Post Thirty-one: Take Heart

Screw Your Courage to the Sticking Place

awe.

Thank you for joining me as I explore the redeeming work of Christ in my life this month. It is an on-going journey, a never ending challenge. I can think of no better way to end than to encourage you, readers. I pray that you too would press on, keep searching for glimpses of His face, and may you find it everywhere.

Post Twenty-nine: My Answer

reverence

A C. S. Lewis quote often comes to mind in these soul-searching moments. It is from my favorite of his works, Till We Have Faces:

I know now, Lord, why you utter no answer. You are yourself the answer. Before your face questions die away. What other answer would suffice?

Post Twenty-Eight: Not Alone

porches

Post Twenty-four: Ugliness

Le laid peut être beau.

Post Twenty-one: the Impostor

hope II

In Life's Extras, whilst standing in a hurricanesque storm on a mountain-top, Archibald Rutledge saw a single shining star through the clouds. It was as if it whispered to him.

This storm is an impostor. It is momentary. The sky is here, and the stars; all shall be well.

Post Twenty: Hope

hope

behind the clouds, light never stops shining

Post Seventeen: Lament

hope.

Being rearranged, tried, and prodded at is uncomfortable. It hurts. A LOT sometimes. Trusting the work of the Lord can be so hard. I have always believed that it is wise to question and wrestle through spiritual quandaries. I do not think we must take the work of the Lord blind. He longs for our engagement. 

Ask God. Weep before him. Scream out, if you have to. 

There is great freedom in this.

Ann Voskamp, in her recent book One Thousand Gifts, explains, "Lament is a cry of belief in a good God, a God who has His ear to our hearts, a God who transfigures the ugly into beauty. Complaint is the bitter howl of unbelief in any benevolent God in this moment, a distrust in the love-beat of the Father’s heart."

Post Fourteen: Remember

in any language

Take this with you: No matter what, God doesn’t stop writing His heart, His story, His message to us.