safety.

“There are no ‘if’s’ in God’s world. And no places safer than other places. The Center of His Will is our only safety… We must pray that we may always know it.”

–The Hiding Place, Chapter 5

 

 

Wholesome Grief

“But thou, O Lord, art forever the same, yet thou art not forever angry with us, for thou hast compassion on our dust and ashes.  It was pleasing in thy sight to reform my deformity, and by inward stings thou didst disturb me so that I was impatient until thou wert made clear to my inward sight. By the secret hand of thy healing my swelling was lessened, the disordered and darkened eyesight of my mind was from day to day made whole by the stinging salve of wholesome grief.”

-St. Augustine – The Confessions, Book 7; chapter 8

Is there not some part of us that feels a sort of rightness when we grieve? It is as if we know that through pain, we have delved into the rich realm that happiness so rarely touches…

Lamentations 3:19-24

Lamentations 3:19-24

English Standard Version (ESV)

¹⁹ Remember my affliction and my wanderings,
the wormwood and the gall!
²⁰ My soul continually remembers it
and is bowed down within me.
²¹ But this I call to mind,
and therefore I have hope:

²² The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;^[a]
his mercies never come to an end;
²³ they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
²⁴ “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“therefore I will hope in him.”

The Good Kind Of Death

 

I am sitting on my screened-in porch, as the afternoon sun hangs low and light filters through the trees. I’m  writing an essay on humanity’s insatiable nature and intrinsic sorrow, and I looked out into the woods, silently requesting wisdom and vision from above.

My eyes were drawn to a cluster of brilliantly red leaves. Then I began to search out the other leaves which had turned to beautiful yellows,oranges and reds.

“Death,” I thought.  How curious that while we, as humans, are repelled by the death of ourselves or sometimes of animals, there is death all around us that we do not mind – that we barely perceive.

The beautiful colors of Autumn are provided by the death of those leaves – yet not of the tree from whence they came, for when a tree is dead, it and its leaves appear brown and lifeless.

But there is something in the annual death of its leaves that is beautiful and screams “Life!”  What is this paradox?

These leaves infuse sweetness into our lives, as we transition in season from hot to cold.

The colors, the smell… the distinct “fall feel” in the cool air… It gives me such enjoyment and such peace.  I know that this is a gift to mankind.

And this gift comes from the death of something – leaves.  Certainly, this is not death to be mourned (unless, of course it is your job to clear said leaves once they land on the ground).

It’s a death that we are accustomed to and a death that we all seem to understand without words that is meant to be.

It seems to me that it’s only a partial death – for again, the tree itself is yet alive and only a part of it has died.  The only thing I can think to compare it to is how we grow hair and nails which we clip off and feel no pain as a result of this separation.

How is that out of living things (trees, people) grow things dead or soon to be dead?  -Things that seem to have been created for the sole purpose of dying.   Hair and leaves both have their being in that they grow and die for the sake of the enjoyment of their beauty… (Yes, they have other functions,but poetically speaking, they are truly beautiful and that is what is most immediately striking when you see them.)

I can’t quite wrap my mind around the beauty and complexity woven into nature… Nor can I put it into words adequately (although it should be evident by now that I am desperate to try!)

Another good kind of death:  food.  Everything you eat died that you may partake of it and be nourished. Talk about the honor and wonder of a sacrificial death. Just food for thought (no pun intended).

I am so in love with the God who made this place.  If it is so breathtaking… I can’t begin to fathom His Glorious Appearance. I can’t take it in.

These beautiful songs express the euphoria of knowing God. I wish you too could know Him and it is my prayer that you come to.

“I can’t take it in: by Imogen Heap

“I know you” by Bellarive

See why I love Him?

– Excerpts from Ezekiel 34

 

 

Should Have

Christ lived the life we should have lived.

But because we didn’t…

He died the death we should have died.

#Humbled

 

Will You Save Me?

 

 

 

 

 

Will You Save Me by The Birdsongs

Don’t be hollow anymore.

ROMANS 6

Much love and many prayers.

22

Noisy Mind? Yeah. Me too. But it’s okay. At least it WILL be. : ]

“It’s silent tonight. I’m trying to wrap my head around if everything will be alright…”

-The Rocket Summer

 

Do you ever feel like that? I sure do. …Or else this post wouldn’t be happening. Hah. :P 

 

But there’s something to be said for those familiar sayings: “blessed assurance” and “peace that transcends all understandings.”

 

It really does. I don’t know how I’m not pulling my hair out right now. I don’t understand why, but I’ve got peace. I’ve got assurance. 

 

I have my worries, yes. Yes. Yes. YES.  In a big way.

 

BUT… simultaneously, I can take a step back and breathe. And remember Him telling me “those who who hope in me will not be disappointed.”

 

I remember Him telling me that He’s “working all things together for the good of those who love Him.”

 

You don’t have to wrap your head around whether or not it’s all going to be alright. It will be. If you love Him. Rest your head in His lap and pray that He’d give you the grace to love Him more with each sunrise.

 

I’m not sure who said this, but I love this quote:

 

Sleep…Sleep

Baby, sleep.

Life is long.

Love is deep.

 

Goodnight, friends. May God calm your hearts, quiet your minds and salvage your souls from the terror and filth which they are so wounded by.

 

Love always,

 

Twenty2

 

I’ll Let Go The Need To Know Why

“I thought I did what’s right
I thought I had the answers
I thought I chose the surest road
But that road brought me here
So I put up a fight
And told you how to help me
Now just when I have given up
The truth is coming clear
You know better than I
You know the way
I’ve let go the need to know why
For you know better than I
If this has been a test
I cannot see the reason
But maybe knowing I don’t know
Is part of getting through
I try to do what’s best
And faith has made it easy
To see the best thing I can do
Is put my trust in you
For You know better than I
You know the way
I’ve let go the need to know why
For you know better than I
I saw one cloud and thought it was a sky
I saw a bird and thought that I could follow
But it was you who taught that bird to fly
If I let you reach me will you teach me
For You know better than I
You know the way
I’ve let go the need to know why
I’ll take what answers you supply
You know better than I”

 

You Know Better Than I From Joseph:King of Dreams

 

“

Child, when life don’t seem worth living…

 

 

“Come to Jesus” by Mindy Smith

2 Corinthians 1:3-11

New International Version (NIV)

Praise to the God of All Comfort

³ Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, ⁴ who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. ⁵ For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. ⁶ If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. ⁷ And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.

⁸ We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. ⁹ Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. ¹⁰ He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, ¹¹ as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.