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Trisha Keehn

Writer

Trisha Keehn is a creative writer fueled by a lifetime of faith. She is part of the Life.Church and YouVersion Bible App creative writing team, and uses her broadcast news background to help companies choose their words wisely. Trisha is a wife, mom, coffee connoisseur, lover of libraries, and a savvy traveler.

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You’re Not Alone

My heart had been coveting a friend’s marriage and how wonderful it would be to have such a life. And in that very moment, my Abba Father chased me down with His merciful love. I was prompted to open up His word. It landed on 1 Corinthians 7. It was as if God had lifted a veil, fresh eyes danced across the page and a new light was cast on Paul’s carefully crafted words.

26 I think that in view of the present distress it is good for a person to remain as he is. 27 Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be free. Are you free from a wife? Do not seek a wife. 28 But if you do marry, you have not sinned, and if a betrothed woman marries, she has not sinned. Yet those who marry will have worldly troubles, and I would spare you that. 

32 I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord. 33 But the married man is anxious about worldly things, how to please his wife, 34 and his interests are divided. And the unmarried or betrothed woman is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit. But the married woman is anxious about worldly things, how to please her husband. 35 I say this for your own benefit, not to lay any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord.

36 If anyone thinks that he is not behaving properly toward his betrothed, if his passions are strong, and it has to be, let him do as he wishes: let them marry—it is no sin. 37 But whoever is firmly established in his heart, being under no necessity but having his desire under control, and has determined this in his heart, to keep her as his betrothed, he will do well. 38 So then he who marries his betrothed does well, and he who refrains from marriage will do even better.

I learned there’s no use in wishing we were in a place other than where God has us. In fact, we should be glad that we are not consumed with the anxieties of the world, but only with the things that please the Lord. Men and women in relationships have divided interests, but those set aside have been given a privilege… of undivided devotion to God. The aim is to be firmly established in our hearts, under no necessity and having desire under control. In fact, Paul says it will be these who do ‘even better’.

Before you go thinking that I have concluded to never get married, let me say that I think it would be wonderful to have a God-appointed helpmate to wake up to and fall asleep with, as well as all the incredible parts in between. I’m a very passionate person and touch is my love language, of course I look forward to that day! But what I’ve learned is that there’s no use in seeking out a place God does not have for me right now. Paul reminds me that ‘right now’ is even better.

Under this conclusion, I carried on with my day and made a comment to a friend “I’ve accepted that God has me alone and I’m okay with it.” And just as I clipped the last syllable, words from the heavens reached down and cradled my heart. It was as if He was saying I see you. I understand. My love is here, forever and always.

I search for love, when the night came,
And it closed in, I was alone,
But you found me, where I was hiding,
And now I’ll never ever be the same,
It was the sweetest voice,
That called my name saying

You’re not alone, For I am here,
Let me wipe away your every fear,
My love I’ve never left your side,
I have seen you through the darkest night,
And I’m the one who’s loved you all your life,
All of your life

You cry your self to sleep, cause the hurt is real,
And the pain cuts deep, all hope seems lost,
With heartache your closest friend,
And everyone else long gone,
You’ve had to face the music on your own,
But there is a sweeter song that calls you home saying

You’re not alone, For I am here,
Let me wipe away your every tear,
My love I’ve never left your side,
I have seen you through the darkest night,
And I’m the one who’s loved you all your life,
All your life

Faithful and true, Forever,
Oh my love will carry you

You’re not alone, For I, I am here,
Let me wipe away your every fear
Oh yeah, My love I’ve never left your side,
I have seen you through the darkest night,
Your darkest night,
And I’m the one who’s loved you all your life,
All of your life.

(You’re Not Alone – Meredith Andrews)

I’ve never been closer to the Lord than right now, right here. And I don’t ever want to see that day where I’m further from Him than where we’re at today. If you find yourself thinking you’re ‘alone’, I pray God uses these words to speak a new message of love and hope to an aching soul.

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What’s So Wrong With Being High Maintenance?

I’m re-posting this article because honestly, the husband’s response softened my heart at the thought that God would create a man who would say ‘go ahead… I dare you’ in such conviction to love and give all that he’s got to his wife. He didn’t back down when she was feeling ‘needy’ and wasn’t trying to shy away from the hard stuff… but actually pressed in deeper. It gave me butterflies. I dare God to give me someone like that!

This is a post by Allison Vesterfelt. Pick up a copy of her latest book, Packing Light: Thoughts on Living Life with Less Baggage on her website and make sure to follow along on Twitter (@allyvest) for regular updates. To read more of her posts on the Storyline Blog, click here.

For most of my life, I prided myself on being relatively low maintenance. I was always more likely to go camping than shopping, hated the idea of asking for help (especially if it meant playing the “damsel in distress”), and tried to be the kind of person who never needed too much of anything from anyone.

I thought this made me the best kind of friend, sister, daughter and even girlfriend anyone could ever ask for. I was so easy to be around, I thought. I never took more than I gave. I never took much of anything.

Who wouldn’t want to be friends with me?

• • •

Then, one day during my first year of marriage I got into an argument with my husband.

It was the same argument we’d rehearsed a hundred times before (isn’t this how it happens? We could almost read from a script). I admitted I’d been feeling a little bit neglected and invisible. He asked me why I hadn’t said something earlier, and I blubbered something like, “I just don’t want to be a burden to you!”

This time, when I said that, something clicked for him, and he told me something different than he’d ever told me before.

“Go ahead,” he insisted. “Be a burden to me. I dare you.”

Suddenly, in that moment, I realized my tendency to pretend like I didn’t need anything from him, or from anyone else, wasn’t healthy. It didn’t make me low-maintenance. It made me a liar. Because I did need something from him.

I needed him to love him and care for me as much as I loved and cared for him.
And in order for him to do that, I had to admit I needed something.

That morning, for the first time in our marriage, my husband made me pancakes. And you know what I learned? I learned my husband knows how to make really good pancakes. Pancakes with lots of chocolate chips, just the way I like them. And also, perhaps more importantly, I learned that he really liked making them for me.

I’m not a burden just because I need something. That’s what I’m learning.

• • •

We all need things, want things, and are hungry for things (like pancakes). Relationships take maintenance. People take maintenance. And when we try to act like we don’t, one of two things happens to our relationships: The first option is that we grow resentful. The second is that we become invisible.

In both of these scenarios, our relationships wither and die.

A relationship requires two people to function — two people who want things, need things, feel things and think things. If one disappears, the relationship ends.

So go ahead, be high maintenance. Hopefully while eating pancakes.

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A Journey With Jesus

My heart has been downtrodden for some days and the weight of it has worn heavily on my body. The doctor diagnosed my physical ailments as tendonitis. I shed tears of joy and ones of sadness. I’ve been chasing my God day and night for relief, but His brief silence has been unsettling.

In the middle of my grief, I heard His voice, ‘let’s take a journey’. How? My muscles are in pain. ‘Come’. So I grabbed my tennis shoes and keys. As I was walking out the door, I noticed my hand, in an unusual way, felt no pain in its grasp. I walked to the trails and felt His nudge, ‘it is time’. I started a steady jog. A mile down, I wanted to walk again and it was as if His hand reached down and held my head high, ‘look to me’. The trail in front of me faded, the passersby blurred, and everything else dimmed. My gaze fixed steadily on the clouds, I counted all the ways of His goodness. I don’t recall the breaths I breathed, only the air He supplied. I couldn’t remember the trail I had traveled, only the place He had brought me. I should come down from the clouds to get clarity on where I’m at. ‘Don’t look down. Don’t look back now. There’s time for that when it’s all over. Just keep your eyes on me… trust me… we will get there.’

My mind started to think about how far I had yet to go and a heaviness weighed down my strength. Once again I felt His touch holding my chin high, ‘it’s only me and you Trisha, just me and you, that’s all you have to worry about’. A plane flew in my line of sight and He said ‘they fly close to me and can even get in the way sometimes, but be not mistaken. Do not get distracted. They are not Me.’

The awning of a bridge overhead reminded me that we had a little more than a mile left, and then the music stopped. And He said, ‘keep looking at me. Don’t stop, don’t get distracted, keep your eyes and mind on me and I will sustain you.’ I kept running but in the quietness thoughts weaved in and out, if you stop now, no one will know… your body is tired, just let up a little and run the rest later… you’re not going to make it. ‘Look at me Trisha, I will sustain you, trust me. I am the air that you breath. I am the supplier of life. Just keep your mind on my me, it will be over before you know it.’

Another awning said we only had a quarter mile left and He said ‘give it all you got’. That seems impossible, I am tired and I can’t see anything with my eyes in the clouds. ‘Trust me, trust me’. So I raised my step higher and propelled my body faster with everything I had. My mind wanted to visualize a 400 meter dash and how long that was, but I shook it off I trust you! I trust you! I trust you!

I crossed the final post… and let out a deep breath. I didn’t look back. This journey wasn’t about how many steps I took or what I passed up. This was about my journey with Jesus.

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Overcome By His Great Love

I saw my cousin today! Via Google Hangouts, we shared a video chat. At first sight of him, tears of joy overwhelmed my soul; I was at a loss for words. It was surreal to see with my eyes this great miracle we have been praying for. I had believed, I had heard, but now I had witnessed. The Holy Spirit has just consumed me… He’s captured my heart with such stunning awe… I am overcome by His great love and pure joy. The work of the Father’s hand is so radiant!

How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you. Psalm 139:17-18

Isn’t it amazing that God is so strong that even in our tremendous suffering, He will make us glad? Our God is so good, He can make the hurt worth it! That’s one amazing God!!

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A Voice For The Children

Tonight I begin 5 weeks of intense training to become a “Court Appointed Special Advocate” for children coming from abusive/neglected homes. Its a volunteer opportunity that requires hours/week of investigation, court reporting and testimony to recommend the best interest for a child, whether it includes returning to their parents or another permanent home. It’s a nationwide initiative meant to relieve overburdened social workers who have too many cases and cannot give the necessary attention to each case. The result of this stretched-too-thin social work often times means children are released into homes where they are abused a second time… or third… or sometimes end in death.

This is my chance to pour out my heart in loving on children in ways they’ve maybe never received. I expect to graduate in six weeks and be sworn in by a judge to become a legal member of juvenile court, with a voice for children.

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He Was There All Along

Today, my cousin Jesse started whispering and he wrote ‘JES’ when asked his name. He will be moved to a rehab facility tomorrow. (Note: his nurse told me a week ago ‘no way would he ever be a candidate for rehab with a brain stem injury like his’.) My sister also asked him if he remembered me flying in and reading the bible to him as he woke up from his coma-HE DID! I recall as I was singing to him, a nurse said ‘you know, he’s not in there. he can’t hear you.’ And I turned to the doctor and said ‘whether it’s from his physical body on this hospital bed or his spirit hovering above, I believe Jesse knows I’m am here’. What reassurance to hear my cousin confirm it… he was there all along.

This morning I was reading in Acts 3&4 about the lame beggar being healed and I just boldly declare this “if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well.” Acts 4:9-10

My heart is so very touched by every one of you who have prayed and continued praying. I’m so deeply thankful for you. I lift you each up in the name of Jesus and pray your heart receives such compassionate love for your faith. It’s because of your prayers and belief in God’s living word of miracles and healing that my cousin is more than alive today. Praise you Jesus! My Abba, Father… You, my King are deserving of all the praise and glory that comes from this healing we believed in and entrusted you for. We lift you up higher… We point to you.

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The Glory In Impossibility

What mercy, what graciousness! By the strength and healing from God, my cousin gave the first hug to his daughter. Jehovah Rophi, what astonishment and wonder you have left us! Praise you Jesus!

We fall short of understanding or really grasping what kind of power Christ through us means… TODAY. We’re talking mountains move, oceans rise, the earth trembles… People get healed! And the greatest mercy of it all is that Christ makes it possible… And available for the believing everyday! EVERY SECOND of every minute of every hour of every day!

Praise you Jesus! Praise you Jesus! Praise you Jesus! Tears of joy… praise and surrender… You oh Lord, are truly one magnificent God! You, only you! I am stunned in wonder and amazement… we are not worthy of such mercy.

My sister visited my cousin today and here’s what she had to say… “Just had the most amazing experience with, Jesse. We went to visit him with Evyn (her 6-month baby girl) for the first time. I started to get a little discouraged because he wasn’t responding to us at all. We have been hearing stories of smiles, hugs, sitting up in bed…then we asked him to give us a thumbs up. He did! Then he started turning to us when we said his name. He even reached out to me and put his hand on my stomach and then grabbed my hand and held on. Then he started pulling himself up to sit up using my arm! THEN!! My favorite part-we told him we were going to leave and Evyn squealed a little. Jesse broke out a genuine Jesse grin, brought his arm up into the air, and waved goodbye to us. The only word I have for this day-miraculous.”

God gets all the glory when humanity says impossible. I dare you to believe it is possible in Christ.

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His Faceted Brilliance

The Lord just captures my heart and mind with such stunning radiance, I am awestruck by the wonders of His work. Isn’t He just… amazing! When I close my eyes, His acts look more like a diamond with many chiseled facets that gleam a different light depending on the angle you’re viewing the Rock from. If you stand back and view a diamond from the side, you see it really only points in one direction.

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What’s simply amazing is how the great Author makes the millions of us each feel loved and known. In one act or display, like a sunrise, He shines in my direction with such an intentional, personalized ray of light… the message my heart hears is God speaking a very handcrafted word directly to me. And yet to another person standing near, viewing the same sun… from their angle, it shines a different facet of light that speaks a very intimate message from the Lord and looks completely different from my own. The light looks different from wherever you are standing, but one thing is for sure, every glimmer is unique and on purpose.

“But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: ‘Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.'” Isaiah 43

“O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me…” Psalm 139

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Lord, you are, even more beautiful than diamonds…

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Searching For Your Hand

Praise you Jesus for your healing power… thank you Lord for your light shining through the darkness to a world searching for your hand at work! We give you all the glory! Through my tears I am not letting the enemy steal my joy in Jesus. Thank you God for still being faithful. And to the centurion Jesus said, “Go; let it be done for you as you have believed.” And the servant was healed at that very moment. Matthew 8:13

There’s so much uncertainty with my cousin’s brain injuries; we’re caught between hope and realism. Being with family and at hospital with my cousin, oh, it was just one of the greatest gifts and warmed my heart so much. I hung up encouraging posters in his line of sight, played Jesse’s favorite music for his ears to hear, held his hand and massaged his legs for his skin to feel, and read stories of healing from Matthew– speaking in prayer those words in the name of Jesus over Jesse’s life. Either way, whether it’s from his body in that hospital bed or his spirit hovering above, I believe my cousin sees and knows he is loved and that’s all we can do. To God be any glory from the miracles/healing that occur.

Morning by morning new mercies I see. All I have needed Thy hand hath provided. Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord unto me!

I opened the door to my house, it was very quiet, evident that I left in a hurry and hit me what all just happened. It feels like everything in my life stopped for a moment but the world kept spinning. I’m pretty tired and a bit lost to not be at the hospital when there’s someone in need, but I understand the Lord has it all in His hands and my prayers from hundreds of miles away still have power too. Overall, the joy of the Lord has remained my strength! So if you’re wondering how to pray for me, pray for God’s companionship to comfort me in the quiet and mercy from others as my heart feels a bit ‘needy’ during this time.

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A Prayer of Healing

All I can do is fall to my knees.

In the name of Jesus, I speak healing on behalf of my brother in Christ Jesse March. In the midst of physical weakness, may the Lord God Almighty be revealed strong. May every brokenness in that body be made whole, and the Great Healer show His glory through what can only be a supernatural healing from the Great I Am. Your word, oh Magnificent God tells us of miraculous works that bind up every wound, a restoration that makes things new… Even better than before. We believe it, and speak it in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has healed you.” Luke 18:42

Jesus turned and saw her. “Take heart, daughter,” he said, “your faith has healed you.” And the woman was healed at that moment. Matthew 9:22

Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! Let it be done just as you believed it would.” And his servant was healed at that moment. Matthew 8:13

Heal me, Lord , and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for you are the one I praise. Jeremiah 17:14

Large crowds followed him, and he healed them there. Matthew 19:2

He sent out his word and healed them; he rescued them from the grave. Psalm 107:20

The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them. Matthew 21:14