Good morning, friends.

Have you ever heard someone share a story about something God has done in their life and found yourself thinking about your own? I love when that happens.

Not when someone’s story leaves us impressed by them, but when it somehow helps us notice Jesus. Maybe they tell us about a season when He met them in grief, provided when they couldn’t see a way forward, gently redirected them, or simply stayed close when life felt impossibly hard. Their circumstances may look nothing like ours, and yet something in their story causes us to wonder, Where has Jesus been meeting me?

Those are my favorite kinds of stories.

I’ve shared quite a few of my own through the years, here with you, across coffee tables, and sometimes from a stage. But I’ve never wanted my stories to leave people thinking primarily about me. My hope is always that somewhere in the telling, you begin remembering your own. That something Jesus did in my life helps you recognize one of His fingerprints in yours.

Because the story was never really about us anyway.

It’s always been about Him.

Scripture Reading

Psalm 66:16 (NLT)
2 Corinthians 5:17-20 (NLT)

Pause and Reflect

We’ve spent the past several weeks talking about what happens when the life Jesus is growing within us begins to move outward. We’ve talked about loving people well, listening, encouraging, forgiving, serving without needing to be seen, carrying His peace into the rooms we enter, and noticing Him in the ordinary places of our lives.

And maybe by now you’re beginning to see the thread running through all of it.

Reflecting Jesus isn’t about becoming impressive Christians. It’s about becoming people whose lives quietly point beyond ourselves to Him.

Sometimes that happens through the way we live. Other times, someone may ask why we have hope in a difficult season or how we found peace when life didn’t make sense, and suddenly we have an opportunity to tell a little of the story.

I’ve learned that sharing our stories doesn’t require having everything neatly resolved. We don’t need a dramatic testimony or a perfectly polished ending. Sometimes the most honest thing we can say is, “I’m still walking through this, but let me tell you where I’ve seen Jesus meet me.”

There is something beautiful about that kind of testimony because it takes the pressure off us to have all the answers. We’re simply pointing toward the One who has been faithful.

I think about the people who have done that for me through the years. Their stories didn’t make me want their lives. They made me want to know their Jesus more deeply. They showed me something about His character that I needed to see: His kindness, His patience, His faithfulness, His ability to redeem what seemed beyond repair.

And their stories became little signposts along my own journey.

Perhaps ours can do the same.

When I think again about the sunflower we’ve followed throughout this year, I realize we’ve come a long way from those first weeks of simply turning toward the Light. We received. We allowed Jesus to tend places beneath the surface. We began becoming more deeply rooted in what is true. And then, almost without realizing it, what He was growing inside us began showing on the outside.

That’s reflection.

A sunflower never becomes the sun. It simply stands in the light long enough that something about its life bears witness to the source that has sustained it.

I want my life to do that too.

Not to make people think I have everything figured out, but to leave little evidence along the way that Jesus has been here.

Soul Care Practice: Remember and Tell

Spend a little time with Jesus this week and look back over your own story.

You might ask:

“Jesus, where have You been especially faithful to me?”

Don’t search for the biggest or most dramatic story. Simply notice what comes to mind. Perhaps He met you in a season of uncertainty, carried you through a loss, brought someone into your life at exactly the right time, changed something in your heart, or helped you recognize His presence in a place you once thought He was absent.

Write a few sentences about what happened, but then take one more step. Ask yourself:

“What does this story show me about Jesus?”

Maybe it reminds you that He is faithful, patient, near, merciful, trustworthy, or kind.

That’s the treasure in the story.

If an opportunity naturally comes this week, share that small piece of your story with someone else. Not because you need to force a spiritual conversation, but because sometimes telling someone where you’ve seen Jesus helps them begin looking for Him too.

Carry It With You

As you move through your week, listen for the moments when someone’s story intersects with yours.

Instead of immediately thinking about what advice you might offer, quietly ask Jesus whether there is something from your own journey that might help that person see Him more clearly.

Sometimes the most meaningful thing we can offer is simply:

“I’ve walked through something like that too. Can I tell you where I found Jesus in it?”

Then let the story point where it was always meant to point.

Back to Him.

Prayer

Jesus,

When I look back over my life, I can see places where You were present long before I recognized what You were doing. Thank You for every moment You have met me, carried me, redirected me, forgiven me, restored me, and patiently taught me to trust You.

Help me remember that my story is ultimately a story of Your faithfulness.

Keep me from needing to make myself the center of what I share. Instead, teach me to tell the truth about the places where You have met me in ways that help others recognize Your goodness and perhaps begin noticing Your presence in their own lives.

Thank You for the people whose lives have pointed me toward You. May my life do the same for someone else.

In Your precious name, Amen.

Until Next Monday…

As we come to the end of this Reflecting season, I’ve been thinking about where we began. We weren’t trying to become brighter or more impressive. We were learning to turn toward the Light.

And perhaps that’s the beautiful surprise of this entire journey.

The more time we spend looking toward Jesus, the less concerned we become with whether anyone is looking at us.

We simply keep receiving His love, allowing Him to shape us, and responding to the people and places He puts in front of us. Over time, our lives begin telling a story we could never manufacture on our own.

A story of His faithfulness.

Next week, we’ll begin a new part of our Rooted and Radiant journey. We’ve spent these weeks considering what it means to reflect His light outward. Now we’re going to explore something quieter and deeper: what it looks like to remain when growth isn’t exciting, visible, or new.

Because some of the deepest work Jesus does in us happens when no one can see it at all.

Until next Monday, keep turning toward the Light, friends. And wherever your story takes you this week, may your life gently point someone back to the One who has been faithful through every chapter.