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.
Three Types of Episodes:
Scattered Moments: Brief Reflections on Faith, Adversity and the Quiet Places
Guided Meditations: Opportunities to Encounter God through Meditation
Moments Almanac: Released Every Morning, Reflecting on the Meaning of Each Day,
Take heart, notice the scattered moments, and share the grace.
Scattered Moments
What is it?
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A Scattered Moment about uncertainty, daily grace, and learning to trust God one day at a time.
In this episode, we begin in a corporate meeting where an accidental PowerPoint slide sends me into a week of anxious “what ifs.” From there, we journey into the wilderness with the Israelites who woke up every morning asking the very same question:
“What is it?”
Manna — literally meaning “What is it?” — was God’s daily provision. Not predictable. Not fully explainable. Just enough for today.
Sometimes life feels exactly like that.
A season we cannot define.
A future we cannot predict.
A wilderness where God provides enough light for the next step but not always the entire map.
With a little humor, honest reflection, and the story of manna in the wilderness, this episode is an invitation to trust God even when life feels unfamiliar.
Featuring:
• Exodus 16:15
• Reflections on uncertainty and transition
• The humor and humanity of “manna”
• A quote from Corrie ten Boom
• A reminder that God’s provision often comes one day at a time
“Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.”
— Corrie ten Boom
Take care, Notice the Scattered moments and share the grace.
Hello and welcome once again to Scattered Moments. These are quiet reflections on faith, adversity, and the quiet places where grace appears. You know, there are few moments in life more unsettling than well a nervous executive who says oops. It was a consequential meeting at work. Now this was long, long ago, far, far away. Our CFO at the time was walking us through the PowerPoint presentation, outlining well, the broad brushstrokes of the new organizational structure. Charts, arrows, objectives, you know, boxes. And then he clicked one slide too far. Whoops. For about three terrifying seconds, the entire future flashed onto the screen in front of us all. I immediately started scanning the organizational chart looking for my name. I didn't see it. Anywhere. Now to be perfectly honest, I didn't really think that I was going to be unemployed, but you gotta know me. I spent the next week emotionally packing my office into an imaginary milk crate. A king-size one, because I had commentaries. I had already mentally prepared myself to carry home the staplers, the commentaries, the three coffee mugs, the devotional books, and at least 17 random charging cables. For a week I sat with uncertainty. Not disaster, not tragedy, just ambiguity. And honestly, ambiguity can feel harder than hardship sometimes. I mean, I don't know about you, but I want details. I want timelines. I want definitions. I want God to provide a five-year strategic plan for my life, complete with color-coded charts and maybe a downloadable PDF. But God always teaches his people one day at a time, including Matt. Just ask the Israelites in the wilderness. God fed them with manna from heaven, which is fascinating because the word manna literally means what is it? That's what they called it. Can you imagine the conversation around the dinner table? Kids, come eat your what is it? Would you please pass the what is it? Is this what is it? Gluten-free? You got what is it on my quail? Well, you got quail on my what is it? I think the what is it needs salt. For 40 years, the people of God basically survived on divine mystery meat or crackers or what is it. Every morning they walked outside asking the same question. What is it? And honestly, that sounds a lot like my prayer life some days. What is the season? What are you doing? Where are you heading? What exactly is gonna happen here? I know that God has to be irritated with me sometimes. But God gave them enough for the day. Not enough for 20 years, not enough for retirement, not enough for emotional stockpiling, just daily bread, daily mercy, daily grace. And maybe that's one of the hardest lessons of faith, learning to trust God when we cannot define what He's doing. Some seasons of life come with explanations while others come with manna. Some prayers are answered with clarity. Others are answered with well, enough grace to make it until the next morning. Corey Timboom once said, Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God. I love that. Because eventually I did find out where my name belonged on the organizational chart. But even if I hadn't, God would still be faithful. The wilderness may feel unfamiliar to us, but it is never unfamiliar to him. And maybe that's what it's all about, because faith is learning to wake up each morning and gather whatever God places on the ground before us. Even when we still find ourselves whispering, What is it? Exodus 16, 15 says, When the Israelites saw it, they asked one another, What is it? Because they didn't know what it was. My prayer for you and for me today is that he'll teach us to trust him in uncertain places, that we'll receive today's grace without demanding tomorrow's explanation. And when life feels undefined and unfamiliar, I pray that we will trust his provision, which has really never failed us. And that's today's scattered ambiguous moment. Take care. Notice the scattered moments and share the grace.
