT

Where in my life does the scoreboard feel discouraging right now?
Have I been measuring growth only by visible wins?
What might God be forming in me through disappointment?
Am I rooted in Christ — or in outcomes?
How do I typically respond to failure: with shame, frustration, or growth?
Where is God inviting me to stay planted instead of walking away?
What would it look like to choose gratitude, even in a season that doesn’t feel like a victory?

February 17, 2026/by Jeff Connell

Persuasively Persistent

Daily Devotional, Kirstie Ford

Matthew 7:7 — Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.

As a mom of two young children, I would be rich if I got a dollar every time I heard the phrase, “Mom, can I have ______?” Even after saying the dreadful, life-altering, meltdown provoking word, “NO,” my children relentlessly approach me- asking the same question. They simply won’t take no for an answer.

While they’re learning to respect boundaries, I’ll admit that sometimes I give in—not because thea answer changed, but because they didn’t give up. Watching them has taught me something about faith. They ask boldly and don’t assume “no” means never.

God used my children to gently remind me of his fatherly character, and I began reflecting on the way I have approached God. More times than I’d like to admit-I asked once, hear no—or silence—and quietly retreat. Maybe you can relate?

Jesus’ words in Matthew 7:7 began to challenge that pattern: “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”

That’s not a one-time request. It’s not a hesitant whisper. No, it’s a continual posture of asking, seeking, and knocking. It is trusting the heart of the God who wants to answer us.

There is no coincidence that Luke chapter 18 consecutively tells of the parable of the persistent widow and the story of the little children coming to Jesus. God encourages us to always pray and not give up; the same way the widow approached the judge with her plea.

She persisted instead of retreating, until she got justice. Our Heavenly father tells us to approach him the same way the little children approached Jesus; with childlike faith instead of hindrance.

The next time you pray, I challenge you to approach God more like little children approach their parents and the widow approached the judge. Bold. Persistent. Willing to ask again. And to approach our Heavenly father with the childlike faith the little children approached Jesus with; confident that even when the answer isn’t what we hoped for, He is still listening—and still good.

A MOMENT TO REFLECT

Where have I stopped asking God because I didn’t like the first answer — or the silence?
Is there a prayer I quietly gave up on that I need to bring back to Him?
Do I approach God with hesitation… or with childlike trust?
Have I mistaken “wait” for “no”?
What would it look like for me to keep knocking instead of walking away?
Do I truly believe my Heavenly Father is good — even when His answer isn’t what I hoped for?
Where is God inviting me to be bold and persistent in prayer right now?

February 16, 2026/by Kirstie Ford

The Shepherd and the Black Sheep

Daily Devotional, Stories About Songs

Matthew 18:12 — If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them wanders away, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others on the hills and go out to search for the one that is lost?

Ben Fuller is standing in a church aisle in Nashville. From the outside, he looks fine. But inside, he’s still that little kid from Virginia waiting to hear his father say, I’m proud of you.

He always claimed he didn’t need help. But that wasn’t true. He was just learning how to numb the pain.

A knee injury opened the door to pain pills. Pills became escape. Escape turned into addiction.

Ben learned to hide it well—just enough work, charm, and money to keep things afloat. He convinced himself—and everyone else—that he was fine.

But eventually, “fine” fell apart.

Bills slipped. Relationships crumbled. Rehab didn’t stick. Not even losing his best friend to fentanyl stopped the spiral. By the time he moved to Nashville in 2018 to chase music, the deeper battle wasn’t just addiction.

It was the belief that he was too far gone.

Then God showed up.

At a dinner table.

A family from Vermont, already living in Nashville, invited Ben over. No agenda. Just food and kindness. They invited him to church, and he said yes—mostly out of courtesy. Raised on a dairy farm, he figured when someone does something kind, you return it.

That’s how he ended up in that church aisle.

By Easter Sunday, he was exhausted. Tired of drinking. Tired of broken relationships. Tired of pretending he could fix himself.

At the altar, he stopped running.

“I can’t do this anymore.”

What met him there wasn’t condemnation.

It was relief.

Jesus once told a story:

“If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them wanders away… won’t he leave the ninety-nine… and go out to search for the one that is lost?” — Matthew 18:12

Ben realized something life-changing that day: he had never been invisible. His wandering had been noticed. The Shepherd hadn’t given up on him. God didn’t wait for him to clean himself up or find his way back.

God came after him.

His song “Black Sheep” was born from that rescue—a reminder for anyone who feels out of place or beyond saving. Now, five years sober, Ben sings it in prisons and broken places as living proof that there is no saint without a past and no sinner without a future.

Because God doesn’t run away from runaways.

The Shepherd still searches. Still calls names. Still leaves the ninety-nine for the one.

And maybe today, that one is you.

A MOMENT TO REFLECT

Have you ever believed you were too far gone for God to reach? What fueled that belief?
How does Matthew 18:12 change the way you see God’s pursuit of you?
Who in your life might feel like the “one” right now—and how can you reflect the Shepherd’s heart toward them?
What would it look like for you to stop running and receive God’s grace today?

Lyrics:

Oooooh
Oooooh
Oooooh

You broke through a thousand fences
Been rescued from a thousand ditches
You still swear you don’t fit in
So you kick and scream and you’re gone again
Wandering off into the devil’s wind

But how’s it going out there
Acting like you ain’t scared
How’s that heart of stone
Ain’t so hard when you’re alone
Crying tears you hope nobody sees
Guess the Good News is He’ll never leave you be
Jesus loves you black sheep

You hate everything about you
You think we’re better off without you
You wear your pain out on your sleeve
And you paint it on in rebel ink
But the alcohol and pills ain’t fixed a thing

How’s it going out there
Acting like you ain’t scared
How’s that heart of stone
It ain’t so hard when you’re alone
Crying tears you hope nobody sees
Guess the Good News is He’ll never leave you be
Jesus loves you black sheep

Oooooh
Oooooh
Oooooh

Jesus loves you black sheep

Oooooh
Oooooh
Oooooh

Can’t tell you when, I ain’t no prophet
But there’ll come a point in time when you can’t stop it
The Good Shepherd’s love smells like smoke
There ain’t no hell so low
Where He won’t let the hounds of Heaven go
Sic ‘em, let the hounds of Heaven go

So how’s it going out there
Acting like you ain’t scared
How’s that heart of stone
Ain’t so hard when you’re alone
Crying tears you hope nobody sees
Guess the Good News is He’ll never leave you be

And amazing grace is a pesky pesky thing
But the Good News is He’ll never leave you be
Jesus loves you black sheep

Oooooh
Oooooh
Oooooh

Jesus loves you black sheep

Oooooh
Oooooh
Oooooh

Oooooh
Oooooh
Oooooh
Oooooh

Writers: Ben Fuller, Tony Wood, and Michael Farren

February 15, 2026/by David Hall