You're the one people call. The steady one. The one everyone else borrows faith from on their worst days. But lately, there's a question you haven't said out loud. Not to your small group, not in worship, maybe not even fully to yourself: is God actually paying attention to any of this? In this episode, we sit with a man who knew that exact tension. John the Baptist was the most certain person in Scripture. He's the one who pointed at Jesus in front of a crowd and called him the Lamb of God. B...
Some of us aren't just tired. Some of us are managing something specific: a name, a season, a version of ourselves we've built a whole avoidance strategy around, just so certain people never connect the dots. This week continues What's Behind Your Smile? with a question one layer deeper than where we started. If "fine" is the general cover story, this episode asks what's underneath the specific one. Melissa sits with the woman at the well in John 4, a woman who'd learned to time her entire day ...
Is anyone actually fine? Or have we all just gotten really good at saying it? Welcome to a brand new series: What's Behind Your Smile? Over the next five episodes, we're taking an honest look at what people are quietly carrying behind the version of themselves the world gets to see. In this opener, Melissa talks about the reflex answer we give without even checking if it's true, why "fine" has become the price of admission into a normal conversation, and what 1 Samuel 16:7 has to say about a G...
Somewhere along the way, you stopped praying for it. Maybe you called it making your peace. Maybe you called it being realistic. Maybe you never called it anything at all — the prayer just slipped off the list, and you never noticed the day it went quiet. And here's the lie most of us believe about coming back: that you have to fix the reason first. That you have to stop being tired, get over the disappointment, lose the fear, or finally feel like you matter — and then you're allowed to pr...
When life falls apart, most people have someone they call. The steady one. The one who prays, who checks in, who always seems to show up. Maybe that person is you. So here's a question worth sitting with: when life falls apart for you — who do you call? And when did you last pray as hard for yourself as you pray for everyone else? This week on My Question for You, we're naming the prayer a lot of faithful people quietly set down somewhere along the way: the one for themselves. My Question for...
There's a name you used to bring to God all the time. And somewhere along the way — without ever really deciding to — you stopped. Maybe it's a child who walked away. A sibling who went quiet. A friend on the same loop you've watched for years. Someone who hurt you. You prayed for them, you really did… until somewhere in there you quietly concluded they were never going to change — and the prayer went quiet right along with that thought. This week, Melissa sits with the prayers we stopped pray...
You ever look at your phone, see who's calling, and just… let it go to voicemail? Not because you don't love them. You do. But you knew the second you saw the name on the screen — if you pick up, they're going to ask you for something. And you don't have it in you to say yes right now. A lot of us have been doing the exact same thing with God. In Episode 3 of The Prayers I Stopped Praying, Melissa asks the question we don't always want to ask out loud: What if you're afraid of what He'll ask?...
You ever apply for a job you really wanted? You spent hours on it. You tailored the resume. You wrote and rewrote the cover letter. You hit submit, and you waited. A day. A week. Two weeks. Nothing. And the worst part wasn't getting a no. Because at least a no is an answer. The worst part was the silence. A lot of us have been praying like that. In Episode 2 of The Prayers I Stopped Praying, Melissa asks: Did you stop praying because He didn't answer? Together, we'll sit with Mary and Marth...
ou didn't decide to stop praying for it. There was no fight with God. No moment where you sat down and said, "I'm done with this one." It just got quieter. And one day you noticed it hadn't been on your lips in a long time. In the premiere of The Prayers I Stopped Praying — a new six-part series — Melissa opens with a question most of us have never said out loud: When did you stop praying for that? Together, we'll sit with Hannah from 1 Samuel 1 — a woman who had every reason to stop praying, a...
I've got the rhythm. Here's the description for the finale — Buzzsprout-optimized, season-finale weight, threading the pull-quote, and seeding Series 2 without selling it. 🎙 S3 E7 — Podcast Description "Is This Ever Going to Change?" (Series Finale) OPTION 1 — RECOMMENDED (warm, season-finale weight) There's a prayer you've been praying for a long time. Maybe it's a healing. A relationship. A door that hasn't opened. A version of your life you've been hoping God would help you step into. And...
You did it again. You meant it this time. You prayed about it. You told yourself things were going to be different. And somewhere along the way, you blinked — and you were right back in the same pattern, having the same conversation in your head you've been having for years. If that's where you are, this episode is for you. In Episode 6 of The Question Behind the Question, we're sitting with one of the most honest questions a believer can ask: Why can't I change? Underneath it, there's a quie...
Some questions don't announce themselves. They show up late at night, when you're scanning your past for the reason something in your present feels stuck. Did I do something wrong? In this episode of My Question for You, Melissa sits with the quieter question underneath that one: Am I being punished by God for who I used to be? Anchored in John 9:1-3 and the story of Paul — first in his past (1 Timothy 1) and then in his present (2 Corinthians 12) — this reflection gently dismantles the hidden e...
You've been showing up. For years. You tithe. You serve. You volunteer. You pray. You choose faithfully, even when it costs you something. And your life still looks... about the same. Maybe even the same as the person next to you who isn't doing any of this. In fact — if you're being honest — his life might actually look a little better. And in a quiet moment you'd never say out loud in church, a question surfaces: What's the point? In this episode, Melissa walks you through two voices in Scr...
We've all whispered it. Sometimes as frustration — why is this happening to me? Sometimes as comparison — why does it seem so easy for everyone else? And sometimes as a quiet ache about who we are — why did God make me like this? In this episode, Melissa walks you to Moses at the burning bush, where the most reluctant leader in Scripture asked God "Why me?" not once, but five times. What unfolds is a deeply personal exploration of the question hiding underneath: Am I trusting God with who I am —...
Why does waiting feel so heavy… especially when you’re praying and nothing seems to move? In this episode, we sit with one of the most honest questions of faith: Why is this taking so long? Through the story of Habakkuk, we uncover what’s really underneath that question—and it might be deeper than you think. This isn’t just about waiting. It’s about trust. If you’ve ever wondered whether God sees you, hears you, or is actually working in the silence… this episode will meet you right there. T...
What if the question you’ve been asking God… isn’t the real question? In this opening episode of Season 3, we take a moment to slow down, look back, and recognize what the last season has been shaping in us—before stepping into what’s next. Because sometimes the most important shift doesn’t happen when we find answers… it happens when we finally understand what we’re really asking. This season begins with a simple invitation: to go deeper. To move beyond surface-level questions and gently ...
