through dry and cold winters, they blossom in time for spring. Everything has its time and place… winter months don’t last forever-
(Source: aoxeria, via 500daysofamarie)
heartfelt - written years ago
This is my piece of the whole picture. I am only a grain in the sand but God set me apart for greater and bigger plans, and that’s why its no problem for me to live the way that i do and be different the way that i am- because i have something that a lot people my age dont- a clear purpose, a reason why i breathe and live.
I want to bring revival. God wants to use all, but not all are willing to be used. But hand in hand, with the Holy Spirit’s guidance, we can help each other and be force that will drive our piece of the world to greater and immeasurable heights, to bring other young people know that the world is bigger than these material things.. just like what God showed me.
So, this is the reason why i’ve changed, why i walk with my head held high- God’s revealed to me that this life has nothing for me unless i give it back to Him, the one who gave it to me in the first place. God is good, and I want to show the world this truth through my life, my testimony. i owe it all to the lover of my soul. i am where i want to be, because i can find myself in the middle of a dilemma but i know that my God is the ultimate craftsman of every single second i live.
I know i’ve got plenty more to learn.. but with ive got right now, i’m convinced that i’ve got all i need to bring revival to wherever it is needed… revival, just as how God revived me.
but it doesnt stop with me. the problem with the Western world is that we are so satisfied and filled that we fail to see our real needs. We are well clothed, well fed, very well taken care of that God is always the last resort. We have everything and it seems like we dont need anything at all.
but that is the complete opposite.
I pray that somehow we’ll open our eyes and transform our way of thinking. yes, materially we are well-equipted, so much that it blinds us and we think that we are well.
God’s love is more than enough for everyone. I see just how merciful He is for giving me a second chance, and the same power can work through anyone. There is a bigger picture to it all. I hope that someday we’ll let our guards that take the form of material well-being down and see that God has never left or abandoned us, but instead we have been the ones neglecting Him. He’s always been waiting. Let your guards down… & expect for His transformation to take place.
when did the sacred become so filthy? I am your daughter, your love, your creation and I don’t just reflect, I am a beauty because of your beauty and majesty.
I have lost so much of myself, but in these moments, break the mold and let a new, sacred, cherished, respected me emerge. I am willing.
In the Philippines we had a modest house that had a garden- we had fruit trees, orchids, a pond of colorful fish, and a pond filled with water lilies like these. It was a large enough lot to accommodate a large family like ours, which had eleven kids, I’m number 10 btw :) But over the years the house wore down. Vines slowly slithered the walls that surrounded the our house, and the polished wood outside and within decayed and became gray. But every night, I still remember, I’d look out my wooden window and see the lilies glowing. Not in a supernatural or extraterrestrial way, but in a simple and beautiful way. They made the house special. Despite the decay around them, the lilies kept their color.
I wanna be like that. Even if the whole world turns gray, I wanna shine through with what I’ve been given. Flower of the day: water lilies :)
(via landscapelifescape)
I want to let you know…
that I don’t have much to give, but I’ll give it all. I don’t know much, but I’ve been faithful in loving you, so I’ll give you what I do have- my heart. I know you’ve been through many trials, much more than what I have endured, and to sympathize is too shallow. I am burdened to encourage you, to make you alive again, to bring the hope back into your home. I’m only a child but I’m working on faith, so please be patient. I don’t have experience, but what I do have I give it all to you. All of my hopes and dreams, my future, my heart and soul- it’s all yours and for the rest of you that God will give me. I’m going to give every part of me to you. I’ll take care of you, pray for you, and fast for you.
I really want to do this right, and I know I lack so much, but I’m going to fight everyday to be better for you. I can’t give up on this battle because the stakes are high and your lives, your families, your hopes and eternal future is too precious. I’m going to keep myself in check and the discipline of my heart and mind will be daily. My hands will hold you tightly and my heart will never let go. You are a blessing, and I will prove myself faithful to you.
Wherever you are and whoever you are, I know God will work with my desire to light up the world, and make us cross paths somehow… I pray.
what every woman should know
There are three things which are too wonderful for me,
Yes, four which I do not understand:
The way of an eagle in the air,
The way of a serpent on a rock,
The way of a ship in the midst of the sea,
And the way of a man with a virgin.
Proverbs 30:18-19 (NKJV)
Men look at women. For good or for bad, men look. Why? Because you are beautiful. You are all kinds of beautiful and every type of lovely. And any man worth his salt knows that God has made nothing more stunning, more alluring, more breathtaking, more fascinating than woman.
After fourteen years of marriage and six children it is a joy to say that my wife is still the “desire of my eye” (as God called Ezekiel’s wife in 24:16). The way she moves is mesmerizing. The way her eyes shine when she is pleased, the flavors of her smiles, her hair when it spills across my chest at night, the circle of her lower back–they are altogether lovely.
My eyes still revel in her. And they are right to do so. She’s a “yummy mummy.”
But I think that there is an aspect of seeing women in which men have failed, and our culture has utterly abandoned us. It is the cornerstone of respect, a perspective that our eyes still register but our hearts have forgotten.
What is it? Awe. Wonder. Marvel. The sense of the sacred–the fear of the holy.
We have allowed media and porn and pop-culture and liberal thought to objectify, demean, uncover and profane half of the image of God. We have lost our awe of you. Our awe of women. And when we lose our awe, we lose our natural sense of respect.
On behalf of all of manhood, I am so sorry. We have sinned against our God and against you, the daughters of Heaven. As a husband, as a father of four little girls (and two sons who will one day marry) and as a worshiper of God, my heart aches to reclaim the awe and respect of womanhood.
As men and as a culture, we NEED to respect you. Respect has the Fear of the Lord at its core. It lifts man above the animals and gives family, law, society, and morality their foundation. It humanizes us.
When we stopped being amazed at your womanhood, we lost the nobility of our manhood.
But all is not lost. Here’s a thought: Have you ever wondered why God was so elusive with Moses? Why’d he identify Himself as “I AM”? Every other “god” had a proper name (Isis, Horus, Set, Ra) and a proper religion. The gods of Egypt were predictable and easy to define. They were gods of sun and earth, sky and river, life and death. Each in his proper place with authority in his proper area of oversight.
Then along comes the God of Israel, and how does He identify Himself?
And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” Exodus 3:14 (NKJV)
I can just imagine what poor Moses must have been thinking. His brain was already on tilt after experiencing burning bushes, slithering staffs, and the shock of contracting and being healed of leprosy in the span of five minutes. It had already been a full day. Then God tells him this: “Tell the Israelites my name is ‘I AM WHO I AM.’”
That’s not a name; that’s an existential statement! What on earth can God have meant by calling Himself that?
I have an idea. “I AM WHO I AM” means you can’t define me. You can’t change me. You can’t understand me. I won’t wear any of your labels and I won’t abide by any of your rules. Your theology can’t contain me and your “wisdom” can’t restrain me. There’s no one like me and no one beside me. I AM OTHER. HOLY. WONDERFUL. SACRED. FEARSOME! Mankind, REMAIN AMAZED, REMAIN IN AWE, BECAUSE I AM WHO I AM and there’s nothing you can do about it.
Wow! The only way He could sum Himself up was by fixing His identity in the mystery of His marvelously unquantifiable differentness.
That’s the God I serve! A God of wonder! I will never fully comprehend Him on this side of the grave, but I will spend my life in the pleasure of the pursuit. And He loves to be pursued!
Understanding the I AM is the key (I think) to men understanding the mystery of women.
We (men) have spent so much time rubbing our heads, trying to figure out why you don’t think like us, why you don’t communicate the way we do, why you don’t emote (or refrain from emoting) the way we do, and why for the love of ALL THINGS RATIONAL you never put your keys in the same place twice.
I am so sorry. That is a mold you were never meant to be squished into.
You see, you were created in the image of God. And if God is the Great I AM, you (I have discovered) are the “Lesser I AM.” You know what that means? It means you were made to resemble your Father. It means there is no one like you and never will be. It means you defy definition. You weren’t made to wear mankind’s labels and you can’t abide by culture’s fallen rules. The philosophies of earth cannot contain you and the religions of man cannot restrain you. You ARE who you ARE by the grace of God (1 Corinthians 15:10)!
And my wife? There are days when I feel like Moses. My brain is on tilt. I can’t understand her. She is baffling and confusing and marvelously unpredictable. Why? Because SHE IS OTHER. Holy, wonderful, and sacred. I can’t hope to change her and dare not try.Part of her God-given allure is the mystery of her unquantifiable differentness.
That’s the woman I love! A wife of wonder! When I open my eyes to see her, she is awesome. And I cannot help but respect and revere this wonderfully made daughter of God. I cannot help but be grateful for such an undeserved gift.
Of course I will never fully comprehend her on this side of the grave, but I will spend my life in the pleasure of the pursuit. And my beloved loves to be pursued.
So I’d like to take you to the mirror today and show you something–something that is fearfully and wonderfully made, something that defies definition and is aglow in the splendor of beauty. It is you. You are marvelously different. You are alluringly sacred. You are lovely. You are awesome. You are worthy of respect. And I honor the greatness of the image of God in you.
p.s.
Please be patient with us men. We really don’t understand you. But in all fairness, you don’t understand us, either.
You see, men are the other half of the image of God. At our worst (when we are far from Him) we are devils. But at our best (in His grace) we are sons of God. You will never understand us and you will never respect us until you see us for who we are–Lesser I AM’s. We are what we are by the grace of God, too. And by that same grace, we will each become more like our God as we recognize His greatness in one another.
Zach Neese