Grounded Spirit I

September | Grounded Spirit: Staying Steady in the Changing Seasons

This month, I’m exploring what it means to be a Grounded Spirit. For me, being grounded doesn’t mean having everything figured out or knowing exactly where life is taking me. It means being present enough to recognize what I know, pay attention to what’s showing up around me, and move with intention from where I am.

Throughout September, I’ll explore Grounded Spirit through Scripture, symbolism, reflection, prayer, and everyday life. Each day may bring a different message, but they all connect back to the same question: How do I remain grounded while still allowing myself to grow, change, and become?

This weekly reflection is where I go deeper into the Scripture behind those messages, including the full chapter context, historical and traditional perspectives, the symbolism I see, and what I understand through my own discernment.

My Understanding, Not My Inheritance.

Begin Where You Are

Zechariah 4:10

“Do not despise these small beginnings, for the LORD rejoices to see the work begin, to see the plumb line in Zerubbabel’s hand.”

Zechariah 4:10 NLT-CE

What if what you’re waiting to see already exists within you?

Zechariah is a story of rebuilding. The people had returned from exile, the Temple was unfinished, and what stood before them did not yet look like the vision of what it could become.

Yet, Zechariah 4:10 says not to despise the small beginning.

Small: limited in size, amount, or degree.

Beginning: the point where something starts.

Put those together and a small beginning isn’t evidence that nothing is happening. It means something has started.

A thought becomes an idea.

An idea becomes a vision.

A vision becomes a choice.

Our choices begin creating what we eventually see.

That’s the blueprint.

Something can exist within us before it becomes visible around us. The vision may be clear while the physical evidence is still small.

That’s why Begin Where You Are is different from settle for where you are.

One acknowledges your starting point.

The other makes it your destination.

Grounded Spirit

Grounded: mentally and emotionally stable, sensible, and connected to what is real.

Grounding: the practice of bringing yourself back to the present moment and what is happening now.

Spiritually, I see grounding as being present enough to recognize what is already here while remaining connected to what I know within myself.

I can have a vision for peace, but what choices am I making today that create peace?

I can have a vision for meaningful work, but what can I create, organize, learn, or put into motion today?

I can envision healthier relationships, but what boundaries and behaviors support them now?

The vision gives me direction.

Grounding brings me back to where my feet actually are.

The Plumb Line | Alignment

Then there is the plumb line.

Plumb line: a cord with a weight attached to the bottom, traditionally used by builders to determine whether something is vertically straight.

In everyday language: before you keep building, you check whether what you’ve already built is straight.

Spiritually, I see the plumb line as alignment and discernment.

My vision can tell me where I want to go, but I still need something that helps me recognize whether my present choices are building in that direction.

Does this decision support what I’m building?

Does this relationship?

Does this habit?

Does this environment?

Sometimes moving forward doesn’t require a completely new blueprint.

Sometimes I need to check the plumb line and make an adjustment.

The Measuring Line | Giving the Unseen Dimensions

Zechariah 2 introduces a man carrying a measuring line to measure Jerusalem.

Dimension: a measurable part of something, such as its length, width, height, depth, or extent.

A vision within me can feel limitless because it doesn’t have physical boundaries yet.

Dimensions begin giving that vision form.

Spiritually, I see the vision as the unseen.

Giving it dimensions means giving the unseen enough structure to begin becoming something I can interact with in the physical world.

“I want peace” becomes:

What does peace look like in my home?

What does peace sound like in my conversations?

What gets access to my peace?

What doesn’t?

“I want meaningful work” becomes:

What am I creating?

Who does it serve?

What can I begin doing with what I already have?

The vision hasn’t changed.

Now it has somewhere to go.

The Olive Trees | Rooted Peace + Illumination

Zechariah 4 places two olive trees beside the lampstand. Olive trees produce olives, and olive oil was used as fuel for lamps.

Tree → Oil → Light

Olive oil carries another spiritual meaning for me.

Throughout Scripture, oil is also connected with anointing and consecration, meaning something or someone being set apart for sacred purpose. That symbolism continues physically in the Church today through holy oils used in rites such as Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Orders, and Anointing of the Sick

I’m not only seeing oil as something that keeps the lamp burning. Spiritually, I see:

Tree → Source

Oil → Anointing + Sustenance

Lamp → Vessel

Light → Illumination

Something rooted produces the oil.

The oil supplies the vessel.

The vessel carries the light.

Then I connect the olive tree with another familiar symbol: extending an olive branch.

Peace.

Reconciliation.

Restoration.

Now the symbolism begins telling me a much larger story: Rootedness → Source → Anointing → Illumination → Peace.

The tree has to be rooted to keep producing, not by force nor by strength.

Zechariah 4:6 says:

“It is not by force nor by strength, but by my Spirit…”

There is still building to do.

There are still choices to make.

There is still work happening in the physical world.

What I hear in this is that everything doesn’t have to be forced into existence simply because I have a vision for it.

I can recognize the vision.

Check my alignment.

Use what is already available.

Take the next step.

Then allow what I cannot control to unfold.

Spirit does not eliminate the building process.

Spirit changes how I move through it.

Four repeats throughout Zechariah.

Four horns.

Four craftsmen.

Four chariots.

Four winds.

In my personal numerology:

4 | Sacred Shelter

Protection through divine order.

Four also gives me the imagery of structure.

Four corners.

Four walls.

Four directions.

Something capable of holding and protecting what exists within it.

That connects naturally to rebuilding.

Before I decorate the house, there has to be something capable of holding the house up.

Spiritually, four brings me back to foundation.

Seven also repeats throughout Zechariah, including seven lamps and seven eyes.

In my personal numerology:

7 | Divine Timing

Aligned and anointed. The holy hush before elevation.

What is unfolding does not have to be rushed.

That changes how I look at small beginnings.

If something is small because it has only just begun, why am I comparing it to something that has already had time to grow?

A beginning has its own timing.

So does building.

Small doesn’t mean stagnant.

Sometimes small simply means still becoming.

Time + Season

Zechariah keeps giving us dates.

The book begins in the eighth month of the second year of King Darius.

Zechariah 1:7 places the night visions on the 24th day of Shebat, the eleventh month, during Darius’s second year.

1+7=8

8 | Sacred shift.

Strength for transformation.

Spiritual mastery in motion.

2+4=6

6 | Sacred reflection.

Realignment through remembering.

Healing through harmony.

1+1=2

2

2 | Sacred balance. Alignment between Spirit and self. Partnership with purpose.

Later, Zechariah 7:1 marks another message on the fourth day of Kislev, the ninth month, during Darius’s fourth year.

7+1=8

8 | Sacred shift.

Strength for transformation. Spiritual mastery in motion.

Today, we organize our lives using our familiar twelve-month Gregorian calendar. Zechariah comes from a different calendar system and historical world, but I find it interesting that these spiritual visions are still attached to specific moments in physical time.

There is a spiritual experience.

There is also a day.

A month.

A year.

A ruler.

A city.

A Temple.

Materials.

Builders.

Work being done.

Vision has a timestamp.

Something can exist within the unseen while meeting me at a very specific point in my physical life.

That makes me think differently about divine timing too.

Maybe everything isn’t supposed to happen simply because I can see it.

Maybe there is also a time for what I see to become what I can physically experience.

Begin Where You Are

Being a Grounded Spirit means learning how to hold both:

The vision and the ground beneath my feet.

I can believe in something I cannot physically see yet while still being honest about what exists today.

I can ask for signs while still making choices.

I can trust Divine Timing while still doing the work.

I can recognize something within myself before there is physical evidence around me.

The blueprint matters.

So does the first brick.

Zechariah 4:10 doesn’t ask me to pretend the building is already finished.

It reminds me not to dismiss what is happening simply because it has only just begun.

So instead of asking whether I have everything figured out, I ask:

What do I already know?

What is already in my hands?

What can I build from here?

Maybe the vision isn’t asking me to have it all figured out.

Maybe it’s asking what I’m going to do with what I already know.

Begin Where You Are.

I Used to Pray

God, show me a sign so I know it’s real.

Help me skip the struggle and get to the breakthrough.

Remove what’s in my way.

Now I Pray

Most High God Thank You for the vision You’ve already placed in me.

Help me trust the process and make faithful choices that build what You have already shown me.

Guide me one step at a time.

There is a difference between asking for the entire path to be revealed and trusting what you already know enough to take the next step.

For me, Grounded Spirit is learning to stay present in that space.

I can still ask for signs. Plenty! Daily! Isaiah 7:11 will always hold a special place for me because I believe signs can help us recognize what is already being revealed.

What has changed is my relationship with the sign…. I don’t need the sign to do the building for me.

I can recognize the vision, check my alignment, use what is already in my hands, and begin where I am.

Affirmation

I trust what I know, honor where I am, and use what is already in my hands to take the next aligned step.

Psalm 46:10 | NLT-CE

“Stop your fighting and know that I am God. I am honored by every nation. I am honored throughout the world.”

Stillness.

Not inactivity.

Not giving up the vision.

Not refusing to build.

Stillness gives me space to stop fighting everything into place long enough to recognize what is already here.

Zechariah gives builders, measurements, a plumb line, oil, lamps, olive trees, Spirit, and an unfinished Temple.

There is physical work happening throughout the story. Yet, the message remains:

“It is not by force nor by strength, but by my Spirit…” Zechariah 4:6 NLT-CE

Maybe being grounded is knowing the difference between what requires hands and what requires trust.

I build what is mine to build.

I align what is mine to align.

I release what is not mine to force.

Then I Begin Where I Am.

Current Circumstances are NOT Permanent Limitations. Believe It to See It.

Spiritually Speaking, Tikisha

8/30/2026 9:29 AM EST

Find Your Footing

Psalm 40:2

“He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along.”

Psalm 40:2 NLT-CE

What helps you find your footing when the path is uncertain?

The vision doesn’t require having everything figured out. We can begin where we are, use what is already in our hands, and trust that the next step can become clearer as we move.

What happens when I begin where I am, but where I am is muddy?

What happens when I know the direction, but I don’t feel completely steady?

What happens when the path doesn’t suddenly become clear just because I decided to walk it?

The Pit | Where I Was

Psalm 40 begins with waiting. The psalmist describes crying out, being heard, being lifted from a pit, being pulled from mud and mire, and having his feet placed on solid ground.

A pit is a low place.

Physically, a pit can be difficult to climb out of because you are below the surrounding ground. Depending on its depth, you may not be able to simply step out.

Spiritually, there are places in life where we can see where we want to be and still not know how to get there.

There are situations where I understand something mentally, but my physical circumstances have not caught up with that understanding.

There are moments when I know I need to move, yet I don’t feel like I have enough stability underneath me to do it.

The pit gives me a picture of being somewhere that I no longer want to remain.

Psalm 40 doesn’t end in the pit.

The pit is part of the story.

It isn’t the whole story.

The Mud | What Cannot Hold Me

Then there is the mud.

Mud changes footing.

You can walk perfectly well on dry ground and suddenly find yourself adjusting your entire body when the ground becomes wet, uneven, or slippery.

Same feet.

Same person.

Different conditions.

That made me think about grounding differently.

Sometimes I assume that feeling unsteady means I don’t know what I’m doing.

Maybe I do know what I’m doing.

Maybe the conditions changed.

That requires adjustment.

Mud also doesn’t have to represent something bad or evil for me. Mud simply cannot provide the same stability as solid ground.

That distinction matters.

A relationship can be meaningful and still not be stable enough to build on.

An opportunity can look good and still not support the vision.

A habit can have helped me survive one season and become something I cannot use in the next.

An old understanding can have served me and still need to change as I learn more.

Finding my footing requires us to recognize the difference between something we can walk through and something we should build on.

Mud may be part of the path, but it doesn’t have to become the foundation.

The Rock | What Can Hold Me

Psalm 40:2 shifts from mud to solid ground.

The entire environment doesn’t suddenly become perfect. The verse focuses on what is underneath the psalmist’s feet.

That is grounding.

Grounding means training or instruction in the fundamentals of a field of knowledge.

That definition made me look at grounding differently.

We often use grounding to mean becoming calm, centered, or present. I still understand it that way, but the word also points me toward fundamentals.

Grounded does not necessarily mean everything surrounding me is stable.

It means we know what we are standing on.

For me, that can be what I know about myself.

What I know from experience.

What I have already learned.

What I believe.

What I value.

What keeps me connected when circumstances become uncertain.

Maybe finding footing isn’t always about finding somewhere perfectly stable to stand.

Maybe it’s remembering my fundamentals when the ground underneath me changes.

What do I know that I can stand on even in uncomfortableness?

What I know I need.

What I know I can no longer ignore.

Sometimes finding footing isn’t about receiving brand-new information.

Sometimes it is remembering what we already know.

Prayer.

Stillness.

Scripture.

Connection.

These don’t guarantee that every path will become dry and easy to walk, but they help recognize ourselves walking through it and remind us we are never alone…

Prayer | Direction

Prayer is where I name what I’m carrying and set my intention.

It doesn’t necessarily change the road in front of me. It helps me remember why I’m walking and what I’m seeking as I walk.

Prayer helps me speak.

Stillness | Awareness

Stillness gives me enough quiet to notice what is actually happening.

My thoughts.

My emotions.

My body.

My intuition.

My surroundings.

The patterns I may have missed while reacting.

Stillness doesn’t remove the difficult terrain.

Stillness helps me see and listen.

Scripture | Reference

Scripture gives me something to return to when my current circumstances are louder than my understanding.

It holds stories, wisdom, warnings, patterns, and reminders from people who also had to walk through uncertainty.

Scripture helps me remember that difficult terrain is not new terrain.

Connection | Presence

Connection reminds me that I was never designed to carry everything through isolation.

Connection can be community, family, friendship, conversation, nature, Spirit, or simply becoming present with myself.

Being physically alone does not mean I have been abandoned, because I count as company too.

When I am literally by myself, there is still me with me.

My mind is communicating.

My body is communicating.

My emotions are communicating.

My spirit is observing.

I can question a thought instead of automatically believing it.

I can comfort myself.

I can redirect myself.

I can remind myself of what I already know.

Instead of always experiencing life as:

Me versus me.

I can learn to experience myself as:

Me WITH me.

Connection reminds me that I am not walking alone, because my own presence matters too.

Prayer helps me speak.

Stillness helps me listen.

Scripture helps me remember.

Connection helps me recognize presence.

These practices don’t guarantee that every path will become dry and easy to walk.

They help us recognize ourselves while we’re walking through it.

They remind us that difficult ground doesn’t mean we’ve lost our footing, and being physically alone doesn’t mean we are without connection.

The first person we have to learn how to walk with is ourselves.

The goal isn’t always getting rid of the mud.

It’s learning how to recognize your footing while you’re in it.

The Steps | Stability in Motion

This is probably the part of Psalm 40:2 that stands out to me most now. The psalmist isn’t simply placed somewhere safe and left standing there.

His steps are steadied. There is movement.

I can pause long enough to recognize where I am.

I can check my footing.

I can adjust.

Then I can take another step.

That is different from waiting until I am guaranteed not to slip.

I may still step into mud.

I may still have to slow down.

I may discover that something I thought was solid isn’t.

I may need to change direction.

Being grounded doesn’t make us incapable of missteps. It gives us something to return to when they happen.

Steady doesn’t mean perfect conditions.

It means knowing how to move through them.

Psalm 40 | Remembering While Still Going Through It

Reading the whole chapter changed verse 2 for me.

If I only read Psalm 40:2, I could easily turn it into a simple before-and-after story:

I was in the pit.

I was rescued.

Now I’m standing on solid ground.

The end.

Except Psalm 40 keeps going.

The psalmist remembers what has already happened while still facing present trouble. Later in the chapter there are problems, fear, enemies, and another cry for help. He can remember being lifted from the pit while still needing help now.

Real!

Sometimes I think people believe spiritual growth means never experiencing the same emotions, questions, uncertainty, or difficulty again.

Maybe growth isn’t always never returning to difficult terrain.

Maybe growth is recognizing what I learned the last time I was there.

I have evidence now.

I know what helped me before.

I know what pulled me further into confusion.

I know what brought me back to myself.

I know what deserves access to me.

I know what doesn’t.

I know more than I knew before.

Knowledge becomes part of my footing.

6 | Sacred Reflection

4+0+2‎ = 6

Realignment through remembering.

Healing through harmony.

Reflection feels especially important with Psalm 40 because the psalmist is doing exactly that.

He remembers.

He looks at what has already happened and allows that memory to inform where he is now.

Reflection is different from rumination…

Rumination can keep me circling the same experience.

Reflection asks me what the experience taught me.

What did I learn?

What did I notice?

What would I do differently?

What helped?

What didn’t?

What am I carrying forward?

That turns the past into information instead of a permanent address.

Sacred Reflection allows us to look backward without necessarily walking backward.

Sometimes remembering where we’ve already been helps us recognize where our feet belong now.

Prayer | Connection With the Unseen

Prayer doesn’t require me to pretend that I feel steady when I don’t.

It gives me somewhere to acknowledge that I am trying to find my footing.

Stillness | Before the Next Step

Stillness can prepare me for intentional movement.

Scripture | Something to Return To

Scripture gives stories that I can return to differently depending on where I am in my own life.

Connection | I Don’t Have to Find My Footing Alone

Finding my footing includes recognizing who and what helps me stay connected to myself.

The Phoenix | Rising While the Ground Is Still Muddy

Transformation doesn’t always wait for perfect scenery. I often imagine a new season beginning after everything from the old season has been completely resolved. Life doesn’t always happen that neatly. New can emerge while still cleaning mud… usually that’s how it goes, cleaning energetically feels new.

I can be grateful and frustrated.

Clear about one thing and uncertain about another.

Healing in one area while still struggling in another.

Growing while still adjusting.

Those things can exist together.

Maybe rising isn’t proof that the mud disappeared.

Maybe rising means the mud no longer gets to define what I believe is possible.

Find Your Footing

What helps you stay steady enough to keep moving?

Finding my footing doesn’t mean waiting for the entire road to dry.

It means learning what can hold me.

It means knowing when to pause.

Knowing when to adjust.

Knowing what to carry.

Knowing what to leave.

Remembering what we’ve already learned.

Then taking the next step from there.

The path may still be muddy.

We don’t have to become the mud.

I Used to Pray

God, remove the obstacles.

Clear the confusion.

Make the path easy so I can feel safe moving.

Now I Pray

Most High God, help me trust what You’ve already taught me and give me discernment to take the next faithful step, even when I can’t see the whole path.

Help me recognize what supports me, what steadies me, and what I am trying to force into being solid when it simply isn’t. Give me enough stillness to check my footing and enough courage to move when it is time.

Affirmation

I trust what I have learned, recognize what keeps me grounded, and take my next step without requiring perfect conditions.

Philippians 1:6 | NLT-CE

“I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.”

Something being unfinished doesn’t mean nothing is happening.

There will be terrain.

There will be places where slowness is needed.

There may even be moments when I wonder whether I am moving at all.

Still, unfinished is not the same as stagnant.

A muddy step is still a step.

A careful step is still a step.

A small step is still a step.

Maybe being grounded isn’t about always knowing exactly where the road leads.

Maybe it is knowing how to recognize solid ground when I find it, remembering what I’ve already learned, and trusting myself enough to take the next step.

I don’t need perfect conditions to find my footing.

I need enough awareness to know where my feet are.

Enough discernment to know what can hold me.

Enough reflection to remember what I’ve already learned.

Then enough courage to move.

Current Circumstances are NOT Permanent Limitations. Believe It to See It.

Spiritually Speaking, Tikisha

09/01/2026 11:04 PM EST (6)

Strengthen Your Foundation

Matthew 7:24

“Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock.”

What are you standing on?

Matthew 7:24–27

Two people build houses.

One builds on solid rock. One builds on sand.

Then the rain comes. The water rises.

The wind beats against both houses.

One stands. One falls.

Same storm. Different foundation.

Listens to teaching and follows it is wise.

Not just listens. Follows it.

I can know something and still not live according to what I know.

I can get good advice and ignore it.

I can recognize a pattern and keep repeating it.

I can know something doesn’t feel right and still talk myself into doing it.

I can pray for guidance and then question the answer because it wasn’t the answer I wanted.

Knowing is one thing.

What we actually do with what we know is something else.

Wise | Knowledge in Practice

Wise can mean having or showing good judgment based on knowledge and experience. Experience is the part that gets me.

When I think about a teacher, I don’t only think about somebody standing in front of a classroom.

An elder can be a teacher.

A mentor can be a teacher.

A friend can teach me something.

My parents taught me things.

Someone who has already walked a road I’m just approaching can teach me something about the terrain.

Life itself is definitely a teacher.

Sometimes I am even my own teacher because I’ve already lived through something once.

The lesson isn’t always new information.

Sometimes the lesson is whether I’m going to use the information I already have.

That’s where wisdom becomes more than something we know, it becomes something we practice.

Authority | When I Already Know

At the end of Matthew 7, after Jesus finishes teaching, the people are amazed because he teaches with real authority.

That word AUTHORITY made me think about how certainty feels.

There have been plenty of times when my gut was clear before my mind got involved.

I knew.

Then I started thinking.

Then I asked somebody.

Then I asked somebody else.

Then I considered seventeen different possibilities.

Now something that initially felt pretty clear has become confusing.

I think we do that sometimes.

That doesn’t mean every thought, feeling, or first impression is automatically right.

Discernment still matters.

There is a difference between reacting from fear and recognizing that quiet inner knowing that doesn’t need to argue its case.

Sometimes wisdom comes through someone else too. There are people who can tell us something from experience without needing me to validate what they’re saying.

They’ve lived it.

They know what they know.

We still get to decide what we do with it.

That part belongs to us.

The Rock | What Can Actually Hold Me?

Traditionally, the rock in Matthew 7 isn’t a vague symbol for anything that makes us feel supported.

Jesus is talking about hearing his teaching and actually following it.

When I hear built on solid rock, naturally I start thinking about my own life.

What can actually hold me?

Prayer.

Scripture.

Stillness.

Experience.

My values.

What I know about myself.

The people who support me.

The people who tell me the truth.

The people who have enough wisdom to help me see something I can’t see from where I’m standing.

There isn’t necessarily one single thing I can point to and say, “That’s my foundation.”

There are layers.

That is also why I don’t think strengthening my foundation means becoming so strong that I don’t need anybody.

Sometimes strength is knowing who we can lean on.

Bedrock & Rubble | Here Come The Flintstones

Bedrock is the solid rock underneath the loose material at the surface.

Immediately I went to The Flintstones.

Fred and Wilma lived in Bedrock.

Then I remembered Barney and Betty’s last name.

Rubble.

BEDROCK and RUBBLE.

I can’t unsee it.

Rubble is broken stone and debris.

Bedrock is the solid rock underneath.

Both involve rock.

Both can look like building material.

They are not the same thing.

How much of what we’ve been carrying looks like foundation simply because it’s been there a long time?

Familiar doesn’t automatically mean solid.

Inherited doesn’t automatically mean useful.

Old doesn’t automatically mean wise.

At the same time, something doesn’t have to be thrown away simply because it is behind me.

I can examine it.

What still holds?

What needs reinforcement?

What needs to be understood differently?

What am I keeping simply because somebody handed it to me?

What have I learned for myself?

Maybe part of strengthening our foundation is learning the difference between our bedrock and our rubble.

What Was Poured Into Me

That naturally makes me think about family and the generations that came before me.

My mother was cremated, so I don’t have a burial ground where I go sit with her or take flowers.

I have a space for her at home.

Some days I sit and pour coffee for my mama.

I talk.

I remember.

I reflect.

I know Ecclesiastes 9:5 says, “the dead know not any thing.”

I also know Matthew 17 gives me Moses appearing with Elijah and speaking with Jesus long after Moses died.

That’s one of those places where I leave room for My Understanding, Not My Inheritance.

I don’t pretend to know exactly what happens after we leave this physical body. I don’t have to.

I know that love, lessons, memories, mannerisms, traditions, wisdom, and everything my mother poured into me didn’t disappear when her body did.

I’m part of her.

Our relationship simply changed form.

And that gives foundation another meaning for me:

Some of what I’m standing on was built before I got here.

That doesn’t mean everything passed down to me belongs in the foundation I’m building now.

Some things I keep.

Some things I understand differently.

Some things I leave behind.

Discernment.

Community | Who Helps Hold Me Up?

Proverbs 27:17 says:

“As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend.”

Sharpening requires contact.

We affect each other.

A conversation can change the way I see something.

Someone else’s experience can help me avoid something they had to learn the hard way.

A person can challenge me without tearing me down.

Someone can remind me of what I said I wanted when my actions stop matching it.

Sometimes another person asks one question and suddenly I see something differently.

That is community.

It doesn’t mean everybody gets access to me.

It doesn’t mean everybody’s opinion deserves equal weight.

It doesn’t mean I hand someone else responsibility for my decisions.

Discernment.

We can ask:

Who helps me become clearer?

Who can challenge me without trying to control me?

Who supports what I’m building?

Who has wisdom in an area where I’m still learning?

Who can I pour into from something I’ve already experienced?

Because I am not only receiving from community.

I am somebody’s community too.

4 | Sacred Shelter

Matthew 7:24 gives me:

7 + 2 + 4 = 13

1 + 3 = 4

In my personal numerology:

4 | Sacred Shelter

That fits this Scripture almost too perfectly.

A shelter needs something capable of holding it.

Sacred Shelter isn’t only about a physical place.

What gives me enough safety to tell myself the truth?

What keeps me connected to myself when everything around me feels uncertain?

Who can I be honest with without performing?

What practices help me return to myself?

What have I built internally that doesn’t disappear every time circumstances change?

Shelter can exist around me. It can also exist within me.

8 | Sacred Shift

Proverbs 27:17 gives me:

2 + 7 + 1 + 7 = 17

1 + 7 = 8

In my personal numerology:

8 | Sacred Shift

Transformation.

Iron sharpens iron too.

Contact can create change.

Conversation can create change.

Experience can create change.

Correction can create change.

Sometimes support isn’t somebody agreeing with everything I say.

Sometimes support helps me shift.

Sometimes I’m the person helping somebody else shift because of something I’ve already lived it.

Foundation.

What has been poured into us shouldn’t necessarily stop with us.

The Storm | What Does Pressure Reveal?

The storm reaches both houses in Matthew 7.

Being spiritually grounded isn’t supposed to prevent difficult things from happening.

The wise builder still gets rain.

Still gets floodwater.

Still gets wind.

The foundation doesn’t prevent the storm.

It determines what the house has underneath it when the storm arrives.

Instead of only asking:

How do I make this stop?

We can also ask:

What is this showing me about what I’ve built?

Pressure reveals things.

Sometimes it shows us that we’re stronger than we thought.

Sometimes it shows us exactly where something needs reinforcement.

Sometimes it shows us that what we thought was solid wasn’t.

That doesn’t necessarily mean everything has to come crashing down.

Maybe we noticed the crack because now we can do something about it.

Strengthen Your Foundation

Strengthening my foundation doesn’t mean I have everything figured out.

It means I’m paying attention to what I’m actually building on.

What do I say I believe?

What do I actually practice?

What have my experiences taught me?

What have I inherited?

What have I decided for myself?

Who is part of my community?

Who sharpens me?

Who do I sharpen?

What is bedrock?

What is rubble?

And what am I trying to build on something that was never strong enough to hold it?

Those questions aren’t always comfortable.

They are useful.

Because what we live by becomes what we stand on.

I Used to Pray

God, take away the storms, the stress, and the uncertainty.

Make life stable so I can finally feel secure.

Now I Pray

Most High God, strengthen what I stand on.

Give me discernment to recognize what supports me, wisdom to practice what I already know, and openness to receive from the people You have placed in my life. Help me recognize what is bedrock and what is rubble. Let what I build reflect what I actually believe.

Affirmation

I recognize what supports me, practice what I know, and strengthen the foundation beneath the life I am building.

Maybe the goal isn’t creating a life where nothing ever shakes me.

Maybe it’s knowing what I stand on when something does.

Some things will change.

Some understanding will grow.

Some people will come and go.

Some things I thought were solid may turn out not to be.

I can learn from that too.

I can reinforce what holds.

I can stop building on what doesn’t.

I can receive wisdom without giving away my discernment.

I can appreciate what was poured into me while still deciding what I want to carry forward.

Current Circumstances are NOT Permanent Limitations. Believe It to See It.

Spiritually Speaking, Tikisha 09/02/2026 8:08 PM EST (7)

Release What Feels Unsteady

Psalm 55:22

“Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.”

Psalm 55:22 KJV

What are you carrying because putting it down feels like you stopped caring?

There are some things I know I need to release.

The harder part is realizing that sometimes I’ve confused releasing something with abandoning someone.

Those are not the same thing.

I can love someone and still recognize that I am carrying something that belongs to them. I can care about what happens next without believing it is my responsibility to make the next thing happen.

I can pray, support, encourage, listen, and be present without taking responsibility for another person’s choices, healing, or outcome.

Sometimes love makes us want to help. Helping can quietly become fixing. Fixing can become managing. Managing can become carrying.

Then one day we realize we are exhausted from holding something we were never actually given to hold.

That made me look at Psalm 55:22 differently.

Maybe the question isn’t only, What do I need to release?

Maybe I also need to ask: What am I calling love that is actually carrying?

What belongs to me?

What belongs to someone else?

Can I put something down without walking away from the person attached to it?

Can I love with open hands?

The Burden | What Am I Carrying?

The word that stood out to me first was burden.

A burden is something being carried.

That sounds simple until I really think about what I have been carrying.

Some weight belongs to me: my choices, my responsibilities, my healing, my boundaries, my response, my growth.

Other weight may belong to someone I love: their choices, their responsibilities, their consequences, their healing, their growth, their next step.

Love can blur the line between the two.

I can become so invested in someone being okay that their responsibility starts feeling like mine. I start thinking about what they should do, what they need to understand, what they need to change, and what might happen if they don’t.

Then I start carrying possibilities, outcomes, and consequences that don’t actually belong to me.

The burden may involve someone we love. That doesn’t automatically make the burden ours.

Cast | The Movement of Release

Psalm 55:22 doesn’t tell me to hold the burden more carefully. It doesn’t tell me to organize it or figure everything out before putting it down.

It says:

“Cast thy burden.”

There is movement in that word.

Cast means to cause to move or sendforth by throwing.

Something has to leave my hands.

That became the visual for me today: open hands.

Closed hands grip.

Closed hands hold.

Closed hands try to keep something from falling apart.

Open hands cannot control something the same way.

Maybe that is why release can feel uncomfortable.

When I am carrying something, I am doing something.

I’m fixing, checking, calling, explaining, planning, trying.

When I release it, my hands are suddenly open.

If I have measured how much I love someone by how much I am willing to carry for them, open hands can feel like I stopped caring.

Except we didn’t stop loving.

We stopped carrying.

Release is not abandonment. You can stop carrying what isn’t yours without stopping your love.

Sustain | I Put It Down, I Am Still Held

Psalm 55:22 doesn’t end with the instruction to cast the burden.

It continues:

“He shall sustain thee.”

I put something down.

I am still held.

That changes the picture of release for me.

Sometimes the fear underneath carrying is: If I stop holding this, what happens?

If I stop trying to fix it, who will?

If I don’t step in, will everything fall apart?

If I stop carrying them, am I abandoning them?

The Scripture redirects my attention. Everything does not depend on me.

I can put down what isn’t mine and still remain present.

I can love without controlling. I can care without carrying.

I can pray without managing. I can support without becoming responsible for the outcome.

I can release the weight and still be held.

Unmoved | Maybe I Need Less Weight

Then Psalm 55:22 ends:

“He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.”

That stood out because this month is about becoming grounded.

I have been thinking about stability as something underneath my feet.

A foundation.

Solid ground.

Something that can hold me.

Psalm 55 gives me another perspective.

Sometimes what makes me feel unsteady isn’t only what is happening underneath me. Sometimes it is everything I am trying to hold while standing there.

Maybe I don’t always need stronger footing.

Maybe I need less weight.

I can be standing on solid ground and still feel exhausted if I am carrying too much.

Sometimes becoming steady requires recognizing what needs to leave my hands.

Psalm 55 | When the Weight Has a Face

Reading the whole chapter changes Psalm 55:22.

David isn’t casually talking about stress.

He is overwhelmed.

There is fear, trouble, trembling, and betrayal. He even imagines having wings like a dove so he could fly away and find rest.

Sometimes when we say we want peace, what we really mean is: I need this to stop.

I need this person to make a different choice. I need the relationship to make sense.

I need somebody to understand.

I need the problem solved.

I need something around me to change so I can finally settle down inside myself.

Then Psalm 55 reveals something important.

The weight has a face.

David is dealing with betrayal from someone he considered close. Not an obvious enemy. A companion. A friend. Someone he had shared fellowship with.

That changes the weight.

Some things hurt differently because of who they came from.

A stranger behaving like a stranger is one thing. Someone we considered family, friend, support, or a safe place behaving differently can make us question more than their behavior.

It can make us question our own understanding.

What is a friend?

What does support actually look like? What does love require of me?

What have I added to the definition of love that love never required?

What happens when someone’s words and actions no longer tell the same story?

Those questions don’t necessarily require removing somebody from our lives.

Sometimes they require seeing the relationship clearly enough to stop carrying what doesn’t belong to me.

Psalm 55:22

5 + 5 + 2 + 2 = 14

1 + 4 = 5

In my numerology:

5 | Divine Intervention

Maybe the Divine Intervention isn’t somebody else suddenly changing.

Maybe it isn’t the situation immediately resolving itself.

Maybe the intervention happens in the pattern.

Something interrupts the way I have always responded.

I recognize that I don’t have to participate in this the same way anymore. I don’t have to carry this because I love them. I don’t have to manage their choices because I care about the outcome. I don’t have to remain emotionally on duty until everything is okay.

The circumstances may not have changed. The person may not have changed. The relationship may not have changed. My responsibility for carrying its full weight has.

Sometimes Divine Intervention changes what is happening around us.

Sometimes Divine Intervention changes what we are willing to continue carrying.

Grounded Spirit | Putting It Into Practice

Stillness gives me enough space to notice what I have picked up.

Is this actually my responsibility?

Am I helping, managing, supporting, or controlling?

Am I carrying something because it belongs to me, or because I’m afraid of what will happen if I put it down?

Scripture gives me a different definition of release. Psalm 55:22 reminds me that the burden can leave my hands without love leaving my heart.

Scripture becomes a reference point when guilt tries to convince me that caring requires carrying.

Connection reminds me that loving someone doesn’t require disappearing from myself. I can remain connected without becoming responsible for everything happening inside the connection.

Symbolism of Style | Open Hands

Open hands.

Not hands pushing someone away.

Not a turned back.

Not a closed door.

Just open hands.

Open hands don’t mean, I don’t care.

Open hands can mean, I trust you to have your own journey. I recognize my limits.

I don’t have to control everything I care about.

I can release the burden without releasing the person.

Maybe love doesn’t always need us to hold tighter.

Sometimes love needs room.

I Used to Pray…

God, fix this. Change them. Make them understand. Show me what else I need to do so everything will turn out okay.

Now I Pray…

Most High God, show me what is mine to carry and what is not. Give me wisdom to know when love requires my presence and when love requires me to open my hands. Help me release the need to control the outcome simply because I care. Remind me that putting down what was never mine to carry does not mean I stopped loving.

You have them.

You have me too.

Affirmation

I can release what is not mine to carry without releasing my capacity to love.

Supporting Scripture | 1 Peter 5:7 KJV

“Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.”

4 | Sacred Shelter

1 + 5 + 7 = 13

1 + 3 = 4

In my numerology:

4 | Sacred Shelter

I release, and I am still held.

I put something down, and I am still supported.

I stop carrying what belongs to someone else, and I am not suddenly without protection, guidance, or somewhere to place my own care.

That is Sacred Shelter for me.

Maybe open hands aren’t empty hands.

Maybe they are hands that finally have room to receive support too.

Release Is Not Abandonment

The circumstances may not immediately become steady. The person may still make choices I wouldn’t make. The relationship may still have questions. The outcome may still be unknown.

Release does not require any of those things to change first.

It requires me to recognize what belongs in my hands and what does not.

I can care deeply and still put something down.

I can pray without controlling.

I can support without carrying.

I can love someone and let their choices remain theirs.

I can allow something to remain unresolved without remaining emotionally on duty until it changes.

Something can remain unresolved without requiring me to remain unsettled.

Current Circumstances are NOT Permanent Limitations. Believe It to See It.

Spiritually Speaking, Tikisha 09/03/26 11:39 EST (5)

Sacred Reset

Exodus 20:8

“Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.”

Exodus 20:8 NLT-CE

What changes when rest becomes part of the rhythm instead of something we have to earn?

There will almost always be something else to do.

Another task.

Another responsibility.

Another idea.

Another thing that could use our attention.

That is probably why the word remember stood out to me. Remember the Sabbath.

Remember to stop.

Remember that every moment of life was not created for doing.

I started thinking about how often we say we are going to rest after we finish one more thing.

Then one thing becomes another thing.

The list gets longer.

Something else needs our attention.

Before we know it, rest has become something waiting at the end of everything else.

Except everything else rarely has an end.

Maybe Sacred Reset isn’t about waiting until everything is finished.

Maybe it is recognizing that stopping has a place too.

Remember | Maybe Rest Is Easy to Forget

Exodus 20:8 begins with:

“Remember to observe the Sabbath day…”

Remember.

That word caught my attention because we usually remember things we are capable of forgetting.

We don’t necessarily forget that rest exists.

We forget to make room for it.

Sometimes we tell ourselves we’ll stop when we finish what we are doing.

Then we remember something else.

Or somebody needs something.

Or we think of another task.

Or we convince ourselves that since we’re already doing one thing, we might as well do three more.

I think many of us know what that feels like.

We don’t necessarily decide not to rest.

We just keep pushing it further down the list.

Maybe remembering the Sabbath is also a reminder that work needs a stopping point.

Not because everything is finished.

Because it is time to stop.

Sabbath | Rest Has a Place

Reading Exodus 20 made me notice that work has a place.

Rest has a place too.

There are six days for ordinary work, then the Sabbath is set apart.

Work isn’t presented as bad.

Rest isn’t something we receive because work is bad.

There is a rhythm.

Work.

Stop.

Rest.

Return.

That made me think about how often we treat rest like a reward.

If we accomplish enough, then we can sit down.

If we finish the list, then we can relax.

If everybody else is okay, then we can take care of ourselves.

If nothing requires our attention, then we can stop.

The problem is that something will probably always require our attention.

If we wait until everything around us becomes settled before we allow ourselves to rest, we may spend a very long time waiting.

Sacred Reset gives me another way to look at it.

Everything does not have to be finished before we rest.

Keep It Holy | What Makes a Pause Sacred?

Exodus 20:8 doesn’t only say remember the Sabbath.

It says to keep it holy.

Holy means set apart.

That made me think about the difference between collapsing because I have nothing left and intentionally making room to stop.

I know what it feels like to keep going until my body or mind decides for me that we are done.

That isn’t necessarily rest.

Sometimes that is exhaustion finally winning.

Maybe part of Sacred Reset is learning to make room for the pause before we reach that point.

The pause does not have to produce anything.

We don’t need to turn rest into another project.

We don’t need to come out of every quiet moment with an answer, revelation, plan, or completed task.

Sometimes we can simply rest.

Maybe that is part of what makes the pause sacred.

It has been set apart from everything else asking for our attention.

Everything Does Not Require our Attention Today

That became part of today’s affirmation:

I honor the sacred by allowing myself to rest.

Everything does not require my attention today.

Something can matter without requiring my attention right now.

Something can need to be done without needing to be done today.

Something can remain unfinished without becoming an emergency.

Sometimes we treat everything like it needs access to us immediately.

Every message.

Every task.

Every thought.

Every responsibility.

Every idea.

Sacred Reset reminds me that I can decide what receives my attention and when.

Rest doesn’t mean I stopped being responsible.

It means responsibility does not require constant availability.

There is a time to engage.

There is also a time to stop.

Exodus 20 | Rest Is Built Into the Rhythm

Reading beyond one verse gave me more context for the Sabbath.

The command includes six days for ordinary work and a seventh day set apart.

That distinction matters to me because Sacred Reset isn’t about avoiding responsibility.

The work still exists.

The responsibilities still exist.

The next day still comes.

We just don’t have to carry all of it into every moment.

Maybe balance isn’t making every day equal.

Maybe it is recognizing what this moment requires.

Some moments require movement.

Some require stillness.

Some require effort.

Some require recovery.

We need both.

1 | Sacred Spark

Exodus 20:8

2 + 0 + 8 = 10

1 + 0 = 1

In my numerology:

1 | Sacred Spark

At first, Sacred Spark made me think about movement.

Starting.

Creating.

Doing.

Beginning something new.

Then I thought about what a reset actually does.

It returns us to a starting point.

That made Sacred Spark look different today.

Sometimes we are so focused on starting the next thing that we never give ourselves time to recover from the last thing.

Maybe the new beginning doesn’t always start with movement.

Maybe sometimes it starts with restoration.

We rest.

We reset.

Then we return.

The Sacred Spark can come from the space we finally stopped trying to fill.

Grounded Spirit | Putting It Into Practice

Stillness gives me enough space to notice whether I actually need to keep going or whether I have simply become accustomed to going.

What really requires my attention today?

What can wait?

Am I resting because I have nothing left, or am I learning to make room for rest before I reach empty?

Scripture gives me a reference point.

Exodus 20:8 reminds me that stopping has a place.

Rest does not have to happen accidentally after exhaustion.

Connection reminds me that being unavailable for a moment does not mean I stopped caring.

We can love people and still rest.

We can have responsibilities and still pause.

We can leave something unfinished and return to it later.

The world can continue while we stop for a while.

I Used to Pray…

God, give me the strength to keep going. Help me finish everything before I stop.

Now I Pray…

Most High God, help me recognize when it is time to rest. Let me honor the pause without feeling like I should be doing more. Restore what has been depleted and help me trust that what can wait will still be there when it is time to begin again.

Affirmation

I honor the sacred by allowing myself to rest.

Everything does not require my attention today.

Supporting Scripture | Mark 2:27 NLT-CE

“The Sabbath was made to meet the needs of people, and not people to meet the requirements of the Sabbath.”

2 | Sacred Balance

2 + 2 + 7 = 11

1 + 1 = 2

In my numerology:

2 | Sacred Balance

This verse made me think about what can happen when we turn rest into another requirement.

Am I resting correctly?

Did I rest long enough?

Should I be doing something spiritual?

Should I be using this time better?

Now even the rest has work attached to it.

Jesus’ words in Mark 2:27 bring me back to the purpose.

“The Sabbath was made to meet the needs of people…”

We need rest.

That doesn’t mean we abandon responsibility.

It means we recognize that responsibility and restoration both have a place.

There are moments when something needs our attention.

There are also moments when we need to put it down.

That is Sacred Balance to me.

Work and rest do not have to compete with each other.

We need both.

Sacred Reset

Everything will not be finished today.

I’m learning to be okay with that.

There may still be something on the list.

Someone may still need something.

An idea may still be waiting.

Tomorrow may already have responsibilities attached to it.

None of that means this moment has to belong to those things.

I don’t have to wait until I am exhausted to stop.

I don’t have to make rest productive for it to have value.

I don’t have to finish everything before I allow myself to rest.

Maybe we don’t always need to do more.

Maybe sometimes we need to stop long enough to restore what all the doing has taken from us.

Then when it is time, we begin again.

Rest.

Reset.

Sacred Spark.

Rest is sacred.

Current Circumstances are NOT Permanent Limitations. Believe It to See It.

Spiritually Speaking, Tikisha 09/05/2026 11:44 PM (1)

Return to What Grounds You

Psalm 46:10

“Be still, and know that I am God!”

Psalm 46:10 NLT-CE

What does it mean to be still when nothing around you is?

We usually think about stillness being the absence of movement.

Everything gets quiet.

The problem settles down.

We know what is happening.

We know what comes next.

Then we can be still.

Psalm 46 gives us a completely different picture.

The earth is changing. Mountains are shaking. Waters are roaring. Nations are in turmoil.

Nothing about the chapter sounds still.

Then we get to Psalm 46:10:

“Be still, and know that I am God!”

That made me look at stillness differently.

Maybe stillness is not something that happens around me.

Maybe it is something that can happen within me.

Stillness is not the absence of movement.

Psalm 46 | Everything Is Moving

Reading the whole Psalm matters because Psalm 46:10 can sound very different when it is separated from everything happening around it.

The chapter begins with God described as refuge and strength, present in times of trouble.

Then immediately, the imagery starts moving.

The earth changes.

Mountains fall into the sea.

Waters roar and foam.

Mountains tremble.

Later, nations are in chaos and kingdoms crumble.

This is not a picture of stability because nothing is happening.

It is a picture of stability while things are happening.

That distinction matters.

Sometimes we think we are waiting for peace when what we are actually waiting for is different circumstances.

We will settle down when this gets resolved.

We will stop worrying when we know what happens.

We will feel grounded when the situation becomes predictable again.

We will be still when everything else becomes still first.

Psalm 46 challenges that order.

The circumstances do not become peaceful before stillness enters the conversation.

Be Still | An Inner Posture

“Be still.”

Two simple words.

Stillness can make us think of sitting quietly, resting, meditating, praying, or physically stopping.

Those things can create stillness, but I don’t think that is the only way to understand it here.

I can be physically sitting down while everything inside me is running.

My body can be still while my thoughts are rehearsing conversations, anticipating outcomes, solving problems that have not happened yet, and trying to prepare for every possibility.

That is not necessarily stillness.

Then the opposite can also be true.

I can be moving through my day, handling responsibilities, making decisions, working, talking, and living my life while something within me remains steady.

Maybe being still is not always about stopping my movement.

Maybe it is recognizing when everything moving around me has started moving me.

Do I actually need to respond?

Do I actually need to decide right now?

Does this change require something from me?

Or has uncertainty simply made me feel like I need to do something?

Sometimes movement requires participation.

Sometimes movement only requires observation.

Knowing the difference is part of being grounded.

Know | What Remains Steady?

Psalm 46:10 does not only say, “Be still.”

It continues:

“and know that I am God!”

There is something about knowing that changes the stillness.

The Psalm has already shown us things we usually think of as stable becoming unstable.

Even mountains move.

That image stays with me.

A mountain looks permanent.

Solid.

Unmovable.

Yet, Psalm 46 imagines mountains being carried into the sea.

If something that looks permanent can change, then maybe grounding cannot depend entirely on circumstances remaining familiar.

People change.

Relationships change.

Plans change.

Seasons change.

Our understanding changes.

We change.

Something being different does not automatically mean everything is unstable.

Sometimes I need to return to what remains steady when life isn’t.

Scripture can become one of those reference pointss not because reading a verse makes the storm disappear or every question suddenly has an answer.

It reminds me where I can return when everything else feels loud.

The River | Movement Is Not the Enemy

There is another image in Psalm 46 that I don’t want to overlook.

Water appears more than once.

Early in the Psalm, the waters roar and foam.

Then verse 4 introduces a river whose streams bring joy.

That contrast is interesting.

Both are water.

Both involve movement.

Yet, they do not represent the same experience.

That makes me think movement itself is not necessarily the problem.

Change is not automatically chaos.

Movement is not automatically instability.

Something can move and still have direction.

Something can change and still remain connected to its source.

Maybe being grounded does not require becoming motionless.

It requires knowing what is moving, what is steady, and what deserves my attention.

11 | 2 Sacred Balance

Psalm 46:10

4 + 6 + 1 + 0 = 11

1 + 1 = 2

In my numerology:

11 | 2 Sacred Balance

Sacred Balance fits this chapter in a way I did not expect.

There is movement and stillness.

Chaos and refuge.

Roaring water and a flowing river.

Things changing and something remaining steady.

Balance does not mean one side disappears.

Sacred Balance is being able to hold both truths at the same time.

Something around me can be changing, and I can still be grounded.

I can acknowledge uncertainty without becoming consumed by it.

I can move when movement is necessary and remain still when reaction is not.

I do not need to turn every disruption into an emergency.

Sacred Balance gives movement its place without allowing movement to control everything.

My Understanding, Not My Inheritance

I don’t read “be still” as an instruction to become passive.

There are situations that require action.

There are decisions that need to be made.

There are conversations that need to happen.

There are circumstances where remaining physically still would not be wisdom.

For me, the question becomes:

What is moving around me?

What is moving within me?

What actually requires my participation?

What am I reacting to simply because uncertainty feels uncomfortable?

Can I allow something to change without immediately trying to control where it goes?

Stillness can exist alongside action.

I can move without becoming frantic.

I can respond without reacting to everything.

I can acknowledge what is changing without allowing every change to determine my internal state.

Stillness is not the absence of movement.

Sometimes stillness is knowing that everything does not require me to move with it.

Grounded Spirit | Putting It Into Practice

Stillness gives me space to notice my response before automatically acting on it.

Do I need to move, or do I need a moment to understand what is happening?

Scripture gives me somewhere to return when circumstances are louder than my own clarity.

Psalm 46 reminds me that stability does not require a motionless environment.

Connection reminds me that grounding does not always happen alone. Sometimes another person, a conversation, community, or simply being around someone steady can help us recognize when we have been pulled too far into the movement around us.

Being grounded does not mean nothing affects me.

It means I know how to return.

I Used to Pray…

God, make everything calm so I can finally have peace.

Now I Pray…

Most High God, help me become still even when life around me is not. Help me recognize what remains steady without being unsettled by everything that changes. Give me wisdom to know when movement requires my participation and when I can simply allow it to move around me. Help me return to what grounds me when circumstances make me forget.

Affirmation

I can remain grounded even when everything around me is changing.

Stillness is not the absence of movement.

Current Circumstances are NOT Permanent Limitations.

Believe It to See It.

Spiritually Speaking, Tikisha 09/07/2026 4:36 PM (4)

Notice What Is Changing

Philippians 3:13

“Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead.”

Philippians 3:13 NLT-CE

What are we noticing now that we’ve stopped looking only at where we’ve been?

That question feels especially appropriate for Notice What Is Changing.

Philippians 3:13 gives us movement.

There is something behind us.

There is something ahead of us.

We are somewhere in between.

Sometimes we spend so much time looking at what happened, what didn’t happen, what we lost, or what we wish had been different that we don’t notice what is changing right in front of us.

Something can be ending while something else is beginning.

Something can be unfamiliar without being wrong.

Something ahead of us may require us to stop measuring it by what happened behind us.

The past can teach us without continuing to lead us.

The lesson can stay.

The wisdom can stay.

The experience can stay.

The direction can change.

Forgetting | What Does That Mean?

When I first read “forgetting the past,” I could easily hear it as:

Don’t think about it anymore.

Erase it.

Pretend it didn’t happen.

Move on.

Except that isn’t how memory works, and I don’t think everything behind us needs to be erased.

Some of what happened taught us.

Some of it shaped us.

Some of it gave us information we didn’t have before.

Some of it showed us what we need.

What we don’t need.

What we value.

What we will no longer accept.

What we would do differently now.

Maybe forgetting doesn’t have to mean losing the memory.

Maybe it means changing the authority we give the memory.

I can remember something without continuing to live from it.

We can carry the lesson without carrying the limitation.

Yesterday can remain part of the story without becoming the direction.

Looking Forward | Where Is My Attention?

Philippians 3:13 doesn’t only tell us what is behind.

It directs our attention toward what is ahead.

That matters to me because we can physically move forward while mentally continuing to look backward.

We can enter a new relationship while expecting the old relationship.

We can receive a new opportunity while assuming the old outcome.

We can enter a different season while continuing to respond from what the previous season taught us to expect.

Our circumstances can change before our perspective catches up.

Sometimes our perspective changes before our circumstances catch up.

Both are movement.

That makes Notice What Is Changing more than looking around for something dramatic to happen.

It asks us to pay attention.

What feels different?

What do I understand now that I didn’t understand before?

What am I responding to differently?

What has become easier to recognize?

What no longer has the same hold on me?

What am I finally willing to leave behind?

What am I beginning to move toward?

Sometimes the evidence of change is recognizing:

I don’t see this the way I used to.

Change | Not Everything Announces Itself

Sometimes change is obvious.

A relationship ends.

A job changes.

We move.

Something begins.

Something closes.

There is a visible before and after.

Other changes happen much more quietly.

A boundary becomes easier to hold.

We stop explaining ourselves as much.

Something that once triggered an immediate reaction gives us enough space to choose a response.

We recognize a pattern while it is happening instead of six months later.

We want something different.

We stop wanting something we once thought we couldn’t live without.

Nothing outside of us may have completely changed yet. Something within us has.

That counts.

Sometimes we are waiting for our lives to look different before acknowledging that we already are different.

7 | Divine Timing

3 + 1 + 3 = 7

In my personal numerology:

7 | Divine Timing

Trust the timing.

What is unfolding does not have to be rushed.

Divine Timing doesn’t mean standing still waiting for something to happen.

Sometimes Divine Timing means recognizing when it is time to move toward what is already opening in front of us.

There are times when waiting is part of the process.

There are also times when we have already received enough information to recognize that something has changed.

The timing may show up through what we now understand.

What we can finally see.

What we are no longer willing to repeat.

What we are ready to choose differently.

Sometimes we ask for a sign that it is time while our own changing response is part of the sign.

The question becomes:

Am I waiting for something else to change, or am I noticing what already has?

The Rearview Mirror | Information, Not Direction

Philippians 3:13 gives me the visual of driving.

There is a reason a car has a rearview mirror.

We need to know what is behind us.

What happened behind us can give us useful information.

We glance back.

We remain aware.

We learn from what we have already passed.

Yet, we cannot safely drive forward while staring only into the rearview mirror.

The windshield is larger for a reason.

That is how I see the past here.

The rearview mirror isn’t useless.

It just isn’t where our attention can remain if we are trying to move forward.

The past can inform us.

It doesn’t have to direct us.

Isaiah 43:18–19 | Something New Has Already Begun

“Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?”

Isaiah 43:18–19 NLT-CE

Do you not perceive it?

That question stands out.

The new thing isn’t described only as something coming later.

It is already beginning.

Now it springs forth.

Do we perceive it?

That makes me think about how often we expect change to announce itself before we trust that something is happening.

Sometimes the evidence is smaller.

We respond differently.

We recognize something sooner.

We stop chasing what we once chased.

We become willing to release something we once fought to keep.

We begin imagining possibilities we previously couldn’t see.

Something can already be changing before the entire picture looks different.

8 | Sacred Shift

4 + 3 + 1 + 8 + 1 + 9 = 26

2 + 6 = 8

In my personal numerology:

8 | Sacred Shift

Transformation.

Movement.

Something changing form.

I love the progression between the two Scriptures.

7 | Divine Timing

8 | Sacred Shift

Recognize the timing.

Recognize the shift.

Philippians directs our attention forward.

Isaiah asks whether we can perceive what is already springing forth.

Together they make me ask:

What if part of Divine Timing is our ability to recognize the Sacred Shift while it is happening?

Maybe we don’t always receive a dramatic announcement that one season has ended and another has begun.

Maybe sometimes we notice because we are different within it.

Symbolism of Style | Wearing the Message

This same message showed up for me through fashion… not because clothes determine who we are, but because style gives us another language for expressing what we are experiencing.

White Tee | Clarity

Clarity • Ease • Perspective

White gives the look space.

For me, it represents enough clarity to recognize what is different.

Sometimes we need space between what happened and what is happening now before we can see that they are not the same thing.

Red Skirt | Change

Change • Courage • Forward Motion

Red brings movement and presence.

It doesn’t disappear into the look.

That makes it a perfect symbol for change here.

Once we recognize something is different, what are we going to do with that recognition?

Multicolor Bag | Expansion

Variety • Expression • Expansion

There isn’t only one color.

That gives me the symbolism of possibility.

Sometimes change expands what we can see.

A situation that once looked like it had only one outcome begins showing us other possibilities.

Black Heels | Intention

Intention • Confidence • Choice

Then we get to our feet.

Our movement.

Our choice.

We can recognize what is changing and still have to decide how we are going to move with it.

That is where intention enters the story.

The same message.

Expressed differently.

Our style can tell a story before we ever say a word.

Where the seen and unseen meet through fashion.

Notice What Is Changing

What if moving forward doesn’t require us to forget where we’ve been?

What if the past can teach us without continuing to lead us?

Maybe we don’t have to erase yesterday.

Maybe we need to recognize when yesterday is no longer where we are standing.

We can honor where we have been without continuing to live there.

We can remember what happened without expecting it to happen again.

We can keep the wisdom without making the experience our permanent address.

Something can be ending while something else is beginning.

Something can be unfamiliar without being wrong.

Something ahead of us may require us to stop measuring it by what happened behind us.

Divine Timing doesn’t mean we never move until everything makes sense.

Sometimes it means recognizing when it is time to move toward what is already opening in front of us.

Notice what is changing.

I Used to Pray

God, change my circumstances.

Show me when something new is finally going to happen.

Help me leave the past behind.

Now I Pray

Most High God, help me recognize what is already changing.

Give me the discernment to know what the past came to teach me without allowing it to determine what I believe is possible now.

Help me recognize when it is time to stop looking backward and move toward what is already opening in front of me.

Let me trust Your timing without using waiting as a reason to remain where I no longer belong.

Affirmation

I honor what the past has taught me, recognize what is changing, and move forward with intention toward what is unfolding.

Isaiah 43:18–19 | NLT-CE

“Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?”

Maybe the new thing doesn’t begin when everything old disappears.

Maybe it begins when we can finally recognize that something is no longer the same.

The past can remain part of our story.

It does not have to remain our direction.

We can look back long enough to understand.

Then look forward enough to move.

Current Circumstances are NOT Permanent Limitations. Believe It to See It.

Spiritually Speaking, Tikisha 09/08/2026 2:54 PM (11 | 2)

Root Into Truth

Colossians 2:7

“Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.”

Colossians 2:7 | NLT-CE

What are we rooted in because it is true, and what are we rooted in simply because it is familiar?

That question feels especially appropriate for Root Into Truth. Colossians 2:7 uses the image of roots to describe becoming established in what we believe.

Roots grow beneath the surface.

We don’t always see them.

Yet, what develops beneath the ground helps determine what eventually becomes visible above it.

The same can be true of us.

Our beliefs, experiences, relationships, family, and the things we learned about ourselves a long time ago can all become part of our root system.

Some of those roots strengthen us.

Some may have simply been there so long that we stopped questioning what they were growing from.

Being deeply rooted in something doesn’t automatically make it true.

Sometimes becoming more grounded requires examining the soil.

Rooted | What Is Holding Me?

When I think about roots, I think about what holds a tree in place.

We see the trunk.

We see the branches.

We see the leaves, flowers, and fruit.

We don’t see most of what is holding all of it up.

That work is happening underneath.

Our lives can work the same way.

What becomes visible in our choices, relationships, boundaries, reactions, expectations, and even the way we see ourselves can have roots beneath the surface.

Sometimes those roots began with something we experienced.

Sometimes they came from our family.

Sometimes someone told us something about ourselves and we believed it.

Sometimes we developed a belief because it helped us understand or survive something at the time.

Years later, the belief may still be there even though the circumstances that created it are gone.

That makes me ask:

What is underneath what I believe?

Not everything that has been with us for a long time is meant to remain.

Familiar | That Doesn’t Always Mean True

Familiarity can feel like truth.

We have thought something for so long that we stop remembering it is a thought.

We have experienced a pattern enough times that we begin expecting it.

We have heard something repeatedly enough that we assume it must be correct.

Sometimes we even mistake familiarity for security.

At least we know what to expect there.

Except something being familiar doesn’t necessarily mean it is healthy, accurate, or still aligned with who we are becoming.

That is where Root Into Truth becomes important for me. The question isn’t simply: What do I believe?

It is also: Why do I believe it?

Where did this belief come from?

What has reinforced it?

What evidence supports it now?

Is this something I know to be true, or something I have repeated so many times that it feels true?

Sometimes becoming more grounded requires being willing to question the ground we have been standing on.

Growth | Before We See It

We often recognize growth by what becomes visible.

The change.

The decision.

The accomplishment.

The new direction.

Except a tree doesn’t begin growing where we can see it.

The roots deepen.

The foundation expands.

The tree becomes more established beneath the surface.

Then we see what that foundation can support.

That gives me a different way of looking at seasons when it seems like nothing is happening.

Maybe some of our growth is happening where nobody can see it yet.

Maybe we are understanding ourselves differently.

Maybe we are questioning something we once accepted automatically.

Maybe our values are becoming clearer.

Maybe we are recognizing a pattern before we know exactly what we want to do about it.

Maybe we are learning what is actually true for us.

Growth is not only about reaching higher.

Sometimes it means rooting deeper.

What strengthens beneath the surface can support what eventually becomes visible above it.

9 | Sacred Release

2 + 7 = 9

In my personal numerology:

9 | Sacred Release

Letting go.

Release.

Completion.

That feels especially appropriate for Root Into Truth because rooting deeper isn’t always about adding something.

Sometimes we have to release what has been taking up space in the soil.

Sacred Release isn’t only about letting go of people, places, relationships, or situations.

Sometimes it is releasing a belief.

A belief about who we are.

A belief about what we deserve.

A belief about what always happens.

A belief about what we can or cannot do.

A belief that may have made sense in one season but no longer reflects what we understand now.

There can be roots we are strengthening and roots we are allowing to loosen.

Both can be part of growth.

That makes 9 | Sacred Release feel less like losing something and more like making room for truth to become the stronger foundation.

The Tree | What Is Beneath the Surface?

The tree is the strongest visual for this message for me. A healthy tree doesn’t spend all of its energy trying to look established above ground.

Its stability comes from what we cannot see.

The roots anchor it.

They take in what nourishes it.

They help it withstand changing conditions.

They support what grows above.

That makes me think about our internal foundation.

We can focus so much on changing what is visible that we overlook what is feeding it.

If we want different fruit, sometimes we have to look at the root.

If we want to move differently, sometimes we have to examine the belief beneath the movement.

If we want something stronger to grow, sometimes we have to ask what has been occupying the soil.

What am I rooted in because it is true, and what am I rooted in simply because it is familiar?

John 8:32 | Knowing the Truth

“And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Knowing the truth comes before the freedom in this verse… we have to recognize something before we can make a different choice with it.

Sometimes truth confirms what we already know.

Sometimes truth challenges what we have always believed.

Sometimes truth requires us to admit that something familiar is no longer something we want to remain rooted in.

Freedom can begin with recognition.

Maybe we don’t immediately know what replaces an old belief.

Maybe we simply become able to say:

I don’t believe that anymore.

That alone can change the soil.

4 | Sacred Shelter

8 + 3 + 2 = 13

1 + 3 = 4

In my personal numerology:

4 | Sacred Shelter

Protection through divine order.

Foundation.

Stability.

That creates an interesting relationship between the two Scriptures.

9 | Sacred Release

4 | Sacred Shelter

Release what no longer belongs in the foundation.

Strengthen what can actually hold us.

One asks what we are willing to let go.

The other brings our attention back to what provides stability once we do.

Maybe releasing something familiar doesn’t have to leave us without a foundation.

It can make room for a truer one.

Symbolism of Style | Wearing the Message

This same story can be expressed through what we wear… not because the clothes create the meaning, but because style gives us another way to make something internal visible.

White | Authenticity

Clarity • Authenticity • Alignment

White represents clarity in this story.

There is something freeing about standing in what we know to be true without needing to cover it with something else.

Pink Lace | Inner Security

Self-Worth • Compassion • Inner Security

The lace is what makes this especially interesting to me.

Lace has layers.

There is detail beneath what we first see.

That connects naturally with roots and the parts of ourselves developing beneath the surface.

Inner security becomes part of the foundation.

Light Blue Bag | Recognition

Clarity • Perspective • Recognition

Recognition matters because we cannot examine what we haven’t recognized.

Sometimes the shift begins when we finally see the belief underneath the pattern.

Light Blue Feathered Heels | Becoming

Renewal • Expression • Becoming

The feathers bring movement into the story.

Once something changes beneath the surface, eventually it affects how we move.

Growth changes how we walk into what comes next.

Let the next step reflect what we know now.

The same message.

Expressed differently.

Our style can tell a story before we ever say a word.

Where the seen and unseen meet through fashion.

Root Into Truth

What if some of our growth is happening where nobody can see it yet?

Maybe every season isn’t asking us to reach higher.

Maybe some seasons ask us to go deeper.

Deeper into what we know.

Deeper into what we value.

Deeper into what is actually true.

We can examine what has been holding us without dismissing everything that brought us here.

Some roots deserve to be strengthened.

Some helped us survive an earlier season but are no longer supporting where we are growing.

Some may need to be released altogether.

Sacred Release gives us permission to examine the soil.

Truth gives us something stronger to root into.

Growth is not only about what becomes visible.

Sometimes the most important change happens underneath first.

Root into truth.

Let what is true become the foundation beneath us, then let how we move reflect what we now know.

I Used to Pray

God, help me hold on to what I have always known.

Keep everything around me familiar so I know where I stand.

Now I Pray

God, help me recognize what is true, even when it challenges what I have always believed. Show me what is worth strengthening and what I have outgrown. Let what is true become the foundation beneath me.

Affirmation

I release what is familiar but no longer true, and I strengthen the foundation that supports who I am becoming.

John 8:32 | NLT-CE

“And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Maybe freedom doesn’t always begin with leaving something behind physically.

Sometimes it begins beneath the surface.

A belief changes.

An understanding changes.

What we are willing to accept changes.

What we know about ourselves changes.

Then, eventually, what is visible begins to change too.

Current Circumstances are NOT Permanent Limitations. Believe It to See It.

Spiritually Speaking, Tikisha 09/08/2026 5:47 PM (7)