Solitude

Not an escape but an open field to explore beyond ourselves. Not a dramatic moment but a wonderful time to simply appreciate

[woodsandhearth]

[graceholds]

Dear God,

I am holding on. I am trying to understand the broken and undone pieces of my life right now and make sense of it all. I am finding purpose. I am believing for greater things and I am hoping for growth in this season.

But Oh God, I am lost. I am in pieces and I am afraid.

This heart, as in grave need right now, is reaching onto your grace once again and I will keep your truth and your most amazing promise- that you love me and you will never leave.

And for me, that's more than enough to go on.

Sincerely,

Your Child

[thengrace]

“Though troubles and difficulties may disturb us in our duty, they must not drive us from it; but through the midst of them we must press forwards.”

— Matthew Henry on Matthew 14

[graceholds]

I just know that it's already HEAVY, when I write it down...

[graceholds]

Sipping my coffee alone in a cafè and it's suprisingly not too bad 🙃

The things is, we do need company. But not all the time, we would have one. It's sad but it's the reality. To have someone to be there always is fiction and would always leave you disappointed.

Nevertheless, we expect. We want someone to be there, to meet us where we are, to bear the burden for us.

If you are like me that struggles to find someone like that in your life, look to... this may sound too religious...but...look to Jesus.

I know what you're thinking. We can't really be physically with him but I believe that if we let Him, He can show himself from the simplest to the most desperate moments of our lives. He will send someone to come at the right place on the right time.

I guess it doesn't have to be a struggle.

Do not let your joy be overcome with the realities of the world.

Let us put our hope, our gaze upon the one who never fails to show up- JESUS.

Did I say too much?

Now let's drink this coffee up before this cafè closes 🤭

[graceholds]

Can you rain it down and wash my fears away?

[graceholds]

Find the little most opportunity

To keep moving forward 🤍

Despite the despites

[graceholds]

Grace finds us in places no one was

Grace speaks to us in ways no one can

Grace comforts us in levels no one reaches

Grace is here and was always here

The way God meets us in our deep sadness and longings

And maybe the reason why we fail to find grace

Is because we are looking for it somewhere else

And maybe we don't need to search for it

Because it draws to us

If we let it

[graceholds]

"He hath given meat unto them that fear him: he will ever be mindful of his covenant." Psalm 111:5

[graceholds]

Sometimes, the hardest to admit

Is that you're not okay

And you're just plain tired

---

Maybe we just need to admit

Maybe it's how we move forward

---

Grace. Living and walking through grace.

[graceholds]

"Be comforted, small one, in your smallness. He lays no merit upon you. The weight of the world is not yours. It was borne by another, by one whose bloody shoulders were able to bear it — up to Golgotha, into the tomb, down to Sheol, and then out, out again into the light of resurrection. Have no fear, small one. Bear the load that is yours with humility, like a weaned child, as one who hopes in the Lord forevermore."

-Joe Rigney, Desiring God

[graceholds]

Blooming is a vibrant thing

But genuineness and vulnerability towards God and others

Is wondrously BEAUTIFUL 💛

[graceholds]

When life seems ugly and messy

Let me be reminded always

In the searching,

In the struggling and

In the waiting

That You are my every good thing

--

"Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you" Psalm 73:25

[graceholds]

It's what you choose to develop from the start

That will determine the quality of who you will be

[graceholds]

Vitamin C- Calm

This morning, I woke up beside my brother’s hospital bed.  For the last few days, it has been like that.  I got to say, it has been a new thing for me. I have not imagined of this moment, although when it came, I was both dazzled and calm. 

Excuse me for I’ll be a bit faith-y in the next sentences.  For me, you can never separate faith from the things you do, consistently or inconsistently. Whether you are waiting for your order to arrive in the midst of grave hunger or waiting for a miracle in a complicated situation, it all comes down to a faith question, “Would you keep waiting or would you lash out and leave?”

Calmness is a practice. It does not automatically operate in our lives. We are given a choice everyday to respond in our situations, to let the waves of life drown us or to look to Jesus and walk on the water.

I would choose calm It always has been my goal Not there yet, but I do strive to attain (by God’s grace)

And this I realized:  Faith comes with waiting, and waiting with calmness. ----

Any moment now, the day would start rolling again. Good news, we are finally going back home today- back with some work to be done, some furbabies to cuddle, some friends to catch up to, some books to read, some meals to eat, some thoughts to reflect on, some goals to set, and some dreams to walk towards.

Yet, in all these things, God is never not present and is always good.

[graceholds]

Hope for 'soon'

Soon it'll be okay

Soon it'll end

Soon the pain will be gone

Soon the past will not be able to haunt you

Soon you'll have the heart

Courageous enough to face it all

Hold on

Soon

You'll get back up again

[graceholds]

All this time

He thought of losing as his path

But this time

He fought his way to the winning side

If giving his all is the only way to triumph

Then you'll see him stripped and limped

But never destroyed and discouraged

For some thing's changed

He knows, it's not by might or by power

But only by the Spirit

Of His one true and faithful God