grace, for example...

reposted by request...

To be the person you once though you'd always like to be
To finally understand that who you are is so much further from what you thought you wanted
That its better this way
That this is what you were called to, while still being called away home.

It's the hardest decision I'll ever make—to trust, to die, to fall, to hope, to rest, to dream, to leave everything I know and everything I want for what I don't know and don't understand.

Try it once, it'll terrify you. Don't worry, it'll be ok.

I've cried too many times over what I've chased on my own, and lost in favor of something better I never noticed. I'm slowing down and waiting now, living without the walls I put up not to keep anything out but to keep myself in.

I was told that at times you just need to be held and told that you're beautiful. I was afraid of that because it meant too much trust, it was too selfish, it was too vulnerable and too much like what I longed for and so it couldn't be real. But I'm learning how to allow myself to rest in the arms of Christ. I know it sounds cliché and old and overused. But have you tried it? There is a world of truth in what we ignore out of familiarity. Grace, for example…even love…

Have you ever been told you were beautiful when you felt like you were something—anything—else? Have you ever stopped long enough to question how you got here or why you have what you don't and can't and won't ever deserve? Have you ever refused to see in yourself what someone else has seen because you think you know who you are? Take time…and yes it means actual resting, taking real time out…to rest, and reevaluate, and not find yourself but find your King. You'll never know who you are until you hear Him whisper in your ear and tell you what you mean to Him, and to hear that the one who knows you better than you'll ever know yourself is enthralled with your beauty.

Trust me when I say that it will make you want to be beautiful. It will make you long for the grace and help so freely given to be what you never dreamed possible. Not for yourself…but for the One who actually cared enough to tell you--remind you--who you are. There's something about knowing His expectations for you that makes you realize that you aren't where you should be, but that the true desire of your heart is to live wholly in pursuit of His approval.