"On the outside, you're free to roam. On the outside, you've found a home. On the outside, there's more to see. On the outside, we choose to be…" —needtobreathe
the scariest place for someone like me is a space to make mistakes wide open fields of grace and more than one way to be right it fills me with fear to think that I can be wrong while I’m so sure that I’m right do I need to be right or do I need … Read more Space of Grace
You don’t back away And you never second guess Being seen with me At my worse or better or best How do you feel when I forget Whose I am What do you say when I tell myself a lie As I start to die inside; what do you say? If you ask me what … Read more Stay
It’s never fair to forgive But here we are living And life refuses to play by fair rules So in defiance to life’s twisted games We love our enemies and reverse its curse We disrupt the fallen pattern and learn From the greatest story ever told When Love submitted to death Revealing the mystery Of … Read more Fairness
Grace in creation As if even in the beginning of all things Our weakness was known And the world was made beautiful So that we could find Beauty itself Grace in choosing As if at the moment we were given full authority over our choices The story of redemption had already started So that in … Read more Grace
Sometimes it feels Like God was never one of us Sometimes it looks Like we’re too far gone for redemption Like we are made of pure pain Like we are slaves to ourselves Mindless sheep Cursed humans If redemption is real, it would be a story The story of when God was one of us … Read more True Story
It is better to be here now Than to cling white-knuckled on the heights of others’ expectations for us It is better to be here now Than to run out of air under the depths of others’ disappointment in us It is better to be here now Than to live longing for the next life … Read more Be Here Now
There is a great lie that is pushed upon mankind on a moment by moment basis: our Creator doesn’t love us. Or maybe He loves some of us more than others, based on our performance for Him. Maybe He will only be present with certain religious denominations because they’re “getting it right” or holding the … Read more Holy & Beloved (How Can It Be?)
I seem to be desiring to love more, to love first without regard to how someone may or may not deserve or even return that love. I can see clearly and acknowledge wrong, embrace it with no fear-only love- and keep no record of it. The ability to embrace it is the key to forgiving … Read more To Love
Sin leads to death; in Christ, death leads to life. God does not control us. He allows us to sin. Why? Not because he is careless or punitive in nature, but because it is the nature of love to BEAR ALL THINGS. We humans tend to do the wrong thing. We are prone to wander … Read more Start With Sin, End With Life
“Can you imagine growing up in a small shed with the belief that if you opened the door, you’d be vaporized? What if one day, in despair, you cried out to an unseen God that if there was more to life, He’d show you truth?? A voice speaks to you then, telling you to fling … Read more •Journal Entry from 5/5/2019•
You know how any moment can transcend into a holy moment? You can be numbly working your way through washing a pile of dirty dishes when suddenly, a wave of gratefulness washes over you. Nothing really happened to trigger it, except seeing your kids outside the kitchen window playing in the yard. Or you suddenly … Read more Holy
If there is one chapter in the Bible that can stand relevant to humanity in any timeline or culture, it’s 2 Corinthians 3! This beautifully-written chapter gives us a glimpse into just how spiritually shameless and unafraid Paul was. Verse 4-“Such confidence we have through Christ before God!” This kind of confidence is utterly devoid … Read more Such Confidence
You must come, for God is already drawing. You must believe, for God is already teaching. You must follow, for God is already leading. You must receive, for God is already giving. The story of Redemption is written from Beginning to End. It is finished. God is telling your story. He is the Author of … Read more Can You Believe It?
For those who drink the cup of suffering. For those who taste the bitterness and yet still drink. For those whose souls are in torment, who feel torn in pieces and tossed around by circumstances outside of your control. If your soul cries out in anguish this very day…lean in. Do not take up the … Read more The Cup of Suffering
I am the exile, the rejected desert-wanderer who experiences God as inconsistent, controlling, violent and retributive. I have lived my life in an endlessly repeated cycle of love and devotion followed by idolatry, shame and punishment. They say I am a child of God, but how long have I lived under Moses, my accuser? I … Read more Exile