Have you ever thought, “If I could just buy this one thing, then I’d finally start”? Or maybe you’re already trying, but the results aren’t coming as quickly as you hoped.

Welcome to Day 12 of Unstuck Patterns: A 100-Day Journey of Turning North—“I Want It Now.”

Today, I share how wanting to feel strong and healthy again turned into a growing list of things I thought I needed before I could begin. A piece of workout equipment. A step-counting watch. Even an “I Can” sign.

But as I reflected on my fifth pregnancy and a season that looks different from what I expected, a deeper question surfaced: Am I willing to surrender my timeline and stay open to what God may do here?

Through James 4:1–3 and reflections from James 3–5, we explore our desires, God’s wisdom and grace, and patience when change takes time. We also look at access to items or activities as a function of behavior and consider what a purchase can practically help us do—and what still takes practice.

Maybe your waiting has nothing to do with fitness. Maybe it’s a career, a move, a relationship, or a plan you thought would have happened by now. What are you trying so hard to make happen today? And what faithful step is available right where you are?

🧰 Toolkit Action: Use What’s Here

Name what you want and what you hope it will change. Notice what you already have, then choose one small, faithful step you can take today while leaving room for God’s direction.

🤍 Heart Inscription:

“I can surrender my timeline, use what I have, and take one faithful step today.”

📖 Anchor Scripture: James 4:1–3

Additional reflections: James 3–5

🌱 Mentor: James

🔎 Behavior Focus: Access to Items or Activities

🎵 Today’s Song: “First Things First” by Consumed By Fire—a song for our Turn North playlist and today’s reflection.

🎧 Listen to Unstuck Patterns on Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/show/033SUEfG0c3Hdg5yO4Eb47

You can also search “Unstuck Patterns” on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music/Audible, Podbean, iHeartRadio, Pocket Casts, TuneIn, and Pandora.

🎵 Listen to “First Things First” by Consumed By Fire on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpTOcZN9JB4

🌐 Explore Unstuck Patterns and visit the Free Resources tab for tools for adults, teens, and children:

https://unstuck-patterns.stephanie-cox1.chatgpt.site/

📩 Connect:

UnstuckPatternsCoaching@gmail.com

We are pattern detectives, not judges.

You are not stuck. You are becoming. Keep turning north.

#UnstuckPatterns #ChristianDevotional #FaithAndBehavior

Have you ever said “I’m fine” while quietly feeling overwhelmed? Sometimes staying busy helps us avoid the conversation—or the request for support—we need to have.

Welcome to Day 11 of Unstuck Patterns: A 100-Day Journey of Turning North. Today, we explore “The Pharisee Trap” through Matthew 23:25–28: what happens when keeping the outside polished becomes more important than honestly examining what is within?

I share my painted-shoebox object lesson and how my desire to help others slipped into production mode while connection needed my attention. Together, we reflect on Jesus’ longing to gather Jerusalem in Matthew 23:37–39 and explore how escape or avoidance can keep us reaching for another task.

Being exhausted, anxious, or needing help does not make you a hypocrite. This is an invitation to examine your patterns with honesty and bring your actual life before the Lord. We are pattern detectives, not judges!

🧰 TODAY’S TOOL: THE INSIDE-OUT CHECK

1. Outside: What am I working hard to keep looking fine?

2. Inside: What need or conversation am I staying busy to avoid?

3. Next step: What is one honest step I can take today?

📖 ANCHOR SCRIPTURE

Matthew 23:25–28

Also discussed: Matthew 23:37–39

🎵 TODAY’S RECOMMENDED SONG

“Out of Hiding (Father’s Song)” — Steffany Gretzinger

https://bethelmusic.com/resources/the-undoing/out-of-hiding-fathers-song

🤍 HEART INSCRIPTION

“I can come to Jesus honestly. I do not have to keep looking fine to admit that I need help.”

You’re welcome to share one expectation you’re ready to release in the comments—without sharing anything you would rather keep private.

🌸 Sweet Monday — Mentioned in This Episode

In this episode, I share part of my story with Sweet Monday—a Christian women’s ministry centered on friendship, hospitality, and sharing Jesus. If you’re looking for community or feel called to gather women together, learn more here:

🌐 Websitehttps://sweetmonday.org/

📘 Facebookhttps://www.facebook.com/sweetmondaysocials/

🌐 Explore Unstuck Patterns and its resources:

https://unstuck-patterns.stephanie-cox1.chatgpt.site/

🎙️ Listen to the Unstuck Patterns Podcast:

https://open.spotify.com/show/033SUEfG0c3Hdg5yO4Eb47

🎵 Follow the Turn North Playlist:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7JkjmBfBoLkGSRJa5TdHF8

I add each day’s recommended song as we move through this devotional—a growing collection for worship, reflection, and time with the Lord.

🎥 Visit Unstuck Patterns on YouTube:

https://youtube.com/@unstuckpatterns

📧 Questions or want to share your story?

UnstuckPatternsCoaching@gmail.com

If this episode encouraged you, please follow or subscribe and share it with someone who needs encouragement today.

🧭 You are not stuck. You are becoming. Keep turning north.

#UnstuckPatterns #ChristianDevotional #TurnNorth

How do you stop comparing yourself to others—and what might comparison be helping you receive or avoid?

In Day 10 of Unstuck Patterns: A 100-Day Journey of Turning North, “The Stronghold of Comparison,” we explore Peter’s “What about him?” moment, my temptation to stop building Unstuck Patterns until I finish graduate school, and why someone else’s established season is not evidence that you are behind.

Behavior analysis teaches us to look beyond what a behavior looks like and ask what purpose—or function—it may be serving. In this episode, we introduce the four common functions of behavior:

• Attention or connection

• Escape or avoidance

• Access

• Automatic reinforcement

Today’s featured function is attention or connection.

We often hear the phrase “attention-seeking” and immediately view it negatively. But sometimes the behavior we see on the surface may be communicating a deeper need:

“Please see me.”

“Please stay close to me.”

“I need to know that I can still reach you.”

Through Disney’s live-action Moana and a tender lesson from my five-year-old daughter, Briar, we explore what it means to look beneath an outward reaction and become curious about the need it may be communicating.

Briar has learned to express her need for connection by saying:

“Mommy, I need some love.”

There is no shame in needing connection. The goal is to recognize the pattern and learn to express that need more directly.

Today’s behavior tool is The Function Check:

• What happened immediately before the comparison?

• What did you do?

• What happened immediately afterward?

• What did the pattern help you get—or help you avoid?

📖 Anchor Scripture: Galatians 6:4

👤 Biblical Mentor: Peter

🧭 Behavior Tool: The Function Check

🔎 Featured Function: Attention or Connection

🎵 Companion Song: “Fix My Eyes” — for KING & COUNTRY

Someone else’s established season is not evidence that you are behind. This may not be your season of being widely seen—it may be your season of being deeply prepared.

🌐 Explore Unstuck Patterns and its resources:

https://unstuck-patterns.stephanie-cox1.chatgpt.site/

🎙️ Listen to the Unstuck Patterns Podcast:

https://open.spotify.com/show/033SUEfG0c3Hdg5yO4Eb47

🎵 Follow the Turn North Playlist:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7JkjmBfBoLkGSRJa5TdHF8

🎥 Visit Unstuck Patterns on YouTube:

https://youtube.com/@unstuckpatterns

📧 Questions or want to share your story?

UnstuckPatternsCoaching@gmail.com

I am a graduate student sharing what I am learning about behavior analysis and how I apply these concepts to everyday patterns. This content is educational and faith-based and is not individualized behavioral or mental-health treatment.

If this episode encouraged you, please follow or subscribe and share it with someone who needs encouragement today.

🧭 You are not stuck. You are becoming. Keep turning north.

#StopComparing #ChristianEncouragement #UnstuckPatterns

Why do we keep reaching for temporary comfort—even when we know it will not truly satisfy us?

Sometimes we reach for food, our phones, distractions, familiar routines, or anything that gives us a moment of relief. The comfort may be real, but it does not always reach the deeper thirst underneath it.

In Day 9 of Unstuck Patterns: A 100-Day Journey of Turning North, “The Comfort Seeker,” we meet the woman at the well in John 4. She arrived looking for ordinary water, but she encountered Jesus—the One who already knew her story and offered her living water. After meeting Him, she ran back to town, eager to tell others about the One she had found!

In this episode, we’ll talk about:

• Why we reach for temporary comfort

• What may be hiding beneath our cravings

• The difference between temporary relief and lasting satisfaction

• How Jesus meets the deeper thirst of our hearts

• A simple water-bottle practice that can help us pause and turn toward God

Each time you take a drink of water today, pause and ask:

“What am I reaching for right now?”

You do not have to shame yourself for needing comfort. Instead, you can become curious about what your heart is truly seeking—and bring that need to Jesus.

📖 Anchor Scripture: Jeremiah 2:13 (NASB)

👤 Mentor: The Woman at the Well

🧰 Today’s Toolkit Action: The Thirst Check

🎵 Today’s Song: “The Well” — Casting Crowns

Follow along with the 100-day devotional journey as we move from survival patterns to sustainable rhythms through faith in Jesus Christ.

🌐 Explore Unstuck Patterns and its resources:

https://unstuck-patterns.stephanie-cox1.chatgpt.site/

🎙️ Listen to the Unstuck Patterns Podcast:

https://open.spotify.com/show/033SUEfG0c3Hdg5yO4Eb47

🎵 Follow the Turn North Playlist:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7JkjmBfBoLkGSRJa5TdHF8

🎥 Visit Unstuck Patterns on YouTube:

https://youtube.com/@unstuckpatterns

📧 Questions or want to share your story?

UnstuckPatternsCoaching@gmail.com

If this episode encouraged you, please follow or subscribe and share it with someone who needs encouragement today.

🧭 You are not stuck. You are becoming. Keep turning north.

#ChristianDevotional #FindingComfortInGod #WomanAtTheWell #EmotionalEating #UnstuckPatterns #ChristianEncouragement #FaithBasedHealing #Day9

Have you ever asked yourself, “Why did I do that again?”

You promised tomorrow would be different—but when tomorrow came, you returned to the same response, the same habit, and the same discouragement.

In Day 8 of Unstuck Patterns, we are becoming pattern detectives—not judges. Using the ABCs of behavior from Applied Behavior Analysis, we will slow down and examine what happened before the behavior, what we actually did, and what happened immediately afterward:

A — Antecedent: What happened before the behavior?

B — Behavior: What did I actually do?

C — Consequence: What happened immediately afterward?

I’ll walk you through my own pattern of trying to wake up at 5:00 a.m. to exercise—including the interrupted sleep that made the pattern more likely and the immediate relief that helped keep it going.

This is not about excusing our behavior or prosecuting ourselves in the court of our own minds. It is about understanding the pattern clearly enough to begin choosing a healthier response.

Faith reveals the direction.

Behavior analysis helps us understand the pattern.

Small faithful actions help us turn north.

Anchor Scripture: Romans 6:19–23

Mentor: Paul

Tool: The ABC Pattern Check

Song Recommendation: “Different” by Micah Tyler

You are not stuck. You are becoming. Keep turning north.

Subscribe and join me for Unstuck Patterns: A 100-Day Journey of Turning North—from survival patterns to sustainable rhythms through faith in Jesus Christ.

#UnstuckPatterns #BehaviorChange #ChristianDevotional #AppliedBehaviorAnalysis #HabitChange #TurnNorth

Have perfectionism, procrastination, or fear of failure kept you from starting—or caused you to quit when your first attempt didn’t go as planned?

In Day 7 of the Unstuck Patterns 100-Day Journey of Turning North, we are uncovering the Perfectionist Pauser: the pattern that makes us wait for a perfect beginning or abandon an imperfect one.

My first attempt at writing a devotional was not exactly a big hit. Hardly anyone engaged with it, and I began questioning—and even despising—the passion God had placed on my heart. But Zechariah 4:10 changed how I viewed that small beginning.

📖 TODAY’S SCRIPTURE

“Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin…” — Zechariah 4:10 (NLT)

In this episode, we’ll talk about:

• Why an imperfect beginning is not a failed assignment

• How other people’s response can make us question our calling

• What Zerubbabel’s plumb line teaches us about beginning

• How God uses small steps like breadcrumbs

• Three simple actions to move beyond perfectionism and begin

🧰 TODAY’S TOOLKIT ACTION: PICK UP THE PLUMB LINE

1. Name your small beginning.

2. Expose what has caused you to pause.

3. Choose one visible action you can take today.

Your plumb line is not proof that everything is finished. It is proof that you have started—and the Lord rejoices to see the work begin.

🎵 TODAY’S SONG RECOMMENDATION

“Dream Small” — Josh Wilson

As you listen, ask God:

“What is the small beginning—or next faithful step—that You are already rejoicing over?”

You do not need to see the entire trail. Follow the breadcrumb God has placed before you and take the next faithful step.

You are not stuck. You are becoming. Keep turning north.

#OvercomePerfectionism #ChristianEncouragement #UnstuckPatterns

Are you afraid to move forward because what’s familiar feels safer than what’s next?

Sometimes the hardest part of getting unstuck isn’t leaving behind what’s hurting us—it’s trusting God when we can’t see where He’s leading us.

In Day 6 of the Unstuck Patterns: A 100-Day Journey of Turning North, we’re talking about Leaving the Safe Desert and learning to trust God in the unknown.

📖 TODAY’S SCRIPTURE

“The Lord is the one who goes ahead of you; He will be with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.” — Deuteronomy 31:8 (NASB)

Today, we’ll talk about why familiar doesn’t always mean safe, why freedom can sometimes feel scary, and how to take the next step without needing to see the entire map.

🧭 TODAY’S COMPASS CHECK

What part of your “stuck” season feels safe simply because it’s familiar?

What is one step toward North that you already know you need to take?

🎵 TODAY’S SONG RECOMMENDATION

“Brave” — Moriah Peters

Listen along with the songs from this journey on the Unstuck Patterns: Turn North playlist on Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7JkjmBfBoLkGSRJa5TdHF8?si=T-6iIO33R6SbdpIDtRYogA&utm_source=copy-link&sci=spotify%3Acard-config%3A6kcesyel3b9Nu8wPRfZQbv

Also available on:

🍎 Apple Podcasts

🎧 Amazon Music & Audible

❤️ iHeartRadio

🎙️ Podbean

🔴 Pocket Casts

📻 TuneIn

💙 Pandora

You don’t have to see the whole map. God has already gone before you.

You are not stuck.

You are becoming.

Keep turning North. 🧭

Do you ever feel like God has forgiven you… but you still haven’t forgiven yourself?

In Day 5 of Unstuck Patterns: A 100-Day Journey of Turning North, we’re talking about the difference between conviction and condemnation—and why continuing to punish yourself isn’t the same thing as repentance.

Romans 8:1 tells us:

“There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

We’ll also talk about one of my favorite moments from The Chosen—when Jesus sees Mary Magdalene at one of the lowest points of her life and calls her by name.

That scene reminds me that Jesus doesn’t wait until we have everything together to know us, see us, and love us.

If you confessed it…

if you surrendered it…

if Jesus has forgiven it…

you don’t have to keep picking the dagger back up.

🤍 Today’s reminder:

Conviction says, “Come closer.”

Condemnation says, “Go hide.”

Put the dagger down.

You are known.

You are loved.

You are still becoming.

🎵 Today’s Song: “Known” — Tauren Wells

📖 Anchor Scripture: Romans 8:1

🌐 Explore Unstuck Patterns and its resources:

https://unstuck-patterns.stephanie-cox1.chatgpt.site/

🎙️ Listen to the Unstuck Patterns Podcast:

https://open.spotify.com/show/033SUEfG0c3Hdg5yO4Eb47

🎵 Follow the Turn North Playlist:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7JkjmBfBoLkGSRJa5TdHF8

🎥 Visit Unstuck Patterns on YouTube:

https://youtube.com/@unstuckpatterns

📧 Questions or want to share your story?

UnstuckPatternsCoaching@gmail.com

If this episode encouraged you, please follow or subscribe and share it with someone who needs encouragement today.

🧭 You are not stuck. You are becoming. Keep turning north.

#UnstuckPatterns #ChristianEncouragement #CondemnationVsConviction #Romans81 #FaithJourney #StopBeingSoHardOnYourself