"It's today I must be living": Quotes from "Christy"

 “The only time I ever find my dealings with God less than clear-cut is when I'm not being honest with Him. The fuzziness is always on my side, not His."

"So many people never pause long enough to make up their minds about basic issues of life and death. It's quite possible to go through your whole life, making the mechanical motions of living, adopting as your own sets of ideas you've come to any conclusion for yourself as to what life is all about."

 "A Christian has no business being satisfied with mediocrity. He's supposed to reach for the stars. Why not? He's not on his own anymore. He has God's help now."

"It's today I must be living." 

(Fairlight Spencer)

"What you've undertaken...isn't a state of perfection to be arrived at all of the sudden. It's a WALK, and a walk isn't static but ever-changing. We Friends say that all discouragement is from an evil source and can only end in more evil. Wallowing in self-condemnation or feeling sorry for yourself is worse than falling on your face in the first place. . . So thee is human."

"My father always told us that if we will let God, He can use even our disappointements, even our annoyances to bring us a blessing. There's a practical way to start the process too: by thanking Him for whatever happens, no matter how disagreeable it seems."

Helen Keller Quotes

Helen Keller is one of my favorite authors. I first discovered her unique story when I watched the movie, "The Miracle Worker". Born in 1880, Helen became blind and deaf at 19 months old from unknown causes. This made her unable to learn language through sight or sound. She grew into a wild, unruly child given to erratic tantrums, unable to properly communicate or fully comprehend or perceive the world around her. Her parents were desperate. In 1887, Helen's life changed, and her miracle arrived. Anne Sullivan, a young partially blind graduate from the Perkins School for the Blind came to be her teacher. She was successful in transforming Helen by giving her the gift of language, spelled into her hand, opening the door for her to identify feelings, objects, and sensations, and to express herself verbally. She was greatly admired by Mark Twain and Alexander Graham Bell. Helen Keller has inspired me through her beautiful, strong, witty, incredible spirit. Her story is an encouragement for anyone who has disabilities, no matter how mild or severe, to not give up on their dreams.

I hope you go check out her full biography, books, and the movie, if you would like to learn more! It's worth the read/watch. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy her quotes.

“You don't love someone for their looks, or their clothes, or for their fancy car, but because they sing a song only you can hear.” 


“Be of good cheer. Do not think of today's failures, but of the success that may come tomorrow. You have set yourselves a difficult task, but you will succeed if you persevere; and you will find a joy in overcoming obstacles. Remember, no effort that we make to attain something beautiful is ever lost.”


“What we once enjoyed and deeply loved we can never lose, for all that we love deeply becomes a part of us.” 


“Everything has its wonders, even darkness and silence, and I learn, whatever state I may be in, therein to be content”


“For three things I thank God every day of my life: thanks that he has vouchsafed me knowledge of his works; deep thanks that he has set in my darkness the lamp of faith; deep, deepest thanks that I have another life to look forward to--a life joyous with light and flowers and heavenly song.” 


“Face your deficiencies and acknowledge them; but do not let them master you. Let them teach you patience, sweetness, insight.”


“When we do the best that we can, we never know what miracle is wrought in our life, or in the life of another.” 



“We can do anything we want as long as we stick to it long enough.”


“My friends have made the story of my life. In a thousand ways they have turned my limitations into beautiful privileges.” 


“I who am blind can give one hint to those who see: Use your eyes as if tomorrow you would be stricken blind. And the same method can be applied to the other senses. Hear the music of voices, the song of a bird, the mighty strains of an orchestra, as if you would be stricken deaf tomorrow. Touch each object as if tomorrow your tactile sense would fail. Smell the perfume of flowers, taste with relish each morsel, as if tomorrow you could never smell and taste again. make the most of every sense; glory in the beauty which the world in all the facets of pleasure reveals to you through the several means of contact which Nature provides. But of all the senses, I am sure that sight is the most delightful.”

{ You still believe it to be a beautiful place }

Madeleine L'Engle Quotes (author of A Wrinkle in Time)

“When we were children, we used to think that when we were grown-up we would no longer be vulnerable. But to grow up is to accept vulnerability... To be alive is to be vulnerable.”

 “The great thing about getting older is that you don't lose all the other ages you've been.” 

“Some things have to be believed to be seen.” 

“Maybe you have to know the darkness before you can appreciate the light.” 

(A Ring of Endless Light))

“I will have nothing to do with a God who cares only occasionally. I need a God who is with us always, everywhere, in the deepest depths as well as the highest heights. It is when things go wrong, when good things do not happen, when our prayers seem to have been lost, that God is most present. We do not need the sheltering wings when things go smoothly. We are closest to God in the darkness, stumbling along blindly.” 

“We are all strangers in a strange land, longing for home, but not quite knowing what or where home is. We glimpse it sometimes in our dreams, or as we turn a corner, and suddenly there is a strange, sweet familiarity that vanishes almost as soon as it comes.” 

“We can't take any credit for our talents. It's how we use them that counts.” 

“I do not know everything; still many things I understand.” 

“We have to be braver than we think we can be, because God is constantly calling us to be more than we are.” 

“It might be a good idea if, like the White Queen, we practiced believing six impossible things every morning before breakfast, for we are called on to believe what to many people is impossible. Instead of rejoicing in this glorious "impossible" which gives meaning and dignity to our lives, we try to domesticate God, to make his might actions comprehensible to our finite minds.”

“In a very real sense not one of us is qualified, but it seems that God continually chooses the most unqualified to do his work, to bear his glory. If we are qualified, we tend to think that we have done the job ourselves. If we are forced to accept our evident lack of qualification, then there's no danger that we will confuse God's work with our own, or God's glory with our own.” 

“It's hard to let go anything we love. We live in a world which teaches us to clutch. But when we clutch we're left with a fistful of ashes.” 

(A Ring of Endless Light)

(check it out, it's a wonderful book!!)

:)

more than words poem // April day out with friends

// April //

eyelashes

flutter

cool tiles

local
hair
studio

radio dominates

cotton

creased

sandals

white

ebony

glow

fade
flowy

side braid

leather

bronze

hue

linen

trimming

 let it go.

emerald

flashing

elven

ring

dazzling

petals

awakening

loam

imprinted

turf

dance with us.

war tower

sand cliff

strung bow

jangling quiver

photoshoot

enactment

sunset

sleeves

trail

skirts

whisper

ungracefully

trip
reaction

be adventurers.

ginger

morocco

sleeve slipped

waves

shimmer

shadows

lengthen

beeswax- scented

peony

absinthe
forsythia

sway

it's beautiful.

memories

skim

behind

my

eyes...

(windows

roll

down)

let's

breathe
in

newness;

bask

in

cerulean

wind

pure stillness.

so here we are
under
stars
on
the

cusp

of

night

farewell, for just a little while.

more than words poem // life of my soul

resin

sap

sticky

needles crunching underfoot

charcoal

lavender water

chipped china

open windows

line-dried sheets

starlight

woodsmoke

scuffed flats

worn antique rug

arrow feathers

heirloom jewelry

brewed heather tea

home.

mountaintop 

wind

rain

echoing violin

cave 

creek

rippling curls

cool flagstone

bare feet

knit afghan

crochet

dryad eyes

appalachia

roar.

grace

adoption

aslan

rest

eternity

inheritance

vast

finite

breathing

listen

renew

wait.

falling surf

boulder smooth

run

run

*click*

fly

pirouette 

shudder

reverberate tide

current 

I ride

free.

Lord Jesus

Savior

King

Lover

Bridegroom

Beautiful

Altogether

Holy

Lovely

Fierce

Gentle

Tender

Unstoppable

always

here

with 

me

Love.

So Long, Insecurity!

Happy Thursday to you ladies (and gentlemen)! :) Today I thought I might share something that's been on my heart all week. It's about beauty: What makes a woman beautiful, in God's eyes?

All this week, while I've have gobs of time for thinking over a lot of issues, I've found that I am often unsatisfied. That I wish I could be somebody else.

A confession: For so long I've assumed that since I'm a young adult, past my teenage years, I would no longer feel blatantly insecure. But lately, especially this week, I have been discovering that no matter what stage of life I am in, if I am not focused on GOD, then I will always be disappointed with myself. Lately...I have not been focusing on my Savior, but on how the World would want me to look and act. Without Him, I'm joyless. I'm unhappy with my family, my blog, my friends, my life...it's all meaningless without Him at the center.

Here's something I read this morning, which really stuck in my mind, considering true beauty:

“When Christ overtakes a woman’s life and transforms her from the inside out, she becomes truly feminine - a picture of elegance, grace, and loveliness blended with sacrificial selfless devotion to her King.”
-- Leslie Ludy, "The Lost Art of True Beauty"

The transformation of the heart is what makes us beautiful.  God transforming us from the inside! That's something that no amount of fashion, worldly advice, makeup, tweezing, or tanning can do. As Daughters of the Living God, we are not to be of this world, but evidence of the God Who has placed us here, with His Holy Spirit. Not to be self-absorbed, but absorbed by Something bigger.

“As long as we live, our self-absorption and our insecurity will walk together, holding hands and swinging them back and forth like two little girls on their way to a pretend playground they can never find. Human nature dictates that most often we will be as insecure as we are self-absorbed. The best possible way to keep from getting sucked into the superficial narcissistic mentality that money, possessions, and sensuality can satisfy and secure us is to deliberately give ourselves to something much greater...[Christ] showed us that giving, rather than getting, is the means to receiving...to find yourself, your true self, you must lose yourself in something larger.” -- Beth Moore, "So Long, Insecurity: You've Been A Bad Friend To Us"

"Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.^" -- Romans 12:1-2

 "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." 
-- Romans 12:21

 In Christ is where true, feminine beauty lies. That's what makes us into the young women, wives, mothers, grandmothers, adventurers and business women that He desires us to be.
Having a Christ-Centered heart. 
Wow... praise God that He enables us to do just that.

Leah

Holiness

God is Holy.

"Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?"

--Exodus 15:11

Holiness literally means, "Set Apart", which is what every Christian (or, "little Christ") is called by Jesus to be: set apart from the world. As a Christian women, I know it's VERY tough in many ways to be set apart for God. I want to be accepted by people, I want them to like me, I want on and on and on... basically God knows how much my human heart shies away from holiness. But God is HOLY, and as one of God's Daughter's, I am called to pursue HIS holiness.

"For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness."

--1 Thessalonians 4:7

Becoming set apart means putting God FIRST before other things in our lives. We give Him our hearts, trusting in Him and immersing our minds in His Truth (His Word, the Bible). Yeah that may mean allowing Him to remove some idols, be it friendships, money, beauty, shoes, boy/girlfriends, power, pride, comfort, whatever you may worship (love) more than Him...check your heart and ask God to help you give over these things to Him.
"Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come before him: worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness."
--1 Chronicles 16:29

"As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”"

--1 Peter 1:14-16
"But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light."

--1 Peter 2:9
Remember, when we choose God over this world, we do not lose--we gain everything! When we give ourselves over to God, He changes us from the inside out...and we understand more of what it is to be Sons and Daughters of God.

"For everyone who has been born of GOD overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith."

--1 John 5:4 (emphasis mine)

"Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God."

--2 Corinthians 7:1

"But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But, as it is written,”What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him.”

-- 1 Corinthians 2:7-9