His dad, Chris, smiled. “Let’s put them in the incubator.”

Together, they carefully gathered every egg. Twelve little possibilities. We didn’t know what would happen. But we hoped.

One by one, the chicks began to hatch.

Eight so far. Four are still waiting.

As I watched those tiny lives slowly break through the shell, I thought: God sees life where we often see endings. He doesn’t give up on unfinished stories.

A few days later, I walked outside and found Lucas playing with two of those little chicks. One was standing inside one of his oversized blue Crocs. The other had climbed completely inside the second shoe, looking perfectly content.

The shoes almost swallowed the chicks. I laughed and said: “Lucas, those shoes are way too big.”

He looked up at me with the naive confidence of a child: “It’s okay, Mom, they’ll grow into them.”

I don’t think he realized what he had just taught me, but those five simple words have been echoing in my heart ever since.

Much of my life has felt like wearing shoes I wasn’t ready for.

At age 18, fresh out of high school in Brazil, I boarded a plane for Israel with a suitcase and a two-month volunteer commitment. I was supposed to return home and begin dental school the following semester.

God had other plans, and those two months became 17 years.

I arrived speaking only Portuguese. Along the way, I learned English. Then Hebrew.

Years later, God brought our family to Canada, and once again I found myself starting over. Within less than a year, my 18-year marriage ended.

Suddenly, I was alone in a new country, raising three young girls, carrying heartbreak, uncertainty, and a sense of failure I had never known before.

Coming from a traditional Catholic family, divorce carried a weight I never expected. For a season, even my own family in Brazil struggled to understand the path my life had taken.

Those were very big shoes.

Again and again, my first thought was, “Lord… these shoes don’t fit.”

Perhaps your shoes are
a journey out of addiction
overcoming the grief of losing someone you love
life after a marriage that didn’t survive
coping with a diagnosis you never expected
caring for aging parents
a business that keeps you awake at night
a ministry that feels far beyond your ability
struggling with your faith

… or perhaps you’re simply wondering whether God can still use someone like you.

When God called Moses to lead His people out of Egypt, Moses didn’t respond with confidence. He asked, “Who am I that I should go?” (Exodus 3:11)

Isn’t that the question so many of us ask? Who am I?

Maybe God never intended for the shoes to fit on the first day. He calls us… and then He grows us into them.

As I reflected on those little eggs, I found myself asking another question:

How many lives do we walk past every day assuming their story is over?

Lucas didn’t. Chris didn’t. Neither does God.

Thinking back, I realized this story wasn’t only about two tiny chicks. It was also about a father and a son. Chris modelled stewardship and Lucas imitated it. Then, without even realizing it, Lucas discipled his mother, me.

As a parent, I can think of no greater blessing than watching my children grow into men and women after God’s own heart.

“The righteous man walks in his integrity; his children are blessed after him.” (Proverbs 20:7)

The more I prayed about this, the more I found myself thinking about InspireFM.

Before I witnessed first-hand InspireFM’s ministry, I thought of Inspire as just a Christian radio station. Today, I see something much bigger.

I see people looking for signs of life where others may see abandoned eggs.

I see them showing up at community events, building relationships with people who may never walk into a church building.

I see conversations becoming friendships. I see people praying with strangers. I see listeners becoming volunteers. Volunteers becoming family. Donors becoming partners in the Gospel.

They aren’t just broadcasting hope; they’re carrying it into the community.

Perhaps that’s why this ministry has touched my heart so deeply. Not because it has all the answers. But because it keeps saying “yes” to God’s next step.

Where is God calling us to say yes?

Where are the oversized shoes we have been afraid to step into? What unfinished story have we quietly decided was over? Whose calling is God inviting us to encourage… support… pray for… or help carry?

Perhaps that is what Christian stewardship looks like – not just managing what God has placed in our hands but helping others grow into the calling God has placed on their lives.

A few weeks after those tiny chicks sat inside oversized blue shoes, I watched one of them perched comfortably on Lucas’ shoulder. It no longer looked overwhelmed.

And it stayed close to the one who had cared enough to believe there was life inside before anyone else could see it. As I watched them together, I couldn’t help but smile. Perhaps that’s what God has been doing with me all along. Calling me. Growing me. Teaching me to trust Him enough to stay close. Like that little chick, learning to follow the One who first saw life in me.

Because we are all constantly growing into bigger shoes.