Visualize a heart—your heart—filling slowly with drops of God’s goodness. Each drop represents a moment of mercy, a testimony of grace, a prayer answered, a fear conquered, a burden lifted, a day survived. As God continues to pour into that heart, it begins to overflow—not with stress, not with fear, but with joy. Deep, soul-level joy that cannot be shaken.

I don’t know why the Lord chose us specifically. He took two opposites—different temperaments, different backgrounds—and united us with one vision, one heart, and one mission. He called us to remain steadfast at Crossover Church despite the odds, the challenges, and the temptation to go elsewhere in the beginning.

Two people who shouldn’t have fit together on paper somehow fit perfectly in purpose. Only God can write a story like that!

When God says, ‘My word will not return to Me void’ (Isaiah 55:11), He’s saying that everything He speaks has purpose, power, and a guaranteed outcome — no matter how many times I changed my word. The faithfulness of God is that nothing He promises is wasted; every word has eternal weight and will bear fruit, even if it looks delayed or rerouted.

God didn’t just create the world—He created us with the ability to discover Him in it. He left breadcrumbs everywhere. So every “breadcrumb” (the sunset, the miracle of life, even our own breath) is really God’s way of saying: “Look—I’m here. Follow this trail back to Me.”

That led me back to my grandmother’s words. She told me once that when she had her first two children (out of six), both were diagnosed with a disability. She asked God, “Why me?”

And the Holy Spirit replied:
“Why not you?”

Those words reminded her that she had been equipped for the journey.

I used to think loyalty was the highest form of love in a friendship. But now I know the truth—it's spiritual covering. It’s someone who reminds me who I am in God when I forget.

God has kept us all. Basketball was just the bait for me. I learned so much pursuing that sport. I developed a work ethic that has opened so many doors—Doors that led me right to Him. He knew exactly how to draw me.

We laughed, we remembered—and then she said something that astonished me: "You know, your mom would message me on Facebook. She’d tell me how proud she was of me—how well I was raising my children, how faithfully I was serving the Lord and my community."

I had no idea.

Not if—but when. Seasons of hardship will come, but they do not define us. They refine us.

Like a tree in winter, stripped bare and still, we may feel unfruitful, forgotten, or left behind. But God is at work in every season. Even when it looks like nothing is happening, the roots are growing deeper, preparing for the next season of growth.

When I first heard the words “You have cancer,” I was surprisingly calm. This shocked me. I honestly thought I would fall apart if this became my reality. But instead, I felt a deep, secure whisper rise from within, consuming my whole heart and mind, saying, “God, I trust You.”