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Sterling Polnick

@sterlingpolnick

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Lover of Christ
Husband & Dad
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.
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Trigger Warning ⚠️

2025 was the hardest year of my life. We lost our son, Elijah, on January 12, and we’re almost a year to the day now.

Sometimes it feels like it just happened, and sometimes it feels like it happened to someone else. I don’t know how to explain it.

The photo you’re seeing is Emily and I in the hospital the day Elijah was prematurely born. Just a few minutes before he died peacefully in her arms.

Emily said in her wise and extraordinary way, “let’s get one of us smiling. I don’t want every picture of us to just be us sad.”

As you can see, we tried our best.

In the face of the worst situation we could ever have imagined, the worst possible scenario, the worst moment of our entire lives… my wonderful & astounding wife wanted to find a way to smile.

In that moment, she lead our family in a way I still can’t understand. She wanted us to have something to be proud of. Something to look back on fondly. She wanted to defy death the only way we really can as believers.

With joy.

We can’t conjure up miracles. God doesn’t show up every time we ask him to. Some prayers go unanswered.

We can always choose joy, though.

When I came across this photo months later, I burst into tears in my car. What struck me when I saw it, was that it’s a perfect summation of this year.

Since this photo, I have felt a near countless amount of times, exactly how I felt when I took it.

Broken, confused, frustrated, desperate… but all the while, trying to find a smile. To scrape up out of whatever leftovers I had around me the fruit of the spirit that succeeds love.

Sometimes it felt so fake, and sometimes it didn’t. Sometimes joy was in short supply, and sometimes we had in droves.

I still don’t know what “lesson” I’ll take away from this year. And to be honest, I’m tired of trying to figure one out or make one up.

What I do know is that my wife is the strongest person I’ve ever met. And I love her more today than I ever have.

I know that God has never done me wrong, and He is still with me. Always.

(Continued in comments) by @sterlingpolnick

This is an old video, but I felt the desire to share it today. There are some days where all I think about is Elijah James, the baby that @emilypolnickhair and I lost. Today was one of those days. Emily and I had never done this, but we wrote this song together a few months after we lost Elijah. We were talking about how it’s weird that perfect weather now reminds us of the worst day of our lives… because the day we went home from the hospital, I’m telling you, the weather could not have been more perfect. As we talked about it, we came to the realization that there now was this beautiful gift we had from God, that the baby we lost would be brought to our minds on days when the weather was beautiful and perfect. It’s hard to explain, but I’m grateful to God for the rainy days and the sunny ones. That’s all I know for now. That’s how this song, Elijah James, came to be! by @sterlingpolnick

It’s been awhile!! by @sterlingpolnick

Jesus you are the center of it all
My heart belongs to you my savior all in all
Your the one I hold on to for the beauty of your name
My soul will live to say, Jesus I love you❤️ by @sterlingpolnick

Thankful for this man and thankful for our girls. This season caught us by surprise but what a sweet reminder that a life surrendered to Christ is always worth it!💕

Shoutout to @sterlingpolnick for making Zeke and I look way cooler than we are. You are a creative genius! by @sterlingpolnick

Trigger Warning ⚠️ Miscarriage, School Shootings & Abortion

This is a song that I wrote after hearing the story of Jesse Ridgway, the YouTuber who with his wife elected to have an abortion due to the risk of their unborn child having Down Syndrome.

I am not the authority on morality or political topics… I rarely speak on them. But to live in a world where this is not plainly considered evil is something I still can’t understand. Death has become too familiar and too common.

This song was not written in judgment towards Jesse, his family, or the millions of other women who have had abortions for any number of reasons. I can not imagine the pain they are all walking through, and I am deeply sorry that pain and empathetic towards it.

This is a song of lament from me. A father who has his own pains. A father who would give anything he had to hold the baby he and his wife lost in January of 2025 again. His name was Elijah James.

And yet, God has still been good to us. He has still loved us and comforted us. He has still blessed us and given us the strength to go on.

Whether Jesse was “trolling” the internet for a publicity stunt or not, the discourse around this event has been truly heartbreaking to me…

The only real words I have for it come from this song, and the scripture you’ll see at the end.

Maranatha. Christ be our Hope. #abortion #grief #originalmusic #songwriter by @sterlingpolnick

Thankful doesn’t begin to cover it. I am in love with you Emily Polnick. You are the best thing that has happened to me and these kiddos. Thank you for everything you do for our family Em… we’d be lost without you. You are so strong and beautiful and Godly. I’m consistently blown away by how naturally being a wife and mother comes to you. I’ve never seen anything like it. I’m so glad I met you all those years ago... Happy 32nd Birthday my love! by @sterlingpolnick

Happy Birthday to the Pumpkin King himself. My little brother and my best friend in this whole world @jaydenpiercepolnick !
JJ, I love you so much. My life changed when you were born… and I didn’t know it back then, but I got my best friend for life. God has used you in so many important and deep and profound ways in my life to make me more like Christ. I am so glad that you’re my brother. And I am so proud of the man you have become. This year is a defining one for you. I can’t wait to be part of it. I get sad sometimes because my days have less of you than they used to, but my heart does not! I am with you heart & soul brother. I love you Bubba! Here’s to 23! by @sterlingpolnick

If Taylor Swift read Luke 15??? #originalmusic #christianmusic #songwriter #indie by @sterlingpolnick

TONIGHT @ 7PM! Doors open at 6pm! Come and enjoy good conversation, unreleased music from @leelandmooring and the @cthdra team, as well as an art exhibit, live teaching, communion & worship at @crossingcc & see what God is doing in the hearts and lives of creatives from all over the Houston area. May Christ be enthroned in the hearts of his creative sons & daughters! #cthdra #houston #houstoncreatives by @sterlingpolnick

Throwback to this special moment at Breakaway this February. 🙌
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We weren’t just singing about the blood…
we were remembering what brought us back to life.
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Not just forgiven.
Brought back to life.
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That is our testimony.
That is our story.
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#Breakaway #ThrowbackMoment #BloodOfJesus #Testimony #JesusSaves #WorshipMoment #FaithInJesus by @sterlingpolnick

Who ordered the double Mozz?? #March by @sterlingpolnick