Alive.

"Let yourself be who God made you to be,

without excuses."

God is teaching me contentment--

with myself.

Something I've been desiring is to be

fully alive.

And I'm learning that I can't be fully alive,

set free,

on my way to wholeness,

until I accept myself.

I keep finding myself in this endless cycle of 

being really critical of myself...

which makes me more likely to compare myself to others...

which makes me more critical of others...

and I feel pretty worthless in the end.

I've been asking God to set me free from the lies.
I've been praying Psalm 15.

"Who shall sojourn in your tent?
Who shall dwell on your holy hill?
He who walks blamelessly
and does what is right
and speaks the truth in his heart. 

Who does not slander with his tongue,
and does no evil to his neighbor
nor takes up a reproach against his friend."

And slowly, slowly, slowly,
I've stopped letting others define my happiness,
I've set emotional boundaries.
I've started to laugh again--a real laugh.

I'm living out of my strengths,
I'm inviting God into every little moment,
I feel my dreams coming back to life.
I'm getting healthier.


What if everyone lived out of their true selves,
fully alive?

More & More

This weekend a speaker said something crazily intimidating.

"If you look at your life, 

and you are not growing,

I would go so far as to say...

You're not a Christian.

Because the Christian life is miraculous and transforming."

But if I look back at my freshman year, and the complete crazy mess that I was,

I would say that I can absolutely see God forming me into someone else.

Someone more like him.

If I could put college into bullet points of change, 

I would say the things that most transformed me were the trials.

-A breakup with my "first love"

-A (lonely) semester abroad in Ireland

-Changing my major from the one thing I had wanted to do since age 12

-Having my aunt die at a time when God felt so far away.

-Making some life changing mistakes & learning true repentance.

-Going through counseling after a family crisis.

Even during those trials, though,

 I can pinpoint people who showed me God's love during those times.

Rachel--she held my hand & gave me courage during the break up.

My freshman Passion group--they invited me in last minute and heard my fears.

Erin--she got on a bus and adventured with me across Ireland to visit family.

Dr. Allen--she listened to my dreams and advised me in the right direction.

Beth & Gretch--they put me under their upperclassmen wings & invited me to Bible study.

My mom--her unconditional love was tested, but remained.

Jen--she created a safe space for me to untangle my heart.

Ange & Paige--they lived through it all with me. Side by side.

The last four years have been transformative,

and I would never go back to who I was.

Today I'm a little bit stronger for the bruises,

Wiser for the mistakes,

Better for the people He brought along the way,

& mostly humbled for the way He makes beauty out of brokenness.

"Trials teach us what we are;
they dig up the soil,
and let us see what we are made of."
-Spurgeon

My prayer will continue to be,
"Prepare me in this life, this day, for a future with you."

Take Heart in Song.

A song with the same name as this blog.

Thanks Hillsong.

I don't know why,

but the phrase "take heart"

always strengthens me.
Always helps me get back up.

He overcame the world.

He is stronger than my circumstances.

Take care.
Take heart.
It will be okay.

The Best Day.

Happy Valentines Day!!

Yes, it's pretty much my favorite day of the year.

I love it.

Everyone is wearing red & pink

and wishing each other Happy Days.

And this year,

I get to go out on a date with Stuart.

I hope he wears his bow tie.

I hope we dance.

I hope your day is full of love.

If you're single, please remember

the wait will be worth it.

God is love,

Love endures all things.

XOXO.

Perfect love.

Loving someone else is a choice.

I've been finding a lot of fear in my love this year.

Sometimes I find myself loving out of fear of rejection.

Sometimes I find myself not loving because of fear.

My love is not perfect,

My love is very flawed.

My love is not good enough

to save or heal.

No matter how hard I love,

my love will be rejected.

my love won't be returned.

my love will be ignored.

That's why I'm asking for God to keep completing my love

During this process called life.

"There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.

For fear has to do with punishment,

and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.

We love because he first loved us."

1 John 4:19

God is love.

Love bears all things.

So Much Love.

There are a lot of exciting happenings around here.

So many people to rejoice with.

So much love.

It's wonderful.

(More to come after tomorrow's PARTY).

God is love.

Love does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.

Finding Joy.

It has been a really rough week so far.

Between a head cold,

hours of interviews,

and the most homework I've had this semester...

I'm wiped out.

There have already been tears.

(You know it's bad when people start asking if you're doing okay,

& tell you that you look tired.)

But this morning I woke up determined not to feel sorry for myself.

I put on some music,

& a dress,

curled my hair,

and decided it would be a good day.

I took strength in 2 Corinthians 6.

Especially these verses:

"but as the servants of God...through hour and dishonor, through slander and praise. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true, as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed, as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing, as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything." (8-10)

I am finding joy in being a servant of God.

God is love.

Love is not irritable

(even when without sleep).

Brotherly Love.

We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.

Whoever loves God must also love his brother.

1 John 4:19+

I had a wonderful weekend at home.

I took the boyfriend out on a date.

Even opened his door a couple times,

And enjoyed watching a few hours of home videos.

I really loved watching my little brother and I interact at that age.

"Look, dad, I got this for my sister."

When everyone else was going crazy for piñata candy.

"Thanks Dani, I've been wanting this so very bad"

When I gave him a hot wheels set for his 5th birthday.

I'm blessed to have a brother who thinks of me before himself.

God is love.

Love is not rude.

Be.You.(tiful).

I'm home for the weekend.

Mmm. It's so good to watch cable.

Project Runway, I missed you.

Anyways,

"For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ..having gifts that differ according to the grace given us." Romans 12:3-8

What's your gift?

The one that's yours.

Given by grace.

One of my goals is to be truly myself.

But it's impossible when I wish I were someone else.

God is love.

Love does not envy.

Kind-hearted.

"By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything." 1 John 4:19-20

It's funny,

Sometimes it's easy to love others.

And is almost impossible to love ourselves.

That has been true for me lately.

I've been really hard on myself.

Whispering untruths.

Double guessing my dreams.

Doubting my talents.

Playing comparisons.

I forget grace,

and I forget that Christ is in me,

that I am on a journey toward becoming exactly who he made me to be.

"Little children,

you are from God and have overcome them,

for he who is in you is greater

than he who is in the world

...We are from God."

1 John 4:4-5

God is love.

Love is kind.

(Even to ourselves).

Steadfast Love.

"And I will betroth you to me forever.

I will betroth you to me in righteousness

and in justice,

in steadfast love

and in mercy.

I will betroth you me in faithfulness.

And you shall know the Lord."

Hosea 2:19-20

His love is steadfast.

Fixed.

Unwavering.

"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,

his mercies never come to an tend;

they are new every morning;

great is your faithfulness.

'The Lord is my portion,' says my soul,

'therefore I will hope in him'"

Lamentations 3:22

God is love.

Love hopes all things.

(Even when some things are lost).

Happy February.

It's my favorite month!

I love the colors,

and the candy,

and the cheesy boxed valentines.

But the best part is that there is a holiday that celebrates love,

a fruit of the Spirit.

Last year I practiced "14 Days of Loving Others,"

(The Jesus way)

and it made such a difference in healing parts of my heart.

This year, though, I think I'm supposed to spend 14 days focusing on

The way God loves us.

"By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us,

and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.

But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need,

yet closes his heart against him,

how does God's love abide in him?

Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth."

1 John 3:16-18

He taught us what love is by dying for us.

The least I can do is keep our hearts open

and love those in need.

Praying that God's love would abide in me.

He is love.

Love is patient.