The Connection Corner

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

Healing the Hidden Hurt

Isaiah 61:1 — The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound.

One weekend recently, I got to help my friend Laura at her daughter Hosanna’s wedding. Hosanna is a girl I adore, and she had me doing all those little wedding details I absolutely love.

There were tables to set up, decorations to arrange, and a hundred other little things. Even a dessert table. And I love doing dessert tables!

But as I stood there working, I realized just how good God really is.

Just a few months earlier, when my son got married, I was supposed to help set up that day too. But at the last minute, I wasn’t allowed to.

And if I’m honest, it hurt so much.

I left that wedding reception in a panic, feeling invisible and unneeded. It was heartbreaking to feel like I was just a name on a birth certificate.

But now, months later, I was standing at another wedding, doing every single thing I had dreamed of doing for someone I love.

And Hosanna had no idea what had happened before. I hadn’t told her my story. She simply asked me to help.

And somewhere between the decorations and that dessert table, I remembered something about God:

He comes near to the brokenhearted.

Isaiah 61 is a beautiful picture of the ministry of Jesus. He came to bring good news, to heal what is broken, to bring freedom where people have been bound by pain, sin, shame, and sorrow.

And sometimes, healing doesn’t happen all at once.

Sometimes God meets us months later, in an ordinary moment, and lets us realize, “Look what I’ve done. Look how I’ve cared for you. Look how I’m restoring something you thought was lost.”

I’m telling you this with tears in my eyes, but they aren’t tears of sadness anymore.

They’ve become tears of joy.

Friend, God sees the hurt you never had the words for.

He knows it. He sees it. And He is not distant from it.

God understands deep, deep agony. He knows what suffering feels like because His own Son, Jesus, willingly went to the cross for you and for me.

And maybe today, there’s a place in your heart you’ve never really talked about with anyone.

Maybe you don’t even know how to put it into words.

But you can bring it to Jesus.

Bring Him the hurt. Bring Him the disappointment. Bring Him the people you love. Bring Him the things you don’t understand.

You may not be able to find all the right words to pray.

But let me tell you something:

He already sees it.

And even more than that…

He cares.

A MOMENT TO REFLECT

Is there a hurt in your life that you’ve never really had the words to explain to anyone? What would it look like to bring that hurt honestly to Jesus?
Have you ever experienced a moment when God seemed to bring unexpected healing or restoration to something that had deeply hurt you? What did that moment mean to you?
Is there a disappointment you’re still carrying because you feel unseen, unwanted, or unneeded? How does it change things to remember that God sees you completely?
What would it look like today to bring Jesus not only your pain, but also the people you love?
Where do you need to remember today: “He already sees it, and He cares”?

September 18, 2026/by Denise Pagano

Stop Second Guessing

Bri Dunn, Daily Devotional

2 Corinthians 5:7 — For we walk by faith, not by sight.

That’s not just a nice suggestion. That’s how Scripture describes the life of faith. But if I’m being honest, I think a lot of us treat it like one.

Let me prove it to you.

Think about your laundry detergent. Seriously. Go look at the cap. How much are you supposed to put in there? There are little lines inside the cap that tell you how much to use. Somebody who, presumably, knows what they’re talking about measured it out for you.

And yet…

How much do you actually put in?

Because what you should use is way less than you think it should be. Many times, it’s not even half a cap, and I look at that little line and think, “That can’t possibly be enough.”

So, I pour a little more… and then a little more. And eventually, I just pour until my heart says, “Okay, that looks about right.”

Which is funny, because they already told me!

But somehow, standing there with a pile of dirty clothes, I became the detergent expert.

And that’s where this gets a little uncomfortable, because I think we do the same thing with God.

He tells us something, and we immediately start looking at our circumstances and focusing on our feelings.

We look at the size of the problem. We look at the size of the mess. We look at everything that could go wrong, and then we look back at what God has said and think, “Okay, but… surely You meant a little more than that. I need a little more certainty and a lot more explanation.”

But faith means trusting God and learning to move forward with Him even when we cannot see the whole picture yet.

That doesn’t mean our problems are small. It means God is trustworthy even when what He has given us feels small compared to what we are facing.

So today, when you find yourself asking God for just a little bit more information, more certainty, or more explanation… pause.

Ask yourself whether you really need more information from Him, or whether you simply need to trust what He has already said.

Faith may not always let us see where the road is going, but it teaches us to keep walking with the One who does.

Maybe what He has given you really is enough.

A MOMENT TO REFLECT

Where in your life are you asking God for more certainty, more explanation, or more information right now?
What circumstances are making it difficult for you to trust what God has already said?
Have you ever seen God prove Himself trustworthy in a situation where you couldn’t see how things would work out?
What would it look like for you to “walk by faith” in the situation you’re facing today?
Is there something God has already given you—His Word, His promises, His presence—that you need to trust is enough for today?

September 17, 2026/by Bri Dunn

The Hot Water Test

Daily Devotional, Tammi Arender

James 1:2-3 — Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.

You’ve probably heard the saying that a woman is like a teabag—you never know her strength until you drop her in hot water.

Yeah, I feel like I have been dropped inside of a pot of boiling water lately, and honestly, I don’t really like the hot water. None of us do.

None of us ask for it. We don’t wake up hoping for illness or heartbreak or disappointment. We don’t put financial struggles on our calendars or pray for uncertainty.

But sometimes the hot water comes anyway.

When it does, it can feel like everything is being tested all at once. The things we thought we could handle suddenly feel heavier. The questions get louder. The answers seem farther away. And sometimes we find ourselves wondering how much more we can take.

But maybe there is something happening in those moments that we can’t see yet.

James tells us to consider it joy when we face trials because the testing of our faith produces perseverance.

That can be a hard thing to hear when you are actually in the middle of the trial. It’s one thing to read about perseverance when life is going well. It’s another thing entirely when you are the one sitting in the hot water.

But James isn’t saying the trial itself is good. He’s showing us that God can use what is hard to produce something good in us.

The pressure can reveal things in us that God is using to grow our faith, and maybe that’s why the hot water matters. The strength we thought we didn’t have can show up. The faith we thought was small can hold on. The trust we thought was fragile can somehow make it through another day.

And maybe you are in that hot water right now. Maybe you didn’t ask for it, and you certainly wouldn’t have chosen it.

But you are not there alone.

God is still working in you, even when you can’t see what He is producing, and the faith He is building in you may be stronger than you realize.

Sometimes you don’t discover your strength until you are tested.

And sometimes you don’t discover how faithful God has been to strengthen you until you find yourself in the heat.

A MOMENT TO REFLECT

What “hot water” are you walking through right now, and how is it affecting your faith?
When life gets difficult, is your first response to ask “Why me?” or to ask “God, what are You doing in me?”
Can you think of a difficult season when God strengthened your faith or helped you endure more than you thought you could?
What might God be growing in you through the trial you’re facing right now?
What would it look like today to trust that God is still working, even if you can’t yet see what He is producing?