Sent From Darkness

When I think about the most important things in life, they seem to all have a common denominator. All things worth having, all actions worth doing and all emotions worth feeling require one thing. Pain. We are beings sent from Darkness. Without pain, we don't have joy, love, families, marriages, or beginnings. To have Joy, you need to know what you're not. To have Love, you have to daily die to yourself. To have a family, you need to put others needs far beyond your own. To have a marriage you have to endure through dark days. To have a beginning, something needs to end. We are people sent out of darkness. Sent to love, sent to serve and sent to love for Christ. The beauty of being sent out of darkness, is that it's just that. We are being sent out of ourselves. Out of our comfort zones and out of our sin. Whether we're being sent to college, California or just a new school year, God is the one doing the sending and He has a beautiful plan for each of us. Maybe you feel out of yourself, maybe you want things to go back to how they were, but that's not where God is sending you. It hurts, but all things worth being, feeling and doing hurt. Go with God.

Hope is the Anthem

I struggle. Often. I remind myself of that often and often, it doesn't take much. It's pretty obvious. But however much I fail, God reminds me of how good He has been to me. I am so blessed not only with my family and friends, but with the struggles I'm given by God. I look at my pain and I'm tempted to despise it, but as my favorite band Switchfoot has so recently pointed out: "The wound is where the light shines through". God uses my struggles so at the end, He can point back and show me how He has been there all along. My life isn't about pain at the bottom or the spiritual rush at the top. My life is about that happy middle where there is the constant threat of unraveling, but Hope shines through. Another quote from Switchfoot: "(hope is) my heartbeat, my oxygen, my banner, my song. Your hope is the anthem of my soul". Life fluctuates, but God's Hope remains day after day. It's what we thrive on. My life is beautiful not because of material possessions or even friendships, but because God has infused it with the hope of His Son. And oh, what a joy that is.