Beloved

“If you love God and you are called according to His purposes, no matter how scary the lion’s den, no matter how hopeless the Red Sea, no matter how intimidating the Goliath you are facing or deep the valley or fiery trial, you have His immutable promise that He is working it out for your good (see Romans 8:28). Never ever lose sight of that fact.”

I want to be open to what God wants to do through me, because so many times what I want for me is a lesser version of me.

I want to reach for God the way I reach for my phone. When I’m bored, when I’m uncomfortable, when I need answers or entertainment, when I’m lonely and need someone to talk to.

I think people would make much better decisions when it comes to dating if they stopped focusing on things like weddings and babies and instead focused on things like funerals and disappointment. What I mean is when I think about who I want to marry, I can’t just stop at who I want to meet at the altar. Because when you’re thinking about the person you want to spend your natural life with, that means the person who will be by your side when life is hard. When your parents die. When you lose your job. When your child is hurt. When bill can’t get paid. And when all of those painful moments come, you have to think “is this the person i want by my side? Is this the person who will be generous and giving when I’m in need? Is this the person who will find the words to soothe my aching heart? Is this the person that when I look across the room through tearful eyes, I want to, need to see their face?”

We never grow closer to God when we just live life. It takes deliberate pursuit and attentiveness.