From the Editor

By Jessy Paulson, as published in Gritty Faith: Wild (c) Purpose + Grit, LLC 2025

There are seasons when life feels anything but tame. When the plans we carefully mapped out scatter like field mice under the roar of a herd, when the ground beneath our feet shakes like an earthquake, and the mountains we’ve been looking up to erupt into a sea of lava. When the certainty we once carried gives way to questions that don’t have easy answers. These are the wild seasons—the untamed stretches of life where control slips through our fingers and all that remains is faith.

I’ve walked through many of these seasons myself. These were times when the neat edges of my life frayed at best and were ripped to shreds at worst. At first, the wild felt frightening—chaotic, overwhelming, too much to bear. But slowly, I realized that the wilderness is not a punishment. It is an invitation to loosen my grip, to unclench the fists that were holding so tightly to certainty, and to let God lead me where my own strength could not.

Living with faith over fear doesn’t always look like bold declarations or unshakable confidence. Often, it looks like trembling steps forward when fear is screaming to stop. It looks like praying through tears, even when we don’t have the right words. It looks like choosing to believe that even in the silence, even in the mystery, God is still working. The wild places of life don’t erase His presence; they reveal it in ways we might have missed if everything stayed comfortable and predictable.

The truth is, the wild is where we learn to trust. It is where we discover that God is not waiting for us on the other side of the struggle—He is right there in the middle of it. The freedom of the wilderness comes not from knowing where the path leads, but from knowing Who is carrying us through it.

There is a kind of unbridled joy that springs up in these wild places too, though it doesn’t always show itself right away. Joy in the wilderness is not shallow or fleeting—it is rooted in the deep assurance that nothing, not even uncertainty or fear, can separate us from God’s love. This kind of joy bubbles up in unexpected moments: a laugh shared in the middle of grief, a sunrise breaking through after a night of doubt, a renewed strength as we harness the courage to keep going even when the way ahead is unclear. That joy is the heartbeat of faith—it carries us, sustains us, and whispers that the wild is not the end of the story.

This issue of Gritty Faith Wild is an invitation to embrace that spirit of wild living. To recognize that the wilderness is not recklessness, but freedom. It’s letting go of the illusions of control and leaning into the One who holds every unknown with steady hands. It’s being surprised by joy that isn’t bound by circumstance, even when the path is uncertain, even when the way forward feels more like a question than an answer.

The stories you’ll find here are fierce and tender, rooted and untamed. They remind us that to live wild in faith is not to have everything figured out, but to simply trust the One who does. It is to walk forward when fear would rather keep us still. It is to discover, again and again, that the wild is not a place of abandonment but of freedom—the kind of freedom that strips away everything false until all that’s left is God’s unshakable presence.

So, may this issue stir your courage. May it remind you that fear doesn’t get the final say. And may you find yourself leaning into the unknown, discovering the unbridled joy of being wild in faith, and stepping forward into the freedom that only the wild seasons can give.