What you have

 by Max Lucado

You have a God who hears you,

the power of love behind you,

the Holy Spirit with you,

and all of heaven ahead of you.

Get tired

Please don't ever get tired of being a good person with a good heart.

I know it sucks being taken advantage of and feeling like it is better to be cold-hearted sometimes.

But people like you are what gives this world hope.

~Dhar Mani

You're okay

Shared by Nichole Richard Lewis

Me: Okay, God, here's the thing. I'm scared. I'm trying not to be, but I am.

God: I know. Want to talk about it?

Me: Do we need to? I mean, you already know.

God: Let's talk about it anyway...We've done this before.

Me: I know, I just feel like I should be bigger or stronger or something by now.

God: *waiting patiently, unhurried, undistracted, never annoyed*

Me: Okay. So, I'm afraid I'll do everything I can to protect my family and it won't be enough. I'm afraid of someone I love, dying. I'm afraid the world won't go back to what it was before. I'm afraid my life is always going to feel a little bit unsettled.

God: Anything else?

Me: EVERYTHING ELSE.

God: Remember how your boys woke up the other night and came running down the hall to your bedroom?

Me: Yes.

God: You were still awake, so when you heard him/her running, you started calling out to them before they even got to you...remember? Do you remember what you called out to them?

Me: I said, "You're okay! You're okay! You're okay!"

God: Why did you call to them? Why didn't you just wait for them to get to your room?

Me: Because I wanted them to know that I was awake, and I heard them, and they didn't have to be afraid all the way to the end of the dark hallway.

God: Exactly. I hear you, daughter. I hear your thoughts racing like feet down the dark hallway. There's an other side to all of this. I'm there already. I've seen the end of it. And I want you to know right here as you walk through it, you're okay. I haven't gone to sleep, and I won't.

Me: *crying* Can we sit together awhile? Can we just sit here a minute before I go back to facing it all?

God: There's nothing I'd love more.

For everything

 From You Matter

love yourself

for everything that you

already are

for how much you have

grown

and how far you have 

come

Limited blessing

 From God's Revival 2018

Children some of you have limited the blessing that I have planned for you by your lack of trust. Listen and be obedient to My word. Trust Me will all your heart, mind and soul. I have everything worked out. It is already accomplished. Just believe and it shall be. Lean not on your own understanding. Wait on Me and you will not be disappointed.

Trustworthy investors

On Being Trustworthy Investors

by A.W. Tozer

To each of us God has issued a certain store as it has pleased Him; to one more, to another less. And since God owes us nothing, anything He gives us may be put down to His unearned generosity. The man with a smaller store dare not complain against God for having given him less than his neighbor received. God's gifts are not debts which He pays us, but gratuities bestowed out of pure mercy.

One thing taught large in the Holy Scriptures is that while God gives His gifts freely, He will require a strict accounting of them at the end of the road. Each man is personally responsible for his store, be it large or small, and will be required to explain his use of it before the judgment seat of Christ.

The store is nothing new, just the old familiar list of human possessions: time, talents, earthly goods, opportunities. Though they are as common as the grass beside the path, the waste of them constitutes one of life's most appalling tragedies.

Standing up

 Standing up for yourself

doesn't make you argumentative.

Sharing your feelings doesn't make

you oversensitive. And saying no

doesn't make you uncaring or selfish.

If someone won't respect your

feelings, needs and boundaries,

the problem isn't you;

it's them.

~Lori Deschene

3 P's

If it doesn't bring peace, profit, or purpose,

then don't give it your time, energy, or attention.

Doesn't cry

A strong person is not the one who doesn't cry.

A strong person is one who is quiet and sheds tears for a moment

and then picks up the sword and fights again.

Rainbow

 She was a rainbow, but he was colorblind.

Kind of woman

 The fact that I am a woman

does not make me a different

kind of Christian, but the fact 

that I am a Christian makes

me a different kind of woman.

~Elisabeth Elliot

Let Me Be a Woman

Wild things

This is interesting...(very secular)

The Peace of Wild Things

by Wendell Berry

When despair for the world grows in me

and I wake in the night at the least sound

in fear of what my life and m children's lives may be,

I go and lie down where the wood drake

rests in the beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.

I come into the peace of wild things

who do not tax their lives with forethought

of grief. I come into the presence of still water.

And I feel above me the day-blind stars

waiting with their light. For a time

I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

Pregnant elephant

An elephant and a dog became pregnant at the same time. Three months down the line, the dog gave birth to six puppies. Six months later, the dog was pregnant again, and nine months on it gave birth to another dozen puppies. The pattern continued.

On the eighteenth month the dog approached the elephant questioning, "Are you sure that you are pregnant? We became pregnant on the same date. I have given birth three times to a dozen puppies and they are now grown to become big dogs, yet you are still pregnant. What's going on?"

The elephant replied, "There is something I want you to understand. What I am carrying is not a puppy but an elephant. I only give birth to one in two years. When my baby hits the ground, the earth feels it. When my baby crosses the road, human beings stop and watch in admiration, what I carry draws attention. So what I'm carrying is mighty and great."

Don't be envious of others' testimony. If you haven't received your own blessings, don't despair. Say to yourself, "My time is coming and when it hits the surface of the earth, people shall yield in admiration."

Do not compare your journey to anyone else's.

A flower

A flower does not think of competing with the flower next to it. 

It just blooms.

~Zen Shin

Real

 Always a favorite...

THE VELVETEEN RABBIT

He said, "You become. It takes

a long time. That's why it doesn't

happen often to people who break

easily, or have sharp edges, or who

have to be carefully kept. Generally,

by the time you are Real, most of

your hair has been loved off, and your

eyes drop out and you get loose in 

the joints and very shabby. But these

things don't matter at all, because once

you are Real, you can't be ugly, except

to people who don't understand."

Dusting

 I'm pretty sure I've posted this before, but definitely worth repeating since I hate dusting!

Dust if you must

Dust if you must, but wouldn't it be better,

To paint a picture or write a letter,

Bake a cake or plant a seed,

Ponder the difference between want and need?

Dust if you must, but there's not much time,

With rivers to swim and mountains to climb,

Music to hear and books to read,

Friends to cherish and life to lead.

Dust if you must, but the world's out there

With the sun in your eyes, the wind in your hair,

A flutter of snow, a shower of rain.

This day will not come 'round again.

Dust if you must, but bear in mind,

Old age will come and it's not always kind.

And when you go (and go you must)

You, yourself, will make more dust.

~Rose Milligan

(this seems a little Shel Silverstein-esque)