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“Shut up. Suit up. Show up.” – Dr. James Hollis 1. SHUT UP. Start with gratitude. Stop complaining about what you don't have. Look at what you do have and thank God for it. 2. SUIT UP. Get yourself ready. Put on your armor. Put on the mindset, discipline, and faith you need for the day. 3. SHOW UP. You don't have to have everything figured out. You just have to keep showing up. Show up for God. Show up for your family. Show up for yourself. Show up for the life you're still building. That's how you stop waiting for life to change and start living the life God gave you with a purpose. 
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 When you go alone there is nobody or nothing else that you have to worry about. When you’re younger, you don’t have all these responsibilities, like a family. You could go fast. You aren’t overwhelmed with worry about their concerns and what they need or what's going on. Before you have the family, go faster while you can.
You want to slow down when you have a family. Until that happens, take advantage and go fast. You want to set a foundation to have a family. You don’t want to just suddenly have a family one day and feel stuck. How are you going to provide? What are you going to do? There are a lot of questions that you need to be able to answer. At the end of the day, are you prepared for the future or is this going to be another strike? If you want to go far, go together.When you go together it is like doubling your resources. Lifting their spirit helps you go further. The other person provides nourishment to keep you going. If you find this person attractive and they give you butterflies, going the distance doesn’t feel that far. Butterflies can feel like air taking you places you didn't think you would go. You still need to go far, it’s just that now it doesn’t feel like it's far.  Your struggle to get back up is just a process that will help you move forward, do not think of it as failure; it’s a stepping stone to the new journey about to begin.
You have a lot of work ahead, but that has never stopped the greats, and you are great! Yes you have fallen, but you also beat the odds; you are a miracle. You did the unthinkable, got back up, and gave the establishment a middle finger. Pushing through your obstacles and showing your ambition, and inner strength, shows others you can overcome. It may not be noticed by everyone, however, the ones that matter will take note. Remember He gives His toughest battles to His strongest soldiers. God gives me the strength to continue and overcome. I choose Him, and peace, over all circumstances and hurdles. Focus on how you got up, not on how you fell. Everyone has hard days. Days when your strength feels gone, your prayers seem quiet, and your hope feels distant. But don't let one hard day convince you that you've lost the battle. A difficult day is not a defeated life. The enemy wants you to believe your worst moment defines your future. God says your future is found in Him, not in your feelings. Don't quit on the days when you feel weak. Those are often the days God is quietly building endurance, character, and deeper faith within you. Hard days are temporary. God's faithfulness is constant. When you stumble, get back up. When you're discouraged, pray. When you're afraid, trust. When you're tired, rest but don't surrender. Remember, Jesus never promised an easy road, but He did promise His presence. "In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." — John 16:33 (NIV) So today, choose faith over fear, hope over despair, and perseverance over quitting.Grab life by the horns and keep going through Him. Don't let the hard days win. Let God win through you.   I am not walking this path alone. The same God who rescued me now lives within me. When fear comes, He is greater. When temptation comes, He is greater. When lies come, He is greater. When darkness comes, He is greater. The world is full of voices telling people they are too broken, too far gone, or beyond redemption. I know those voices well. But they are wrong. Because God specializes in bringing dead things back to life. The dead man living is not the end of the story. It is the beginning of a testimony. There are people all around us who are spiritually dead. They may smile. They may appear successful. They may seem like they have everything together. Yet inside, they are hurting. To some, that may not matter. But I challenge everyone reading this: reach out to that broken soul. Show compassion. Extend grace. Offer hope. Because every person is someone's son or daughter, and every person matters to God. Our Father is full of mercy. Our Father is full of grace. And He is still in the business of saving people from the dead man living state. If He could do it for me, He can do it for anyone. Just have faith. Just believe. The dead man is gone. Christ lives. And because He lives, I truly live too. ***This is part of a longer series, please check out Part 1 and 2 in the June 2026 archive. ** Age has taught me that love is not measured by the number of years you've lived, but by the depth of what you've shared. Age is just a number; what matters is how you feel and the life you build together. Love doesn't fade as you grow older. It deepens. It becomes stronger, steadier, and more certain. Like concrete curing over time, it hardens into something that can withstand life's storms. When you're apart, your heart still feels the distance. Your stomach knots with worry, and your imagination can drift toward the worst possibilities. Then you see them again. Relief washes over you. The weight of uncertainty lifts, and you're reminded that home isn't a place it’s a person. That moment of reunion renews your hope. The fear of loss gives way to gratitude, and together you continue dreaming about tomorrow. Love isn't just found in grand gestures; it's found in choosing each other, day after day, year after year. Perhaps that's what age teaches us most: real love doesn't simply survive time, it is strengthened by it. Every challenge overcome, every laugh shared, every tear wiped away becomes another chapter in the never ending story of two lives woven together.   Following Christ may cost you something now, but rejecting Him can cost you everything eternally. You may sacrifice something now to follow Christ, but it will affect you far more to live without Him. The price of following Christ is surrender; the result of rejecting Him is eternal loss. Following Christ asks for your surrender; refusing Him may cost you your soul.
Give Christ your life, and you gain eternity. Keep your life for yourself, and you risk losing what matters most. You may have to let go of temporary things to follow Christ, but don't trade eternity for what cannot last. Some temporary things to shed may be the focus on money, on fame, on status. Tying identity to money status often leads individuals to attach their personal worth to their bank accounts or designer symbols. Your worth comes from God. The Bible says you were created in God’s image. “So God created man in His own image.”- Genesis 1:27 Your value isn’t determined by your bank account, possessions, accomplishments, status or what other people think of you. Your worth begins with the fact that God created you and calls you His. What you give up for Christ is temporary. What you gain through Christ is eternal. The world may promise everything, but only Christ offers what lasts forever.  Only those who truly care about you can hear you when you're quiet.
Anyone can notice you when you're loud. They can hear your words, see your accomplishments, or recognize your presence in a room. But those who truly love you notice what others miss. They see when your smile doesn't quite reach your eyes, when your laughter becomes softer, when your spirit feels weighed down, or when your heart is carrying a burden you haven't spoken aloud. Love pays attention. The loudest cries are not always spoken with words. Sometimes they are hidden behind a forced smile, an unusual silence, or a quiet withdrawal from the people we love. The most compassionate people learn to listen with their eyes, their hearts, and their presence. This is the kind of love Christ has shown us. Jesus sees beyond appearances. He knows the burdens we carry before we ever speak them. He is never fooled by a smile that hides pain or by words that conceal a weary heart. The apostle Paul calls us to reflect that same love: "Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ."- Galatians 6:2 Notice what Paul doesn't say. He doesn't tell us to judge one another's burdens or compare them. He tells us to carry them. To carry someone's burden, we first have to notice they are carrying one. Sometimes that means asking, "How are you…really?" Sometimes it means sitting quietly beside someone who doesn't yet have the words. Sometimes it means praying for them when they don't have the strength to pray for themselves. Love is often expressed not through grand gestures but through faithful presence. Jesus modeled this kind of compassion throughout His ministry. He noticed the overlooked, welcomed the rejected, comforted the grieving, and drew near to those others avoided. He listened, not only to people's words but to their hearts. As His followers, we are invited to do the same. Imagine how different our families, churches, friendships, and communities would be if we slowed down enough to notice one another. What if we became people who looked beyond appearances and chose compassion over assumption? What if we made room for someone else's pain instead of expecting them to carry it alone? Being heard in our silence is one of the greatest gifts we can receive. And also, being willing to hear someone else in their silence is one of the greatest gifts we can give. Today, ask God to give you eyes that notice, ears that truly listen, and a heart that is willing to carry the burdens of others. You may never know how much your presence, encouragement, or quiet act of kindness means to someone who has been silently asking God for help. You never know when unconsciously you are the answer to someone's prayer. Because sometimes the most Christlike thing we can do is simply notice the person who has stopped asking to be noticed.  The 5-4-3-2-1 grounding technique was credited to Betty Alice Erickson, a psychotherapist in the mid to late 1900s. If you think about it, this technique can open up your mind to any space: in that space you can do more inner work. It can help with anxiety because you become more aware of your surroundings and where you are at. You are not surprised by anything. You are doing the work to recognize where you are and notice yourself in that environment. By doing that, you realize you are safe and secure in that environment. Like when you go into a specific new location, you can use this technique in that scenario. Like going to a movie, into a restaurant, or on a trip - do these five things. Like most people I do not love going to the doctor. It is easy to get flustered while being there and not being sure what is happening or being said. I can take this technique with me into this experience to ground myself. I can see the scale, chairs, receptionist, candy bowl and a photo on the wall. I can hear the door opening to her office, a window being shut, a phone ringing and fax machine receiving. I can touch the candy, receptionist desk, and a pen out of the pen holder. I can smell cookies and coffee. I can taste a piece of candy from the candy bowl, I always grab the Reese. Doing this exercise can help me remember the moment, which can help with self-reflection. It can help me remember my experience. It can do the same for you. Also, by doing this and stepping out of your comfort zone, it can also wake you up. You are doing something you were not prepared for which makes you be more alert. What would happen if you don’t do them? If you don’t try the initial process, you will never know. Openness allows our hearts to see the authentic world unfolding before us. When we remain open, we discover delight in our daily pursuits and recognize the beauty hidden within ordinary moments. We need the courage to evolve to open ourselves to new experiences, new perspectives, and the beauty life has to offer. Growth requires us to step beyond what is familiar and trust that there is more waiting for us. Following Him in faith. Following Him means trusting God even when you cannot see the entire path ahead. It means allowing His wisdom to guide your thoughts, His Word to shape your decisions, and His presence to give you strength. Allow yourself to be open to see the world around you today. Let what you see through Him transform your path. See through His eyes.  |
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