[five-six-two]

What a time to be alive, that Jesus is Risen.

What a time to be alive, that He is redeeming all things.

[restbeyondtheriver]

We have enough theology to know He's omniscient, which means He knows everything, so you knew what was going to happen to me. We have enough theology to know He's omnipotent, so He has all power, so you could have stopped it. We have enough theology to know He's omnipresent, that you were there when the pain was happening, & you did nothing. So what we need is to have a higher, a more robust theology of suffering that takes us to the cross when we can't get over what has happened to us. The Bible says it pleased God to crush His own son.

Dr. Sarita T. Lyons

[five-six-two]

This makes me think of a quote I love from Joni Eareckson Tada, who’s been a quadriplegic since a diving accident when she was 17.

“God permits what he hates, to accomplish what He loves.”

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Fyodor Dostoevsky’s manuscript draft of The Brothers Karamazov

* * * * *

“I believe like a child that suffering will be healed and made up for, that all the humiliating absurdity of human contradictions will vanish like a pitiful mirage, like the despicable fabrication of the impotent and infinitely small Euclidean mind of man, that in the world’s finale, at the moment of eternal harmony, something so precious will come to pass that it will suffice for all hearts, for the comforting of all resentments, for the atonement of all the crimes of humanity, for all the blood that they’ve shed; that it will make it not only possible to forgive but to justify all that has happened.”

― Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov

[serenityquest]

[five-six-two]

“I can never escape from your Spirit! I can never get away from your presence! If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I go down to the grave, you are there. If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest oceans, even there your hand will guide me, and your strength will support me.”

— ‭‭Psalms‬ ‭139‬:‭7‬-‭10‬ ‭NLT‬‬

[ihopeinjesus]

All of us are selective sinners.

We choose the sins we are comfortable with, and judge others that commit the ones we're not comfortable with.

We all have our flaws, our choices, and the things we quietly allow ourselves to live with. What is wrong for one person often feels acceptable to another. Yet we are quick to raise our fingers, to judge, to speak about the sins that do not sit right with us. We blame others for what we see as unforgivable, while forgetting that we too are standing in the same place, just with different mistakes. We carry our own sins gently, almost defending them, while pointing out those of others with sharpness. The truth is, our judgment often says more about our comfort than their actions.

[fiery-blue-firefly]

"Patient waiting upon God was a special characteristic of our Lord Jesus. Impatience never lingered in His heart, much less escaped His lips. All through His agony in the garden, His trial of cruel mocking before Herod and Pilate, and His passion on the tree, He waited with omnipotent patience. No glance of wrath, no word of murmuring, no deed of vengeance came from God's patient Lamb . . . The Christ of God wears the imperial crown among the patient. If the Only Begotten waits, shall we be petulant and rebellious? Neither Jesus the head, nor any members of His body, shall ever wait upon the Lord in vain." -Charles Spurgeon

[restbeyondtheriver]

I know there is the deconstruction rhetoric of I was told not to question God, but I have to tell you one of the first times God ever says something to a person in the Bible is in the form of a question.

Don’t be afraid to ask, don’t be afraid of the answer. The question isn’t the problem, it is the authority that has been asked. The desire to understand God is not the issue, it is where the hope of understanding is placed. The Bible doesn’t just have person after person asking God a question, but that time & again, God has questions for you. Don’t be afraid of being asked. Don’t be afraid to answer.

[five-six-two]

“From the end of the earth I call to You when my heart is faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

For You have been a refuge for me, a tower of strength before the enemy.

Let me sojourn in Your tent forever; let me take refuge in the shelter of Your wings.

For You, O God, have heard my vows; You have given me the inheritance of those who fear Your name.”

‭‭Psalm‬ ‭61‬:‭2‬-‭5‬ ‭LSB‬‬

[krys-vanbenn]

There is a particular kind of grief that rarely gets spoken about in church pews or prayer circles. It is not always the grief of losing a p

Certain prayers may never be answered the way we hoped. This side of Heaven, some stories remain unfinished.

[redeemed-renewed-restored]

[bornagain-melchlor]

[coloradocowgirlforchrist]

“Ah, but we want so much more—something the books on aesthetics take little notice of. But the poets and the mythologies know all about it. We do not want merely to see beauty, though, God knows, even that is bounty enough. We want something else which can hardly be put into words—to be united with the beauty we see, to pass into it, to receive it into ourselves, to bathe in it, to become part of it.”

— C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory

[five-six-two]

“One of the criminals hanging beside [Jesus] scoffed, ‘So you’re the Messiah, are you? Prove it by saving yourself—and us, too, while you’re at it!’

But the other criminal protested, ‘Don’t you fear God even when you have been sentenced to die? We deserve to die for our crimes, but this man hasn’t done anything wrong.’ Then he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.’

And Jesus replied, ‘I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise.’”

‭‭Luke‬ ‭23‬:‭39‬-‭43‬ ‭NLT‬‬

[dramoor]

(Via etsy)

[lilyofthemohawks]

God made the world for us to frolic upon it, literally made it all because he adores us. Creation is literally a love letter.

[dramoor]

Matthew 10:31

(Image via Pinterest)