Faith & Life – Page 3 – Grace Upon Grace

12/27/2019

My Will Undone

I ask: Lord, do what You have to do for salvation to take place. If need be, use each of us, however necessary, to save this lost soul. This feels as though I’m inviting hurt or loss to come and disturb our lives, as if I am offering myself up and giving permission for God to do what He must with me, regardless. Not that He needs permission. And though we don’t always realize it, isn’t this what we’re offering when we pray “whatever it takes”? Because “whatever it takes” is never a simple thing, it never touches just one person. “Whatever it takes”, at its core, is making yourself available to suffering. It is a form of self-sacrifice…”Whatever it takes” isn’t just a scary prayer because it forces us to release an individual into the Lord’s hands, but because it forces us to put ourselves there, too.

Faith & Life

12/27/2019

2019 in One Word

This year, since about late summer, one theme for 2019 was very prominent to me. This theme seems to have been as much a mindset shift as it has been a literal, physical change in my life. And it is a mindset I am bringing with me into 2020, and I hope the rest of my life because I think it’s a good one. If I had to choose one word to describe 2019, it would be: REFINE to free from impurities or unwanted material; to improve or perfect by pruning or polishing; to make improvement by introducing subtleties or distinctions

Faith & Life

12/20/2019

Graduating College with No Plan: Life Update Part 1

With big life events, come lots of questions. Or, at least the same question over and over again. This May, I graduated from college (woo hoo!). Pretty exciting stuff. And along with that, everyone wants to know: what am I doing next? or what am I doing now? or what’s my plan? or am I going back to school? or am I working? I hope to give you all some clarity regarding these questions, because you may also be curious about their answers. I’ve been intending to do a sort of life update for a while now. As I’m writing this blog post in pieces, because I am still in the midst of this transition season myself, I’m torn with how to tell this story.

Faith & Life

12/14/2019

Reflecting on 2019…

I remember when this year was just beginning, looking forward and wondering what it would hold. I knew about, and tried to prepare my heart for some of it; but there was a certain point where everything in front of me was more or less uncharted territory with no game plan, road map, or user’s manual. I remember finding this quote on Pinterest, and feeling it perfectly fitting as I began a new journal with the new year: “Isn’t it mysterious to begin a new journal… I can run my fingers through the fresh clean pages but I cannot guess what the writing on them will be.”

Faith & Life

07/23/2019

Hindsight: Don’t “Forgive and Forget”- Remember and Rejoice!

We’ve all heard it said that hindsight is 20/20. But that can only be true when we take time to look back. So often in our world, despite people’s tendency to hold an enormous amount of grudges and bitterness, we’re told to “forgive and forget”. We live in a world that is desperate to forget- the things we’ve seen, the things we’ve done or that have been done to us, the pain and brokenness, people’s mistakes, our own shortcomings…all the “bad” stuff. Meanwhile, we are frantically trying to preserve all the best parts of our lives…

Faith & Life

03/03/2019

Unapologize

My standards are not too high. My expectations are not unrealistic. I’m not going to apologize for them anymore, to myself or anyone else, explicitly or implicitly. I’m not going to let myself participate in the pity-parties my mind may try to host, and I’m no longer going to act as if my participation in my relationships, or lack thereof, is out of my control.

Faith & Life

08/10/2018

Only What Binds Us: Finding Redemption in the Things that Hinder

What is the purpose for our pain? We often wonder this when going through trial or difficulty. Sometimes it’s hard to determine when we’re in the midst of a hard season. But, when we can look into the stories of other individuals who’ve suffered and endured, it becomes easier to understand the function of affliction- oftentimes it is for our own correction, sanctification, and growth. If we pay closer attention though, it is also often an opportunity for others to experience a necessary change of heart. A good example of this is found in the book of Daniel, within the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

Faith & Life