If you’ve ever felt far from God — angry, disappointed, maybe even unsure if you still want to call yourself a Christian — I want you to know something before you read another word: you’re not alone, and you’re not the only “imperfect” Christian out there. I don’t think perfect Christians exist. I’m certainly not one. And I don’t think my readers or customers are either. Feeling distant, angry, or disappointed with God from time to time might just be part of what it means to walk this road with Him.
This is the story of how one Bible passage I used to dislike became one I now hold close — and how it changed the way I understand God’s love.
The Story I Used to Hate
The story of the prodigal son has always been one of my least favorite passages in the Bible. I struggled to accept that the younger son could do exactly what he wanted — and still come home to a ring and a feast. It felt unfair. It still does, in some ways.
For a long time, I read this story the way most of us do when we’re hurting: quickly, defensively, looking for the parts that confirm what we already feel. And what I felt was that this story rewarded recklessness. I didn’t see the love in it. I only saw the unfairness.
Here’s the truth: I was angry and disappointed with God. I wasn’t even sure I still wanted to call myself a Christian. I’m not proud of that season, but I’m not going to pretend it didn’t happen either — because if I’m not honest about it, I have to ask myself what it is I’m even doing here, writing devotionals for other people.
I don’t think I’m the only one. I think most of us, if we’re honest, have had seasons of feeling far from home — far from God — for reasons we can’t always explain. Maybe you’re in one right now. If so, I hope this story meets you the way it met me.
Reading It Slowly, For the First Time
When I finally decided to read the story more objectively, and much more slowly, I started to see the incredible love woven into every line.
Have you ever really sat with verse 20 in Luke chapter 15?
“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and ran to his son.”
It’s a stunning verse. I used to think of Romans 5:8 when I thought about God’s wild, unreasonable love. I’d never paid much attention to this story. But here it is: even when we are far away, the Father runs. He runs to meet us. He runs to meet you.
What Started as One Verse a Day
When I started working on this story, I felt distant from God — which is exactly why this whole project began. But slowly, He began feeding me with small, simple verses, the same kind you’ll find on the verse cards in my Prodigal Son series, which you can find in my Etsy shop here ->
When I first encountered these short verses, one a day, I rolled my eyes at the idea. I was still angry, still disappointed. But, Fine, I thought, it’s a short story anyway — not even all of Luke 15. So I read slowly, one verse at a time, until I reached Luke 15:20.
There, God showed me that He runs even toward the one who is far away. Does He run toward me too? I couldn’t read any further. I needed to let the words sink in. It took time, but the more I sat with it, the more clearly I saw God’s love.
More Than a Devotional — A Whole Family of Resources
That’s why, once I’d worked my way through the whole story, I felt compelled to create the 7-day devotional you can also find on Etsy. Because what I discovered, I needed more of: a God who runs to meet us, even when we feel far from home.
What started as a story I didn’t even like has become one I love. It’s grown into more than I expected:
- A verse card set for the days you don’t have time for more
- A 7-day devotional for when you have five extra minutes
- A four-week reading plan that builds on the story week by week, each with its own theme
- A 7-day prayer guide — the kind I wish I’d had when I felt so far away
All four are available on Etsy, both as individual products and as a bundle — for you if you can’t decide between one or the other, or for you who simply wants everything from the Prodigal Son collection.
As a newsletter subscriber, you can download a free sample from both the verse cards and the prayer guide on my freebie page — completely free.
The Ending I Almost Missed
Even though I paused for a long time at Luke 15:20, the story doesn’t end there — even though it would have made a powerful ending on its own. The father runs, the son comes home, and then (Luke 15:22):
“Put a ring on his finger.”
I’m no theologian, but I can’t read that without thinking of the ring placed on a finger at a wedding. This isn’t just a welcome. This is a restoration. The father doesn’t take his son back as a servant — he takes him back as a son. He gives him back his identity, his dignity, his place in the family. He doesn’t quietly slip him in the back door. He proclaims him.
And I find that almost too much to take in.
The Brother Who Stayed — And the Unfairness That Never Quite Goes Away
But then there’s the older brother. And if I’m honest, I understand him better than I’d like to admit.
He stayed. He worked. He did everything right. And when his younger brother comes stumbling home after wasting half the family fortune, there’s a party. Of course there is. And of course it stings.
I started this post by saying the story of the prodigal son used to be one of my least favorites in the Bible — because it felt unfair. The older brother is where that unfairness lives. He’s the one standing outside the feast, arms crossed, unable to go in. He’s not wrong about the facts. He’s just missing something.
And the father goes out to him too.
He doesn’t stay at the party and wait for the older son to come around. He leaves the celebration and walks out to where his son is standing in the dark. And what he says to him is perhaps the most quietly stunning line in the whole story (Luke 15:31):
“My son, you have always been with me, and everything I have is yours.”
Maybe that’s the real twist in this story. Not the younger son’s return, but this: that the one who stayed, who worked, who never left — he had everything all along and couldn’t see it. He was so focused on what others had received that he’d lost sight of what he already possessed.
I wonder if that’s more of us than we’d like to admit. Faithful, tired, maybe a little bitter — standing just outside the joy that was always meant for us.
A Prayer for When You’re Striving Too Hard
Maybe you need the devotional’s closing prayer as much as I need it — far too often:
“Father, open my eyes to what I already have in You. Help me to stop striving for what is already mine. Amen.”
If you’re in a season of feeling far from home — angry, disappointed, or just tired — I hope this story finds you the way it found me. You don’t have to have it all figured out. You just have to start walking back.
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