when i am alone i deeply realize the absence of others.
when i am with them, i barely recognize their presence.
why is it that we tend to so severely undervalue who others are in our lives and what they mean to us, especially those who mean the most?

people need other people.
emotionally, spiritually, physically and logistically life is impossible to do alone. even the strongest are not strong enough and the most independent must ask for help at times. our weaknesses lead to us reaching for one another and this dependency creates relationship, a bond that is essential to everything we are.

it is messy to need other people, but the mess is worth the gain. we are all imperfect, inevitably flawed. no matter how hard we try not to, we will at some point hurt those around us perhaps in a little way, or perhaps in a big way. we try to do good and get it wrong, we try to make believe that we...

((then I said to myself, ‘oh, He even sees me in the dark! at night I’m still immersed in the light’ it’s a fact, darkness isn’t dark to You. night & day, darkness & light, they’re all the same to You.)) Psalm 139:11-12

when we are little we are all afraid of the dark, it is where you don’t have any defense or sight of the monsters that are hiding under your bed. we grow up and try to act more brave, we try to pretend like the dark doesn’t scare us anymore, but for a lot of the same reasons as when we were little - it’s terrifying. in the dark you lose direction, you lose vision, you are vulnerable and helpless. in the dark you are unable to sense those around you, you can’t find the way out, and often times you have little to no idea where to even start. in the dark everything is nothing and everything seems to have no beginning and no end, and for all these reasons, we are and should...

i hope you know how loved you are.
i hope you see it in the way the sun shines through the trees & dances across your face.
i hope you feel it in the small moments.
i hope you feel it in the big moments.
i hope you see it the way the sunrise says good morning & the sunset says good night.
i hope you know how loved you are.

but, if you don’t

i want you to know that there’s a place for you here.
i want you to know that you are welcomed and wanted.
i want you to know whatever yesterday held doesn’t follow you here.
i want you to know that there is hope and promises that have been made to you, for you. good promises, true promises.
i want you, with everything inside of your heart, to believe better things.
i want you to see all the wonder inside of you.
i want you to feel safe and known. i want you to feel like you matter. i want you to realize that you are part of something so much bigger...

most of all, love each other as if your life depended on it. love makes up for many wrongs // 1 Peter 4:8

what is it that drives most of what we do? what is the reason want to work and work hard? what makes us want to invest our time, emotion and heart into something? to give most of ourselves to something? to give all of ourselves to something? I believe the answer is love. we all love something, whether it’s a feeling, or a person, or a thing, what we love defines who we are and it also guides our actions. there are a lot of things you can love and should love, but there is only one true Love that has the ability to transform your life and promises to never cease. this Love is so powerful, so pure and so wonderful that it drives out fear, it wipes our record of wrong, and it doesn’t ask you to deserve it, it just gives itself away. that kind of Love can change a person, it can change...

I am a thinker. I get caught in my head. I amble in moments that I find beautiful and I let feelings be felt to their full extent. there is both a tremendous benefit and tremendous disadvantage to being this way.
I love. I love deeply, I love fearlessly, I love when it doesn’t make sense.
I love things and people and places and things I’ve never seen.
I love with everything I am. there is both a tremendous benefit and tremendous disadvantage to being this way. I seek authenticity and vibrancy, real things, truly bright things, things that are undeniably unique, things that scream of the glory of creation, things that make you believe in a wildly creative God who didn’t spare a detail. those are the things I am always looking for. I believe the best in everything whether it be a broken person, a withering plant, a deadly diagnosis or any other seemingly impossible possibility you can...

there is life that comes from letting go of the very thing that you loved the most because it gives God the freedom to fill the space that was in fact His all along

in times of chaos and confusion often times I begin to flail. in times of silence I begin to doubt. in times of things falling apart I tend to fall apart too. but what if the chaos and confusion are simply leading to a time of peace and clarity? what if the silence is leading to a place of unfathomable blessing? what if things falling apart are actually things falling together?what if what we see through our human lens, as catastrophic as it might be, is actually the unfolding of something so much better, so much sweeter, than we could ever imagine? I know the plans I have for my life, they are mostly centered around me. my friends, my relationships, my family, my dreams, my job, my faith, my growth, my pain, my joy, my story - but what if we switched our thinking? what if instead of trying to make our stories known and noticed, we focused in on the greatest story ever told, the story...

((now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.)) 2 Corinthians 3:17

why is it that we as humans are so afraid to be free? I believe that it is impossible for us, on our own, to fully accept the depth and magnitude of the unbridled grace that is extended every moment. how could it not be impossible for us to comprehend? it doesn’t make sense. it doesn’t make sense that there is a star breathing God that cares about your every moment. it doesn’t make sense that an innocent Man loves you enough to take your guilt, shame and mistakes on His shoulders even as you scoff Him daily. it doesn’t make sense that at the foot of the Cross lie our broken chains and silenced lies. freedom doesn’t make sense to us because we in some way sense the vastness of which we could’ve never been good enough to be free. in some way we see the unrelenting Love in the eyes of...

love is a smile that says more than words ever could.
joy is rays of sun, warming my soul.
patience is words unsaid, hoping you might get the chance in time.
kindess is listening with attentive eyes.
faithfulness is trusting the wind and acting like sand.
gentleness is keeping a soft heart.
self control is a simple sound.
blessings are fruit, sweet and satisfying forever.

you need other people to love, to learn from and to grow with: we are wired to deeply crave community, to thrive when we are truly known by others, to be the most authentic version of ourselves in complete freedom & when we have these relationships in our lives we are more vibrant & able to love so much more. people matter, their dreams matter, their problems matter, their presence in your life matters, perhaps more than you could ever imagine.

today it might not make any sense at all, but someday it will: there are days that seem hopeless & there will be moments where you feel like God has not heard a single one of your prayers, but I promise you He has. today you might not see the outcome of whatever you’re believing for, but you will never be left disappointed if you continue to ask in faith. trust that even if you can’t see it now, exceedingly abundantly more is on the way.

you...