![\"A](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tomme-stevenson.com\/website\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Life-Chan-050726-scaled.png?resize=525%2C354&ssl=1\")
What does it mean to be alive? Is being alive the same as living? If you have breath in your lungs, why? God created you for greatness. Are you living up to God\u2019s intent for you?<\/p>\nWhat does it mean to be alive? Is being alive the same as living? If you have breath in your lungs, why? God created you for greatness. Are you living up to God\u2019s intent for you?<\/p>\n
Isaiah 49:15-16<\/strong>, \u201cCan a mother forget the baby at her breast\u00a0and have no compassion for the child\u00a0she has borne? Though she may forget,\u00a0I will not forget you! See, I have engraved\u00a0you on the palms of my hands;\u00a0your walls\u00a0are ever before me.\u201d<\/p>\n Troubles come, sometimes in waves. They are a product of a broken world. Sometimes that trouble is self-inflicted; other times it comes out of nowhere. But trouble does not define us; it refines us. It is one of the tools God uses to make us stronger and more relatable. We cannot speak into others’ lives with wisdom we have not earned. Unfortunately, most wisdom is born of suffering. It is regrettable how little we learn in prosperity.<\/p>\n Galatians 1:15<\/strong>, \u201cBut when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother\u2019s womb and called me through His grace.\u201d<\/p>\n Given all I have been through in my life, including the unimaginable, which I not only survived but also thrived after, I still find my existence a miracle. There are 100 sextillion stars and planets in our known universe, and over eight billion people on this single spinning orb. And I am me, unique, perfect for my purpose, seeing, feeling, thinking, walking, and talking. I am the impossible. Trillions of cells in my body are continually renewed throughout my life, yet somehow I remain me. The new me retains all the attributes of the old me. I keep living. There is a reason for all of this.<\/p>\n Psalm 139:13-14<\/strong>, \u201cFor You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother\u2019s womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well.\u201d<\/p>\n One of the great lessons from the parable of the talents is the statement \u201cto each according to his ability.\u201d Our lives were not meant to mirror one another. We were always designed to be unique, and with that uniqueness come unique challenges. We tend to treat our challenges as greater than others’ because they are the only ones we have ever known, having lived only within this single life. They are the only challenges we have felt.<\/p>\n If every life is unique and purposeful, how do we recognize whether we are truly living according to that purpose? It is a prayerful question, not why this is happening to me, but God, what do you want me to do with what lies before me?<\/p>\n God promises us that we will never experience anything that is not already known to man.<\/p>\nTrouble in a Broken World<\/h2>\n
Fearfully and Wonderfully Made<\/h2>\n
The Weight of Uniqueness<\/h2>\n
Purpose in the Midst of Pain<\/h2>\n