I was a little girl who wore shame that didn't belong to her. I knew where it came from. I knew it came from things that happened in my family. I knew it came from things people knew. I knew it came from whispers, opinions, comparisons, and labels that found their way onto my shoulders long before I was old enough to understand what to do with them. I remember not wanting people to know what was in the newspapers. I remember not wanting people to know who my dad was. Not

Today the Spirit of Truth showed me something so simple, yet so profound. I've read Isaiah 61 many times. I've prayed it. I've quoted it. I've tried to put on the garment of praise. Yet there were seasons when joy seemed just out of reach. Today, the Holy Spirit put one word on it. Mourning. Jesus said the Spirit of Truth would guide us into all truth. Today, He did exactly that. In my season of heaviness, I wasn't lacking praise. I was carrying mourning. Isaiah 6

I was writing a birthday message to my daughter when I typed these words: “The place you hold in my heart is unmatched.” Then I laughed. Not because it wasn’t true. Because it is. But it also made me realize something. When someone holds that much of your heart, they also have the ability to break it. That’s the risk of loving deeply. As parents, we know that feeling. Our children can bring us our greatest joy and our deepest sorrow. A phone call can make us celebrate, or it

There is something in Numbers 14 that made me smile. Our prayer group leader has been encouraging us for weeks to pray according to God's Word. Then I read Moses' prayer. "And now, I beseech thee, let the power of my Lord be great, according as thou hast spoken…"Numbers 14:17 That made me smile all over again. Moses prayed according to what God had already spoken. Then he prayed according to who God had revealed Himself to be. "The LORD is longsuffering, and of grea

Throughout Scripture, God's people built stone altars to remember what God had done. Not because they were afraid they would forget the event. But because they never wanted to forget the God who met them there. "Then Samuel took a stone… and called the name of it Ebenezer, saying, Hitherto hath the LORD helped us."1 Samuel 7:12 This is one of mine. I would love to say I had a perfect walk with the Lord. That my testimony was one where Jesus got ahold of me, set me free,

Sometimes we walk away from places, assignments, relationships, or seasons because of disappointment, frustration, confusion, or circumstances around us. At the time, it can feel like the right thing to do. We move on, convinced we're following wisdom, protecting our hearts, or responding to what is happening around us. But sometimes, after prayer and reflection, we realize something important: God never told us to leave. That doesn't mean there weren't real issues. It do

Lies can only remain where there is an absence of truth. Jesus said: "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."John 8:32 I was bound because I believed lies. Freedom didn't come because I tried harder. It came because I sat with the Lord until the Holy Spirit began revealing truth. As truth came, the lies began to lose their power. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth. He shines His light into places we cannot see on our own. He exposes what d

I had a deep revelation today. Someone said that when a child grows up being criticized, eventually that criticism becomes her inner voice. I just sat there. Then the tears came. Because I realized… Kim has been Kim’s biggest critic. I’ve spent so much of my life encouraging people. Praising them. Uplifting them. Exhorting them. Loving them. Believing in them. Calling out the good in them. As I sat with the Lord today, I wondered if part of the reason is because those were t

Recently someone shared Deuteronomy 9:3 with me, and I haven't stopped thinking about it. "But be assured today that the LORD your God is the one who goes across ahead of you like a devouring fire. He will destroy them; He will subdue them before you. And you will drive them out and annihilate them quickly, as the LORD has promised you." I love the order of that verse. God goes first. He goes before His people like a devouring fire. He destroys what they cannot destro

We can walk away from a conversation thinking nothing of it. God doesn't. I was reading about Miriam and Aaron speaking against Moses because of the woman he had married. Honestly, it didn't seem that unusual at first. People talk about people all the time. We talk about the decisions they make. We call it concern. We call it processing. Sometimes we don't think much about it at all. But God did. God wasn't looking at the conversation the way they were. Miriam and Aar

I have read Numbers 5 before. More than once. But this time I got stuck on a phrase I had somehow overlooked. A spirit of jealousy. Not jealousy. A spirit of jealousy. When I read the word spirit, my mind immediately went where it has been trained to go. Cast it out. Take authority over it. Deal with it spiritually. But that isn't what happened in this passage. I kept reading. I found: A spirit of jealousy. An offering of jealousy. The law of jealousy. Bitter water.

What do we do when someone is hurting? Do we listen? Do we pray? Do we cast it out? Do we tell them to renew their mind? Do we tell them to forgive? Do we tell them to be grateful? Do we tell them to put the Word on it? How much of the way we minister comes from the Holy Spirit and how much comes from habit? How much comes from listening and how much comes from what worked last time? How much comes from discernment and how much comes from tradition? How much comes from re

There was a time holidays would completely expose me. Not every year. But the years when brokenness spoke louder than love. Holidays were and still can be exhausting internally. I realize now it was not always reality. It was the lens I was seeing through. Every interaction felt loaded. Every emotion became a question. Am I accepted? Am I loved? Did I do something wrong? I lived under so much pressure. Pressure to get motherhood right. Pressure for perfection. Pressure

There is something about the story of Leah and Rachel that becomes more powerful the older I get. When most people read it, they immediately feel compassion for Leah. The overlooked one. The unloved one. The woman Jacob did not choose. And honestly, I understand that. There are many people who know what it feels like to live unwanted, unseen, or compared to someone else. But the more I sit with the story, the more my heart also breaks for Rachel. Because humanity is com

Sometimes rising looks beautiful. Sometimes it looks like tears, anger, exhaustion, silence, wrestling thoughts, and trying not to lose yourself in the middle of it all. That is the part people do not always talk about. Humanity. The Bible never hid humanity. The messy middle. The internal battles. The tension between wanting peace while feeling overwhelmed. Wanting healing while still carrying hurt. Wanting to stay soft in a world that can make you hard. Some days

This morning the Beatitudes hit me differently. I have read them before. I have heard teachings on them before. But this morning I noticed something I do not think I fully understood before. Jesus places blessing beside things the world would never call blessed. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are those who mourn. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst. Blessed are the meek. Blessed are the persecuted. Matthew 5:3-10 And something in me shifted. I think for

There is something powerful about Exodus 18. Before Jethro ever gave Moses counsel, they first sat together and talked about the goodness of the Lord. They rejoiced together, worshiped together, offered sacrifices, and broke bread together. There was relationship before correction. Then Jethro watched Moses lead. From morning until evening, Moses carried the weight of the people alone. Every problem. Every dispute. Every decision came to him. And Jethro said: "This th

Thank you for being here. Still Rising was built from real places. Places where faith rose, resilience grew, and the faithfulness of God revealed His grace. It is a real journey - my walk of trusting God no matter what life brings. My hope is that you find you are not alone and that victory is possible. If this is your first time here, take a look around: Looking for something real? Step into REAL LIFE: Where writing is keeping it real. No mask. Just the raw, the real, and th

The other day I was praying in a group, and something unusual happened. I felt insecure. That caught my attention because prayer has never really been an area where I struggled. It has usually been the place where I feel the most confident. But this time was different. I was grieving. I was hurting. I felt fragile. And afterward, I found myself comparing. Comparing my weakness to someone else's strength. Comparing my suffering to someone else's victory. Comparing what I

There are some stories in Scripture that are difficult to fully comprehend with a natural mind. The story of Judah is one of them. Because if we are honest, most of us would not have chosen Judah. When we read the story of Joseph, it almost feels obvious who should carry the greater honor. Joseph was betrayed, rejected, sold, falsely accused, imprisoned, and yet remained faithful through suffering. But the royal lineage leading to Jesus did not come through Joseph. It cam