The bravest thing I ever did was continuing my life when I wanted to die.
A great way to learn about your country is to leave it.
I cried, for happiness, for sadness, but most of all, for emptiness.
You have to decide who you are and force the world to deal with you, not with its idea of you.
James Baldwin
I don’t mean to insult anyone. But freedom starts with honesty. We aren’t doing ourselves any favors by defining ourselves as good and others bad. Let’s just agree that we all need help, that we are all in this together. The good news is that Jesus came to reveal a God who defines us not by our actions but by His love.
An honest Christian life is messy. There is you in all your sin and problems and not okay-ness, and Jesus is working in you, taking over more and more areas of your life. It is a process and it can be slow, but accepting that works a whole lot better than just trying to hold your breath and act like you’ve got it all together.
Glen Fitzjerrell (Unka Glen)
Our culture has accepted two huge lies. The first is that if you disagree with someone’s lifestyle, you must fear or hate them. The second is that to love someone means you agree with everything they believe or do. Both are nonsense. You don’t have to compromise convictions to be compassionate.
If you struggle with self-injury, you are not a ‘cutter’. You are a person. You are not only your pain. You are not only your wounds and scars. You are also better things. You are possibility and promise, hope and healing, daydreams, favorite books and favorite songs. You are the people that you love and the people who love you. You are hope and change and things worth fighting for. This is all your story and your story isn’t over.
