The Connection Corner

Make Today Count

Hebrews 12:11 – For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

I was not the kind of kid who begged to be outdoors in the summer. I liked comfort, routine, and air conditioning. So, when my mother announced I would be attending back-to-back camps all summer long, I assumed she was joking.

She was not.

There was no negotiation. One week it was tennis. The next, basketball. Then came YMCA camp followed closely by dance camp. I remember thinking she must have mistaken me for someone else—someone coordinated, competitive, and social.

She had not.

She just loved me enough to be firm.

Her tough love was not up for debate, and though I wanted to resist, something slowly began to shift—not in her tough love, but in me.

There was this one camp—a Christian camp—where the rhythm of the days caught up with me in a different way. The mornings began with quiet time. It was the kind of quiet that made you think about things you usually avoided.

I learned to listen, not just to the camp leaders, but to my own choices. I noticed how much easier life became when I got enough sleep, ate what my body actually needed, and spent time with people who made me feel safe, not small.

At the end of the summer, I left with a small pin on my shirt that said, “Honor Camper.” It was just a pin, but it felt good because what I really achieved was a new mindset.

Looking back, that summer was not about sports or schedules. It was about learning how to show up for myself, for others, and for the Lord. And it turns out, showing up takes practice. It takes daily choices, honest reflection, and uncomfortable effort.

Maybe life is not all that different from summer camp. Every day, you get a fresh start. You can opt in or out. You can show up or shrink back. You can waste the time God gave you or let it change you.

What if you stopped waiting for a “big moment” and just lived today like it mattered? Try something new. Build honest friendships. Sweat a little. Laugh a lot. Choose the kind of effort that builds you from the inside out.

And remember—God did not give you this life so you could sit on the sidelines.

August 7, 2025/by Tammi Arender

Out of the Box Answers from a Great God

Daily Devotional, Lauren Kitchens-Steward

Psalms 37:4 – “Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.”

Adoption has always been part of our family’s heartbeat. We had two children already—both adopted, both deeply loved. I would go to the ends of the earth for them, but tucked beneath all that joy was a desire I never spoke out loud.

I had always wanted to adopt a newborn, a baby from the very beginning. Though I didn’t really talk about it, I still whispered it to the Lord in passing.

My husband and I were both fifty-three. We were well past what most people would call “baby years.” Life was full. Our routines were finally starting to settle, but then the phone rang.

It was our Christian consultants. A baby had just been born, and they said the birth mother had asked for us.

I sat still. I think I forgot how to breathe.

She knew our age. She did not care. She said we were the ones she wanted.

And just like that, the thing I had quietly hoped for—the thing I thought might never happen—became real.

That birth mom’s trust became something more. It turned into a friendship. And that friendship has continued to grow.

That newborn is now six-years-old. His name is Chambers, and he still gets to see his birth mom every now and then. When he does, I just stand there watching him laugh, remembering how close I came to never knowing him.

I see a promise kept. I see a prayer answered. No it was not on my timeline, and it was not the way I expected. But it was answered in a way that proved God was listening the entire time.

Dear One, if you have a longing that feels too small to name or too impossible to see fulfilled—do not bury it. Hold it open. Offer it to the One who sees you clearly. He may not answer in the way you expect, but He is not bound by what makes sense.

He works outside the box, and sometimes, the answer comes wrapped in more love than you knew to ask for.

August 6, 2025/by Lauren Kitchens-Steward

How Do You Go from Liked to Loved?

Daily Devotional, Heart of the Artist

Ephesians 2:4-5 — “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved.”

When my husband Christian and I first became boyfriend and girlfriend, I took on another role: FBI Investigator Sadie Rob.

I’d seen his Instagram so many times. But when I became Investigator Sadie, I started noticing stuff that I’d never really cared about before, including the girl he went to a party with.

All of a sudden, I noticed her in a different way. I spiraled as I thought about how much fun they must have had and how beautiful she was, with her blonde hair and blue eyes.

After my investigation I walked away concluding I was no longer good enough for the relationship. I figured I should do everybody a favor and exit. I’d save Christian the hassle.

Years earlier I’d been dating a guy, and somebody said my looks were not up to par compared to another girl he had previously dated. That really stuck with me.

It got in the way of me getting close to people. It wasn’t that others weren’t willing to love me; it was that I didn’t feel very lovable. It wasn’t that they weren’t willing to date me; it was that I didn’t feel good enough.

That little lie had been planted in my heart for years, and I almost let that affect my relationship with the person I would later marry. He was standing there pursuing me with love and respect.

I went to Christian and started telling him how I was feeling. He shared with me something very powerful that day. He said, “Yeah, those girls were attractive. However, I am captivated by you.”

At first it felt pretty odd to hear those words coming out of my boyfriend’s mouth, but then he said, “You can notice something is attractive, because the fact is, it’s attractive. But to be captivated means that you hold all my attention.”

That day I stopped investigating and rested in the security that he was captivated by me.

So many times we do this with God. He is loving us, pursuing us, and asking us to be in a relationship with Him. He has written a couple-thousand-page love letter to us, but we have to allow ourselves to be loved and captivated by Him.

We must begin to take God at His word. When we refuse to allow ourselves to feel loved, we stop a relationship from being able to grow. Be captivated by your Creator, and don’t lose sight of His gaze.

— Sadie Robertson Huff

August 5, 2025/by David Hall