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If happiness is your highest aim in life, you will find nothing but emptiness. God rarely uses happiness to draw near, for he knows that when we are happy we rarely seek God out. Questions do not begin to be asked until we have experienced pain, a man does not say “Where is God?” when he is happy. It is when he has been knocked down that he begins to ask these questions. Love blooms in the season of sorrow, as odd as it may sound, it is in the work and toil that we begin the task of laying down the crops. It is in the struggles of life that we see the face of God; For when we have had everything ripped away from us, we will see, like the dawn of a new day, that the cross was born out of sorrow. Happiness is wonderful, it fills us up and makes us content, but what are we content in? Do we ever cling to the cross in our self-happiness? Do we look to Jesus and truly see the man who was described as being a man of many sorrows? (Isaiah 53:3) Happiness is comforting, but sorrow brings an invitation that nothing else can ever offer. We must find God through the heartbreak, through the questions that come, and through the seasons of hardship. For we grow close with those we suffer with, and we have a God who suffers with us. Just look at Jesus, He carried it all so that we would know that when it is our time to also carry the cross, that we have Him to lean on and to find shelter in. Do not seek happiness above all else, seek Jesus.

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ALI AL KHECHEN Couture Spring/Summer 2017

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We serve a God who shows up for us.

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My painting makes me so happy ☺️

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“But God”

I may not be in the best situation… It may seem like I am getting the short end of the stick… I may be losing the fight, and all odds are against me…

BUT GOD…

Make me a light who shines despite darkness. Fill my heart with so much joy that nothing could ever break my spirit. Help me to encourage those around me, even if I feel so discouraged. All things are possible with You. Your love creates a world in which I can thrive and be joyful, no matter what my circumstances are. I am Your child, and THAT defines me.

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I am learning to love the sound of my feet walking away from things not meant for me.

A.G. (via awelltraveledwoman)

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She took a step and didn’t want to take any more, but she did.

Markus Zusak, The Book Thief (via wordsnquotes)

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You can’t lose anything that God has for you.

Charles Stanley (Waiting on God’s Timing)

❤️

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If anything, let your pain be the passion for your prayer.

p.j. {1 Thessalonians 5:17} (via his-desert-rose)

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"Stay back 100ft" K got it

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May God bless you with a restless discomfort about easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships, so that you may boldly apply the truth of Christ and love as he loved from deep within your heart. May God bless you with holy anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that you may work for peace, justice and freedom and demonstrate that true peace comes only in Christ. May God bless you with the gift of tears to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, or the loss of all that they cherish, so that you might comfort them and, in so doing, point them to the Great Comforter, Jesus Christ, the only One who truly transforms sorrow into joy. May God bless you with enough faith to believe that you really can make a difference in this world, so that you are able, with God’s grace in Christ, to do what otherwise could not be done.

A Franciscan Blessing adapted by Dr. Lindsay Fikkert (via yesdarlingido)

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One bad day does not undo the work of Jesus, who on the cross, in one day, undid all the power of sin and shame.

Unclean Lips (via cattedrali)