All-Consuming Love

Sex and Ignorance

Wed, 08 May 2013 17:00:50 -0400

Warning: this post may be offensive to ultra-conservative Christians and there are some words (although they are not profanity) you may not want to read considering the topic. I have no problem with it personally, but I’m aware some more sensitive people might.

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emily if you see this, this is our goal for this summer.

Sun, 30 Dec 2012 00:06:27 -0500

emily if you see this, this is our goal for this summer.

"When you are called to do something radical for God many people in excitement will make statements..."

Sun, 30 Dec 2012 00:00:14 -0500

“When you are called to do something radical for God many people in excitement will make statements like “we’re with you”. Yet often times on the battlefield you will face the giants alone. The very definition of a forerunner suggests that at times you will be the only voice, and at times the only one in the fight. It’s when the first giant falls that others will join in the pursuit of the enemy. Don’t let the lack of support or fellowship on the battlefield stop you from throwing rocks at the giants. Others are waiting and watching to see you rise up courageously. Your courage and your passion will draw them to take their first steps onto the battlefield. You were created to live radically just as Christ did and He will never leave you or forsake you!”

- Nic Billman (via loveismycommandment)

"I wish we would take Him at His word. When He says we’re forgiven, let’s unload the guilt. When He..."

Mon, 17 Dec 2012 14:51:00 -0500

“I wish we would take Him at His word. When He says we’re forgiven, let’s unload the guilt. When He says we’re valuable, let’s believe Him. When He says we’re provided for, let’s stop worrying.”

- Max Lucado (via godmoves)

"I have no notion of loving people by halves, it is not my nature. My attachments are always..."

Mon, 17 Dec 2012 13:30:03 -0500

“I have no notion of loving people by halves, it is not my nature. My attachments are always excessively strong.”

- Jane Austen (via thatkindofwoman)

“…though we can bring some light to the darkness, we...

Mon, 17 Dec 2012 13:25:40 -0500

“…though we can bring some light to the darkness, we cannot bring the day.”

My Time in Babylon: Part IV

Writing my way through this life. My response to the tragedy at Newton, CT, and to how others responded.

"I realise there’s something incredibly honest about trees in winter, how they’re experts at letting..."

Sun, 16 Dec 2012 18:19:08 -0500

“I realise there’s something incredibly honest about trees in winter, how they’re experts at letting things go.”

- Jeffrey McDaniel (via quiescent-girl)

connotativewords: December 7, 2012

Sun, 16 Dec 2012 18:19:02 -0500

connotativewords:

December 7, 2012

ourgodislove: this needs to be my reality.

Wed, 28 Nov 2012 14:34:32 -0500

ourgodislove:

this needs to be my reality.

mydarkenedeyes: Figure studies by Stuart Gilbert.

Wed, 28 Nov 2012 14:33:37 -0500

mydarkenedeyes:

Figure studies by Stuart Gilbert.

"God is always seeking you. Every sunset. Every clear blue sky. Each ocean wave. The starry hosts of..."

Wed, 28 Nov 2012 14:32:33 -0500

“God is always seeking you. Every sunset. Every clear blue sky. Each ocean wave. The starry hosts of night. He blankets each new day with the invitation, ‘I am here.’”

- Louie Giglio (via littlethingsaboutgod)

triumphantskies: glukauf: When a magnitude 6.8 earthquake...

Wed, 28 Nov 2012 14:32:26 -0500

triumphantskies:

glukauf:

When a magnitude 6.8 earthquake shook Olympia, Wash., in 2001, shopowner Jason Ward discovered that a sand-tracing pendulum had recorded the vibrations in the image above.

Seismologists say that the “flower” at the center reflects the higher-frequency waves that arrived first; the outer, larger-amplitude oscillations record the lower-frequency waves that arrived later.

“You never think about an earthquake as being artistic — it’s violent and destructive,” Norman MacLeod, president of Gaelic Wolf Consulting in Port Townsend, told ABC News. “But in the middle of all that chaos, this fine, delicate artwork was created.”

SCIENCE ART

"You know the Bible also says “Kill.” Yeah there are some words before it and some words after it,..."

Wed, 28 Nov 2012 14:27:45 -0500

“You know the Bible also says “Kill.” Yeah there are some words before it and some words after it, but if you’re going to take one thing out of context you might as well take the rest of it out of context.”

- My wonderful father (via inkstain)

"Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to..."

Wed, 28 Nov 2012 14:26:25 -0500

“

Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself? Take those thoughts that come to you the moment you wake up in the morning. You have not originated them, but they start talking to you, they bring back the problems of yesterday, etc.

Somebody is talking. Who is talking? Your self is talking to you. Now this man’s treatment was this; instead of allowing this self to talk to him, he starts talking to himself. ‘Why art thou cast down, O my soul?’ he asks. His soul had been depressing him, crushing him. So he stands up and says: ‘Self, listen for a moment, I will speak to you.’…

The main art in the matter of spiritual living is to know how to handle yourself. You have to take yourself in hand, you have to address yourself, preach to yourself, question yourself. You must say to your soul: ‘Why art thou cast down’– what business have you to be disquieted?

You must turn on yourself, upbraid yourself, condemn yourself, exhort yourself, and say to yourself: ‘Hope thou in God’– instead of muttering in this depressed, unhappy way. And then you must go on to remind yourself of God, Who God is, and what God is and what God has done, and what God has pledged Himself to do.

Then having done that, end on this great note: defy yourself, and defy other people, and defy the devil and the whole world, and say with this man: ‘I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance, who is also the health of my countenance and my God.’

”

- Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Spiritual Depression (via raisingmywhiteflag)

Photo

Mon, 26 Nov 2012 19:09:28 -0500

Photo

Mon, 26 Nov 2012 19:08:06 -0500

marisadanae: each-beat: John and I knew for several, several...

Mon, 26 Nov 2012 19:06:14 -0500

marisadanae:

each-beat:

John and I knew for several, several months that we wanted to get married, and I knew that he was going to propose eventually. He told me it would be before December, but I wasn’t certain of the exact date. I thought I had it all worked out though. There were less than 8 days left in November, and I figured that the 4 days that landed on the weekend were the only possibilities, because of how much we work during the week. So when I texted him saying that I wanted to visit him after a long day of working on a Thursday, I definitely did not think he would propose that night.

I texted him to let him know I was coming to his house soon, and he responded by telling me he’d be there in 2 minutes. When I got to his house, he was sitting in his car. He got out and we said our hellos and hugged for a while in his driveway. I commented on how his car was still on as we stood there, but he didn’t say anything. I thought we were just going to go inside and watch a movie or talk about our days, but he started walking to his car and told me to get in. I asked where we were going and he told me it was somewhere I know really well. So we drove for ten minutes and ended up at the church I grew up in. There was a white vehicle in the parking lot, which confused me. John got out and pulled a key out from his pocket, which confused me even more because I didn’t understand how he had a key. He opened the door and we walked upstairs to the foyer. Up to this point, I had no idea what was going on, and all of the unanswered questions I had clouded my head, but as soon as I saw the doors leading to the sanctuary held open, and the soft light coming from the room, I knew.

I walked past the doors with J walking behind me, and smiled immediately. There were several strings of white lights set up on the pews on either side of the aisle in front of us (18 strings of lights, to be exact). On the floor, J set up about ten or so photo frames holding pictures of us from the past nineteen months. We walked down the aisle and I recall repeating the following phrases: “What is happening?”, “What the beast”, “Ohhhh my goodness”, and “What is this?” I also heard and saw John’s friend Cody at the side taking photos. We got to the end of the aisle where two stools wrapped in lights were standing. I immediately knew which one is mine, because of what is tied to it.

At this point, a little backstory is required. Around 4 years ago, at our high school prom, John and I really liked each other. We held hands for the first time that night, and even had our first kiss then. Everyone in our grad class received a carboard star with their name and ‘Class of 08’ on it. John and I traded stars. So after four years, three of which were spent entirely apart with no contact at all between the two of us, John kept the star with my name on it. He actually told me that even when an ex-girlfriend got him to throw the star away, he went back to the garbage and got it out as soon as she left. When I asked why, he said it was because he was still in love with me.

Anyway, I sat on the stool with my star on it, and he sat on the stool across from me. He reached over and grabbed his guitar, smiled as me, and started to play what has now become my favourite song that he has ever written for me. It was very, very sweet - filled with the kinds of chords he knows I adore. I remember thinking how much things had changed. How when we first started dating, J would rarely look up at me while he sang, because he would get too nervous. But that night, he looked at me during the entire song with the sweetest grin on his face and with eyes that said just as much as the lyrics he sang. Plus the glow from the lights made him look even more handsome than normal. When he finished singing, I clapped. I don’t know why I did, because I never do.. I guess I was nervous, and wanted to pretend that my hands weren’t shaking. He stood up, and took my hand. I stood up (almost got my foot tangled up in the lights) and started shaking some more. He reached over to the pew next to us and got the box, got down on his knee, and said “Felicia, will you marry me”. I can still remember the look on his face when he said it. He looked so nervous, but so sure. I said yes, he said “you will?”, I said of course. He put the ring on, stood up, and we held each other for a long, long time. He was shaking, I couldn’t feel my heart, but could feel him smiling. As we stood there, we found it necessary to give God a high-five, so we stretched our arms, palms facing the sky, and did. Cody took a few more pictures of us and then left. I needed to scream and run around, so I did. A lot. After I was able to sit still for more than a couple seconds, we sat down in the middle of the aisle with the strings of lights and photos on either side of us and prayed. I think out of all the things that happened that night, from the drive to the church, to realizing what was happening, to him singing to me, to him sliding the ring down the fourth finger on my left hand, sitting there on the floor with him praying forehead to forehead was my absolute favourite. Afterwards, I had to run around some more, shrieking and jumping and dancing and smiling the biggest smiles I’ve ever smiled before. Then we played a couple worship songs, me on the grand piano and him on his guitar, and finished the night by cleaning up the lights and referring to each other as fiancé and fiancée whenever possible, and as much as possible.

[ps, Everyone go tell Cody how awesome he is for taking such beautiful photos]

I’M CRYING. THIS IS PERFECT. <3

spiritualinspiration: But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not...

Mon, 26 Nov 2012 18:52:09 -0500

spiritualinspiration:

But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7)

"Too many Christians study the Word of God as if gaining knowledge is the sum total of our mission on..."

Mon, 26 Nov 2012 18:51:35 -0500

“

Too many Christians study the Word of God as if gaining knowledge is the sum total of our mission on this earth. But according to Paul, knowledge can be completely worthless and even harmful: knowledge puffs up, but love builds up (1 Cor. 8:1).

If we believe that statement, then why do we have so much admiration for people who know lots of facts? Have we forgotten that knowledge is a means to a greater end? Knowledge enables us to love God and love our neighbors more fully. If we’re not putting what we know to work in our lives, then our knowledge will simply make us more arrogant.

There’s a terrifying irony here: your study of the Bible could actually lead you further away from the Lord.

”

- Francis Chan (via hislivingpoetry)

Photo

Wed, 21 Nov 2012 13:54:58 -0500