Kim Hardy

What does it look like to truly listen for God's voice, guard your mind with truth, and surrender your life daily to His will? In this post, I share a nerve-wracking moment of choosing obedience over fear, what I have learned about armoring up against lies, and how my word for the year, Surrender, has drawn me closer to God, my family, and myself. Learning to listen and obey has changed everything.

Wanting to experience God on a new level I attempted, to create a comfy space in the cleaning closet under my staircase and quickly realized that God wasn't after my comfort, He was after my heart. Through training at Mercy Ships, a season of loss, and my word for the year, abide, I began to trust God with my concerns, doubts, fears and struggles instead of striving to figure it all out on my own.

For years, I searched for wholeness in all the wrong places — in relationships, in marriage, in motherhood, in being the person everyone needed me to be. I was a recovering people-pleaser and perfectionist, hiding behind locked journals and a smile that masked real despair. This post traces that journey: from a grieving little girl who lost her father and grandfather within months of each other, to a woman set free from the weight of her past.