Author: Bonica Brown

I fell back in love with my husband.I didn’t even realize how comfortable we had become—good friends with benefits, moving through life side by side but not fully seeing each other. Recently, I looked into his eyes and realized how deeply I love him. I am grateful. I see the man he is becoming, and Read more

What are you keeping in your heart? Our hearts hold love, hope, and joy—but they also hold bitterness, jealousy, fear, and anger. Out of our hearts come both good and evil. We act on what our hearts are overflowing with. If we are storing love, then love will pour out through our words and actions. Read more

“So be strong and courageous, all you who put your hope in the Lord!”Psalm 31:24 (NLT)https://bible.com/bible/116/psa.31.24.NLT “Be strong and courageous.”Easier said than done. The Psalms are filled with beautiful poetry—pictures painted in words and raw emotion as their authors pour out their hearts to God. They speak to me because I can often relate to Read more

What a whirlwind of a year. Derick and I are just about finished with twelve full months of planning, preaching, decorating, organizing, cleaning, building, buying, and caring for our church. It’s been so busy that the year has flown by. There have been ups and downs—things we got right, things we got wrong. It has Read more

What Are Words? by Bonica Brown Sweetly spoken moments,Secrets shared between friends,A mother’s loving hum,Quiet moments,Memories,Breath on the wind,Storms that rage and pass. Words are spoken.They are written dreams,Whispered promises.Tired ramblings,Sometimes they are loud,Others never heard. Words rage—Full of vain imaginings.They create and destroy.Words speak life,And they bring death. Words can change the course of Read more

The steady beat of a heartFootsteps creak through the houseLaughter, like bells on the windBreathing in—breathing out. Oxygen fills my lungsAnd releases.Blood pulses through my heart and veins.Life moves around me—It moves inside me,Through me. The sun rises and sets.Flowers bloom, grow, and fade.Babies are born,Their lungs stretch and breathe.Their cries join in the canon—The Read more

A friend of mine, who is a children’s pastor, was telling me her testimony about how God called her into ministry. She shared how He spoke those words to her heart—”Am I your very best friend?” calling her out of her comfort zone and asking her to do things that were scary and uncomfortable in Read more

Entangled in this world. My thorns are sharp. I’m brittle and a little broken. I’ve been cooped up in the cold, dark winter. I look dead. I feel it, too. It’s been a long and lonely time since the sun last shone. I’m just a wild rose, wrapping around, trying to find my place. Afraid Read more

Hopeless, Broken PeopleJust trying to get by,Praying for a breakthrough,In the stormy seas of life.We’re holding on so tightly,While longing for the shore.Lost in an endless sea,Desperate for more. We’re screaming, drowning people,Just trying to surviveIn this world of pain and hurt,Of birth and death and life.The endless, spinning cyclesOf sweat and blood and chore—We Read more