beloved

jen. xxvi. beloved of jesus. seattleite. window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments)}; gtag('js', new Date()); gtag('config', 'UA-27569334-1');

[bloodsavedus]

[grace--upon--grace]

Spencer Kirk

[this-abounding-grace-deactivate]

What happened yesterday can’t be changed, but it can be forgiven.

Lysa Terkeurst, Uninvited (via this-abounding-grace)

[loveisfaithful]

heaven’s leaning over the rails

It’s been three weeks since I came home from Vietnam. Time has flown by. The first week was a whole lot of jet lag, work, and meeting up with some friends. As I finally started to feel back to normal again, I began to think about the practical logistics of life. 

One of the things I did when I got home was looked at apartments. I didn’t know exactly how poor I was without the support of my parents or a roommate. Then one thing after another followed in the week. The pressure of the unknown of applying to grad school, being on my own, regrets of things I did and didn’t do, said and shouldn’t have said to those I care about, and ultimately not meeting expectations on this timetable in life I had for myself made me incredibly listless, hopeless, and discouraged.

Most of the time I feel very independent, secure, and capable. Everything that has happened made me realize I tend to forget that this is God’s grace on my life, not due to my own personal capability. I definitely did not feel secure in the moment. I felt a ping on my heart and a sadness I could not shake off. The week went by, and by Thursday afternoon, I found myself making an emotional phone call to my best friend Mylynn. It was peaceable and comforting, but even after our conversation, I remember laying in bed teary the entire day.

But for some reason as I was reading my Bible today, there was a chapter in Ecclesiastes that talked about seasons that jumped out at me. It gave me a small hope that seasons change. There is a comfort in knowing that nothing lasts forever, only God does. One of my favorite writers, Bob Goff, wrote, “Heaven’s been leaning over the rails ever since you got here, waiting to see what you’ll do with your life.” Maybe all God ever wanted was for me to try to be brave with my life and love, even if there is no guarantee. Maybe in my failure, His hope is that I would try again. At the end of the day, no matter what season I go through, joy or pain, He is still there. 

So, today I finally went out and got some dry cleaning done. It’s not huge, but they’ve been sitting there for three weeks since I came home so I figured it was a start.

[iziaa]

[nevver]

[lesrobesrouges-deactivated20191]

[grace--upon--grace]

St. Johns Bridge, Joshua A.

[jetsetter-life]

[loveisfaithful]

sunlight

Each year in late September, the maple trees on both sides of the road on the way home from school would be painted with golden-red hues. The chill of late summer and early fall reminds me of mixed feelings of anxiety and anticipation of a new school year. My mom was a stay-at-home mom growing up which meant she was our designated chauffeur. My elementary, middle, and high school was within a two-minute drive of one another, and all three were less than five minutes away from our house. Both sides of the road that time of the year were always filled with beautiful falling leaves, and somehow unfailingly every year from grade school throughout high school, would be filled with couples walking together under the maple trees while the leaves trail after them. There is a quote by E.E. Cummings that goes, “Lovers alone wear sunlight.” Maybe the universe, and those leaves, knew the last bit of summer belonged to those in love. I remember my thirteen year old self peering outside from the passenger side with my backpack still on, while simultaneously trying to block out my brother’s never-ending notions to engage me in a conversation from the backseat, to daydream about when I’ll be one of those couples walking beneath the falling leaves. 

[loveisfaithful]

This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence: If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.

1 John 3:19-20

[grace--upon--grace]

Marina Weishaupt

[grace--upon--grace]

Jared J. Lank

[transmental]

[observando]

[skrinik]

[ercuillium-blog]