Belief and doubt aren't opposites taking turns. Most days, they're roommates. A look at the father in Mark 9, who said both in the same breath, and the Jesus who healed his son anyway.

Jesus didn't need to touch the man to heal him. He did it anyway. A look at the leper in Mark 1, the isolation we choose for ourselves, and a God who reaches before we ever ask him to.

Peter expected a reckoning. He got breakfast instead. A look at Peter's return to Jesus after the denial, and a God who forgives the failure and restores the calling.

Jesus didn't want the short answer. He wanted the real one. A look at Bartimaeus, the question no one else was asking sincerely, and a gospel that engages what you actually desire.

I hate the news. All of it. And I used to think that made me compassion fatigued. What if compassion fatigue isn't the problem? What if it’s a formation problem? We don't drift into Christlike compassion. We're formed into it, shaped by what we see, sustained by prayer, proven by how we move toward the vulnerable.

How you see God determines what you do with everything he's given you. And most of us have been offering him something other than what he actually wants.

Do you struggle to ask for help? I certainly do. When my kids got a play-set for their birthday, I let it sit in boxes in my garage for months instead of asking for help. I told myself I'd get to it. I told myself I'd figure it out. But what I was really telling myself was that needing help was something to be avoided.

We spend years learning how to fit in. We learn to read the room, adjust, and perform, becoming versions of ourselves that feel more acceptable. But fitting in and belonging are not the same thing. We don’t just want to fit in. We want to belong.

We don’t just want to be seen. We don’t just want to be known. We want to be loved. Because beneath our desire for attention, understanding, and acceptance is something even deeper: the longing to be fully seen, fully known, and still chosen.

There’s a difference between someone understanding the words you’re sating and someone understanding you. And even when people “get” parts of us, something can still feel missing.
Because deep down, we don’t just want to be understood. We want to be known.