The rain had been falling all day, silver sheets washing over the fields beyond Emma’s porch, blurring the horizon into a smudge of gray. She sat curled in the old wicker chair, wrapped in her grandmother’s quilt, a Bible unopened in her lap. The silence inside the house felt heavy, too large for just her and the ache in her heart.
Emma had built her life by careful plans. She was the list-maker, the goal-setter among her friends. College, career, marriage—every step plotted. But when her husband Aaron left, just months shy of their third anniversary, her whole map of life tore down the middle. Now, nothing felt certain. Everything she thought she knew about herself, about the future, about God’s blessings, seemed to have slipped away like the rain draining from the gutters.
She clenched the Bible tighter without opening it. “What do You want from me?” she whispered into the hush. Desperation welled up—raw, unfiltered. She wanted to live right. She wanted to follow God's will. But she didn't know how anymore.
The next gust of wind rattled the windowpanes, but a soft movement caught her attention. On the kitchen table lay her grandmother’s old notecard box—the one with all the handwritten Scripture promises tucked inside, yellowed and delicate. Emma’s heart nudged her toward it.
She drew a card at random, smoothing the creased edge as she read:
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight." (Proverbs 3:5-6)
Her vision blurred with sudden tears. She had leaned so heavily on her own understanding—and now, that understanding was rubble. Could it be that now, when she had nothing left, she was finally where she needed to be?
Emma closed her eyes and pressed the card against her chest. Maybe God's plan wasn’t about Emma having it all figured out, but about trusting Him to guide her when she didn’t. Maybe being aligned with His will meant surrender, not strategy.
The thought warmed her like a flickering candle in a dark room.
For the first time in weeks, Emma opened her Bible. The thin, familiar pages trembled under her fingers as she flipped to the Psalms. Her heart found its rhythm in the honest cries and fierce declarations of faith written there. Her burdens didn’t vanish, but they shifted—lightened—as she whispered aloud words written thousands of years ago by a man who had also known betrayal, loneliness, and sorrow.
By the time the rain slowed to a mist, Emma was sitting by the window, her cheeks damp with tears and a new kind of peace unfolding inside her. She understood now that living according to God's will didn't mean a life without pain or unexpected detours. It meant clinging to Him when everything else broke apart. It meant believing He was writing a story better than the one she had lost.
Outside, a vivid arc of color—soft and strong—spread across the sky. A rainbow. Emma laughed, startled by the sudden joy of it, like the hand of God reaching down just to remind her: "I am still here. I am still faithful."
She steeped herself in that moment—the beauty, the promise, the dawning certainty that she was not abandoned, not forgotten. She would walk forward, one step at a time, not always knowing the way, but trusting the One who did.
And for the first time in a long while, Emma didn’t feel quite so alone.
—
Supporting Bible Verses:
The rain had been falling all day, silver sheets washing over the fields beyond Emma’s porch, blurring the horizon into a smudge of gray. She sat curled in the old wicker chair, wrapped in her grandmother’s quilt, a Bible unopened in her lap. The silence inside the house felt heavy, too large for just her and the ache in her heart.
Emma had built her life by careful plans. She was the list-maker, the goal-setter among her friends. College, career, marriage—every step plotted. But when her husband Aaron left, just months shy of their third anniversary, her whole map of life tore down the middle. Now, nothing felt certain. Everything she thought she knew about herself, about the future, about God’s blessings, seemed to have slipped away like the rain draining from the gutters.
She clenched the Bible tighter without opening it. “What do You want from me?” she whispered into the hush. Desperation welled up—raw, unfiltered. She wanted to live right. She wanted to follow God's will. But she didn't know how anymore.
The next gust of wind rattled the windowpanes, but a soft movement caught her attention. On the kitchen table lay her grandmother’s old notecard box—the one with all the handwritten Scripture promises tucked inside, yellowed and delicate. Emma’s heart nudged her toward it.
She drew a card at random, smoothing the creased edge as she read:
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight." (Proverbs 3:5-6)
Her vision blurred with sudden tears. She had leaned so heavily on her own understanding—and now, that understanding was rubble. Could it be that now, when she had nothing left, she was finally where she needed to be?
Emma closed her eyes and pressed the card against her chest. Maybe God's plan wasn’t about Emma having it all figured out, but about trusting Him to guide her when she didn’t. Maybe being aligned with His will meant surrender, not strategy.
The thought warmed her like a flickering candle in a dark room.
For the first time in weeks, Emma opened her Bible. The thin, familiar pages trembled under her fingers as she flipped to the Psalms. Her heart found its rhythm in the honest cries and fierce declarations of faith written there. Her burdens didn’t vanish, but they shifted—lightened—as she whispered aloud words written thousands of years ago by a man who had also known betrayal, loneliness, and sorrow.
By the time the rain slowed to a mist, Emma was sitting by the window, her cheeks damp with tears and a new kind of peace unfolding inside her. She understood now that living according to God's will didn't mean a life without pain or unexpected detours. It meant clinging to Him when everything else broke apart. It meant believing He was writing a story better than the one she had lost.
Outside, a vivid arc of color—soft and strong—spread across the sky. A rainbow. Emma laughed, startled by the sudden joy of it, like the hand of God reaching down just to remind her: "I am still here. I am still faithful."
She steeped herself in that moment—the beauty, the promise, the dawning certainty that she was not abandoned, not forgotten. She would walk forward, one step at a time, not always knowing the way, but trusting the One who did.
And for the first time in a long while, Emma didn’t feel quite so alone.
—
Supporting Bible Verses:
