I think hearing testimonies is one of the best things. It allows you to see the heart and goals and desires of the person speaking to you. It affirms to them what God has done in their lives. And it makes the listener think about their own life and how God has moved them throughout their life.
Instead of saying “I don’t have time” try saying “it’s not a priority,” and see how that feels. Often, that’s a perfectly adequate explanation. I have time to iron my sheets, I just don’t want to. But other things are harder. Try it: “I’m not going to edit your résumé, sweetie, because it’s not a priority.” “I don’t go to the doctor because my health is not a priority.” If these phrases don’t sit well, that’s the point. Changing our language reminds us that time is a choice. If we don’t like how we’re spending an hour, we can choose differently.
— Unknown (via suntanintexas)
tuck me carefully away
like your best kept secret
but please keep me close,
right in the nook of your arm
or right behind your ear,
inbetween your fingers
and carefully, behind your ribs
but tuck me away
I am not a name that should be shouted into a megaphone
and my face is not one that should be spray painted on the side of any building,
don’t look away from me too long
to try and paint me in the sky,
because I will have flown away by then
when you see the speed limit sign within my heart,
go ten under,
I don’t even know what I want,
and driving too fast has never been appealing to me
make sure you always take caution
because my roads are slippery
and I don’t want you to wreck your heart
trying to navigate mine
if my organs were a roadmap,
you would get lost twelve times
before you ever passed my heart,
so don’t look,
close your eyes,
and use your mouth,
use your words to brush the hair out of my face
and use them to soothe my spirit when it is turning into a whirlwind of loss
when I tell you my head hurts,
tell me to get a cold washcloth
and lay down with the lights off
suggest a quiet song for me to listen to
and I want you to tell me the tale of how you plan on finding the secret to happiness without me
how you find love in a storm when the power has gone out,
and I am not there
please
don’t make promises you can’t keep
including
“I will stay”
and
“I love you”
nothing makes me run faster
than words I know I can’t say right back to you honestly
when I stutter
and when I am quiet,
don’t stare,
don’t push,
just allow the silence to happen
breathe in and breathe out and maybe how I exhale will echo the way you inhale and everything will seem okay again
and I can finally collect my thoughts enough to show you the places I have uprooted myself, and the places I have ruined and burned down in order to grow.
there will be no warning signs,
so don’t try to look out for them,
it will be a brick wall when things are finally going well,
because that is when I know that it’s all
falling apart
when I tell you that I am afraid
tell me you are too
tell me you’ve always been
tell me that when you were six years old you thought the boogeyman lived in your closet
but somehow he has made a home inside of your mind
and I will tell you about my demons
and maybe they will get along well enough to leave us alone
— how to love me (via amandaspoetry)
There’s no second tries.
There is only a river.
Of unending grace.
A Room with A View: Life
What is this thing we call life? What is this dark grey mundane that slips into the covers while you sleep but steals back in the morning, a never fading glow that rises over your spine. It catches you when you least expect it, the smell of coffee or the surprising cold of the ocean tide. But…
Keep back nothing. Nothing that you have not given away will be really yours. Nothing in you that has not died will ever be raised from the dead. Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in.
— C.S. Lewis (via frmtheheights)
