seen differently

You judge by human standards; I pass judgment on no one. But if I do judge, my decisions are true, because I am not alone. I stand with the Father, who sent me.
- John 8:15-16
 
Last week, I shared a very personal part of my story on social media — my lifelong battle with weight. It was vulnerable and honestly a little scary to put out there, because people can be cruel, even when they don’t realize the lasting impact of their words.
I’ve struggled with my weight since before I was even a teenager. I know what it feels like to be judged by appearance before people ever know your heart. I remember wearing an outfit my freshman year of high school that I thought was cute — soft lavender, something that made me feel confident for once. Instead, I got mocked and called “grape ape” by other students.
Those kinds of moments stick with you.
I also became very familiar with backhanded compliments like, “You have such a pretty face,” or “You’re beautiful inside.” Even when people didn’t mean harm, it reinforced the feeling that I was being measured by human standards and found lacking.
The truth is, people are often quick to judge what they can see on the outside. Jesus understood that better than anyone. In today’s verse, He reminds us that human judgment is flawed, shallow, and incomplete. God sees differently. He sees the heart. He sees worth where others see imperfections. He sees beloved children where the world sees labels.
And friend, that doesn’t apply only to weight. People judge jobs, appearances, mistakes, past failures, finances, families, personalities — all kinds of things. But God’s love has never been based on whether we fit someone else’s standards.
I think one of the hardest things to learn is that our value was never meant to come from the opinions of others. It comes from the One who created us.
So if words from your past still echo in your mind sometimes, remember this: people may define you by what they see, but God defines you by who you are to Him. And His voice matters most.
 
#dailybreadbykitty
Daily Inspiration from the Bible

mass destruction

 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.
- 2 Corinthians 4:8-9 (NIV)
 
Saturday night, my husband and I took the grandkids to the demolition derby for the very first time. We came prepared — fair food plans already mapped out, little “Mickey Mouse” headphones packed to help with the noise, and enough excitement to fill the whole grandstand.
If you’ve ever been to a demolition derby, you know it’s organized chaos. Engines roaring. Metal crunching. Car parts flying. Drivers intentionally smashing into each other until only one vehicle is left moving. Between heats there was amateur wrestling that felt straight out of WWE, and honestly, the whole thing was loud, wild, and hilarious.
My granddaughter and I picked our favorite cars each round and cheered like crazy for them. Of course, our picks didn’t win most of the time (ok, ours did not win at all). By the end of the night, the cars that started shiny and whole were completely wrecked. Bent frames. Blown engines. Crumpled doors. Those cars will never be the same again.
On the drive home, I kept thinking about how life can feel a little like that sometimes. We get hit from all sides — disappointment, stress, grief, bad choices, heartbreak, exhaustion. Sometimes we even participate in our own destruction by carrying things we were never meant to hold onto.
The difference is this: when a demolition derby car is destroyed, it usually ends up in a scrapyard. But when we are broken, God doesn’t throw us away. He restores. He rebuilds. He heals what looks beyond repair.
Maybe today you feel dented up by life. Maybe your spirit feels crushed under the weight of everything happening around you. Friend, God is still in the business of restoration. What feels ruined to you is not ruined to Him.
And unlike those derby cars… through Him, we really can become new again.
 
#dailybreadbykitty
Daily Inspiration from the Bible

missing pieces

In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.
- Proverbs 16:9
 
I raised three boys, so pigtails and Barbie dolls were never really part of my world. My house was more noise, amphibians showing up on the counter, muddy shoes, video games, and endless amounts of food disappearing from the kitchen.
My husband used to joke that it was probably a good thing we never had girls because we wouldn’t know what to do with them anyway.
And honestly, there were moments over the years when I would see mother-daughter events or walk past tiny dresses, bows, and sparkly little girl things and feel a quiet sadness. Not overwhelming grief, just one of those little missing pieces in life I assumed I would never experience.
But God.
Years ago, when my son took a friend’s daughter to senior prom “just as friends,” her mom invited me to go prom dress shopping with them. And suddenly there I was in the middle of a frilly, laughter-filled day of dresses, shoes, accessories, excitement, and memories I never thought I would get to have.
At the time, I thought maybe God was simply letting me borrow a beautiful moment.
But God wasn’t finished yet.
Now I have this amazing woman and granddaughter in my life, and suddenly I do get to enjoy those things. I get to buy the pink froo-froo stuff. I get to enjoy the sparkles, the little girl moments, the laughter, the sweet memories I once thought would always belong to someone else.
And looking back now, I can see something important:
sometimes God fills the missing pieces in ways we never could have planned for ourselves.
Life does not always unfold according to our expectations. Some prayers are answered differently than we imagined. Some dreams arrive through side doors we never noticed before.
But God sees the quiet places in our hearts too.
He knows the things we never say out loud. The little disappointments. The silent longings. The pieces we think are permanently missing.
And somehow, in His goodness, He has a way of weaving beauty into places we thought would always stay empty.
Maybe not always the way we expected.
But often in ways that become even more meaningful.
 
#dailybreadbykitty
Daily Inspiration from the Bible

tiny things

Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin.
- Zechariah 4:10a (NLT)
 
Babies are tiny.
Tiny fingers. Tiny toes. Tiny cries in the middle of the night that somehow completely change your entire world forever.
But they don’t stay tiny for long.
Today, I want to give a happy birthday shout out to my youngest son. I hope your day is as blessed as you made mine the day you came into this world. It feels impossible sometimes how quickly the years move. One minute you are rocking a baby to sleep, and the next you are wondering where all that time went.
Life has taught me something important though: the little moments are usually the ones that matter most.
Sometimes we think only the giant milestones count. The promotions. The big celebrations. The dramatic life-changing moments. But most of life is built from small things that quietly shape our hearts over time.
A text message from the right person on a hard day.
A hug that lasts a little longer than expected.
A prayer whispered when someone is hurting.
Someone remembering your name.
Hearing the exact worship song you needed at the exact right moment.
Someone simply sitting beside you while life hurts.
Small things become holy things.
One of my favorite movie quotes comes from Steel Magnolias:
“I would rather have thirty minutes of wonderful than a lifetime of nothing special.”
I love that line because life is not measured only in years or accomplishments. Sometimes the most meaningful moments are brief, ordinary, and easy to overlook if we are not paying attention.
Jesus often worked through small things too — loaves and fishes, mustard seeds, simple conversations, gentle touches.
Never underestimate what God can do through one small act of love.
The little things matter more than we realize.
 
#dailybreadbykitty
Daily Inspiration from the Bible

quiet

The Lord said, ‘Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.’ Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.
- 1 Kings 19:11-12 (NIV)
 
Life is loud.
Notifications constantly going off. Opinions coming from every direction. Busy schedules. Work stress. Social media scrolling. Television running in the background. People talking. Music playing. News updates. Alerts. Noise everywhere.
Sometimes I don’t think we even realize how mentally exhausted we are until we finally sit in silence.
Saturday mornings used to be one of my favorite times of the week when the kids were younger. I would curl up on the couch with a cup of coffee, a good book, and usually a cat stretched out beside me while my husband and the kids were still asleep. The house would be completely quiet, and honestly, it felt peaceful in a way that’s hard to describe.
One morning, one of the kids wandered out into the living room and asked, “Do you want me to turn on the TV?”
My response may have been a little quicker — and maybe a little sharper — than I intended:
“There doesn’t always have to be noise.”
But honestly? I still think about that moment.
Because somewhere along the way, we started filling every quiet space. We reach for our phones while standing in line. We turn on background noise the second we walk into the house. We scroll while watching television while also carrying on conversations. We are constantly surrounded by input.
Yet in this passage, God was not found in the wind, the earthquake, or the fire.
He came in a gentle whisper.
I wonder how often God is speaking softly while we are too distracted to hear Him.
Not every moment needs to be filled. Not every silence needs to be fixed. Sometimes the most holy thing we can do is sit quietly in the presence of God and simply listen.
Maybe today we all need a little less noise and a little more whisper.
 
#dailybreadbykitty
Daily Inspiration from the Bible

unfinished

This is the reason I am working. God’s great power is working in me.
- Colossians 1:29 (NLV)
 
I’m a planner. I like things organized, timelines laid out, and checklists neatly completed. I like knowing what comes next and feeling like everything is moving according to plan.
But life rarely cooperates with my carefully arranged schedules.
Some things take longer than we expected. Some dreams get delayed. Some healing takes years. Some lessons have to be learned more than once. And sometimes we simply run out of energy halfway through something we were sure we would finish quickly.
I actually have a cross stitch project that I started back in the 1990s that is still unfinished. At this point, I honestly do not know if I will ever go back and finish it. Somewhere along the way, life happened. Priorities shifted. Time moved on.
And you know what? That’s okay.
Because maybe that unfinished project is a reminder that all of us are still unfinished too.
We are all works in progress. None of us have perfectly figured out faith, relationships, patience, forgiveness, or trust. We are still learning. Still growing. Still stumbling and getting back up again.
The beautiful thing is that God is not intimidated by our unfinished places.
In fact, when we admit that we are unfinished, we open our hearts to the work He still wants to do in us. Pride says, “I’ve got this.” Faith says, “Lord, keep working on me.”
God’s power is still working in us even when we feel incomplete.
Maybe especially then.
So if you feel like your life is a little unfinished right now — if plans changed, progress slowed down, or things don’t look as polished as you hoped — take heart. God is still writing your story, one stitch at a time.
 
#dailybreadbykitty
Daily Inspiration from the Bible

mom

When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, ‘Woman, here is your son,’ and to the disciple, ‘Here is your mother.’ From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.
- John 19:26-27 (NIV)
 
Yesterday we celebrated Mother’s Day. Honestly, this should never be the only day we stop and acknowledge all the things moms do, but I do love that there is a special day set aside to say, “We see you. We appreciate you. We love you.”
The older I get, the more I realize I was raised by a whole tribe of mamas.
My birth mother loved me enough to give me a chance at a better life through adoption, and for that I will always be thankful. My adoptive mother fed me, clothed me, encouraged me, and did the best she knew how to do. My mother-in-law became part of the family that shaped my life into what it is today.
And then there were the other moms. The friend’s moms who stepped in during moments when I needed comfort, guidance, laughter, or simply someone to notice I wasn’t okay. The women who hugged me just as tightly as they hugged their own children. The women who loved without obligation.
When I read these verses in John, I love that even while Jesus was suffering on the cross, He was still thinking about His mother. In one of the most painful moments imaginable, He made sure she would be cared for and loved.
That says something beautiful about the heart of God.
Motherhood is not just biology. It is sacrifice, nurturing, protecting, praying, comforting, guiding, and loving. Sometimes motherhood comes through birth, sometimes through adoption, sometimes through marriage, friendship, foster care, mentorship, or simply showing up for someone when they need it most.
We celebrate all moms.
The moms who are raising babies and the moms who are raising grown children. The moms whose children are far away serving our country. The moms who carry grief because their children are no longer here. The women missing their own mothers today. The women loving children that are not biologically theirs. The spiritual moms. The bonus moms. The foster moms. The adoptive moms.
And yes, even the fur-baby mommas — we see you too. 💙
Love like that leaves fingerprints on hearts forever.
 
#dailybreadbykitty
Daily Inspiration from the Bible