Unexpected Blessings

Just when I least expected it, God did something beautiful.

What started as a simple, almost hesitant question - “Would anyone be interested in exploring the Bible together?” - has become one of the most unexpected blessings of my life. There was no grand plan. No sense of readiness. Certainly no vision of leading anything. And yet… here we are.

Week after week (12 to be exact), a small group of women has gathered - showing up not because we have it all figured out, but because we are willing. Willing to be open. Willing to be honest. Willing to sit in the questions.

Somewhere along the way, something sacred formed.

Not just a Bible study… but a community. A space where disbelief is not shamed, but welcomed. Where questions are not rushed, but honored. Where anxieties, fears, joys, sorrows, and triumphs are all laid gently on the table and received with care.

“For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” - Matthew 18:20

In a world that so often asks us to have answers, to be certain, to present ourselves as “put together,” this space has become something different. Something softer. Something truer. We hold space for one another without judgment. We lift one another without condition. We sit with one another in both faith and unbelief—and somehow, both are sacred here. And it is changing us. We are becoming stronger, yet softer. More open. More willing. More steady. More confident. More loving. More of everything God designed us to be. 

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” — 2 Corinthians 12:9

Not because we’ve eliminated doubt, but because we’ve made room for it. Not because everything is clear, but because we are learning to trust the process of seeking.

On this Good Friday, I can’t help but think about how often God’s greatest gifts come disguised.

What looked like uncertainty became a connection. What felt like a small step became a steady rhythm. What began as a question became a doorway. An unexpected blessing. Because that’s the way of it, isn’t it?

Good Friday itself is the ultimate unexpected story - where sorrow holds the seeds of joy, where loss makes way for resurrection, where what appears to be the end is, in truth, a beginning.

“He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain… and by his wounds we are healed.”  - Isaiah 53:3,5

And maybe that’s what we’re experiencing in our own small way. New life growing in the middle of questions. Faith deepening in the presence of honesty. The Holy Spirit moving - not in perfection, but in presence. We are growing…learning…asking…receiving… And it's all so very, very good.

“And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds… encouraging one another." Hebrews 10:24–25

May the Grace of God and the promise of Resurrection and Renewal ill your heart this Good Friday.