lilyao

[lilyao]

Waiting on God is a part of the Christian life — a constant part. We want to learn how to wait well. And part of waiting well is not allowing our waiting for God to distract us from the good God wants us to do while we wait.

Jon Bloom

[lilyao]

No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised...It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

Romans 4:20,24-25

[lilyao]

A-Frame Haus

[lilyao]

this quarter

I want to strive to love God better by trusting Him with each step of this extremely terrifying journey and not freaking out at every small thing that doesn’t go my way (as I often do). Because the reality is that most of it will probably not go my way, but as long as it’s going God’s way (which it always is because He is in control) that’s all that really matters.

[lilyao]

FH Decor

Pinterest.com

[lilyao]

Lord

you are so faithful and I am so faithless. 

Help my unbelief. 

[lilyao]

If our hearts are wearing humility, what will matter to us is whether God is glorified and others are loved. But if our hearts are wearing pride, we will disregard God’s glory and others’ spiritual health in favor of our personal preferences and freedoms. And, in the end, if our hearts are wearing humility, we will think of our clothes as little as possible when we draw near to God together in worship.

Jon Bloom

[lilyao]

looks so cozy 

Janne bull Karlsen | @earlymorningheart

[lilyao]

It’s been awhile

but I want to commit to trying to post on Tumblr again. It’s like a secret community for me now of people who actually use Tumblr and will actually be able to read about my feelings haha.  Fall has finally begun and as the coldness and darkness sets in as well as with the holidays right around the corner I feel a bit more pensive, a bit more reflective, a bit more introspective. I haven’t fully fleshed out my thoughts yet, but they’re there, bumbling around in my mind.

[lilyao]

The human heart in every generation is pressured by the outside world to do what it does, succeed like it succeeds, live the life it wants us to live — or we will miss out on truly living. Travel is big right now, and so is delaying adulthood. This combination makes it easy to say, “Where you go, I’ll go,” but it is often much more difficult to say, “Where you stay, I’ll stay.” That means staying even when it’s distressing and painful and lonely. But only fifty years ago, the easiest route was settling down early and starting a family. The idols of each generation will differ. But obedience by faith in Jesus remains the same: we refuse to bow the knee to all but the one with nail-scarred hands and a torn side. Daniel’s allegiance did not waver those thousands of years ago, and our loyalty ought not waver now in the face of FOMO and YOLO. I don’t need to twirl in the Alps, or walk the rice paddies of Japan, or explore the wilds of Scotland to be obedient. To love the Lord my God with all my heart, all my mind, and all my strength (Deuteronomy 6:5) I need only to seek his face wherever he has placed me — at the tip of Kilimanjaro or in the rolling hills of midwest America. And in whatever season of heart he has brought to me — be it the driest of deserts or the gloomiest of valleys. God’s Spirit is a willing guide, ever spurring us onward toward the one to whom all adventures pale in comparison, and in whom all adventures find their fulfillment. Because when all the adventures of this life come to an end, God will remain unsearchable and all-satisfying, the Adventure that never ends.

Calley Sivils

[lilyao]

it’s hard

when it feels like people are flying by me in life. I want to be ahead, I want to be in grad school, I want to be in the next stage, but...I guess we will see what the Lord has planned. Help me to praise Him through any and all circumstances. 

[lilyao]

God promises to bind up the wounds of the brokenhearted. The loneliness and pain will subside as you fix your eyes on Jesus and trust he can satisfy far beyond any human relationship.

Stacy Reaoch

[lilyao]

what a year it has been.

And though I don’t often feel it or see it, and though my heart complains and is ungrateful and does not flee from sin as it should, the Lord is still so good. As I reflect upon all that has happened this past year and all that is to come, I can confidently say that I don’t know what’s going to happen. I don’t know what the future looks like and I am terrified. What if I never get into school? What if my efforts are futile and useless? What if I’ve wasted so much time and money just to fail? What if I am fated to be alone forever? What if I never get to partake in the joys and challenges of being in a relationship again? But there is also peace because I can confidently say that the Lord knows. And however things turn out and whichever way my life ends up going, I know that I am called simply to place the Lord above all else. Though I daily struggle to do so, Lord would you give me the strength to live my life with an eternal perspective. Help me to seek first the kingdom of God and to be content in all circumstances. Help me to know how to be brought low and how to abound. Help me to rejoice in all things. Help me, in every moment, to be struck by the weight of the Gospel and to live my life accordingly.

[lilyao]

[lilyao]

Lord my heart hurts

That’s the phrase I’ve been telling God over and over again the past month or so. I wonder when I’ll stop saying that phrase due to this particular circumstance, or if I will ever stop saying it, I don’t know. But I pray that you’d keep me Lord. That as difficult as each day might be, you would give me the strength to take it moment by moment, to put one foot in front of the other and keep living life in a way that is honoring to the Lord. And though most days I might want to throw up my hands in frustration and anger and bitterness, help me to trust in your unfailing love. Please, because I cannot do this.  

[lilyao]

By no means does such praise mean the pain is lessened. The hurt is every bit as real. But such a supernaturally inspired testimony to God does testify, Even as great as this pain is, God is greater. My desire to have this pain removed, or this loss restored, or these hurtful circumstances altered, must not eclipse my desire for the God who is powerful enough to remove it, or restore it, but is loving me in a way that is greater than I can understand

David Mathis

[lilyao]

Good habits protect what’s most important. They keep us on the track of perseverance even when we don’t feel like persevering. They help us access the channels of God’s ongoing grace in the times we need it most (often when we don’t feel like it), and so preserve and keep our souls. Good spiritual habits keep us in God’s word, and in prayer, and among God’s people, even as we ride the emotional ups and downs of life...The ultimate goal of cultivating holy habits is having Jesus, “possessing him” by faith, knowing and enjoying him. He is the great end of perseverance. He himself is the center and apex and essence of our great reward. What habits of grace do for our souls, and how habits of grace play an essential role in our perseverance in the faith, is turn our eyes away from the subject of our faith — ourselves and our part in persevering — to the object of our faith: Jesus.

David Mathis