Deserve more

Sometimes God doesn't give you what you want.
Not because you don't deserve it, but because you deserve more.

Listen to your emotions

from Flying Free

Bitterness shows you where you need to heal, where you're still holding judgments on others and yourself.

Resentment shows you where you're living in the past and not allowing the present to be as it is.

Discomfort shows you that you need to pay attention right now to what is happening, because you've been given the opportunity to change, to do something different that you typically do it.

Anger shows you what you're passionate about, where your boundaries are, and what you believe needs to change about the world.

Disappointment shows you that you tried for something, that you did not give in to apathy, and that you still care.

Guilt shows that you're still living life in other people's expectations of what you should do.

Shame shows that you're internalizing other people's beliefs about who you should be (or who you are) and that you need to reconnect with yourself.

Anxiety shows you that you need to wake up, right now, and that you need to be present, that you're stuck in the past and living in fear of the future.

Sadness shows you the depth of your feeling, the depth of your care for others and this world.

Colder

There are very few things colder than a woman who has lost interest.

In the midst

from Toby Mac

Giving thanks isn't living in denial of difficult circumstances. It's choosing to turn to God in the midst of them.   -Lysa Terkheurst

What he wants

Men go hard for what

 they truly want, so ladies, 

if he is not going hard for

 you, then you're not what

 he truly wants.

Hold on to you forever

by Lysa Terkeurst

God takes us by the hand and whispers,
"No matter what, I've got this. I've got you.
And I'll hold on to you forever."

In the clouds

by Anna W.

I think it's good for me to be in the clouds from time to time. To remember the fact that I can't see anything doesn't mean there isn't anything there. And that the fact that I might be struggling to get my bearings doesn't mean that I'm not exactly where I'm supposed to be.

That you love

by John Lennon

It matters not who you love,
where you love, why you love,
when you love or how you love.
It matters only that you love.

Face of evil

from Flying Free

by Ari Renae

"Silence in the face of evil is itself evil:
God will not hold us guiltless.
Not to speak is to speak.
Not to act is to act."
(Dietrich Bonhoeffer)

It brings my heart deep comfort to know that my Abba is on the side, always, of the oppressed. He stands, always, against the wicked, and He strengthens us to stand when our own strength gives out. May we have the courage to speak out, and speak out again, and again, regardless of the personal cost.

He who justifies the wicked, and he who condemns the righteous
Are both repulsive to the Lord.
(Exodus 23:7; Proverbs 24:24; Isaiah 5:23)

Exodus 23:7
Keep yourself from a false matter; do not kill the innocent and righteous. For I will not justify the wicked.

Proverbs 24:24
He who says to the wicked, "You are righteous,"
Him the people will curse,
Nations will abhor him.

Isaiah 5:23
Who justify the wicked for a bribe,
And take away justice from the righteous man!

Bob Marley

Bob Marley said,

The biggest coward is a man who awakens a woman's love with no intention of loving her.

Understand that

A woman could love you to death and never talk to you ever again.

Understand that.

40 (48) years of torture

This was on FaithIt

by Brie Gowen

(My own note: This just happened to me like two weeks ago)

How I Got Rid of My Anxiety After 40 Years of Torture

This post comes from a person who has dealt with anxiety for as long as she can remember. It's not from someone who hasn't been in the trenches of panic and all the side effects it induces, yet want to tell everyone else how to live a stress-free life. Nope. This post is from someone who dealt with fear, anxiety, worry and depression for 40 years, the last 10 of those being the worst. This individual got so used to the way she felt that she considered it to just be the way it was going to be, and accepted that those feelings were her lot in life. She called herself an over-thinker, a worry wart, and other pet names to poke fun at what was, in fact, an irrational thought life, one which controlled her, made her dislike social situations or hanging out with groups of people, and kept her from being the kind of person deep down she knew she could be. Her anxiety controlled her. Until one day it didn't.

This person is me.

I assumed I would always deal with anxiety. I would feel myself anxious over absolutely nothing. It's sometimes kinda like the feeling that you forgot something.

Did I remember my keys?!

Did I turn the stove off?!

I would eventually realize I had not forgotten anything.

At least, I don't think I did. (Cue increased heart rate).

The way my brain worked said that I had done something wrong, people were upset with me, didn't like me. If people were whispering I would wonder if it was about me. My logical brain knew it wasn't. My anxious mind told a different story.

It's like a dream where you're naked on stage in front of your peers. But, it's not a dream. And it's every day.

I got anxious about problems that didn't exist. Problems that weren't even problems. Problems that I created. I worried a lot about finances.

What if I lose my job?

What if I bounce a check?

Pay a bill late?

Go into more debt?

Lower my credit score?!

Gasp.

And on, and on.

I can remember driving to Florida when I first decided to become a travel nurse. As we drove through Birmingham I found myself anxious. I was in a panic as we drove through the city.

What is that smell?!

Oh, gosh, our new truck is going to break down! Then what will we do?!

It's so bumpy! We've sold all our possessions; what if the meager collection of our stuff that's packed in the back of the truck blows out?!

Y'all, I can't even. It was exhausting. Anxiety is exhausting. And I got tired of being tired.

You'll hear all kinds of ways to beat anxiety. I had heard exercise is a good one. Well, that wasn't happening. So, I moved on to other practices I had heard, but even the power of the ultimate, positive thinking couldn't squash my anxiety. I mean, it was illogical, so no logical thinking could reverse or prevent it.

You always hear that you "need to give it to God," but what does that even mean?! There's not an app for surrender, know what I'm saying? And I guess that was my problem. I was trying to do whatever I could to not be anxious. I mean, nobody wants anxiety. I wanted to get rid of it, but I wasn't sure what I needed to do.

I prayed. Oh, Lord, did I pray. But I still had problems with anxiety. Was I not praying hard enough?!(Side note: these "?!" remind me of Dad's angry texts because he used those all the time. Bleh.)

I read a verse this morning that summed it up pretty nicely, how I dealt with my anxiety once and for all, about a year ago.

John 8:31-32: So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, "If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

Funny thing about the word abide. It's not so much something you do, as something you are. I came to a place, through reading God's Word, meditating on Scripture, and reading fantastic Christian books and studies, where I truly, and I repeat truly believed where the Bible states I am in Him, and He is in me.

See, the thing about anxiety is that you can't control it! How can you fix something you can't control? You can't! But Jesus could. I could do all things through Him. He was in me, and I was in Him. Therefore, if Jesus could see anxiety for the lie it was, and if He could make it go away completely, then doesn't it just stand to reason that I could too? Because it wasn't just me; it was Him.

I began to see myself as seated with Christ in Heavenly places. I fixed my eyes on things above, not things below. You don't worry about your bank balance when you realize that money isn't everything. You can stop fretting about finances when you really believe Jesus will provide for you. I had never faithfully and consistently tithed because I didn't think I could afford to do so, but I was proclaiming God couldn't provide for my needs when I didn't. So, I followed through my faith by tithing every week. I watched more money that I had ever given in offering before leaving my bank account, and it gave me zero anxiety. I considered it an investment.

I stopped worrying about health concerns that might come my way or to my children and instead focused my attention on God as my healer and sustainer. I'm not saying I stopped taking care of my temple, but I stopped fearing illness. The flowers of the field didn't fret. Why should I?

What is the worst that could happen to me? Would it affect me for all eternity? If the answer was "no" then it wasn't worth concerning myself about.

But what about the uncontrollable, irrational anxiety? Well, I got rid of it too. When I remained in Christ, through frequent reading of my Bible, consistent prayer time (I talk to God all day, my eyes pop open and I'm immediately thanking Him for the good sleep I got), and surrounding myself with things pleasing to Him, I became saturated with truth. Y'all, where truth resides, anxiety cannot be. Anxiety isn't from God, and if you can fill yourself so completely with the truth of who Jesus is personally to you and in your life, anxiety just slips away.

I can't pinpoint when I precisely realized I didn't suffer from anxiety anymore. It didn't disappear all at once. It wasn't a magic spell. I simply, consistently absorbed more of Jesus. I abided in His truth. I rested in it. I took it in so frequently that it became reality to me. You can read the Bible and know in your heart that a verse is true, but you almost have to pound it into yourself for it to click. You can't read the truth once. I know atheists who have read the Bible. You have to read it again and again, ruminate on it, get guidance from other believers on it, pray on it, listen to God impress to your heart what He's trying to tell you through it. I did this over and over, and one day I realized that I believed so deeply in my spirit every word of Scripture to be true, and true for me (that's the kicker), that I couldn't let lies stay for very long.

Do anxious thoughts try to come my way? Not as much as they once did, but they still try to sneak in. The cool part is that God's truth shines a light on my anxious thoughts, and it exposes them as the lie they are. I speak Scripture to my anxiety, and if it tries to come on me, I fight it off with God's Word. This may sound like it couldn't possibly work. I may sound like mumbo-jumbo. Maybe you're saying, "You haven't dealt with real anxiety, not anxiety like mine."

Well, I don't know what your anxiety is like, but I know that I have experienced suicidal ideation in the past and a failed suicide attempt due to mine. I wanted to be asleep forever rather than deal with the anxiousness I felt. Sound familiar? I remember even having a psychiatrist diagnose me as bipolar when I was a teenager.

All I know, now, is that it feels good to be free. It's not anything I did, per se, but what Jesus did in me. When I realized and truly believed, rested on, and drew strength from the fact that through the Holy Spirit, Jesus lived in me, I was able to abide. I was able to continue in truth. The truth set me free. I was able to move forward by being still. I was able to get rid of my anxiety by letting go of my ability to fix it. I was able to get rid of my anxiety by allowing Christ to. You see, He never had anxiety (sin) for me. He took it on Himself on the cross. He already died and was resurrected so I could be anxiety-free. I just couldn't see that. I was blind to that fact.

When I opened my eyes to the truth that Jesus had already made the way to trash my anxiety for good, it simply stopped being a thing. Heck, I didn't even have to get rid of it; it was just gone.

Peacemaking

from Flying Free

Peacemaking doesn't mean passivity. It is the act of interrupting injustice without mirroring injustice,
the act of disarming evil without destroying the evildoer, the act of finding a third way that is neither fight nor flight but the careful, arduous pursuit of reconciliation and justice.

Wherever

from Toby Mac

Quote from Charles Spurgeon

Wherever Jesus may lead us,
He goes before us.
If we don't know where we're going,
we know with Whom we go.

Even after

Pray to God

even after he

gives you what you

were praying for

The woman

Have seen something similar to this, but appreciate the "God" twist:

Becoming the woman God

designed you to be

Will cost you friends,

relationships, plans, and

material things.

Become her anyway.

Refuse

Refuse to take Satan's bait by becoming angry, frustrated or bitter over life's blows.
Instead, seek to display God's fruit of the Spirit and know that you will be blessed.

That's love

A relationship isn't always 50/50.
Some days a person will struggle.
You suck it up and pick up that
80/20 because they need you.
That's love.

Stop

from Will Smith

Stop letting people who do so little for you control so much of your mind, feelings and emotions.

Making you wait

If God is making you wait, then be prepared to receive more than you asked for.

Greatly concerned

The evidence of genuine conversion is not sinless perfection, but a life marked by genuine repentance and confession. The one who professes faith in Christ and yet lives in sin with little or no brokenness or divine discipline should be greatly concerned.

Not enough room

from Toby Mac

There is not enough room in your mind for both worry and faith.
Only you can decide which one will live there.

In the fire

Remember Shadrach,

Meshasch, and

Abednego?

God didn't put out the 

fire.

He just put Jesus in 

with them and 

they came out unsinged,

and without smoke.

It's not about God

stopping all the things

that look bad; it's about

Who's in there with you.

(My comments: "just" put Jesus in; stopping all the things that "look" bad)

Lose focus

Satan's biggest fear 

is for you to become

 what God created you

to be.

 That is why he

 has tried everything to 

make you lose focus.

Grieve for

from Flying Free

by Shahida Arabi @ selfcarewarrior

Grieve. For the man or woman you never got to because monsters took that away from you.

Grieve. For the peace of mind, safety, and confidence you deserved to feel every day and didn't get to because people who were threatened by you dimmed your light and made you feel small.

Grieve. For the innocence and potential that could have been celebrated, awakened, and encouraged but was instead brutalized and violated.

And after you have grieved, I hope you come to take back everything that was rightfully yours. May you get everything that was stolen from you - tenfold. This is your inheritance. There is still life ahead of you and I hope you get everything good that you deserve.

And I hope that because you have lost so much in the past, you go forward in the future with that much more determination. Sometimes you have to grieve who you never got to be to become who you truly are meant to be. May it be better than you could have ever imagined.

Good way to look at it

(One) time, my dad gave 50 bucks to a guy who said he needed to buy medicine for his kids. I told my dad he was probably going to spend the money on alcohol or something, but my dad said, "Whether he was lying or not says something about HIS character, but hearing someone in need and choosing not to help when I have the means to, says something about mine."

(Saw this on Facebook)

This year

God said:

This year I made you strong.

Next year, I'm going to make you happy.

Your weakness

by Charles Spurgeon

God doesn't need your strength; He has more than enough of His own.
He asks for your weakness.

The towel

I tried to throw in the towel,
God threw it back and said,
"Wipe your face, you're almost there!"

Saying today

God is saying to you today,

"I know you have been struggling for a long

time. Financially, spiritually, and emotionally.

You have a good heart and people have abused

you in many ways. The devil has tried to make

you lose your mind many times. You have been

betrayed in many ways, yet you stand in the 

midst of your storms. You are still here because 

I am with you. I will not allow any weapon that

is formed against you to prosper. Fear not, I am

going to turn things around and bless you in 

the presence of your enemies.

Hold on to your faith."

Too short

by C. Sikes

Life is too damn short
to constantly be at war
with yourself.

You are better than
this, you are important.
You are loved.

Don't ever let your dark
thoughts make you think
otherwise.

Learn

from Toby Mac

Asking God
"What can I learn?"
instead of
"Why me?"
is a much better
place to park
our minds.

Do not owe explanation

I do not owe a single person an explanation for why I'm living my life the way I am or why I do the things I do. 

Uncertainty and fear

from Toby Mac

Quote from John Piper:

When the darkness of uncertainty and fear hangs over you, don't let go of the one you knew in the light.

Accept by faith

from Toby Mac

Quote from Dr. Billy Graham:

I have been asked hundreds of times in my life why God allows tragedy and suffering. I have to accept by faith, that God is sovereign, and He is a God of love and mercy and compassion in the midst of suffering.

Your mountain

from Toby Mac

Tell your mountain about your God.

Infinite liberality

from John Calvin

However many blessings we expect from God,
His infinite liberality
will always exceed all our wishes and our thoughts.

(Definition of liberality: the quality of giving or spending freely)

Identify with

from Flying Free

We support and defend those we most identify with.

Remember that the next time someone you know defends an abuser.

She was beautiful

by Susan Reynolds

SHE WAS BEAUTIFUL...

...but she didn't know what that meant.

When she was a little girl
they told her she was beautiful
but it had no meaning
in her world of bicycles
and pigtails
and adventures in make-believe.

Later, she hoped she was beautiful
as boys started to take notice
of her friends
and phones rang for
Saturday night dates.

She felt beautiful on her wedding day,
hopeful with her
new life partner by her side
but, later,
when her children
called her beautiful,
she was often exhausted,
her hair messily tied back,
no make-up,
wide in the waist
where it used to be narrow;
she just couldn't take it in.

Over the years, as she tried,
in fits and starts,
to look beautiful,
she found other things
to take priority,
like bills
and meals,
as she and her life partner
worked hard
to make a family,
to make ends meet,
to make children into adults,
to make a life.

Now,
she sat.
Alone.
Her children grown,
her partner flown,
and she couldn't remember
that last time
she was called beautiful.

But she was.

It was in every single line on her face,
in the strength of her arthritic hands,
the ampleness that had
a million hugs imprinted
on its very skin,
and in the jiggly thighs and
thickened ankles
that had run the race for her.

She had lived her life with a loving
and generous heart,
had wrapped her arms
around so many to
give them comfort and peace.
Her ears had
heard both terrible news
and lovely songs,
and her eyes
had brimmed with,
oh, so many tears,
they were now bright,
even as they dimmed.

She had lived and she was.
And because she was,
she was made beautiful.

A major life disruption

Trauma permanently changes us.

This is the big, scary truth about trauma:

there is no such thing as "getting over it."

The five stages of grief model marks

universal stages in learning to accept loss,

but the reality is in fact much bigger: a major

life disruption leaves a new normal in its

wake. There is no "back to the old me." You

are different now, full stop.

This is not a wholly negative thing. Healing

from trauma can also mean finding new

strength and joy. The goal of healing is not a 

papering-over of changes in an effort to

preserve or present things as normal. It is to

acknowledge and wear your new life - warts,

wisdom, and all - with courage.

The good shepherd

Bible Gateway Verse of the Day

John 10:14-15
I am the good shepherd and I know my sheep, and I am known by My own. As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.

The door

Bible Gateway Verse of the Day

John 10:7, 9-10
Jesus the Good Shepherd
Then Jesus said to them again, "Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly."

Light of the world

Bible Gateway Verse of the Day

John 8:12
Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life."