Soul Anchor

If arithmetic is numbers, and if algebra is numbers and letters, then grace is numbers, letters, sounds, and tears, feelings and dreams. Grace is smashing the calculator, and using all the broken buttons and pieces to make a mosaic. Grace isn’t about having a second chance; grace is having so many chances that you could use them through all eternity and never come up empty. It’s when you finally realize that the other shoe isn’t going to drop, ever. It’s the moment you feel as precious and handmade as every star, when you feel, finally, at home for the very first time. Grace is when you finally stop keeping score and when you realize that God never was, that his game is a different one entirely. Grace is when the silence is so complete that you can hear your own heartbeat, and right within your ribs, God’s beating heart, too.

Yet grace also motivates us into the true versions of ourselves. It is the motivation of no-motivation, because we are not trying to “get better” for the sake of improvement, but rather we become better by being loved for the sake of our own essence through the cross. We are motivated by beauty rather than practicality or function, because God loves us just-because. And we can be gracious, not perfectly: but with passion, because God gave us grace first. We can because He did.

I used to worry about the future, about if I was making the right choices, afraid I was going to make a mistake. At all costs, I strictly forced myself to avoid the wrong thing, or anything not exactly the way I thought it had to be to work out. Just say no, I told myself. But I missed out on so much life by trying to protect myself from it. I realized one day risks are worth taking. Life is worth living fully. And fear lies big. Making decisions out of fear only hampers growth. When you learn to trust God with your future and follow the way of love, you open your hands. Everything you tried to control in the grip of your tightly clenched fingers becomes set free to more capable hands- His. And you trust it’s all safe there. He’s got you. And He does. It’s not a risk to trust fully One who is completely good. And now you’re free to live without fear because you have good faith in Him. There is nothing to fear inside of His love.

The most beautiful [people] I have known had one thing in common apart from beauty: humility. It’s a shame that those with less to boast about do it the most.

Sometimes the enemy will make you feel like saying, “I’m never getting past this issue, I’ve dealt with this a million times and it’s still here and I’m not growing.” No, sometimes it’s just layers. Give yourself grace. You need grace to work it out because you are a mess. And no matter how strong you get, you’ll always hit another layer of yourself that needs to be healed because you’re not perfect, and as long as you’re in this life, there will always be something you need to get rid of. Deal with each layer as it comes and get it out. Lay it at the feet of Jesus.

The Kingdom: a bunch of outcasts & oddballs gathered at a table, not because we are rich or worthy or good, but because we are hungry.

Human beings grow best with encouragement and love. Today let every word you speak (to yourself and others) be filled with kindness.

I get so weary trying to love people. It takes everything. Humility can feel like humiliation. Patience feels like losing. Grace can feel like pain.

I believe that suffering is part of the narrative, and that nothing really good gets built when everything’s easy. I believe that loss and emptiness and confusion often give way to new fullness and wisdom.

Sensitive people should be treasured. They love deeply and think deeply about life. They are loyal, honest, and true. The simple things often mean the most to them. They don't need to change or harden. Their purity makes them who they are.

I believe still today what I have always believed: that God is good, that the world He made is extraordinary, and that His comfort is like nothing else on earth.