laurenharp-blog1

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There was no risk in my fantasy life, and risk is what I feared the most. After all, to love somebody is to give them the power to hurt you, and nobody can hurt you if you’re the only one writing the script. But it doesn’t work. Controlling people are the loneliest people in the world.

Some people play out their controlling tendencies through intimidation or bullying. I’ve done that, for sure. But it’s the same tendency that drove my fantasy life: it’s the desire to be the writer of somebody else’s script and control all aspects of the story. It’s sad. Not even God controls people’s stories and he’s the only one who actually can.

Donald Miller

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I am early in my story, but I believe I will stretch out in eternity and in heaven I will reflect on these early days.

Donald Miller

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How sad it would be to starve to death just outside the door of the most delicious banquet in the universe, with the dinner invitation clutched in your hand.

D.L. Moody

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But now the master smiles and says, “I like filling, so fill this table. Fill it with people who have room - in their schedules, so their priorities, their souls. Fill it with open people. I don’t care who they are, where they live, or what they’ve done. I don’t care if they have the appropriate wardrobe or make sparkling dinnertime conversation. All I really want is emptiness.”

Kyle Idleman, The End of Me

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I believe many a man is praying to God to fill him when he is full already with something else. Before we pray that God will fill us, I believe we ought to pray that He would empty us. There must be an emptying before there can be a filling. And when the heart is turned upside-down and everything that is contrary to God is turned out, then the Spirit will come.

Kyle Idleman, The End of Me

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Am I willing to be hurt occasionally and turn the other cheek in order to have a long-term, healthy relationship?

Donald Miller, Scary Close

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Every day God invites us on the same kind of adventure. It's not a trip where He sends us a rigid itinerary, He simply invites us. God asks what it is He's made us to love, what it is that captures our attention, what feeds that deep indescribable need of our souls to experience the richness of the world He made. And then, leaning over us, He whispers, "Let's go do that together."

Bob Goff

[laurenharp-blog1]

Come and See

Come, and see the victories of the cross. Christ's wounds are for healings, His agonies for repose, His conflicts for conquests, His groans for songs, His pains for ease, His shame for glory, His death for life, His sufferings for salvation.

[laurenharp-blog1]

Beloved

Do you realize that the God of the universe; Who changes the sky day after day; Who decided that the ocean could only come so far up the shore: calls you beloved? He looks at you and sees your brokenness and longs to heal it. He spoke and the earth came to pass, and yet He desires an intimate relationship with you. Surrender.

[laurenharp-blog1]

Let us boldly and bravely walk away from anyone/anything/anywhere that Jesus is not glorified. Let us boldly deny the enemy access to our hearts/minds/lives.

[laurenharp-blog1]

What if, for 24 hours, Jesus wakes up in your bed, walks in your shoes, lives in your house, assumes your schedule? Your boss becomes his boss, your mother becomes his mother, your pains become his pains? With one exception, nothing about your life changes. Your health doesn't change. Your circumstances don't change. Your schedule isn't altered. Your problems aren't solved. Only one change occurs. What if, for one day and one night, Jesus lives your life with his heart? Your heart gets the day off, and your life is led by the heart of Christ. His priorities govern your actions. His passions drive your decisions. His love directs your behavior. What would you be like? Would people notice a change? Your family... would they see something new? Your coworkers... would they sense a difference? What about the less fortunate? Would you treat them the same? And your friends? Would they detect more joy? How about your enemies? Would they receive more mercy from Christ's heart than from yours? And you? How would you feel? What alterations would this transplant have on your stress level? Your mood swings? Your temper? Would you sleep better? Would you see sunsets differently? Death differently? Taxes differently? Any chance you'd need fewer aspirin or sedatives? How about your reaction to traffic delays? (Ouch, that touched a nerve.) Would you still dread what you are dreading? Better yet, would you still do what you are doing? Would you still do what you had planned to do for the next 24 hours?

Max Lucado, Just Like Jesus

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One of the most destructive ways of our generation is that we value our own thoughts way too much.

Francis Chan

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Once you know Jesus, your most enchanted moment with the world will not even compare to your least enchanted with Christ.

Beth Moore

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My people have traded the wonder of My glory for worthlessness.

Jeremiah 2:11

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Weep deeply over the life you hoped for. Then wash your face. Trust God. And embrace the life you have.

John Piper

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Sometimes I don't need to know the plans that He has for me. I just need to relax and get to know Him and His thoughts. 

[laurenharp-blog1]

I don't wonder anymore what I'll tell God when I go to Heaven, when we sit in the chairs under the tree, outside the city... I'll tell these things to God, and He'll laugh, I think, and He'll remind me of the parts I forgot, the parts that were His favorite. We'll sit and remember my story together, and then He'll stand and put His arms around me and say, "well done," and that He liked my story.  And my soul won't be thirsty anymore.