Dare, dare, dare, my heart!

You could — you could dare not to take yourself so seriously; dare to take yourself as Beloved.

Dare to not to give yourself a lecture, but dare to give yourself grace. His Grace is always the most amazing of all.

And you could dare not to honk if you’re happy, but honk to be happy, dare to realize joy isn’t a function of what happens, but of what you think. Joy is a function of how you thank.

So go ahead — Dare to be brilliant — just seek the light in everything. Dare to believe joy is revolutionary: it goes straight against the way this dark world spins.  Light is always a radical thing in a dark world.

Dare to Give Big because this is how you Live Big. Dare to believe that it’s only your own sacrifices that show up at your funeral.

Dare not to quit when you’re tired, but dare to quit when you’re done.

So just do it, because this is you how you get things done — dare to regularly stop the work of your hands and give God your knees because you believe God can do more than you. Dare to believe God doesn’t want your perfectionism — He wants our praise.

Dare to be grateful for every good thing. And dare to know it’s all good. That’s what God does: God works everything for good.

Dare to never make pain invisible but dare to say injustice is intolerable. This takes courage. This takes Christ.
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Dare to give up clarity — because God gives a call. Dare to give up life road maps — because God gives a relationship.

Dare to live without answers — because God gives His hand.

Dare to live by faith — not by feelings, formulas, facts or fences.

Nothing is impossible with God.

Written by Ann Voskamp and posted on her blog

The means for my journey

I'm in the middle of discovering wonders in "The Pursuit of God" by Aiden Tozer. And as I read through this paragraph:

"Paul confessed the mainspring (the driving or motivating force behind something) of his life to be his burning desire after Christ. 'That I may know Him,' was the goal of his heart, and to this he sacrificed everything. 'Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but refuse, that I may win Christ.'"

The thought came. So simple, I might be the last person to think of it! Still, let me share my excitement. Imagine this: You're wanting to know God, to know His essence. And you look and take ahold of everything that can help you do that. You find books, great books of men and women who've known Him. They surely will have something to share with you that will be a treasure for your journey. And then you find 27 books, manuscripts, written by men that knew Him while He was on Earth and shortly after! These men write about Him, (How can you not after meeting Him?) and what they have to say is what you need, just what you need. And then there's 39 more, underneath the dust.

Sometimes I get extremely familiar with that Book, and I forget what it holds. I see pages and look at words, the names of the books that compose it are all too familiar to me. And I forget about the treasure. I read past things. So I'm beginning to wake to it, my need is awakening me. The Bible is not just the book I sang songs about as a kid, it is my. very. life. because it's my means to live, live fully. Anything else is not really living.