1. “Martin Luther King doesn’t want to be quoted, the saints of the church don’t want to be quoted, Jesus doesn’t want to be quoted, the Buddha doesn’t want to be quoted. They all want us to work. They all want us to make enlightened and self-sacrifical choices that make ourselves and those around us better people. Here is an exercise: Quote only those words that you are willing to do today. If we can’t act on what we quote, what is the actual value of it? Expecting others to do it and not ourselves is just arrogance and self-centeredness. Find a struggle and persist in it. Then be willing to change. Wouldn’t you like these words to have meaning for generations after us? I would. So let’s not hollow them out with our laziness.”
    I Quoted MLK, Now I Feel Better (via jspark3000)

    (via jspark3000)

    2.    327 notes

  2. (Source: apostolic238, via iwilltrustinyou)

    3.    176 notes

  3. (Source: be-talented19, via iwilltrustinyou)

    4.    698 notes

  4. iwilltrustinyou: *** Note from Kymberly. Rachel sent this blog submission into me after posting that we’re looking for blog posts on identity. I wrote her back almost instantly saying YES, I love it we are going to use this. Thanks Rachel for submitting this! If you are interested in submitting any blog posts to be.loved just email us at: thebelovedblog@gmail.com and make the subject line: Submission . I look forward to reading what you wrote! *** “No, no…” He said. “That wasn’t made for you.” I look down at my feet, my eyes scaling upward as my hands tug at the unkempt shirt I have been wearing for some time too long. “Here, take this instead. This was made just for you,” He says to me as He gently drapes the garment around my shoulders. This garment, adorned with jewels that sparkle and shine beyond the darkest night, covers the deep-set wounds which have enveloped my skin. It covers the fears that have overtaken my heart, and I come alive. I imagine Jesus beholding us, amidst our brokeness, saddened. I imagine His heart is devastated as He looks on to see us swallowed up by our pain. I imagine His loving eyes filled with longing to restore. In this life I have observed that every time we experience something unpleasant, we seek something in which to take shelter in, to cover us. This may take form in a job, a friendship, a hobby, you name it! Until we find joy and comfort, we may continue to move on from one thing to the next frantically searching for something that will heal and satisfy. In an attempt to prevent the possibility of ever experiencing that “something” again, we enter beneath a blanket to hide. We seek shelter to cover and protect any open wounds that may develop, and fear begins to take root. I have sought out various blankets, cloths and coverings to try and hinder any pain from entering my tender heart. After all, who likes pain? With losing my home, losing a job and losing friends in the recent years, this heart of mine could not possibly endure any further hardship. I’ve become afraid, and I have chosen to take shelter under my ideal covering, which becomes my identity — where everything in life is perfect. But everything is not perfect, only one thing — a love that goes deep and wide and high beyond the highest obstacle which hinders my ability to see the beauty of who I was created to be. This perfect love is greater. The truth is that every time Jesus reveals more of His love to us, the revelation of our “real self” becomes known. Why? Because fear leaves as restoration takes place. His love is perfected in us, which drives out all fear. This is why our identity is found only in His love. My identity is not found in where I live, what job I have or who I’m friends with, but it is rooted in the love of the most gracious Father. Every time His love is revealed, we grow in our true self-knowledge. Our identity as the beloved ones becomes known to us; the fact that we are loved by God — we were a dream in His heart before He formed the earth and He has woven every fiber within us together. It is His love that defines us. As a beloved daughter, the Father knows exactly how we think and how we function; what triggers tears to well up within and what causes joy to spill out and overflow. He knows! And as we begin to ask Him, “Father, how do You see me? What is it about me that You wanted me in the first place? Why am I Your favorite?” He comes to us with tenderness and speaks truth of our belonging into existence. He beckons us and calls us by name to rest in His heartbeat. God wants us to come to that place and as we begin to get little glimpses of how He sees us, something in us gets shaped; something in us becomes strong and something in us grows and establishes a platform for God to begin to move. The love of God restores us, and He restores because He loves. He makes all things new. He takes us to safe places, and He rescues His beloved children because He is filled with delight over each (Psalm 18). We are refreshed and restored when we choose to come under the covering of His love, in place of any other “covering,” and when we cling to His love rather than earthly, tangible temporary pleasures (Psalm 18, Matthew 11:28) — That we may enter into the marvelous reality for all of creation and claim truly our identity as sons and daughters of a Loving Father.  By guest blogger: Rachel Collins http://www.be-lovedblog.com/2013/04/03/covered-in-love/

    iwilltrustinyou:

    *** Note from Kymberly. Rachel sent this blog submission into me after posting that we’re looking for blog posts on identity. I wrote her back almost instantly saying YES, I love it we are going to use this. Thanks Rachel for submitting this! If you are interested in submitting any blog posts to be.loved just email us at: thebelovedblog@gmail.com and make the subject line: Submission . I look forward to reading what you wrote! ***

    “No, no…” He said. “That wasn’t made for you.” I look down at my feet, my eyes scaling upward as my hands tug at the unkempt shirt I have been wearing for some time too long. “Here, take this instead. This was made just for you,” He says to me as He gently drapes the garment around my shoulders. This garment, adorned with jewels that sparkle and shine beyond the darkest night, covers the deep-set wounds which have enveloped my skin. It covers the fears that have overtaken my heart, and I come alive.

    I imagine Jesus beholding us, amidst our brokeness, saddened. I imagine His heart is devastated as He looks on to see us swallowed up by our pain. I imagine His loving eyes filled with longing to restore.

    In this life I have observed that every time we experience something unpleasant, we seek something in which to take shelter in, to cover us. This may take form in a job, a friendship, a hobby, you name it! Until we find joy and comfort, we may continue to move on from one thing to the next frantically searching for something that will heal and satisfy. In an attempt to prevent the possibility of ever experiencing that “something” again, we enter beneath a blanket to hide. We seek shelter to cover and protect any open wounds that may develop, and fear begins to take root.

    I have sought out various blankets, cloths and coverings to try and hinder any pain from entering my tender heart. After all, who likes pain? With losing my home, losing a job and losing friends in the recent years, this heart of mine could not possibly endure any further hardship. I’ve become afraid, and I have chosen to take shelter under my ideal covering, which becomes my identity — where everything in life is perfect. But everything is not perfect, only one thing — a love that goes deep and wide and high beyond the highest obstacle which hinders my ability to see the beauty of who I was created to be. This perfect love is greater.

    The truth is that every time Jesus reveals more of His love to us, the revelation of our “real self” becomes known. Why? Because fear leaves as restoration takes place. His love is perfected in us, which drives out all fear. This is why our identity is found only in His love. My identity is not found in where I live, what job I have or who I’m friends with, but it is rooted in the love of the most gracious Father.

    Every time His love is revealed, we grow in our true self-knowledge. Our identity as the beloved ones becomes known to us; the fact that we are loved by God — we were a dream in His heart before He formed the earth and He has woven every fiber within us together. It is His love that defines us. As a beloved daughter, the Father knows exactly how we think and how we function; what triggers tears to well up within and what causes joy to spill out and overflow. He knows! And as we begin to ask Him, “Father, how do You see me? What is it about me that You wanted me in the first place? Why am I Your favorite?” He comes to us with tenderness and speaks truth of our belonging into existence.

    He beckons us and calls us by name to rest in His heartbeat. God wants us to come to that place and as we begin to get little glimpses of how He sees us, something in us gets shaped; something in us becomes strong and something in us grows and establishes a platform for God to begin to move.

    The love of God restores us, and He restores because He loves. He makes all things new. He takes us to safe places, and He rescues His beloved children because He is filled with delight over each (Psalm 18).

    We are refreshed and restored when we choose to come under the covering of His love, in place of any other “covering,” and when we cling to His love rather than earthly, tangible temporary pleasures (Psalm 18, Matthew 11:28) — That we may enter into the marvelous reality for all of creation and claim truly our identity as sons and daughters of a Loving Father.

     By guest blogger: Rachel Collins

    http://www.be-lovedblog.com/2013/04/03/covered-in-love/

    5.    110 notes

  5. Lord, I will trust in You.: Goo Goo Gaa Gaa

    walkthesame:

    image

    Introduction

    I’ve no idea about you, but when it comes to trusting someone- it’s a huge deal for me. To trust someone means to completely and totally believe in their whole self and that in turns means that I have to get out of my comfort zone to go as far…

    6.    44 notes

  6. “God made us: invented us as a man invents an engine. A car is made to run on petrol, and it would not run properly on anything else. Now God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other. That is why it is just no good asking God to make us happy in our own way without bothering about religion. God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there.”  - C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

    “God made us: invented us as a man invents an engine. A car is made to run on petrol, and it would not run properly on anything else. Now God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other. That is why it is just no good asking God to make us happy in our own way without bothering about religion. God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there.” 

    - C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

    (via walkthesame)

    7.    316 notes

  7. (Source: worshipgifs, via worshipgifs)

    8.    6,553 notes

  8. (Source: sweetbreezeofchange, via worshipgifs)

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  9. (via iwilltrustinyou)

    10.    339 notes

  10. “‘41% of the formerly churched said that they would return to the local church if a friend or acquaintance invited them. Younger adults are even more influenced by the power of the invitation. Approximately 60% of those 18–35 would consider returning to church if someone they knew asked them to come back.

    ‘Four percent of formerly churched adults are actively looking for a church to attend regularly (other than their previous church). Six percent would prefer to resume attending regularly in the same church they had attended. The largest group, 62 percent, is not actively looking, but is open to the idea of attending church regularly again.”

    ‘The issue of affinity also surfaced in the responses. Thirty–five percent indicated that they would be inspired to attend church if ‘I knew there were people like me there.’”
    Lifeway Research (via jspark3000)

    11.    29 notes