No Agenda, Just Love - Living with Bell’s Palsy

A reminder from Maliyah

Therapy, Progress, and Learning to Be Present

Therapy went well today. My facial therapist, Leah Segolov, was pleased with my progress. It’s humbling how expressions I once made without thinking now require full attention and effort. You don’t realize how much your body carries you automatically until it no longer does.

My jaw remains the most delayed part of my face, but there is movement, and that alone is progress. We spent extra time exercising it today. Recovery has taught me that healing is rarely dramatic; it’s incremental, intentional, and often uncomfortable. Presence matters more than speed. It matters more than speed, especially when love has no agenda. Healing is not impressed by how quickly you move, and neither is love. Love that arrives without an agenda doesn’t rush you to be better, stronger, or finished—it sits with you where you are. It doesn’t measure progress in milestones or timelines; it values attention, care, and connection.

When love has no agenda, it gives you permission to slow down. It allows pauses without explanation and progress without pressure. In those moments, presence becomes the most powerful form of support. Whether it’s a quiet prayer, a gentle check-in, or simply being there without needing anything in return, that kind of love creates space for healing to happen naturally.

Speed often belongs to performance. Presence belongs to a relationship. And in seasons of recovery—physical, emotional, or spiritual; it’s presence that restores strength, trust, and hope. When love is free from agenda, it doesn’t push you forward; it walks with you.

When Service Meets Physical Limits

Later in the day, I am the director for one of the Social Services component and so I connected with my representative to discuss their partnership with us for our annual Hope Day. We plan to offer on-site screenings to better serve our community. We were approved for some giveaway bags—we had hoped for more, but still something to steward with care.

I also returned a call from one of our department volunteers who simply wanted to know how she could help since I am not well. She is willing to assist with Hope Day, and her willingness reminded me that help often arrives quietly.

Did You Know?

Hope Day is an annual community outreach event held every year on the first Saturday in June. It is hosted by the Hope Day Network in partnership with Convoy of Hope, along with local ministries like ours.

Hope Day is intentionally designed to provide practical help such as food support, health screenings, and essential giveaways, while treating each person with compassion and dignity.

Beyond the resources distributed, Hope Day creates a space where individuals and families are reminded that they are seen, valued, and not forgotten.

Did you also know?
Hope Day happens across more than 40 sites in 7 states, reaching thousands of people each year through local church and community partnerships

Listening to Your Body Aids Healing

Still, after both calls, the discomfort and pain set in. It became clear that even good conversations were asking more of me than my body could give.

Did You Know?

If you’ve ever pushed through when your body was asking you to pause, you understand this tension—wanting to serve, yet needing to listen to your limits.

Science confirms what many of us learn through experience: listening to your body is essential to healing. When pain and fatigue are ignored, stress hormones like cortisol increase, which can slow recovery and weaken the immune system. When we respond to those signals with rest and intention, the body activates its natural repair systems.

Pausing isn’t quitting. It’s cooperating with how the body was designed to heal.

No agenda - just a mother's heart

Mom cooked a smoked chicken broth today, and honestly, it just felt like home again.

I’ve missed her being here.

She was devastated that she couldn’t be with me when I fell ill, but she had to be with my sweet grandma as she was laid to rest.

That was something she couldn’t miss.

So now that she’s back, it means everything.

Do you have a mom or mother figure who shows up for you no matter what season you’re in?
The kind of person who doesn’t just call — they come through. That kind of love really makes a difference.

Community That Shows Up Gently

I reached out to the screening team and plan to send a formal notice in the morning outlining how the day will progress. Later, one of our young adults, Ash, came by to see me. She prayed with me and wanted to hear about the dreams and prophetic words I had received, but I didn’t have the strength to speak much, and I am happy she understood. Still, her presence alone ministered deeply.

Sometimes being seen is more healing than being heard.

There are moments when words feel heavy, when explanations require more strength than you have. In those spaces, what you need most isn’t advice, solutions, or even conversation—it’s acknowledgment. To be seen is to be recognized without having to perform, explain, or justify where you are.

Being seen says, I notice you. It says, You matter right here, even in your unfinished state. When someone shows up simply to sit with you, pray quietly, or hold space without expectations, it meets a deeper need than words ever could. It reassures the weary soul that it is not alone.

Love without agenda understands this. It doesn’t rush to fix or fill the silence. It honors presence over productivity and compassion over commentary. In seasons of healing, being seen restores dignity, safety, and hope, often long before the right words ever come.

If you’ve ever felt strengthened just by someone showing up, even without saying much, you’ve experienced the quiet power of being seen.

The Love That Arrived Without Agenda

Then a message came that gently cracked my heart wide open.

Alana, one of my students from the Business Training Center Inc - Hospitality & Culinary Arts class, told me she had been talking with her six-year-old daughter, Maliyah, about what I was going through. And then she shared something that I wasn’t expecting—Maliyah wanted to pray for me and send a voice note.

Her prayer was simple. Her voice was small. But her faith was enormous:

“Hello Father, praise the Lord so you can feel better, so your mouth can fix so God can help you in Jesus’ name, Amen.”

When I heard it, I wept.

Not because it was perfect or eloquent…
But because it was pure.

There is a kind of love children carry that adults often lose. They love without suspicion. They pray without performance. They trust without weighing the cost. They don’t question whether someone is worthy of help—they simply respond to the need.

And in that moment, I felt something shift in me.

Jesus said that unless we become like little children, we cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. That childlike faith isn’t naive. It’s unguarded. It’s honest. It’s real.

Children don’t judge. They don’t overthink. They don’t wait to see if someone “deserves” compassion.

They just give it.

Can you imagine what your life would look like if you chose to live with that kind of faith?

And that’s the lesson I want to leave with you:

Children love without an agenda. They don’t ask, “What will I get out of this?” They don’t calculate whether someone is worthy of their affection. They don’t wonder if their love will be returned.

They simply love.

So today, choose to love like that.

Not for recognition.
Not for praise.
Not for approval.

But because someone needs it.

And because love—pure love—doesn’t require a reason.

It only requires a heart willing to give.

I listened to two more messages from our youth, Mor and Abi, and my heart overflowed.

Where It All Comes Together

In the midst of therapy, service, limitation, and recovery, I see how everything connects. Healing requires attention. Service requires boundaries. Community carries you when strength is low. And love, pure, uncomplicated love, often arrives without agenda.

Sometimes healing doesn’t come from doing more. Sometimes it comes from listening closely, resting deeply, and surrendering to a day with no strings attached.

Your Turn 💬

What’s one situation in your life right now where you feel unseen, overwhelmed, or in need of love and support?
Instead of waiting for someone else to reach out, how can you respond with childlike faith—simple, sincere, and without expectations?

Maybe it’s:

sending a quick message to someone who’s hurting
praying for someone without overthinking the words
offering kindness without needing anything in return
showing up for someone even when you don’t have all the answers

Sometimes love doesn’t have to be perfect. It just has to be real.

🌿 Stay Connected
If this reflection touched your heart, leave a comment, like, or share to let me know you’re here.

Follow for more reflections, and consider sharing this with someone who needs a gentle reminder

that love can be simple—and that’s enough.

💙 Your love matters. Your prayer matters. Your presence matters.
Let’s keep creating a space for honesty, compassion, and hope—one moment, one prayer, one simple act of love at a time.

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