“By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” ~ John 13:35
Do you give up on people because you get tired of loving them?
Do you give up on them because they get annoying?
God asks us to Love.
He loves us no matter what we do…
We don’t have a right to give up on people because they get tiring or annoying.
You love them no matter what!
Love,
Joy.
Think you had a right to hate someone? Think again!
A cold wind blows. That is winter.
I know Winter. Winter dislikes Spring.
I know Spring. Spring is beauty.
Spring is the beginning.
I like to begin.
Spring does not like sadness much.
Spring likes new things and joy.
Spring does not hate Winter.
Winter teaches people about hope.
But Winter is over.
Spring has come.
Rise and shine.
Yes, rise and shine.
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”- Philippians 4:8
Why do we think such dark thoughts?
It makes us so ugly.
We begin to talk nasty as well.
Think of matters that mingle with light.
That is what is pretty.
It makes you beautiful.
Love,
Joy.
Envision That Horizon
Listening to: *9 Crimes* ~ Damien Rice
When you lie in the gutter, there is nowhere to look but up. Its interesting, the mathematics between falling down and getting back up again. But sometimes even the sky fails us, sometimes the stars are too far away to reflect in our dull eyes. We want to walk and live screaming, but our tries keep failing. Hands feel dead, head drops to chest, eyes look blankly at a wall that returns the stare with an intensity almost unbearable. We want to believe, but somehow we have forgotten how, somewhere back there where we forgot everything else. We try so, so hard to win, but we lose. We still lose, we still fail. We still fall.
And yet, even yet, there is a reason, and we can, we must, we will keep on moving. We have to realize that hope comes through faith, however weak, in Christ. Hope comes from believing that the light at the end of the tunnel still shines, even when all we see is darkness. The bulbs in the sky will shatter to reveal a truly breathtaking sight, the heavens magnificent and endless. The black that shrinks you into yourself will be replaced with a blinding white, a light that screams and hopes and loves. Its coming, the glow of our souls.
For the horizon is closer than you know, and the happiness of lives entwined is just beyond. Don’t worry; someday color will become sound, and we will dance on a green hilltop under a blue sky, a breeze stirring, trees smiling. We will lift our eyes from the ground and awake as we hear the first strains of a melody that reminds our souls of why we are alive. We will stand on a shore and smile and taste the salt breeze as the wind and waves call, and we feel an endless ocean so much smaller than our hearts. We will follow a skyline under the stars with a song in our hearts, and we will laugh and fly and keep on trying.
So, please, hope with me. Let us brave another day for the joy of the next. The cloud covers the sun for but a moment, the dirt obscures the stars for only a day. We will wake up in a little while, and find ourselves breathing air as pure as the sky, and we know as we breathe that each moment is better than the last. The tunnel is long, the path is steep, the mask is dark. But its leaving us, and something brighter is waiting.
I’m running, stumbling, looking for a place where the sun reaches the shadows too. Will you join me?
Hope.
-Hudson
Dragons and Giants
Frog and Toad were reading a book together. “The people in this book are brave,” said Toad. “They fight dragons and giants, and they are never afraid.”
“I wonder if we are brave,” said Frog. Frog and Toad looked into a mirror.
“We look brave,” said Frog.
“Yes, but are we?” asked Toad.
Frog and Toad went outside.
“We can try to climb this mountain,” said Frog. “That should tell us if we are brave.”
Frog went leaping over rocks, and Toad came puffing up behind him.
They came to a dark cave. A big snake came out of the cave.
“Hello lunch,” said the snake when he saw Frog and Toad. He opened his wide mouth. Frog and Toad jumped away. Toad was shaking.
“I am not afraid!” he cried.
They climbed higher, and they heard a loud noise. Many large stones were rolling down the mountain.
“It’s an avalanche!” cried Toad. Frog and Toad jumped away. Frog was trembling.
“I am not afraid!” he shouted.
They came to the top of the mountain. The shadow of a hawk fell over them. Frog and Toad jumped under a rock. The hawk flew away.
“We are not afraid!” screamed Frog and Toad at the same time. Then they ran down the mountain very fast. They ran past the place where they saw the avalanche.
~I’m not sure who wrote this
Do you ever feel completely hopeless and alone?
All my dreams got ripped to shreds.
All my plans got canceled.
All my hopes got put out.
Lovely.
Now I’d like to dream over.
Who am I, really?
I want to start over.
Write over a new page.
Become something completely different than I ever dreamed.
Shoot higher.
Except this time, I’m letting God have the pen.
It’s just better.
I don’t want to be a boring person with the same adventures as everyone else. I want a different one.
And Sunday, I think I’m going to go pick up my camera… and just keep walking… see where my feet take me.
Oh and by the way, sometimes we think God doesn’t know what He’s doing when he chooses not to tell us the end result of certain things.
Say… hmm… for example, “Am I going to marry this guy?”
Maybe He won’t answer your question… and you’ll probably wonder why He’s so absolutely annoying and won’t tell you.
I did that once.
I wanted so very badly to know the end of something.
And when I found out… well a while later, I wish I hadn’t.
Maybe if God tells you the end result, you really won’t want to know.
1. It spoils the magic. You actually do like surprises, you just don’t know it yet. [;
2. Darkness has a way of lessening the brightness of good things. So, if you know… you’ll wish it was better.
Maybe that’s why He doesn’t tell you.
Just know, there are Happy Endings and they are best when they surprise you.
Love,
Joy.
Envision That Horizon.
“This is how it works. You’re young until you’re not. You love until you don’t. You try until you can’t. You laugh until you cry. You cry until you laugh. And everyone must breathe. Until their dying breath.”
Inspired by: http://www.twloha.com/
I decided I would send something to the Indian newspaper. I did not know what to send, so I wrote this based off a To Write Love On Her Arms video.
Dear Reader,
This is my attempt to move you. I do not know you, but your story is important. I write this letter because I know that if I can inspire you, then I have caused the light to strengthen. If you are like me, you are a person that realizes that darkness surrounds us all. You feel it when your heart breaks. You feel it when people forget you, when you feel alone, and when difficult times engulf you. There is shadow, emptiness and fear. There is hurt and there is despair. This letter is to remind you that amidst the blackness, and amidst the sorrow, there is light, and there is hope.
There may be darkness but there is also light. Even the night seeks the addition of the light of the stars. You are a star. You were meant to shine. Why curse the dark when it simply intensifies your brightness? My words are simple, they are little, but they are strong. Words are powerful because words have wings, and can be used to touch hearts. These words have that purpose. Their purpose is to remind you, that you have a purpose. You are alive, my friend. You are meant to be hopeful.
And you know how you can be hopeful? Remember that you are not alone. You may think you are. However, you are not the only one that feels damaged. You are not the only one who feels empty. You are not the only one with questions unanswered. You are not the only one who dreams of better skies. You are not alone. We all feel the same things. Anyone who has ever lived has felt the way you do when you fall. Many of them have become great people. Many of them have changed the world. We are all people in need. We all need each other. For light to shine, I need you to be inspired. I need you. Your story is important. You can change this world.
As you go about your day, when you stumble, when you are hurt, remember that we all fall at times. What really matters is that you get back up and keep fighting. There is hope, the hope that you will change this world for good. Do not give in. You are alive and not by accident. You live to serve a purpose, and each time you fall and get back up again, you draw nearer to becoming who you were meant to be. No one has to prove to you, that pain and darkness are real. However, remember, hope and light are also real.
“Tell them to look up, tell them to remember the stars. The stars are always there but we miss them in the clouds and dirt, we miss them in the storms. Tell them to remember hope. We have hope.” ~ Renee Yohe.
Have you forgotten that there is Hope?
Love,
Joy.
Envision That Horizon.
Hebo estel (Have Hope [Elvish])
I found this video while searching for this song, and thought it very was well done.
When the world around you crumbles, the whole world, everything…
He will always, always be strong.
-Hudson
*Birds* ~ Deas Vail
This is our true alarm.
This is reality.
We will do what we can.
We are just figurines
with a theology
that we don’t understand.
We can’t forget the beginning,
when He set our broken wings.
God, how much does it take
for us to be loved?
For us to be saved?
We all are birds
stuck inside our cage,
covered up with praise.
And behind our saints
we hide our face.
Oh, the numbers come.
Yeah, they’re dialing in.
We can’t help but to compare ourselves again.
I can’t believe in this—
this blue-lipped, lifeless kiss.
We can’t see past our thrones.
We fight for life within,
but our walls are wearing thin.
Oh God, where have we gone?
When I’m just one fighting indifference,
does it matter what I say?
God, how much does it take
for us to be loved?
For us to be saved?
We all are birds
stuck inside our cage,
covered up with praise.
And behind our saints
we hide our face.
Oh, the numbers come.
Yeah, they’re dialing in.
We can’t help but to compare ourselves again.
It’s not that there were ever bad intentions—
it’s more that we forgot where to call home.
From important things that we don’t know to mention,
it’s the uniform that we put on—the formula we have for love.
Beautiful intentions
Formula for love
Ooooooooh
Beautiful intentions
Formula for love
Ooooooooh
It’s not that there were ever bad intentions—
it’s more that we forgot where to call home.
From important things that we don’t know to mention,
it’s the uniform that we put on—the formula we have for love.
Love,
Joy.
Envision That Horizon.
“We forgot where to call home.”
Where do you run when the lights go out?
When your friends are not around to hold you tight, when the weather is cold and gloomy.
You are alone.
Your past rushes at you like a hurricane.
Where will you run?
Where am I to run?
I’ll pray.
“God, I need you and my heart is broken. I have hidden it as best I can but it is quite visible in this dark weather…”
When the lights go out, I’m going to run as fast I can to my Daddy in Heaven. He’s listening. He’s here. I know.
Love,
Joy.
Envision That Horizon.
My comfort.
It’s funny how songs can tell you how you are feeling.
*Pour Me Out* ~ He Is We
“The LORD is close to all who call on him, yes, to all who call on him sincerely. He fulfills the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cries for help and rescues them.” ~ Psalm 145:18-19
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