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[mcosare]

[mcosare]

Words by J.S. Park

[mcosare]

When You’re Overwhelmed, Stand Strong

When you focus on your problems instead of trusting God, you’re going to end up exhausted. And you’re going to be defeated because God didn’t design you to fight your battles alone. You don’t have the power you need to face every problem in your own strength. You need God’s power.

You can’t focus on your problems and focus on God at the same time. You’ve got to shift your focus to who God is and what he’s promised to do for you.

Life is full of experiences that test you, drain you, and wipe you out. When you are worn out, that’s when you’re ready to say to God, “I’m sorry. I can’t handle this situation, and I’ve tried everything. I need to give it to you because it’s bigger than me.”

So, what should you do when you are overwhelmed? You stand strong.

Standing strong is an attitude of quiet confidence in the character of God. You will be successful when you put your trust in what he says to you through his Word and the Holy Spirit. When you get with God, you’ll never have to give up ground because you are standing strong.

When the burden is overwhelming, you may be tempted to cave in under the pressure. God doesn’t want you to back down from difficult situations. He doesn’t want you to sacrifice your integrity. God wants you to trust him through the challenges and learn from them. If you run, you’ll miss out on learning from God. And chances are, you’ll need to repeat that lesson.

God is committed to your success. But you need to focus on him and trust him and his Word if you want to stand your ground.

“Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he’s the one who will keep you on track. Don’t assume that you know it all” (Proverbs 3:5-7 The Message).

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Beautiful

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“i get the invitation every morning when i wake up to actually live a life of complete engagement, a life of whimsy, a life where love does. it doesn’t come in an envelope. it’s ushered in by a sunrise, the sound of a bird, or the smell of coffee drifting lazily from the kitchen. it’s the invitation to actually live life, to fully participate in this amazing life for one more day. turning down this invitation comes in lots of flavors. it looks like numbing yourself or distracting yourself or seeing something really beautiful as just normal. it can also look like refusing to forgive or not being grateful or getting wrapped around the axle with fear or envy. i think every day God sends us an invitation to live and sometimes we forget to show up or get head-faked into thinking we haven’t really been invited. but you see, we have been invited – every day, all over again.”

— Love Does // Bob Goff (via onheradventure)

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“Bitterness, resentment, and anger have no place in a heart as beautiful as yours.”

— Lysa TerKeurst // Uninvited

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“Your new life is going to cost you your old one. It’s going to cost you your comfort zone and your sense of direction. It’s going to cost you being liked, and understood. But it doesn’t matter. Because the people who are meant for you are going to meet you on the other side. And you’re going to build a new comfort zone around the things that actually move you forward. And instead of liked, you’re going to be loved. Instead of understood, you’re going to be seen. All you’re going to lose is what was built for a person you no longer are. Let it go.”

—

Brianna Wiest

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Seriously, don’t let anyone tell you the little things that make you happy are stupid; they’re not. You’re allowed to get excited about succulents or the color yellow if that’s what makes your heart happy

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If you feel far from God today – He’s okay with that. You can draw near Him and tell Him, “I feel far. I don’t believe. It’s not like it was.“ Jesus welcomes your doubts, confusion, frustrations, and questions. He invites you in any and every condition.

If you’re mad at God today – He’s okay with that. He made those emotions. They have a purpose as much as you do. You can vent to Him. He can handle it. He doesn’t want you to pretend. He hears when no one else does.

If you’ve messed up today – He’s still rooting for you. He still wants to work on this with you. He will receive you the very second after you mess it up. Your moment of defeat matters less than the moment right after. He has grace to pick you up, to dust you off, to keep you moving. Choose grace.

If it’s all upside-down and life has been unfair – He grieves with you too. He is just as mad about it as you are. He will not lecture you or moralize your pain. In the depths, He is deeper still. When you cry out, so does He.

If you don’t like yourself today – God loved you before you stepped into the room. God pre-approved of you before you did a single thing. His heart does not rest on your talents or looks or wealth or abilities. He is truly unconditional. He paid all conditions.

If you’re not sure that God loves you today – See the cross. See the resurrection. See Jesus. All our fears, worries, hurts, and injustice are answered there. He is the cosmic author over darkness and despair. He has punched a hole in the pages of the sky and written Himself into our story, to be our glory. His feet touched the dirt of the earth; He is alongside you, every step, every fall. He is love amidst uncertainty, He is enough when we are not. He is good when nothing is. He is infinite, over all, surrounding us, yet He is as close as your heart. — J.S.

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you are not weak

for needing to rest.

you are not weak

for needing time

to sort through this.

you are not a burden

for having burdens

that you are learning

to lay down.

you are not a failure

for not reaching

the heights you thought

you’d reach by now.

you are who you are:

a living, breathing human being

who has a soul

in need of Truth and Grace

to make it through

these things.

and no matter how

you were made to feel,

feeling does not

make you weak.

you are free

to learn to seek

what your soul

truly needs.

morgan harper nichols

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“Everyone you meet always asks if you have a career, are married or own a house; as if life was some kind of grocery list. But nobody ever asks if you are happy.”

— Heath Ledger

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I’ve learned that if someone asks you for advice and you tell them the hard truth and they fight you in response, they probably weren’t asking for advice — but self-affirmation to keep doing the wrong thing. That’s asking for less love, not more. And I can’t do that to you. Love means I have to tell you everything, even if my voice trembles and my hands shake and my eyes burn with weeping. Love means I will throw my body in front of you when you’re heading towards the cliff. It will cost my comfort with you. It’s a cost I’m willing to pay.

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“Live the life you’d be envious of if you saw someone else living it. This is my personal mantra. Whenever I’m going through a difficult time, like a breakup, and I’m wishing to be the person who could get over it and move on, I tell myself to be that person. Instead of waiting to be inspired by someone else and being jealous that they’re living a life I wish I had, I tell myself not to wait for that moment and to start being the person I want to be. If you wish you were the woman who went for that big promotion, learned a second language, dumped that guy who cheated on you, then just be that person. Think, if I have the energy to wish for it, I have the energy to do it.”

— Olivia Munn (via quotefeeling)

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Growth is uncomfortable because you have never been here before—you’ve never been this version of you. So give yourself a little grace and breathe through it.

Kristin Lohr

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“Finding someone to love is more than passion or fire or anything that comes with attraction. Finding that person who will love you is finding joy in a world of depression. Love is peace, it’s knowing you can trust them and still be a failure. Love is being safe with someone in a dangerous world, and knowing that your friendship with them brings you stillness in a world that never stops moving. Love is the deep laughter that comes when your cup is truly full, and the deep sigh when you have finally found your way back home.”

— T.B. LaBerge // For Allie