Sasha Lane as Star in American Honey (2016) dir. Andrea Arnold 

Corner in Chelsea   -    Charles James McCall

No problem love. :) Father in Heaven, You give us joy when when our spirits are awake in You.  I lift up my friend to You who is struggling to find this joy. I ask that You revive them with Your loving kindness by reminding them how precious and important their life is to You. God You made us for Your purpose. You love us so much You gave up Your Son Jesus who paid it all on the Cross that we may have freedom through surrender and acknowledging we are nothing without You. Thank You for Your grace. I ask that You penetrate my dear friend with Your truths and promises when they pray to You for strength, energy, peace, and joy, that as they receive these blessings, they may continue with consistency to seek Your face in worship and gratitude for leading them and guiding them to a better state than they were before. I pray that You knock powerfully at their heart early every morning and rise to recognize their strength is Yours and not theirs, so they begin to praise You for Your goodness. And when their heart is filled with gladness and contentment in You, show them Lord how awesome You are to change their surroundings to benefit them. Let my tired and weary friend lay down their life and learn this peace in You everyday, help them to focus on Your presence so that every minute of their day is not wasted. And when they are reminded of their purpose in You, give them the endurance and perseverance to do it all again for You, who ultimately gives us rest knowing every effort we put into work is seen and rewarded by You. Father God You put Your Spirit in those who are desperate for change, I ask that You transform those who genuinely search for You. I pray that You make their health such an importance to them so that they sense their oneness with You when they give their best at respecting Your temple. Be with them in mind right now that when they realize this life must be lived in You they give themselves over to a heart and spirit filled with You. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.

Romans 8:26-28 “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.  And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

Matthew 11:28-29 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”

Mark Batterson (via jesusislovej)

Hello yes I am here to impart some wisdom upon you all and tell you to stop stressing about how much you are or aren’t reading (I briefly touched on this in my “Things readers feel guilty about and why they should stop” post). Cause that’s a thing. I’m going to go on a limb here and say that it’s probably the number one source of stress/guilt when it comes to bookworms. The second someone sees their reading urges decline, it’s like a panic button suddenly activates somewhere inside their brain. Cue mayhem. Despair. Choirs of “nooooooooooo life why are you doing this to me I TRUSTED YOU“. Mentions of the dreaded Reading Slump.

However, my beautiful bookish friends, this is something normal and even expected at times. Navigating life means unfortunately dealing with its less pleasant components: responsibilities. Adulthood. School. Work. Shitty mental health at times. Social life. All of these, especially combined, can take a huge toll on you. This can manifest itself in a poor inclination to keep reading. Sometimes you just don’t have the energy to get invested in a book world. Sometimes it’s easier to Netflix and chill. Knit. Collect stamps. Go boat riding. Discover the next American top model. Experience other things that can be easier to do and get involved in. And, oh my gosh, my bookish bees, that is totally and completely okay!

Just because you’re not reading (as much) anymore, that doesn’t mean you’re not a bookworm anymore. Or that you’re a bad bookworm. Or that the world as we know it will end. It just means that you have other/more priorities, which cut into your reading time. But, you see, the really cool thing is that your books will be there for you when you feel like reading again. They’re not going anywhere. The stories, the characters, the bookish worlds – they’re infinite. And they’re forever. It may take you days or months or years, but one day, you’ll feel like going back to the pages and the words. And they’ll be there to welcome you home.

We put so much pressure on ourselves sometimes, to keep doing something out of habit, out of the need to prove to ourselves that we’re the same person, out of pressure (especially bloggers, bookstagrammers, booktubers fall into this category), that we don’t realise that it stops being enjoyable. We force ourselves to keep going and we lose the joy we have for it in the process. Reading can be a chore. It can be tedious. It can no longer be enjoyable. Which is why it’s 100% okay to say “I need/want a break; I need to not be reading as much”. We constantly change, evolve as individuals. What we enjoyed at one point in our lives may not be a reality a few years later. And it’s okay to admit that.