Don’t Grow Cold - Encouragement for Today - September 24, 2025

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September 24, 2025

Don’t Grow Cold
JESS CONNOLLY

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“… my body wasted away … My strength evaporated like water in the summer heat.” Psalm 32:3-4 (NLT)

“Are you feeling warm or cold?”

It was an emergency counseling session with my long-trusted therapist. After something deeply painful happened in my family, I showed up teary and unraveling.

But she kept checking on my body temperature.

She explained: When someone is in trauma or shock, the body often feels cold. It’s a signal of dissociation — the nervous system freezing to protect you. She didn’t want to end our session until I felt warm again.

I immediately remembered two painful events from the past year: one where I was emotionally frozen, cold, and detached — the other where my face flushed with tears and my chest burned with grief. I didn’t feel ashamed about either response. But the second, where I stayed connected to the pain and to God, was where healing truly began.

This made me marvel at God. He has designed our bodies to endure the unimaginable, but He has also given us clues for when it’s time to come home to ourselves.

You may have already done something warming today. Maybe just reading this devotion, reaching for hope, is the bravest thing you’ve done in a while — especially if your pain has left you numb.

David, a man after God’s own heart, described in Scripture what happens when we stay cold, hide our pain or sin, and disconnect from God: “My body wasted away … My strength evaporated like water in the summer heat” (Psalm 32:3-4).

But then something shifted in the next verse. When David confessed, he warmed back up physically, spiritually, and emotionally. He found forgiveness and renewed strength:

“Finally, I confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide my guilt. I said to myself, ‘I will confess my rebellion to the LORD.’ And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone” (Psalm 32:5, NLT).

David didn’t pretend that he didn’t need God. He didn’t see grief or guilt as threats to his faith but as invitations to deeper connection with his Father.

David likely wrote this psalm after confessing his sin with Bathsheba. He’d first written Psalm 51, a beautiful lament and cry for mercy. But Psalm 32 is post-repentance, a reflection of the warmth that followed truth-telling and surrender.

Maybe we're not hiding major moral failures, but we’re weary from circumstances beyond our control: heartbreak, burnout, betrayal, disappointment. Even in those spaces, David’s words offer us both encouragement and warning. Healing can’t happen while we’re emotionally frozen.

There’s no shame if you’ve stayed numb to survive. But there’s another way that begins with turning toward God and telling the truth about how you got here … and how it feels to be here now.

We can’t ask, “What’s next?” until we’ve answered, “What’s happening in me right now?”

It will require courage and trust. But in time, you’ll be grateful you chose to stay warm instead of letting your heart grow cold.

God, You aren’t afraid of my feelings. Thank You for creating me as a whole person — body, mind, and spirit — and for staying near even when I shut down. Help me come back to You today with honesty and warmth. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

OUR FAVORITE THINGS

For more encouragement to face what’s hard with honesty and hope, grab a copy of Jess Connolly’s new book, What Comes Next: 40 Days of Healing After Heartbreak, Burnout, or Brokenness.

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Enter to WIN your very own copy of What Comes Next by Jess Connolly. To celebrate this book, Jess’ publisher will give away 5 copies! Enter to win by filling out the form here. {We’ll randomly select 5 winners and notify them via email by Monday, September 29, 2025.}

FOR DEEPER STUDY

Psalm 51:17, “The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God” (NLT).

Isaiah 61:1b-2, “He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted … to comfort all who mourn …” (NIV).

What part of your heart has grown cold, and what might it look like to bring that part back to God today?

How do you tend to cope with deep pain? What helps you feel emotionally and spiritually “warm” again? Share with us in the comments!

© 2025 by Jess Connolly. All rights reserved.