My Facebook friends know that I try to post at least a couple of Bible-verse graphics every week. Sometimes I succeed; sometimes I fall short. But that’s OK. Most of us know what it’s like to try, miss the mark and keep going anyway.
With that in mind, in a little spurt of energy Sunday evening, I stored up a whole series of verses that I’m planning to share online. And then I had what felt like was a good idea: Why not share the first five of them here as well? Enough, I hope, to carry us – yes, all of us – through the week.
I’ll present them in the same order I saved them. At the time, the sequence seemed random. But as often happens when we pause long enough to look back, I’m beginning to wonder if there might be a Divine purpose in their arrangement after all.
– “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me” – John 14:1.
This is one of those verses that sounds simple until life makes it complicated. Yes, trouble has a way of finding us even when our faith is deep and steady. So what I hear here is reassurance – an invitation to lean more fully into Christ, especially in those moments when our hearts feel unsettled.
– “Everything is possible for one who believes” – Mark 9:23b.
This verse can feel both hopeful and daunting. It reminds us that belief isn’t a magic wand; it’s a doorway. When we believe – sometimes haltingly, sometimes with questions still in tow – we leave room for God to work in ways we cannot predict or control.
– “Then Jesus told him, ‘Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed'” – John 20:29.
Of course, today we all live squarely in that second category. We haven’t seen what the disciples saw, yet we are still called “blessed” for believing. I love that. It brings me such comfort to know that faith does not require firsthand proof – only a willing heart and a trust that reaches beyond what our eyes can confirm.
– “Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you; bind them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart” – Proverbs 3:3.
This verse feels almost tactile, almost tangible. Love and faithfulness aren’t meant to be occasional thoughts or distant ideals. They are to be remembered. They are to be carried and worn (symbolically, of course – even though I do have cross necklaces and scripture T-shirts). Written on the heart, love and faithfulness become part of how we respond to others and how we walk through our days.
– “The Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, than the mighty waves of the sea” – Psalm 93:4.
Some weeks feel noisy – emotionally, spiritually, even literally. This verse reminds us that no matter how loud or relentless the waves may seem, God’s presence is stronger still. Above the clamor, above the chaos, he remains steady and unshaken.
Looking back at these five verses together, I’m struck by how naturally they seem to move in a progression. They begin with reassurance for troubled hearts, then call us into belief. From there, they remind us that faith does not depend on what we can see, but on what we trust. That trust, we are told, is meant to be carried with us – written on our hearts and lived out daily.
Then finally, the arc widens, lifting our eyes to a God who stands above the noise and the waves, steady and sovereign.
I may not have saved these verses in any particular order, but taken together, they form a quiet path – one that leads us from uncertainty to assurance, and finally into a peace that does not recede when the waters rise.
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Sallie Rose Hollis lives in Ruston and retired from Louisiana Tech as an associate professor of journalism and the assistant director of the News Bureau. She can be contacted at sallierose@mail.com.
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