Let me clear this up: Christians are not perfect. If we were, God would’ve already upgraded us to Heaven Premium.
I think Christians get a bad rap. Some people imagine we walk around glowing, clutching our Bibles, judging everyone like we’re on the Heavenly Olympics of Holiness. Spoiler alert: we’re not perfect. If we were, we’d probably already be in heaven sipping angel-inspired lemonade.
Let me clear this up: Christians are not perfect. If we were, God would’ve already upgraded us to Heaven Premium. We’re just regular people doing our best to become the person God had in mind when He made us, flaws, typos, and all. We’re kind of like a lifelong spiritual renovation project.
When we make a personal decision to believe in Jesus, it doesn’t mean we think we’re better than anyone else. It means we’re trying to live by heaven’s house rules while still surviving earth’s chaos. Earth is basically a temporary Airbnb, and heaven is the forever dream home with no drama, no hate, and definitely no internet trolls.
Now, heaven probably isn’t letting in people who thrive on being mean, messy, and full of negativity. Think of it like a gated community with strict Homeowner Association (HOA) rules. The Bible is like our version of Bylaws and Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions (CC&Rs), with rules like: No haters, no troublemakers, and no bad vibes allowed.
Jesus is the gatekeeper, and we can only get to heaven through Him. And, friends, when I show up at heaven’s front door, I’m hoping my name is on the guest list. I dream of a place with zero gossip, zero hate, and absolutely no comment sections. That’s why I try to live with kindness, respect, love, and good intentions, because I figure that ups my chances of getting past the velvet rope.
Now, do I get it right all the time? Absolutely not. I’m human. Sometimes I mess up, trip over my own attitude, recognize my mistake, and say, “Lord, my bad.” I ask for forgiveness. The Lord forgives me, and I keep going. Every time I try again, I feel like I’ve levelled up spiritually.
I’m not here to force anyone to believe what I believe. You might not even think heaven or hell is real, and that’s your choice. I’m just explaining why I live the way I do. For me, loving beats hating. Kindness beats cruelty. And positivity beats being miserable any day.
So, if you see me trying to be good, just know I’m not acting holy, I’m trying to keep my reservation at Heaven’s All-Inclusive Resort.
Life moves fast. Responsibilities pile up. Noise surrounds us. And somewhere along the way, our souls quietly ask for care.
In a world that constantly pulls at our attention, many of us feel spiritually tired, even when our faith is strong. Life moves fast. Responsibilities pile up. Noise surrounds us. And somewhere along the way, our souls quietly ask for care.
That is exactly why Nurturing the Soul: A 30-Day Journey Toward Spiritual Growth was written.
This book was created for people who desire a deeper connection with God but may feel overwhelmed, disconnected, or unsure where to begin. It is not about perfection. It is not about checking spiritual boxes. It is about creating intentional moments, small, meaningful pauses, to reconnect with God, reflect on life, and allow the soul to breathe again.
Why Nurturing the Soul Matters
We spend so much time nurturing others, our families, our careers, our communities, that we often neglect our inner life. Yet the soul needs care just as much as the body and mind. When the soul is neglected, it shows up as exhaustion, discouragement, and spiritual dryness.
Nurturing the Soul invites readers to slow down and return to the basics of faith: reflection, prayer, Scripture, and honest conversation with God. Each day of the 30-day journey is designed to gently guide the reader into deeper awareness, healing, and spiritual renewal.
This is not a book you rush through. It’s a book you sit with. A book you open each day as a sacred appointment with God.
What the 30-Day Journey Looks Like
Each day in Nurturing the Soul offers:
A focused spiritual theme
A carefully selected Bible verse
A devotional reflection meant to encourage, challenge, and uplift
Gentle prompts that invite personal reflection and prayer
The journey is structured, but flexible. Whether you are new to daily devotionals or returning after a long break, this book meets you exactly where you are.
Some days will feel comforting. Others may stir deep emotions. All of them are designed to help you grow spiritually, emotionally, and personally.
The Companion Journal: Going Deeper
Alongside the book is the Nurturing the Soul: 30-Day Companion Journal, created for those who want to go deeper in their reflection.
The journal is not an afterthought; it is an intentional extension of the journey. Writing has a powerful way of bringing clarity to thoughts, healing to emotions, and depth to prayer. The Companion Journal provides dedicated space to:
Respond to daily prompts
Record prayers and spiritual insights
Reflect honestly without judgment
Track growth over the 30-day journey
Many readers find that journaling transforms reading into an experience. It turns inspiration into action and reflection into lasting change.
Together, the book and journal create a sacred rhythm: read, reflect, write, pray, and grow.
Who This Journey Is For
Nurturing the Soul is for:
Anyone feeling spiritually weary or disconnected
Believers seeking renewal without pressure or guilt
Those navigating life transitions, grief, or uncertainty
Readers who desire a quieter, more intentional faith practice
You do not need to have all the answers. You simply need a willing heart.
An Invitation and How to Begin
If your soul has been longing for stillness, clarity, or renewed faith, this journey is for you.
Nurturing the Soul: A 30-Day Journey Toward Spiritual Growth and the accompanying 30-Day Companion Journal are both available on Amazon, making it easy to begin whenever you’re ready.
Simply visit Amazon, search for “Nurturing the Soul: A 30-Day Journey Toward Spiritual Growth,” and consider pairing it with the 30-Day Companion Journal for a richer, more transformative experience.
Your soul deserves care. Your faith deserves time. And your journey can begin today: one day at a time.
God’s timing is not always ours. We may feel abandoned, but the truth is, He is preparing us for what’s ahead. Seasons of silence are not signs of rejection; they are times of preparation and growth.
Scripture Reading “But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” – Isaiah 40:31 (NIV)
“To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.” – Ecclesiastes 3:1 (NIV)
Reflection Recently, I found myself walking through some of the lowest valleys of my life. At seventy years old, I thought I would have “found” myself by now; surely my purpose would be clear. Instead, I struggled with silence from heaven and the weight of unanswered questions.
I tried harder, worked longer, and sought to prove myself worthy of God’s attention. But instead of fulfillment, I felt emptier than ever. Then, as if silence weren’t enough, I began to lose loved ones, friendships, income, and even peace of mind. My life felt like it was unraveling thread by thread.
In that place of despair, I cried out one more time. Though I still didn’t hear an answer, God met me where I was. At church, during worship, the pastor prayed over me, and for the first time in a long time, I felt joy breaking through the hollow spaces of my heart. Later, a friend reminded me that this season of loss was preparation. God was not taking from me to punish me; He was making room for where He was leading me.
That reminder brought me back to Scripture: to everything there is a season. When we wait on the Lord, even in silence, He promises to renew our strength and lift us on eagle’s wings.
Application God’s timing is not always ours. We may feel abandoned, but the truth is, He is preparing us for what’s ahead. Seasons of silence are not signs of rejection; they are times of preparation and growth.
Reflection Question Have you ever felt like God was silent and doubted His timing? How might God be preparing you in this very season?
Prayer Father, thank You for reminding me that Your timing is perfect, even when I don’t understand it. Help me trust You in the silence, and strengthen me to wait on You with hope. Renew my spirit so that I may walk faithfully into the season You are preparing for me. Amen.
Whenever God prepares you for greatness, He often begins by removing everything that no longer serves your growth.
Whenever God prepares you for greatness, He often begins by removing everything that no longer serves your growth, like people, habits, places, and even comforts that once felt essential. What feels like loss is often divine pruning. He breaks down what is unstable so He can rebuild something unshakable within you. This breaking is not punishment, it is preparation. It’s God clearing the path for a stronger, wiser, more refined version of you.
Just like a caterpillar cannot become a butterfly without shedding its former self, you cannot transform by clinging to what once was. The cocoon is a place of isolation and undoing, but it’s also the sacred space where wings are formed.
You may feel like your world is collapsing, but in truth, it’s being realigned. Some people will fall away, not because they dislike you, but because they are no longer meant to go where God is taking you. They were part of your past, not your purpose. And that’s okay. As one wise man said, “It’s better to walk alone than to walk with those who are going nowhere.”
Let God do the removing, the refining, and the reshaping. What He rebuilds will be greater than what you lost.
I am hopelessly hopeful. You will discern this statement between the lines to mean I am optimistic despite what is happening all around me. I steadfastly cling to verses in the bible that speak of hope and pray that these verses will carry me through this time of sorrow.
I desperately need the comfort of the Lord as I mourn the recent passing of so many family and friends, one after another, in such a short period. Who will be next, I ask? Who will be taken from this world and into the next? I rely on the hope that I will see those who have gone from this earth again in heaven. I assume that I will make it into heaven, myself.
I assume that believing in our Savior, Jesus Christ, and living a righteous life, loving others as Jesus loves me, will spare me a place in heaven where I will be reunited with my loved ones who have left this life before me and with those who follow me.
Dear friends, my heart is heavy right now. It is heavy thinking about the wives who are now widows, the husbands who are now widowers, the parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends who are now mourning. Even as an emphatic person, I cannot claim to know the pain survivors experience. No, all I can say is that my pain is unbearable on my own right now.
Sometimes I forget, but thankfully the Holy Spirit reminds me to go to the bible and read scripture to get help in recovering and gaining strength. I need to remember that no one on earth can help me through anything as much as the Lord can help me achieve balance and the ability to be strong amid the weakness of pain.
I don’t know the plans the Lord has for me. I don’t know the plans the Lord has for others. But, I do believe the Lord has a plan for us all. This is my belief. You may have a different belief, and I will still love and accept you. But, this is my belief, and I hold steadfast to it. It is, as a matter of fact, how I get through life. When things happen unexpectedly, and when I cannot find the strength to carry on, I run to the bible to read and re-read God’s promises to me. I read what He said he would do for me if only I believed in Him. And, I believe in Him, so I rest on His promises.
I have stopped counting the number of family and friends who have left this earth transitioning to heaven. God’s plan for them is not transparent to me, but God knows what He is doing. I like to think God is organizing and preparing His Kingdom. Those who went before us will already be there to warmly welcome us into the Kingdom.
If you are like me, struggling to survive the loss of a loved one, I encourage you to read the verses I am reading right now. I pray that they will help you through this time of sorrow.
Read and re-read the following scriptures. Believe they are words from God. Believe that they are words meant to comfort you and carry you through your heartache.
All verses are extracted from the New International Version (NIV).
Psalm 71:14 (New International Version)
14 As for me, I will always have hope; I will praise you more and more.
Romans 15:13
13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
1 Peter 5:10
10 And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.
1 Peter 1:13
13 Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.
1 Peter 1:3-6
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade — kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.
Romans 5:2-7
2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. 6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die.
God bless you today and always. Be strong in His word. Be hopeful!
In the year 2008, my husband and I worked as contracted technical writers and editors for the same company. On a regular day, as we always did, we went to lunch together and, all seemed well when we returned from lunch. Little did we know that we had enjoyed our last lunch together with this company. No sooner than we returned, we were called into a casual meeting with the manager of the department we worked. In that meeting, we discovered that we were no more valuable than any other contracted personnel within the company, and as with many contractors working at the company, the manager quickly informed us that, due to economic factors, the company was downsizing and the company would no longer be able to afford our services. And just like that, we lost our jobs on the same day, at the same time.
Losing our jobs suddenly meant we suddenly lost our means of survival (in the lifestyle we had become accustomed to). We could no longer afford the mortgage on our home, so we had to give our home back to the lender (to avoid foreclosure). And, when we gave the home back to the lender, we had nowhere to live. We had a little bit of money in a savings account, though it was not enough to pay creditors, much less, enough to afford to live in a decent part of town. And, even in the most run-down part of town, landlords would not rent to us because, over time, our credit history had become tarnished.
We needed a place to stay, or we would be destined to live in the streets as many people in our situation had succumbed. Desperate to have a place to live my husband and I had the idea that if we could liquidate our 401k plans, we could purchase land and live on it. We figured, if we bought land, we would always have a place to stay, even if we lived in a tent. But, the county in the city where our land was located had other ideas. They mandated that no person could live on their land unless they built a house on it. The county would not allow us to live on our land even if we lived in a self-contained recreation vehicle (RV).
Financially, it was tough because, even though my husband and I were able to purchase the land at a bargain price, now, a good portion of our money was tied up in the land. Survival became unmaintainable and we decided we should sell the land to reap what we could, but we were unable to sell the land because the land was raw, undeveloped land, and selling it turned out to be a non-existent option because, at the time, many other people were losing their jobs due to economic downturns. So we were stuck with the land whether we wanted it or not.
We Prayed
We prayed about what we should do. We agreed that we would rely on the Lord to provide for our needs. We decided that no matter how long it took, at some point, that for which we were praying would be answered.
As luck (or more realistically the Lord) would have it, we somehow had enough money left in our 401k plans to pay cash for a mobile home in a mobile home park. We lived seven years in the mobile home. We retired and lived on our Social Security retirement income which allowed us to pay the bills, live meagerly, and save money until such a time arrived that we were able to sell the mobile home for twice the value we purchased it. With the proceeds from the sale, we bought an RV and lived in the RV for two+ years while the house we are living in today was being constructed.
Today’s Message
My husband and I prayed daily. We prayed often. We prayed that the Lord would help us build a house on our land. With our prayers, we had faith that we would be able to build our home at the right time in the Lord’s time.
But, we are human, and I do have to admit that throughout the years, there were times when my husband and I would pause and wonder if our dreams would ever come true. It was taking a long time to save up enough money to build a house on our land. We would ask ourselves if we would ever be able to build a house.
But, the Lord always steps in. In His time, and in the perfect time, the Lord steps in to make everything as it should be.
The message, friends, is that patience is a virtue. More than that, dreams do come true. All we need to do is pray to the Lord for His help, have faith, and keep on swimming.
Praise the Lord! Friends are welcome in the home the Lord made possible!
How I love you, Lord! You are my defender. The Lord is my protector; he is my strong fortress. My God is my protection, and with him I am safe. He protects me like a shield; he defends me and keeps me safe. I call to the Lord, and he saves me from my enemies. Praise the Lord!
Psalm 18: 1-3
Psalm 18 is about gratitude for deliverance and victory.
When we are surrounded by evil, we should call upon the Lord. He will be with
us, giving us strength to overcome the evil forces of our enemies.
Today’s song: Defender, Copyrights: 2015 Gateway Create Publishing, Kindred Joy Music, Bethel Music Publishing. Performed by Upper Room.
Voice of Hope by Marlene 