Embracing the “Just”

For decades, my life was defined by what I did. I wore busyness like an invisible badge of honour. So, when that season came to what felt like a crashing halt, and the title was taken away, I’ll be honest: the silence felt deafening. When people asked what I was up to, the word “nothing” tasted heavy in my mouth.

But lately, God has been doing a massive remodeling project on my heart. He’s been taking the word “just”- a word the world uses to minimize things – and turning it into a promotion.

I am learning to embrace “just” being a grandma. And honestly? It is the sweetest, most liberating space I have ever occupied.

When I am sitting on the floor with my Theo, the frantic hustle of my past life feels like a distant memory. Theo doesn’t care about my past titles, my theological resume, or whether my house is perfectly dusted. He doesn’t need me to lead a meeting or fix a crisis. He just wants me to watch him figure out how his hands work, or rock him to sleep in the quiet afternoon light.

Having this time with him has been a gentle rescue mission for my soul. In the past, my schedule meant I was always looking at the clock, always rushing to the next obligation. But with Theo, time slows down. I am learning the holy art of being fully present. I get to hold my baby girl Grace’s son, watch her and Kelan become incredible parents, and simply marvel at the miracle of it all. It turns out that stepping down from a platform was just the prerequisite for stepping into the most important front-row seat of my life.

And the beautiful thing about God is that He never stops pouring out His goodness. Just as I am getting my footing in this new rhythm, our family is preparing to expand again.

This December, Jackson and Ash are welcoming their own little miracle into the world. The anticipation is already humming through our family gatherings. I find myself looking around the living room, secretly planning where the extra bassinet will go, and realizing that by Christmas, our world is going to be a beautiful chaos of two grandbabies under one roof. Seriously, what could be better?

If you had told me during the painful, anxious days of leaving my church role that this is what the “other side” looked like, I wouldn’t have believed you. I thought the blank spaces in my calendar meant I was being set aside. Now I see that God was just clearing the room so I would have space to hold what mattered most.

If you are navigating a transition right now where your old identity feels gone, please don’t let the enemy whisper that you are “just” anything. Whether you are “just” resting, “just” waiting, or “just” stepping into a quieter season – that space is sacred.

Your worth was never tied to how much you could produce anyway. It was always rooted in whose you are. Today, my hands are full of baby blankets instead of speaking notes and schedules, and my heart is completely at peace. I am just a daughter of the King, and I am just a grandma. And there is absolutely nothing small about that.