The Connection Corner
A daily source of encouragement and inspiration to connect your heart to hope and faith.
Daily Devotional
Lifted Up With LoveJune 12, 2026 - 7:00 am- From Compassion to CheckmateJune 11, 2026 - 7:00 am
- Detours Don’t Disqualify YouJune 10, 2026 - 7:00 am
- When Faith Finds WordsJune 9, 2026 - 7:00 am
- Living Life with No ReservationsJune 8, 2026 - 7:00 am
- Leaving No SurvivorsJune 7, 2026 - 7:00 am
- Ready Before the RescueJune 6, 2026 - 8:45 am
- Battling, But Not BeatenJune 5, 2026 - 7:00 am
- Proof that’s Still StandingJune 4, 2026 - 7:00 am
- Faith After the FalloutJune 3, 2026 - 7:00 am
Heart of the Artist
- Leaving No SurvivorsJune 7, 2026 - 7:00 am
- When Joy Fills RoomsMay 31, 2026 - 7:00 am
- Paddleboards and PraiseMay 24, 2026 - 7:00 am
- When Silence Finds a SongMay 17, 2026 - 7:00 am
- The Blood-Bought Glow UpApril 26, 2026 - 7:00 am
Stories About Songs
- Leaving No SurvivorsJune 7, 2026 - 7:00 am
- When Joy Fills RoomsMay 31, 2026 - 7:00 am
- Paddleboards and PraiseMay 24, 2026 - 7:00 am
- When Silence Finds a SongMay 17, 2026 - 7:00 am
- The Blood-Bought Glow UpApril 26, 2026 - 7:00 am
Let Him Do the Work
Bri Dunn, Daily DevotionalWeekends in our house are usually reserved for three things: resting, catching up with friends, and cleaning. I’ll be honest—cleaning isn’t my favorite part. But there’s nothing better than that feeling when the house smells fresh and everything’s in its place.
My stepdaughter actually loves to clean. Her favorite thing is mopping. She’ll boil water, pick out the best-smelling detergent she can find, and go to town on those floors. Sometimes I’ll walk in and the whole house smells amazing—like lemons and lavender had a baby. But when I ask her if she swept first, she’ll grin and say, “Oh… I forgot. I just wanted it to smell good.”
And I get that. I love a good-smelling house too. But if you don’t sweep first, all you’re really doing is spreading that nice smell over a layer of dirt.
The more I thought about it, the more it hit me—that’s how a lot of us live our lives. We want to jump straight to the part that looks and smells good. We want people to see our “fresh” side, the part that feels put together. But underneath it all, there might still be dust and crumbs we’ve ignored.
It’s not the fun part, but the real work—the sweeping, the scrubbing, the part no one sees—has to happen first. That’s the part Jesus helps with.
That’s why I love the prayer found in the book of Psalm that says, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.”
We can bring our mess to God. He’s patient with us, right there in the middle of it. He knows about the disappointment that sticks, the guilt that clings, the places we keep trying to cover up.
And here’s the best part: He doesn’t mind rolling up His sleeves. He meets us in it. He helps clean out what we didn’t even know was there.
So this weekend, while we’re boiling water and mopping floors, maybe let Him in to do the same in your heart. Once He does that foundational work, everything else changes. You start to shine—not because you’re pretending to be perfect, but because He’s been there, cleaning you from the inside out.
A MOMENT TO REFLECT
Life Is Better Together
Daily Devotional, David HallWhen I was twenty-two, I packed up my life and moved to Alabama for Bible school. I pictured calm mornings reading my Bible, a bit of solitude, and space to figure out my life.
Instead, I got fifteen roommates.
You see, one of the dorms across campus was still under construction so they packed all of us under one roof. I don’t know if you can picture that many men in a six bedroom house, but it was wild.
The walls were thin so there was always noise— laughter, footsteps, someone playing music way too loud. There was no real privacy, no way to escape the chaos, and I just had to keep reminding myself this was temporary.
At first, I was frustrated. I couldn’t retreat into myself like I was accustomed to. But little by little, that crowded house started to change me.
Our resident advisor, Dougie, led weekly Bible studies that became the heartbeat of our little house. We prayed together, wrestled with truth, joked through exhaustion, and reminded each other to keep showing up.
In between the noise and the shared meals and the endless laundry, something steady was forming — a kind of community I had never known before.
I could not isolate myself when I wanted to, but I actually found that was a good thing. Other people were always there for me — just like Scripture teaches, ‘Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil.’” Instead of retreating, God had put people in my life I could talk to when I felt insecure, aggravated, or ashamed. And it made all the difference.
Two months later, when most of the guys moved out, I felt something I did not expect — grief. I had come to love that loud, messy, inconvenient community. It had shaped me. It sharpened me. And it taught me that life is not meant to be navigated alone.
It also reminds me of how the first followers of Jesus lived — the way they shared everything, broke bread together, prayed side by side, and carried each other’s burdens. There was beauty in the simplicity of it, in how natural it was to belong to one another.
That picture from Acts has always stayed with me. They were people doing life together too. They were finding joy in the mess of faith and friendship.
Looking back now, I wonder: when was the last time I truly leaned into the discomfort of biblical community and let it shape me? And maybe the better question is: what might happen if I did it again? And I hope you will ask yourself that too.
A MOMENT TO REFLECT
How God Uses Broken Things
Daily Devotional, Linda MeyersChris bought Kevin’s old van mostly because it was cheap. Kevin had warned him about the radio. “It’s stuck on the Christian station,” he said, handing over the keys. Chris just laughed. He was not looking for inspiration—he was looking for transportation.
When he turned the dial that first time, the radio worked perfectly. The speakers crackled to life with a familiar guitar riff. Zeppelin. Chris grinned and rolled down the window. The wind rushed in, the road stretched ahead, and for a moment, everything felt right.
A week later, bills caught up with him. He had to sell the van back to his friend.
The next day, Chris got a phone call. It was from Kevin.
“You won’t believe this, but it’s stuck on that same station again.”
They both agreed it was hilarious and odd. “What a coincidence” Chris thought. But what happened next was impossible to shrug off.
His friend with the radio began to change. Slowly at first, but he stopped drinking so much. He started showing up to his kid’s baseball games. He became calmer, and his voice started to carry something new— hope, maybe.
Chris began to wonder if that stubborn radio had been tuned by more than human hands. Maybe it was no accident at all. Maybe that old van had been waiting for Kevin all along.
He could not shake the thought. Because the same man who once cursed at traffic was now humming along to worship songs in a rusty van. He could see now that God uses even broken things to reach people who are running out of road.
Maybe that is the miracle we often miss. God still moves through the most ordinary parts of our lives. The conversation you almost skipped, the interruption you found inconvenient, the thing that did not go your way. Each might be God’s gentle way of drawing you closer.
So don’t dismiss anything He’s doing. As 1 Corinthians 1:27 reminds us, “God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong.”
Perhaps today is worth slowing down and asking, “How is God trying to get my attention? What might He be trying to reach me through?”
A MOMENT TO REFLECT