Ordinary Things

It's easy to be grateful when life is going the way we hoped. But what happens when it isn't?

In Part 3 of Putting Gratitude in Your Attitude, we're stepping into a more tender conversation about what gratitude looks like in the middle of life's hardest seasons.

Through Acts 16:22–26, we'll look at Paul and Silas praising God from a prison cell and discover that gratitude can still happen, even in the worst of circumstances. We'll also talk about the importance of acknowledging someone's pain rather than rushing to point out the silver lining.

I'll share something deeply personal about my dad's loss of independence and how, while preparing this very episode, God taught me a thing or two about my own attempts to encourage him.

Grab your coffee and join me for an honest, heartfelt conversation about trusting God's goodness when life is anything but easy.

This is Part 3 of the four-part series, Putting Gratitude in Your Attitude.

Have you ever been so caught up in the moment that you needed someone else to point out the blessing right in front of you?

When a Sunday morning power outage left me drying my hair in the garage with the help of a generator, I had a choice in how I saw the situation... and let's just say my first thoughts weren't exactly overflowing with gratitude!  But sometimes, the very inconveniences that frustrate us are the ones God uses to open our eyes to the blessings we no longer see. 

In Part 2 of Putting Gratitude in Your Attitude, we're talking about learning to recognize God's blessings for ourselves, without waiting for someone else to point them out. Through Psalm 23 and James 1:17, we'll explore how God's provision, guidance, and goodness are woven into our everyday lives, even when things don't go quite as planned.

Grab your coffee and join me for a little laughter, a fresh perspective, and a reminder that God's goodness is often hiding in the ordinary things we take for granted. Because you just might find that the biggest change we need isn't in our circumstances, it's in what we're choosing to see.

This is Part 2 of the four-part series, Putting Gratitude in Your Attitude.

I have a confession to make. I love Mondays!

I know. Some of you are now questioning whether we can still be friends! But why can two people experience the exact same circumstances and have completely different attitudes?

In Part 1 of our new series, Putting Gratitude in Your Attitude, we're taking an honest (and sometimes humorous!) look at how easily our attitudes can overshadow our gratitude.

I'll share a Sunday afternoon conversation with my husband that started with me trying to help someone else recognize their blessings... and ended with me getting an unexpected attitude adjustment of my own!

Through Philippians 2:14–15 and Philippians 4:8, we'll explore how our everyday reactions reveal what we're focusing on, and how easily we can overlook the blessings right in front of us.

This is Part 1 of the four-part series, Putting Gratitude in Your Attitude.

Imagine walking into the cockpit of an airplane and telling the pilot you'd like to make a few adjustments to his flight plan. A different route, a smoother ride, and preferably an earlier arrival. Sounds ridiculous, doesn't it?

And yet, we often do exactly that with God.

We tell Him we trust Him, but we've already decided where we want to go, how we'd like to get there, and when everything should fall into place. And when life takes an unexpected turn, we start questioning whether He's really taking us in the right direction.

In the final episode of The Invisible Pilot, Kimberly explores what it truly means to surrender control and trust God's plan, even when it looks nothing like our own. Through the stories of Paul, Joseph, and even Jesus, we'll discover how to hold on to our hopes and dreams while trusting God enough to place them in hands far more capable than our own.

As we bring this four-part journey to a close, we're returning to the ordinary airplane ride that started it all, and one simple question: Where are you still trying to fly the plane?

This is part 4 of the four-part series, The Invisible Pilot.

Have you ever noticed that an airplane pilot can go completely silent for hours... and nobody worries about whether he's still flying the plane?

We settle into our seats, read our books, watch movies, and go about our business without giving his silence a second thought. We trust that he's still there, doing exactly what he's supposed to do.

But when God goes quiet? That's another story.

We've prayed. We've waited. We've asked for direction. And when the answers don't come, we start wondering whether He's listening, whether He's working, or whether He's even there at all.

In Part 3 of The Invisible Pilot, Kimberly explores what those quiet seasons can teach us about trusting God when we can't see what He's doing. Through the story of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, we'll discover that God's timing doesn't always make sense to us, and His silence doesn't mean He's forgotten us.

So here's a question worth asking: Have you mistaken God's silence for His absence?

This is Part 3 of the four-part series, The Invisible Pilot.

What happens to your trust when the plane starts shaking?

It’s easy to settle into your seat when the skies are smooth. You read your book, sip your coffee, watch a movie, and barely give the pilot a thought. But let that plane suddenly drop, the seatbelt sign ding on, and everything changes.

Life can feel a lot like that! A diagnosis. A difficult phone call. A relationship that changes. A job that disappears. One unexpected moment can turn smooth skies into turbulence and leave us wondering whether God is really in control.

In Part 2 of The Invisible Pilot, Kimberly looks at what an ordinary moment of airplane turbulence can teach us about our fears and our faith. Feeling the turbulence doesn’t mean the Pilot has lost control, and feeling afraid doesn’t mean you’ve lost your faith.

So where do your eyes go when life starts shaking?

This is Part 2 of the four-part series, The Invisible Pilot.

What if the way you board an airplane reveals something about the way you trust God?

While sitting on an ordinary flight home from vacation, Kimberly noticed something she'd somehow missed through years of flying... an entire plane full of people had willingly placed their lives in the hands of someone they'd never met, never even seen, yet casually settled in with books, movies, naps, and french fries.

That simple observation led to a much harder question: Why can we so easily trust a pilot we don't know, yet struggle to fully trust a God who has already proven Himself faithful?

In Part 1 of The Invisible Pilot, we're looking at the difference between saying we trust God and actually living like we do, especially when we can't see the route ahead or understand what He's doing.

And as if God wanted to make sure the lesson really sank in, Kimberly found herself writing this very episode aboard another airplane—one that couldn’t take off because there was a problem with the door. 

It’s easy to say, “God, I trust You.” But what does my life say when I can’t see what He’s doing? So... are you still standing at the gate, or are you ready to take your seat?

This is Part 1 of the four-part series, The Invisible Pilot.

Sometimes the most comforting words we can hear are, “I’ve been there.”

In the final episode of the Understanding Your Piece series, Kimberly explores how the difficult pieces of our stories can connect us with people walking through similar circumstances. Drawing from 2 Corinthians 1:3–4, we’re reminded that the comfort God gives us can become comfort we offer someone else.

The piece you once wanted to throw away may become part of someone else’s hope. And while the hard pieces are part of your story, they don’t get to become the whole picture. Keep living, keep noticing the beautiful pieces, and keep looking for the people whose stories may connect with yours.

This is Part 4 of the four-part series, Understanding Your Piece.

How often do we exhaust ourselves worrying about things that haven’t even happened?

In Part 3 of Understanding Your Piece, Kimberly explores what happens when we reach beyond the puzzle piece God has placed in our hands today and begin carrying tomorrow’s pieces too. 

There is a difference between preparing for tomorrow and trying to carry it. If worry has been pulling you out of the life you’re actually living, this episode will help you put the imaginary pieces back, become present to God’s fingerprints in today, and trust that when tomorrow comes, He will meet you there too.

This is Part 3 of the four-part series, Understanding Your Piece.

What do you do with the pieces of your life you never would have chosen? The loss. The betrayal. The diagnosis. The relationship that fell apart. The pieces that, from where you’re standing, look like nothing but gray.

In Part Two of Understanding Your Piece, we turn the puzzle piece over and talk honestly about the parts of our stories that hurt, and why trusting God doesn’t mean pretending those things were good. Through Romans 8:28, we’ll discover the important difference between saying “What happened was good” and believing “God can redeem what happened.”

Maybe you can already look back and recognize God’s fingerprints in a painful piece. Or maybe you’re still standing on the gray side and can’t see anything yet. Either way, there may be more to your piece than what you can see from where you’re standing.

This is Part 2 of the four-part series, Understanding Your Piece.