The Connection Corner

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

From Compassion to Checkmate

1 John 4:11 — Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other.

It started with a chessboard and an almost-missed moment.

I have a really good friend named Martina—she lives in Shreveport—and one day she went out to coffee at her favorite spot. There was a guy there who was sitting outside playing chess by himself, and he looked up and said, “Hey, do you want to play?”

She thought, “Not really.”

But then something inside her nudged her heart, and she said, “You know what? Yes!”

She sat down, and they moved the pieces back and forth. Little by little, he started opening up. You could hear the disappointment in his voice. As they played, he started opening up. He told her he’d drifted away from Jesus after his great-grandmother passed away. Somewhere in his grief, he’d stopped believing altogether.

And listen, grief is grief. It doesn’t matter how old someone is or how long you’ve had them. Loss hurts. But what struck Martina was that this woman had lived to be 112 years old. What had been an extraordinary gift somehow felt, in his pain, like something had been taken from him.

But Martina didn’t argue. She didn’t preach. She just stayed and listened. She played another round, and by the time they said check mate, she already made the decision to come back.

Every week, she would make it her mission to play another round of chess with him. She knew his grief tried to rewrite the story about who God is, but she became determined to introduce him to God’s real love that tells a different story.

And not just her. She began pulling in a few friends and sending them to go and play chess too. To be community for this man.

And when Martina told me that story, I thought, “This is what love looks like.”

Love doesn’t always show up with the right words, but it always shows up.

Love shows up because we’ve already been loved first. As Christians, we’ve experienced the greatest love of all through Jesus.

So maybe it looks smaller than you expected. Maybe it’s coffee. Maybe it’s a park bench. Maybe it’s you and a couple friends deciding to keep showing up for someone who’s silently drifting.

And somewhere between the first move and the next, a person who thought God had abandoned him might begin to see that God was pursuing him all along.

All because someone pulled up a chair.

A MOMENT TO REFLECT

Who in your life may need someone to simply show up and listen?
When has someone else’s kindness helped you see God’s love more clearly?
Are you waiting for the perfect words when God may simply be asking you to be present?
What “chessboard” opportunity might God be putting in front of you right now?
How can you intentionally reflect the love you’ve received from Christ this week?

June 11, 2026/by Bri Dunn

Detours Don’t Disqualify You

Daily Devotional, Denise Pagano

Proverbs 2:8 — He guards the paths of the just and protects those who are faithful to Him.

Okay, tell the truth. Tell me you don’t double and triple check your boarding passes.

So, my husband and I recently flew to Chicago for my now-daughter-in-law’s bridal shower. We weren’t going overseas. We weren’t crossing oceans. We were just going to Chicago. Yeah, Chicago. Not somewhere international. But I was not about to accidentally start a new life overseas, so I checked that grate screen like it was a final exam.

You might think I’m crazy for that, but did you hear about that passenger who thought they were flying from Los Angeles to Nicaragua with a layover in Houston?

Somehow, they ended up on a flight to Tokyo!

Uh, Tokyo? Yeah, they realized midair that Houston should not take 14 hours.

Well, the plane lands at Haneda Airport, and they spent two nights there waiting for the airline to sort it out.

I mean, that’s not exactly a layover in my opinion… That’s a plot twist.

And some people online were like, “Oh, well, I wouldn’t mind if I ended up in Japan.”

No, way.

Listen, I love an adventure, but I also like knowing exactly where I’m going.

It also made me think about how many times in life we assume we’re heading in one direction and then suddenly we’re somewhere we didn’t plan? And you’re sitting there thinking, Lord, this was not the gate I thought I was boarding.

Here’s what I’m learning: just because the destination changes doesn’t mean the direction is lost.

Proverbs says God guards the paths of those who are faithful to Him. Notice it doesn’t say every path will look the way we expected. It says He guards it. Sometimes the route changes. Sometimes the timeline changes. Sometimes life takes a turn we never would have chosen. But God’s protection and presence never leave the journey.

Because even there, even in the middle of a reroute you didn’t choose, God is right there guarding your steps with his steady hands. He is keeping watch over your path with the loving care of a Father.

See, God isn’t reacting to your detour; He’s already present in it.

So maybe today, if life feels a little like Tokyo when you expected Houston… you’re not off course the way it feels. You’re still being led. Still being guarded. Still being carried by a God who knows exactly where this journey ends—even when you don’t.

And maybe that’s enough to rest in, even before the plane lands.

A MOMENT TO REFLECT

Have you ever experienced a season where life took an unexpected turn?
How did God show His faithfulness in the middle of that detour?
What part of your current journey feels different from what you planned?
How does knowing that God guards your path change the way you view uncertainty?
What would it look like to trust God’s guidance even when you can’t see the destination clearly?

June 10, 2026/by Denise Pagano

When Faith Finds Words

Daily Devotional, Kirstie Ford

Isaiah 55:11 — So is my word that goes out from my mouth: it will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

Have you ever been at a loss for words?
A rhetorical question, right?

Three weeks before I was scheduled to share my testimony at a women’s retreat, I found myself at my kitchen table—pen in hand—staring at a blank sheet of paper. The weight of emotion filled my mind, and insecurity slowly crept in. I didn’t doubt God’s faithfulness, but I wanted to honor Him well.

I kept thinking, “There are over one hundred women counting on me, yet I can’t seem to write one word about a lifetime of memories?”

After what felt like an hour, I walked into my bedroom and picked up a notebook I had received at that same retreat two years earlier. I hadn’t written in it then either. I remember thinking, why would I keep a blank notebook in my drawer for two years?

Frustrated, I flipped to the last page.

There, written in my own handwriting, were six simple words:

“He will give me the words.”

I smiled. Somehow, I had saved that nearly empty notebook and preserved a reminder I didn’t know I would need—a reminder that God is faithful to give us what we need most.

When I sat down to write again, the words started to flow—not from pressure, but from trust in who God is and what He has already said. It was as if the One who is the Word Himself faithfully supplied exactly what I needed to tell the story of all Jesus had done for me.

And when He did, I could not stop writing until it was finished. You see, when God speaks, it doesn’t return empty. It accomplishes what He sends it to do. That day, His Word met me in my insecurity, quieted my fear, and filled a blank page.

I never want to grow callused either to the Word of God or to the reminders the Holy Spirit gives us about God’s word…and my hope for you is the same.

Maybe there is something in your life that feels unfinished or empty right now—something you don’t quite have the words for yet.

Lean on the living Word of God.

The same God who filled a blank notebook page is still speaking today. His Word still accomplishes what He sends it to do, and it is waiting to meet you right where you are.

A MOMENT TO REFLECT

Have you ever faced a situation where you felt inadequate or unsure of what to say or do?
What reminders has God placed in your life that have strengthened your faith at just the right moment?
How have you experienced God’s Word meeting you in a time of fear, uncertainty, or insecurity?
Is there an area of your life that feels unfinished or “blank” right now?
What would it look like to trust God to provide exactly what you need for the next step?

June 9, 2026/by Kirstie Ford