Last week, while the girls and I were shopping, I wandered into a store I hadn’t even planned to visit. On a shelf, tucked between journals and devotionals, I spotted The Daily 5-Minute Bible Study for Women. I tossed it into my cart almost casually, but in my spirit I knew it was more than just an impulse buy. It felt like an invitation. A whisper from God: Come and meet Me here.

This morning, like so many mornings before, I had a choice to make — long before the coffee pot gurgled to life, before the girls stirred in their beds, before the day even knew it had begun.

Did I really want to step outside into that muggy Deep East Texas air, knowing that even before 8 o’clock it could wrap itself around me like a heavy, damp blanket? Some days, a soft breeze meets me at the door, tender as a whisper from heaven. Other days, I drag the fan outside, praying it will stir the still air enough to keep the sweat from running down my neck.

The choice is always the same: stay curled up in the tangle of blankets and children’s limbs after another night of ghost sightings and sibling pranks gone too far — or slip outside into the chorus of my backyard world.

Out there, the roosters (all three of them) declare the morning without ceasing. Birds carry on their scattered conversations in the trees above. The low hum of the pool filter becomes a steady backdrop. Soft spa music floats from my phone — my way of stilling the noise inside so I can hear the voice of God without. And then, as the sun lifts its head over the horizon, a golden glow spills through the trees — a daily, living reminder that His mercies are new every morning.

This past week, I have been choosing the second option. I get up. I gather coffee and the essentials. I go out. I sit with Him.

It’s been weeks since I’ve stepped inside a church. Life has been full … or maybe I simply let the days slip away without making room. But this morning felt different. I woke up with a stead pull, a quiet nudge that could only come from Him — Open your Bible. Start this study.

There is was, waiting for me: “We don’t know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.” — Romans 8:26

The words stopped. Because truthfully, I didn’t know what to pray. I didn’t have the right words — maybe I didn’t even have the strength to find them. But here’s what the Lord reminded me: I don’t need perfect words. I don’t have to come polished, composed, or eloquent. God already knows my heart. The Spirit is already filling in the blanks for me.

And in that moment, it didn’t matter that I had been away for weeks. It didn’t matter that my prayers were messy, unfinished, or silent. What mattered was that I showed up today.

And that … was enough.

Sometimes, the heaviest weight is the one we carry in silence — the unspoken needs, the quiet aches, the questions without answers. I am never left to carry them alone. Even when my lips can’t form the words, the Spirit is already speaking on our behalf. Today reminded me that showing up in His presence — with all my mess, my silence, and my uncertainty — is more than enough for Him. Maybe, just maybe, it’s enough for me too.