Sunday Snapshot: Am I Willing to Get Uncomfortable Enough to Discover What’s Next?

Hey you, it’s me!

Come sit with me for a minute. I wish I could pour you a cup of coffee myself.

I’m home watching church on television this morning. I’ve been feeling under the weather, and life has felt a little heavy lately. Between the chaos, the commitments, and everything going on behind the scenes, I’m tired. Not the kind of tired a good night’s sleep necessarily fixes. You know what I mean?

And can I confess something? I almost didn’t write to you today. I know! We just started these Sunday Snapshots, and here I was, already talking myself out of showing up.

Jenn, you’ve been doing so much. Take a break. You just started writing these. Nobody’s going to notice if you skip a week. Maybe committing to every Sunday was a little ambitious.

And my personal favorite? Sunday is supposed to be a day of rest. Well, isn’t that convenient?

Now, don’t misunderstand me. I believe in rest. I’m learning that I don’t have to earn it, and I certainly don’t want you or me feeling guilty when we need it. But I also know myself. And there’s a difference between giving myself permission to rest and allowing fear to talk me out of something I feel called to do.

Because this little Sunday letter means something to me. I’ve started something new here: writing to you each week, opening my Bible, opening my heart, and inviting you into the conversations I’m having with God. I want this to feel like we’re sitting across from each other, coffee in hand, talking about life. The beautiful parts, the hard parts, and all the stuff we don’t quite know what to do with. Not because I have everything figured out. Goodness, no. I’m learning right alongside you.

And then I remembered what we talked about last Sunday: What Lie Are You Believing? Well, apparently, I needed to go back and read my own letter!

Because those little lies have a way of sneaking into our thoughts dressed up as perfectly reasonable advice. You’re doing too much. You’re not ready. You don’t have what it takes. Why bother? And before we know it, we’ve talked ourselves out of the very thing we were excited to begin.

So here I am, showing up with a tired heart, a cup of coffee, and something I want to share with you. And I’m glad you’re here.

The Woman in the Mirror

I’ve been asking God a lot of questions lately. What comes next? What am I supposed to do with this season of my life? Who am I becoming?

I came home from walking the Camino in Spain, my youngest daughter moved into her own place, and the house got quieter. I’m learning a new city, trying to find my people, and figuring out what midlife is supposed to look like when the life you’ve known starts changing.

And next week, I’m heading back to Austin. I’ve booked horseback riding, an e-bike adventure, and a UTV outing, and I’ll be doing those things on my own. Four seasons ago, the woman who sat down behind a podcast microphone for the first time hadn’t even gone to a restaurant by herself. And now look at her!

Don’t get too excited. She still gets nervous. I still overthink things. I can talk myself out of a perfectly good idea before I’ve finished my morning coffee. But lately, I’ve been learning to look back at how far I’ve come instead of only focusing on how far I have left to go.

And I’ve realized something else.

I spent so many years trying to love everybody else that somewhere along the way, I forgot how to love myself.

I got really good at understanding people. Making excuses for them. Giving grace. Showing up. Making room for what everyone else needed. But when it came to the woman looking back at me in the mirror? Oh, I could find a hundred things wrong with her.

My pointy nose. My curly hair. My practically nonexistent lips and butt. And don’t even get me started on how I can get tangled up in my own words. I host a podcast, for crying out loud! And there are days when I can’t get a sentence out the way I intended.

But here’s the funny part. Every episode, I introduce myself as your perfectly imperfect podcast host. I’ve been saying those words for years, and I’m only now learning how to offer myself the same grace I’ve been encouraging everybody else to receive.

Psalm 139:14 tells us we’re fearfully and wonderfully made. Genesis 1:27 reminds us we’re created in God’s image. And I’ve been sitting with those verses, asking myself a question. If God created me, and He loves me, why have I spent so much time criticizing His handiwork? Why have I allowed the opinions of other people, and my own harshest thoughts, to tell me who I am?

I’m not suddenly in love with every photograph of myself. My hair still has a mind of its own, and I still wish my words would occasionally get in line and cooperate. But I’m learning to love the woman God made. Pointy nose and all.

This is me. Hair with a mind of its own, pointy nose and all. I’m learning to love the woman God made.

Looking Back Before Moving Forward

I keep thinking about the Camino.

On the first day, I was climbing a hill I couldn’t see the end of when a car came too close and its mirror hit Ike, my e-bike. I was shaking. I told my friend Kristen I couldn’t do it, and we called a taxi. I needed to get somewhere safe.

And just a few minutes before reaching the hotel, I looked out the window and realized something. The road ahead was easier than the stretch I’d already climbed. I had made it through the hardest part of that day. I just couldn’t see it from where I’d been standing. (I tell the whole story on Tuesday’s episode of Just Jelly Unfiltered.)

That taxi ride has stayed with me. Not because I wish I’d done something differently. I made the decision I needed to make to keep myself safe. But because it taught me something about perspective. When we’re standing in the middle of something difficult, we can’t always see how far we’ve already come. And goodness, isn’t that true of life?

When I look back now, I see a woman who pressed record on her first podcast without knowing what she was doing. I see a woman who wrote Silent to Spoken while wondering whether she could find the right words. I see the woman who got into that taxi and went on to finish the Camino. None of those versions of me felt ready. But God didn’t wait for me to become somebody else before He started working through my life.

And that brings me to what happened at church this morning.

What If What’s Next Isn’t Out There?

As I sat watching the service, the pastor started talking about the hurts we carry. The things that happen to us. The people who’ve disappointed us. The anger, resentment, and bitterness that can quietly settle into our hearts. He compared unresolved hurt to internal bleeding.

And I sat there thinking about that. Because you can look perfectly fine on the outside while something is happening on the inside that nobody else can see. You can get dressed, smile for pictures, go to work, take care of your family, and tell everyone you’re doing just fine, all while carrying a wound you’ve never really allowed yourself to examine.

And suddenly, the question I’ve been asking all week felt different. Am I willing to get uncomfortable enough to discover what’s next? I’d been thinking about adventures, new opportunities, and stepping outside my comfort zone. But what if the next step isn’t about going somewhere? What if it’s about getting honest with myself?

Sometimes what’s holding us back isn’t a lack of courage. It’s hurt we haven’t addressed.

That one got me. Because I can tell you all day long about the things I want to do, the places I want to go, and the person I want to become. But sitting quietly and asking God to show me what’s happening inside my own heart? Well, that’s a different kind of uncomfortable. And this thought came to me:

Maybe getting uncomfortable with myself means admitting that I’ve asked God to change other people’s hearts while avoiding the work He wants to do in mine.

Ouch.

Have you ever prayed for somebody to change? I have. I’ve asked God to soften hearts, open eyes, change attitudes, and help people see things differently. And there’s nothing wrong with praying for someone. But what happens when God turns that conversation around and asks us to look at our own hearts?

What have I been holding on to? What am I still angry about? What disappointment have I allowed to shape the way I see myself, other people, or my future? Who do I need to forgive? And could that person be me?

The Surgery: The Cut, The Examination, The Stitches

The more I thought about today’s message, the more I pictured heart surgery. Not the kind that happens in an operating room, but the kind that happens when we stop hiding from the things that hurt and invite God into those places. And if we’re going to talk about healing, I think we need to talk about what it actually involves.

The Cut | Getting Uncomfortable

The moment we stop pretending everything is fine and admit there’s a wound. We acknowledge the hurt, the disappointment, the anger, or the resentment we’ve avoided.

Nobody enjoys being vulnerable. We’d rather say we’re fine, change the subject, and get on with our day. But there comes a point when we have to admit that something still hurts, and that admission takes courage.

The Examination | Getting Honest

We look at what happened, how it affected us, and what we’re still carrying. We examine our own responses, including judgments we’ve held, without blaming ourselves for someone else’s actions.

This is where things get personal. It’s one thing to acknowledge that somebody hurt us. It’s another to ask what that hurt has done to our hearts. Has it changed the way we trust? Have we become guarded? Are we carrying resentment into relationships that had nothing to do with the original wound? Have we been so busy wanting somebody else to take responsibility that we’ve forgotten we have a heart to care for, too?

We are not responsible for another person’s wrongdoing. But we do have a choice about whether we allow that hurt to keep shaping our future.

The Stitches | Beginning to Heal

We choose forgiveness, surrender what isn’t ours to control, and receive God’s grace. The wound may still be tender. Stitches don’t mean healing is complete. They mean we’ve begun caring for what was hurt.

And I want you to hear me on this. Forgiveness doesn’t mean what happened was okay. It doesn’t mean we have to trust someone again. It doesn’t mean we have to invite people back into our lives when doing so would be harmful. And it certainly doesn’t mean we have to pretend the pain disappeared.

Forgiveness is a decision to begin releasing what we’ve been carrying. The healing that follows deserves patience.

And What If We Pop a Stitch?

Now, you know me. My mind kept going. Because after surgery, there are stitches. And what happens if we pop one? We go back and have it examined. We get the care we need. And I started thinking about how much that resembles the healing of our hearts.

We can forgive someone and mean it with everything in us. We can pray about it, surrender it, and feel a sense of peace. Then a memory comes back. A conversation brings up an old feeling. Something reminds us of a hurt we thought we’d worked through. And there it is again. We’ve popped a stitch.

But here’s what I want us to remember.

A reopened wound doesn’t erase the healing that’s already taken place.

It tells us there’s a place that needs attention. We can return to prayer. We can examine what happened. We can ask for help. We can surrender it again. Healing isn’t a test we pass once and never have to revisit. It’s a journey that requires care. And I find so much comfort in knowing that God’s grace doesn’t run out when we need to come back.

The Grace to Begin

There’s a verse I keep returning to.

2 Corinthians 12:9 (NIV)
“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

I love that God doesn’t ask us to arrive at His feet with everything neatly put together. He knows our weaknesses. He sees the places we’re struggling. He knows what we’ve carried and what we’re afraid to put down. And He loves us. Not some future, polished version of us. Us.

The woman sitting at home in her pajamas watching church. The woman who’s afraid to begin. The woman who’s been hurt. The woman who still has questions. The woman who’s learning to forgive herself.

The perfectly imperfect woman He created.

And I’m beginning to wonder whether the next step I’ve been praying about has been waiting for me to get quiet enough to recognize it. Not another mountain to climb. Not another thing to prove. Just the willingness to open my heart and let God work.

What I’m Leaving Behind

The voice that tells me I have to earn rest, or that I’m not ready yet.

What I’m Taking Into This Week

The grace to begin. Pointy nose and all.

A Little Something for Us: The 7-Day Wholehearted Reset

I don’t want to leave you with a beautiful thought and send you on your way. I want us to do something with it. So this week, in our Go Deeper devotionals, we’re going to walk through four steps from today’s sermon.

On Monday, we’ll talk about surrendering the hurt we’ve been carrying. Tuesday, we’ll explore forgiveness as a decision, especially when our feelings haven’t caught up. Wednesday, we’re going to get honest about the judgments we’ve made and held. Thursday, we’ll talk about receiving God’s grace to live with the consequences of what happened. Friday, we’ll pause and look at what we’ve learned about ourselves.

And Saturday, we’re going to sit down together with a piece of paper and a prayer. I’ll ask you to make two columns: one for the person, situation, or decision that’s been weighing on your heart, and the other for the emotion you’ve been carrying because of it. We’ll talk about forgiving others, forgiving ourselves, and bringing our disappointment about where life has taken us honestly before God. Then we’ll pray.

Not because everything will be fixed by Saturday, but because I want us to begin putting down what we were never meant to carry forever. And if we need to surrender it again next week, we’ll make room for that, too. We’re walking together, remember?

Print it. Live it. Share it. Tag me.

Download the Quick Reset Card from this post. One small prompt for each day, Monday through Saturday. Print it and put it on your fridge, bathroom mirror, or inside your journal.

Want to go deeper? Download the Go Deeper 6-Day Devotional. Each day has a short devotion, a question to pause on, journal space, a little prayer, and one small step.

Show me your Sunday Snapshot. 🤍

Maybe it’s your Bible open beside your coffee, your journal full of scribbles, a walk where you’re doing some thinking, or the little corner where you find a few minutes of peace. Take a picture and tag me on Instagram at @justjennboard. I’d love to see what this time together looks like in your world.

If you’re working through the Go Deeper devotional, come back Saturday and tell me what surprised you, what you’re learning to release, and what you’re carrying into the next week. I’ll be doing the work right alongside you.

A Little Sunday Pause

Before we go, I want you to ask yourself three things.

• What hurt have I been carrying that I’ve gotten used to calling normal?

• Where have I been waiting for someone else to change while avoiding an honest look at my own heart?

• What would one small step toward forgiveness or healing look like for me this week?

You don’t need to answer all three right now. Take them into your week. Pray about them. Write them down if that helps. And be gentle with yourself as you do.

If you want to go deeper this week, read Psalm 139:13–16, Genesis 1:27, 2 Corinthians 12:9–10, Ephesians 4:31–32, and Hebrews 12:15.

🎶 My Favorite Worship Song of the Week: “Who You Say I Am” by Hillsong Worship

From the single Who You Say I Am. Listen on Spotify

I chose this song because I want us to remember who we are while we’re doing the uncomfortable work of examining our hearts. We are not defined by our worst mistakes. We are not the names people have called us. We are not the hurt we’ve experienced. We are God’s creation. Loved. Known. Worthy of care.

And if you’re struggling to believe that today, put this song on and sit with the words.

You don’t have to earn God’s love by becoming someone else. 🤍

🤍 Verse of the Week: 2 Corinthians 12:9 (NIV)

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

Until Our Next Chat

You know what makes me smile? I started this morning trying to talk myself out of writing this letter, and now I don’t want our conversation to end. I guess that’s what happens when we make room for the things that matter to us.

I don’t know exactly what Austin will teach me next week. I don’t know where this podcast, my book, or these little Sunday conversations will take us. And I’m learning to be okay with not knowing. What I do know is that I don’t want to spend the rest of my life waiting to become somebody else before I allow myself to live the life God has given me.

I want to love the woman He created. I want to keep finding my voice. I want to be brave enough to examine my own heart. And I want to make room for the healing I still need. I hope you’ll walk with me.

And if you know a woman who needs a reminder that she doesn’t have to carry everything alone, send her this letter. There’s always room for another chair at our table.

Please write me back, too. Tell me what’s on your heart. What are you praying through? What’s one small step you want to take? I read these conversations as a friend, not someone who has it all figured out.

I almost let a tired morning convince me not to show up today. Instead, I got to sit here with you, and I’m grateful for that. We’re walking through this messy middle together, one conversation, one prayer, and one perfectly imperfect step at a time.

Until our next chat. Just stay sweet out there.

I love you, Jenn💋

Don’t quit in the quiet.

Your perfectly imperfect podcast host

P.S. Before you go! 🎀

There’s more happening than I could ever squeeze into one Sunday letter. That’s why I send The Sunday Scoop, our weekly newsletter with the podcast updates, new stories, resources, shop news, and everything else going on. If you want to stay in the loop, make sure you’re signed up for The Sunday Scoop.

And if you have a story on your heart, I’d love to hear it. Maybe you’ve walked through something that could help another woman feel a little less alone. Come sit with me. I’d love to have you as a guest on Just Jelly Unfiltered. 🎙️

Here’s what’s happening around our little corner of Just Jelly this week:

🤍 Sunday: The Sunday Snapshot. Our quiet moment together for faith, reflection, and an honest conversation about life.

📖 Monday through Saturday: Go Deeper. Six days of devotionals to help us take what we talked about today into our everyday lives. This week we’re walking through surrender, forgiveness, examining our hearts, receiving grace, reflecting, and ending with a prayer and a small step.

🎙️ Tuesday, October 20 at 6 AM: Season Five of Just Jelly Unfiltered begins! Our first episode, “I Almost Quit on Day One,” takes you back to that first day on the Camino. I was scared, overwhelmed, and convinced I couldn’t keep going. I hope you’ll listen and tell me what you think.

💌 Wednesday: A new blog, with more stories and conversations from this messy middle of life.

🌸 Friday: A resource to help you pause, reflect, and keep moving forward.

And before I go, I want to remind you of something.

You never have to walk through this messy middle alone.

I was the woman who almost didn’t speak. The woman who spent years trying to find her voice, wondering if her story even mattered.

Maybe that’s you right now. Maybe you’ve spent so much of your life showing up for everyone else that somewhere along the way, you stopped showing up for yourself.

If that’s you, I wrote Silent to Spoken with you in mind. My book is available now, and you can find it through my website.

📖 Silent to Spoken: A Woman’s Journey Through the Pause

And if nobody has told you lately, your story matters. Your voice matters. And there’s still so much life ahead of you.