Scattered Moments
Brief reflections on faith, adversity, and the quiet places where grace appears.
Each episode of Scattered Moments is a brief journey through the unexpected classrooms where God does His deepest work — hospital rooms and sanctuaries, seasons of grief and flashes of joy, the ordinary moments where grace shows up and changes everything.
Drawing from over forty years of writing, ministry, and life in the trenches, Matt Tullos weaves together original poetry, hymn stories, Scripture, and honest reflection to remind you that even adversity, you are not alone.
New episodes every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
Take heart, notice the scattered moments, and share the grace.
Scattered Moments
The Belly of the Beast
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What do you do when life places you in the dark—
when circumstances close in, and faith feels tested beyond words?
In this opening episode of Scattered Moments, Matt Tullos reflects on the reality that adversity is not the exception… it’s the classroom.
Featuring a powerful original poem, The Belly of the Beast, this episode explores the hidden places of suffering—where loss, disappointment, addiction, betrayal, and silence converge. And yet, even there, something deeper is happening.
Through the story behind the hymn “No One Ever Cared for Me Like Jesus” by Charles Weigle, and the steady truth of 2 Corinthians 4, we’re reminded:
We may be pressed… but not crushed.
Struck down… but not destroyed.
Sometimes faith isn’t formed in comfort—
but in the quiet, unseen places where God meets us in the storm.
Take heart.
Notice the scattered moments.
And share the grace.
Hello and welcome to Scattered Moments. Brief reflections on faith and the quiet places where grace appears. I'm your host, Matt Tullis. You know, sometimes faith grows best not in comfort, but in the unexpected classrooms of suffering. That's where we learn. That's where we experience. I love how Soren Kickergaard puts it. Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced. But anyone who has walked through hardship knows that faith is rarely tested in easy seasons. Everybody ends up in the belly of the beast. There are few exceptions from the greatest to the least. You stumble into quicksand, you're weary of the world. Lies wreck your reputation. Insults viciously are hurled. Addiction lies in dormancy, then rears its ugly head. Depression sinks in slowly like the whispers of the dead. A chronic, stubborn stronghold infiltrates your weakened mind. Confidants betray you. Sometimes friends are hard to find. Childless in your forties, will I ever be a mother? Inside an unfamiliar place, no sister or no brother. You're in the doctor's office and hear devastating news. You lose your hair to chemo. Indeed, no one gets to choose. Your marriage ends abruptly. He left you with no choice. And for others, it's the silence separated from his voice. Adversity just happens and no one gets a pass. But this, your devastation, is God's holy master class. Yes, this strong professor is bolder than the rest, his challenges are brutal, and he's silent in the test. He's far above all reason. Mysterious is he. His textbook is his word, his school, adversity. But in each fearful crisis, we're cradled in the light. There's joy within the suffering. There's peace amidst the fight. Within our desperation, the bleak, forbidding war, God shakes us in our deadness, within his fearsome roar. What we assumed would end us and our melancholy tales. Speak only of his grandeur, his timing never fails, and in our silent terror, he's not worried in the least, despite how darkness lingers in the belly of the beast. Adversity speaks to the kind of moment that reshapes everything. And there's a hymn that grew out of exactly that kind of season. The writer was a young evangelist named Charles Frederick Weigel. At one point in his life, everything collapsed. His ministry faltered, his health declined, and in the midst of discouragement, his wife left him, leaving behind a simple note that she no longer wished to be a part of his life. For a time, Weigel was overwhelmed with grief and despair, but slowly, through prayer and reflection, he began to see something he had nearly forgotten. Even when others walk away, Christ had not. And from that realization came a hymn that has comforted believers for generations. No one ever cared for me like Jesus. There is no other friend so kind as he. No one else could take the sin and darkness from me. Oh, how much he cared for me. Sometimes faith is not born in triumph. Sometimes it is discovered quietly after the storm has passed. The Bible speaks honestly about these seasons. In 2 Corinthians 4, verses 8 and 9, Paul the Apostle writes, We are hard-pressed on every side, but not crushed. Perplexed, but not in despair. Persecuted, but not abandoned. Struck down, but not destroyed. I love that. Hard pressed but not crushed. Struck down but not destroyed. That's the Christ-centered life. Not a life free from suffering, but a life held through it. That's today's scattered moments. Take heart. Notice the scattered moments and share the grace.
