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     "What, then, would the effect be if we were to dive even more deeply into Jesus's teaching and life and work? What if we were to be so immersed in his promises and summonses, his counsels and encouragements, that they dominated our inner life, capturing our imagination, and simply bubbled out spontaneously when we faced some challenge? How would we live if we instinctively, almost unconsciously, knew Jesus's mind and heart regarding things that confronted us? When you received criticism, you would never be crushed, because Jesus's love and acceptance of you is so deeply "in there." When you gave criticism, you would be gentle and patient, because your whole inner world would be saturated by a sense of of Jesus's loving patience and gentleness with you.
     This does not mean that every time you are criticized you are consciously, deliberately thinking, "What does Jesus have to say about this?" You won't have to think like that, because if Jesus and his Word are so deeply in there, they will fortify you, lifting you up. They will be part of you. You look at yourself through his eyes; you look at the world through his eyes. It becomes the cast of your whole mind."

- Tim Keller, The Meaning of Marriage

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“It’s in your moment of raw honesty that Jesus rolls up his sleeves and begins to restore you by his grace. I know that sounds like a churchy thing to say, but God totally understands your struggle. You can come to him in any condition. He loves you in your slobbery, ugly, vulnerable, flailing mess. He welcomes your doubts, frustrations, questions, and confusion. His mind is already made up about you on the cross.

It’s in your exposed humanity that God’s grace really works, and it won’t work any other way. You don’t have to hide.” —J.S. Park

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“Sometimes I wish I could go back in time, sit down with myself and explain that things were going to be okay, that everybody loses ground sometimes and it doesn't mean anything. It’s the way life works. This is hard to understand in the moment. You get to thinking about the girl who rejected you, the job you got fired from, the test you failed, and you lose sight of the big picture — the fact that life has a beautiful way of remaking itself every few weeks. The things that matter right now aren’t going to matter a month from now, a year from now.” —Donald Miller

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“Let someone love you just the way you are – as flawed as you might be, as unattractive as you sometimes feel, and as unaccomplished as you think you are. To believe that you must hide all the parts of you that are broken, out of fear that someone else is incapable of loving what is less than perfect, is to believe that sunlight is incapable of entering a broken window and illuminating a dark room." — Marc Hack 

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words that I love.

{all found via pinterest}

"You might as well be dead. Seriously, if you always put limits on what you can do, physically or anything else, it’ll spread over into the rest of your life. It’ll spread into your work, into your morality, into your entire being. There are no limits. There are plateaus, but you must not stay there, you must go beyond them. If it kills you, it kills you. A man must constantly exceed his level."

—Bruce Lee 

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Your Holy Word fills my soul; as I open it’s pages and find Your life within. Page after page, turn after turn, verse after verse and prayer after prayer, You fill me with the richness and goodness of Your truth. As I delve deeply into Your gift to me, Your word; I find encouragement, inspiration, conviction, deliverance, peace, compassion, understanding, guidance and identity. How blessed I am that You have allowed for Your word to be found on this earth- Your living, life-breathing word; Your road-map for our lives, Your manual for our thoughts, Your script for our actions. As I find completion and confirmation in your word; the accounts of Your greatness, the fruits of Your spirit, the love of Your sacrifice and the patience of Your heart for me - are magnified.. Just as the rose grows from within the softened soil; so Your word is growing, sprouting and rooting itself deeply within my heart, daily. May I forever water the garden within my heart; by remaining and dwelling in Your presence, and drinking from Your cup daily. Thank you for the gift and blessing of Your Holy Word, Father. It is the manual for which You designed me to live by, and without it, I would not remain assembled in You, always.

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"Go be that starving Artist you’re afraid to be. Open up that journal and get poetic finally. Volunteer. Suck it up and travel. You were not born here to work and pay taxes. You were put here to be part of a vast organism to explore and create. Stop putting it off. The world has much more to offer than what’s on 15 televisions at TGI Fridays. Take pictures. Scare people. Shake up the scene. Be the change you want to see in the world. You’ll thank yourself for it."

—Jason Mraz 

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"we are all so afraid, we are all so alone, we all so need from the outside the assurance of our own worthiness to exist." -The Good Soldier

"and there will come a time, you'll see, with no more tears. and love will not break your heart but dismiss your fears. get over your hill and see what you find there with grace in your heart and flowers in your hair."

-Mumford and Sons, After the Storm

"Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday."

-Don Marquis

{this is the story of my life}