hope or a dirty engine

i hadn't thought much about hope as a catalyst for motion and progress and motivation in life until this past weekend on riverside's ladies retreat. thank you Father for our speaker monica taffinder, who helped me see that "unwillingness to hope is like dirt in your engine."

"hope is the golden stuff that draws us along on this journey. it keeps us alive so we can actually taste and experience the wonder of belonging to God."
-paula rinehart

“Hope” is the thing with feathers -
That perches in the soul -
And sings the tune without the words -
And never stops - at all -

And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard -
And sore must be the storm -
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm -

I’ve heard it in the chillest land -
And on the strangest Sea -
Yet - never - in Extremity,
It asked a crumb - of me.
-emily dickinson
 
and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given us
 
no one whose hope is in You will ever be put to shame

why not?

a faithful man of God openly, even gladly, admits his weaknesses, because the power of Christ is resting upon him. his deep needs and the Lord’s great supply combine to make him an honest, mighty man.
-ray ortlund

why not be vulnerable? believer, you are mighty when weak.

we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves

most gladly, therefore, i will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. therefore i am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.

wednesdays

i get wisdom from the people i see every wednesday night and do life with. they help me remember it's okay to say i sometimes don't know what to do. and i need their character to shape mine.

“the next best thing to being wise oneself is to live in a circle of those who are.”
-c.s. lewis

and we have a good time. to quote jack miller (heart of a servant leader), "it's fun being a Christian". . . especially with these people around.

freedom's opportunities

“being free means ‘being free for the other,’ because i am bound to the other. only in relationship with the other am i free.”
-dietrich bonhoeffer

for you were called to freedom, brothers. but do not use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh; rather, serve one another through love.

be free, yet without using freedom as a pretext for evil, but as slaves of God.

why self-worship (or self-loathing) doesn't make sense

"to think 'i don’t have what it takes' is precisely what it takes. . .
for you to be un-okayed, Jesus would have to be un-okayed. His verdict is in, and therefore yours is in. God’s grace is sufficient for you. get over yourself. you are weak. you are inadequate. you always will be. and the story of the Bible is God’s delight in taking weak, inadequate men and doing the unthinkable."
-dane ortlund

we have this treasure in earthen vessels, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.

i am sure of this- that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.