This week I had an unexpected reminder that spiritual growth is often much quieter than we imagine.

During prayer, I found myself thinking about battles—temptation, discouragement, old habits, and the constant pull to look away from God. Later that morning, I came across a journal entry I had written exactly one year earlier. Reading those pages, I realized something surprising.

I was asking many of the same questions. But I was no longer asking them in the same way. A year ago, I wanted to understand everything. I wanted explanations. I wanted to know why I struggled and how to defeat every temptation. Looking back, I can see that much of my attention was still fixed on the battle itself. Today, something has changed.

When the storms come, my first instinct is no longer, "How do I fight this?" It has become, "Where is that Psalm again?"

This morning I woke up listening to Joshua. The reading spoke of kings, cities, Jerusalem, and the conquest of Canaan. My first reaction was surprisingly simple: I had forgotten Jerusalem was originally a Canaanite city.

That led me down a rabbit hole into the Torah and an old Jewish teaching. The rabbis ask why the Torah begins with Genesis instead of the first commandment given to Israel. Their answer is practical. Genesis establishes that God is Creator, and therefore the land belongs to Him. The story is not merely spiritual reflection. It is also an accounting of covenant, inheritance, and promise.