Proverbs 31 Ministries

I gave my life to Jesus at a youth group meeting when I was 13 years old. Passionate for Christ, I was filled with zeal.

But soon after my conversion, the youth group ended and the life-giving community I was a part of disbanded. A young believer, left alone, I quickly reverted back into a lifestyle of assuaging my pain through drug use. I continued on that destructive road for the next eight years.

And then I was reclaimed by the God who had never let me go. Hurting and desperate, I returned to Jesus, and the beauty of His grace intervened on my behalf.

My heart had been shattered and needed tending. Jesus has tended to it — slowly, graciously, lovingly, powerfully. He came for me, and He continues to. He is continuing to come for you as well, dear one! Jesus has come to heal our broken hearts, and He is so very good at it.

You may be familiar with kintsugi, the Japanese art form through which pottery receives a second life. Pottery that has been broken is “born again” by a skilled artisan who uses lacquer to join the pieces together, then paints the healed fractures with gold. The gold doesn’t hide the imperfections but highlights them, honoring the journey the pottery has taken. Its history, not hidden but lovingly embraced, allows it to become even more lovely in its healing.

A fitting metaphor for us all. We are the battered pottery, our healed hearts the treasured work.

The fissures that we continue to bear have become golden kintsugi scars that point to our Creator. As believers, we house the Holy Spirit, and the light of His presence slips through the cracks. His love pours through the multitude of large and small lines that etch our souls. Broken yet beautiful, we bear testimony to the miracle of grace as our wounds become healed, our scars become beacons, and the pieces of our lives are transformed into a story of redemption.

This is the beauty of brokenness.

- Stasi Eldredge

Do you feel like you are more broken than beautiful? You are not alone. Spend some time in prayer, and pour out your heart to God. Ask Him how He sees you.

I gave my life to Jesus at a youth group meeting when I was 13 years old. Passionate for Christ, I was filled with zeal. But soon after my conversion, the youth group ended and the life-giving community I was a part of disbanded.

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The Beauty of Brokenness “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us” (2 Corinthians 4:7, NIV).

When I bring my struggles to the Lord in prayer, I also tend to bring my carefully thought-out ideas and suggestions He can choose from.

“Here’s what I think will work, Lord. I just need You to sign off on one of these, OK?”

But the longer I walk with Him, the more I’m discovering that simply isn’t the way God works.

In Joshua 6, we find Joshua and the Israelites experiencing a problem of epic proportions. There was a massive wall preventing them from moving forward into Jericho, part of their promised land. I’m sure there was no shortage of ideas on how they should tackle the wall, but God didn’t ask anyone for their opinion. Not even Joshua, Israel’s leader.

Instead, God asked for His people’s complete and unwavering obedience. Obedience to a battle plan that would have made no sense to their rational minds. A plan that actually involved no “battle” whatsoever.

All God wanted them to do was march. What moves me most about the Israelites’ part in this story isn’t so much their willingness to take that first step of obedience. It’s how they kept taking steps of obedience.

Step after step after step.

Even though nothing appeared to change … even though there wasn’t a single sign of cracking or crumbling in those massive walls … they kept marching.

What if they’d stopped after day two? Or day three? Or even day six?

Think of all they would have missed. They would have cheated themselves out of certain victory from God.

So what do we do when God asks us to move in ways that don’t make sense to us?

How do we keep marching when the situation still looks hopeless?

We make the same choice the Israelites made. We choose to walk by faith, not by sight.

We take God at His word and hold fiercely to His promises.

I don’t know what steps of obedience God is currently calling you to take that don’t make sense to you. But let me be the gentle whisper in your ear encouraging you to keep going. Keep trusting. Keep taking step after step after obedient step.

- Lysa TerKeurst

In which areas of your life have you been hesitant to move in obedience to God? What steps of obedience might you need to take even though you feel weary?

I am a planner. A problem solver. When I bring my struggles to the Lord in prayer, I also tend to bring my carefully thought-out ideas and suggestions He can choose from.Here’s what I think will work, Lord.

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The Problem With My Perfect Plan “‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the LORD. ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts’” (Isaiah 55:8-9, NIV).

When you give to Proverbs 31 Ministries, you’re doing more than supporting a ministry…

You’re supporting the woman who’s a new mom who pressed play on a podcast while driving to work, asking God to help her keep going.

You’re supporting the woman walking through an unwanted divorce who opened Scripture and found exactly the Truth she needed that day.

You’re supporting the woman full of grief and uncertainty who opened an Encouragement for Today devotion before sunrise because she needed hope to face another difficult day.

Friend, it’s your generosity that keeps God’s Truth within reach to every woman around the world — with resources that are free, accessible, grounded in Scripture, and centered on Jesus.

And right now, we are facing a funding gap before closing out this financial year on September 30.

Your gift today not only helps close this gap, it helps ensure those resources are there for every woman who comes searching.

You may never know the name of the women whose lives are changed through Proverbs 31 Ministries. But one day in eternity, you’ll see the impact of your faithfulness.

You can give here today: https://proverbs31.org/?form=2026-FYE&utm_source=instagram&utm_medium=p31-post&utm_campaign=FYE26

One of the hardest times of my life wasn’t a traumatic event; it was when I got everything I had prayed for.

I moved across the country for an exciting job opportunity and adopted a sibling set from foster care. It was a time of celebration … and complete disorientation. New state. New kids. New job. New schedule.

Most days I felt unqualified to handle it all. But I was afraid to share how much I was struggling because, after all, this is what I had prayed for.

I started prayer walking in this season, and one particular walk became a pour-my-raw-heart-out-before-God walk. I realized God was not disappointed in me; rather, He was a soft place to land for the feelings I was most afraid to admit. And when I searched the Scriptures, I discovered that I’m in good company with people who had mixed emotions as they stepped into God’s plans.

Moses should have felt honored and excited to be chosen as Israel’s leader to the promised land. But instead, he felt unqualified and wanted God to pick someone else. The Israelites had been set free from slavery, but instead of rejoicing, they grumbled and missed their old life.

Aren’t you supposed to feel confident when God chooses you? And why would anyone miss their old life when they got the good change they had prayed for? It turns out that, as far back as the ancient world, humans have had a hard time adapting to change.

Proverbs 14:13 reminds us, “Even in laughter the heart may ache” (NIV). Mixed emotions don’t mean you’re ungrateful or that you chose wrong; they simply mean that you’re a human adjusting to a big change. One emotion doesn’t cancel out the other, and God’s grace is big enough to hold both

James 1:17 says, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” It’s not God’s gifts that are unchanging; it’s God. When everything in our lives is shifting, God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He is the steady rock on which we can build our lives.

When everything changes, we can find refuge in the arms of a God who never does.

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What is one change you are still adjusting to? How does it feel to know that God’s character and love don’t change?

One of the hardest times of my life wasn’t a traumatic event (although I’ve faced several); it was when I got everything I had prayed for.

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When God Says "Yes" (But Your Heart Is a Mess) “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows” (James 1:17, NIV).

Night flowers, or “moon garden plants,” bloom in the pitch-black darkness, in colder temperatures, and when no one is around to witness their beautiful blooms. These flowers are fragrant and brightly colored, often white or yellow, reflecting the moon’s glow throughout the garden.

That’s you, I could almost hear the Lord gently whisper. And that’s you, my friend.

Even in suffering, loss, and devastation, God is growing deep roots forged through the hard and holy places of darkness. Even in our hidden faithfulness, our tears at night, and the uncomfortable place of brokenness, God is still working.

First Peter 5:10 encourages us, “And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.”

What hope we have in Jesus. So much good is happening beneath the surface that will grow into a gorgeous bloom that brings Him much glory. Keep holding on.

I know it may feel impossible to see any kind of good in your life right now. But what I can promise you is that God cares immensely. Hope isn’t far off or coming in a few years. You can have hope now because God is our hope. He is so faithful to use the tragedies of our lives to draw us to Himself, restore us, strengthen us, and grow us into the most stunning blooms that reflect His glory.

- Nicole Jacobsmeyer

In what ways do you see God working in your life and producing hope in the darkness?