On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?”

Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, “Does this offend you? Then what if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit^[e] and life. Yet there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. He went on to say, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them.”

From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.

“You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve.

Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.”

For all the peoples [now] walk every man in the name of his god, but we will walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever.

In that day, says the Lord, I will assemble the lame, and I will gather those who have been driven away and those whom I have afflicted.

And I will make the lame a remnant, and those who were cast off a strong nation; and the Lord shall reign over them in Mount Zion from this time forth and forever.

And you, O tower of the flock, the hill and stronghold of the Daughter of Zion, unto you the former dominion shall come, the kingdom of the Daughter of Jerusalem.

Now why do you cry aloud? Is there no king among you? Has your counselor perished, that pains have taken you like a woman in labor?

Writhe in pain and labor to bring forth, O Daughter of Zion, like a woman in childbirth; for now you shall go forth out of the city and you shall live in the open country. You shall go to Babylon; there you shall be rescued. There the Lord shall redeem you from the hand of your enemies.

Now many nations are assembled against you, saying, Let her be profaned and let our eyes gaze upon Zion.

But they know not the thoughts of the Lord, neither do they understand His plan, for He shall gather them as the sheaves to the threshing floor.

Arise and thresh, O Daughter of Zion! For I will make your horn iron and I will make your hoofs bronze; you shall beat in pieces many peoples, and I will devote their gain to the Lord and their treasure to the Lord of all the earth.

(Source: thereisabetterway)

He has made so many promises
and given so many reminders of His love;
so many touches, so many kisses, so many whispers.

I’m not sure any of us realize the weight of our prayers when we plead,
“Lord, fill my heart with Your desires. Break me down and rebuild me with You.” 

Sure, we know that we’re supposed to long for that
and so maybe we pray it without knowing what it means;
or maybe we can never know what it means until we pray it.
Either way, the reason I’m so dumbfounded these days and confused about my high level of pain being matched by an equal level of peace is that He is here.

He is pruning on purpose, because that’s what He does.
He led me to a place where I would long for this very thing to be happening to me, and then He had the open door to answer.

Nothing the Lord does is coincidence. My heart knows that, full well. 

They will come with weeping: they will pray as I bring them back. I will lead them beside streams of water on a level path where they will not stumble, because I AM Israel’s father, and Ephraim is My firstborn son. -Jeremiah 31:9

Friends, it is no coincidence that this verse was highlighted in my Bible and I don’t even remember doing it. It is also no coincidence that He brought me to it almost exactly 2 weeks ago, in preparation for what He was going to pour out.

You know what He reminded me last night? He reminded me of His call on my heart to love the broken. He reminded me of His plan for my life to bring healing to the broken. He reminded me last night that I am exactly where He wants me to be.

(Source: thereisabetterway)

I walked into the brightly colored nursery where he had been for a good amount of time before my shift came, and he ran up to me. We’d never met before but he wanted me to hold him. I picked him up and he almost immediately fell asleep hugging me close, as his daddy’s funeral service began in the sanctuary just across the hall. He was so precious. As his head rested on my chest I looked down into his handsome face and realized this little boy doesn’t even realize he’s going to grow up without his papa. The parts he played in today’s events were only little interruptions in his day, distracting from the reality of lots of family, toys, and loving hugs. I couldn’t help but realize that brokenness begins early. And as he clung to me for rest, my heart cried for him. It was one of those moments my heart will never forget; a snapshot my mind took to treasure forever. God placed me in that nursery to hold this little boy, but also so the little boy could hold me. I do not understand my God’s ways, I don’t always know what the heck is going on; but regardless of that I cannot ignore His tender hand as He places the streams in the desert. I cannot ignore His love as He gives my broken heart little hugs through a child who’s broken as well. I still trust my Jesus because in that moment I heard Him whisper “This is important.” and my heart connected with this little boy who doesn’t even know he’s broken yet.

(Source: thereisabetterway)

Come, and let us return to the Lord;
For He has torn, but He will heal us;
He has stricken, but He will bind us up.
² After two days He will revive us;
On the third day He will raise us up,
That we may live in His sight.
³ Let us know,
Let us pursue the knowledge of the Lord.
His going forth is established as the morning;
He will come to us like the rain,
Like the latter and former rain to the earth.

(Source: thereisabetterway)

The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,

He leads me beside quiet waters,

He restores my soul. He guides me along the right paths FOR HIS NAME’S SAKE.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for You are with me;

Your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.

Surely Your goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever. 

(Source: thereisabetterway)

about 4 weeks ago I realized that life without tumblr was a pretty grand life indeed.
but don’t be alarmed, I still care about ya’ll. and I may be back someday. actually, I’m not even really going anywhere. I just cannot let myself spend the time on here that I used to spend.

Texas was glorious. God was so faithful. I cannot even begin to tell you all the things He taught me while I was there. He told me as I was leaving that I was going to be discovering all of the things He did while I was there for years to come, and I’m starting to see how true that is.

lessons being learned right now include: rest, Christ’s FINISHING work on the cross, which connects with rest. because the reality is we REST in who we are IN Christ. and He does all the rest through His spirit in our lives. it’s such a beautiful, beautiful thing. my whole life will be about it. because when we live in the rest that we’re called to live in, all the glory belongs to Christ. and because of who Christ is, we are fully COMPLETE in Him. we need nothing else.

oh friends, I am so excited to live a life of leading and teaching worship of the Most High God. I am so excited for all the adventures we’re going to have together. I honestly can say He blows me away with His love more and more everyday. and when He whispers that He’s never going to stop blowing me away with His love, I melt. Every time, I melt.

Also, God’s just really funny. Do you think you know what He has planned for your life? Has He, like, told you about something that’s going to happen in your life and you think you’ve got it all figured out and have mentally figured out every possible way that He could make that thing happen? WELL GUESS WHAT. He’s probably going to surprise you and do it the only way you could have never figured out in your mind. Just. Because. He. Can.
He’s hilarious, friends. He is really, really funny.

just so ya’ll know.

So that’s my very summarized story. I honestly don’t have the time to be on here at all, so after tonight the only posts you will see will be occasional texts from my phone. Just because God’s hilarious and sometimes I need to tell people about how funny He is. ;)

I love you all. and I love Jesus. and I love what He’s doing. here. in me. in you. and everywhere. Keep lovin’ Him, friends. the world needs us.

(Source: thereisabetterway)