Tag: soul needs

justcallmebishop:

In November I started reading the Bible from the beginning. Today, I finished it, and I cried.

I finally see what it was all about. This whole story is about a God that won’t give up. There are ups and there are seriously downs but he never leaves.

If He never left mankind from Genesis to Revelation, I know that means he won’t leave me where I am. He is ever constant. Through misunderstanding, frustration, fear, and tragedy, He does not run away.

When you look at the Bible as a whole, you see it. You see the heart of a Father that says in your beginning I’ll be here, and no matter how you end, here I’ll be.

He hasn’t given up on us yet, and He doesn’t intend to start with you.

Break me open, Lord. Break me open and find the things that I have not surrendered. Break me open and take away that which I have secretly held onto, that which has kept my lips from saying “Thy will be done”. Take away those things that have kept me from carrying my cross with humbleness.

Bring me back to the place where I first fell in love with you, to the place that my heart was set aflame for you. Let me never forget your faithfulness and goodness. Let these hands produce life and joy, not death and destruction.

Lord, let my life be one of eternal obedience. A life that is written with your pen, and read aloud by your voice. Only when the pages of my life are written by your hand, will I know that my story is worth reading. Make my story matter, bring glory through my tears.

Thy will be done, oh Lord. For it is the only will that will stand the test of time, the only will that will produce a living soul such as mine that will learn to run in seasons of weakness. Take my life, make it yours.

T.B. LaBerge // Thy Will Be Done (via tblaberge)

Our God is not the sort of God who sits on high, aloof from the struggle and pain of this life. Our God gets mixed up in the mess of this life here on earth, even to the point of going with us criminals to the cross. If we want to be with God, in paradise or anywhere else, then we can expect to be with him at the cross. With this God, it gets very, very dark, and then we open our eyes and see that God is there, beside us. With this God, things go from bad to worse, from worse to awful, and then there, next to us, is God hanging in there with us, on a cross.

William H. Willimon; Thank God It’s Friday: Encountering the Seven Last Words from the Cross

(via sirrevdrnick)

happily single

hayleylepugh:

I’ve heard many people claiming to be happily engaged or happily married, but no one really claims to be happily single. Usually, when people are single they’re simply waiting to fall in love. Well, I don’t think that’s how it has to be.

I’m tired of falling for every cute boy who shows a slight interest in me. I’m tired of constantly considering every guy as someone I could potentially date. I’m tired of half-flirtatious friendships and the uncertainty of mixed signals. My heart is not in a stable place to be in a relationship like this. I’m not even entirely sure what I want, I just know what I feel. I’m tired of idolatrous, selfish, immature relationships.

I want to take the time to emotionally cut myself off from all prospects of dating in order to grow into the person I was created to be. I want to focus on loving the people in my life for who they are and not what they can give me or do for me. I want to be 100% okay with being on my own and understand/appreciate what a healthy, love-filled, sacrificial relationship actually consists of. I want to fall deeply in love with God, so much so that I don’t even dwell on my singleness. I want to see things with clear vision for exactly what they are rather than spiral into unlikely scenarios and fantasies that ultimately lead me into a state of depression. I want to learn to be strong and content on my own.

The key to doing this isn’t to focus on making sure I don’t date or crush on anyone out of pure bitterness. I have crushes now and I’m sure I always will, but just because I have feelings for someone does not mean I have to act on them. I can appreciate them as a person while maintaining physical and emotional boundaries without flirting or expecting anything from them. I can guard my heart. But more important (and more effective) than all that is to just put my focus on God and his will for my life. I can let him make me who he wants me to be so that when this season of singleness is over, I will be ready and whole, completely aware of the commitment and blessing of loving a significant other. For now though, I am simply learning to defy the cinematic/societal expectations and genuinely be happily single.