even the rocks cry out!

REJOICE! salvation is near. Rejoice! for you have been given the oil of gladness. Rejoice! for the light will overcome the darkness. JOY! for the sackcloth has been torn. Joy! for the Heavens cry out with song. SING! for good news has been proclaimed to the poor. Sing! for freedom has come to the captives. SHOUT! redemption draws near! Shout! you have been given a garment of praise. Sing! for what was devastated will be rebuilt. SING! you have been clothed in righteousness. Joy! for your head has been lifted of shame. JOY! for you have been made clean. Rejoice! There is no need for despair. Rejoice! you have been crowned with beauty. REJOICE! for eternity is written on your heart and HE has come that you might know him!

"these things i have spoken to you that in me you might find peace. in this world you will have trouble. BUT be of good cheer! for I have overcome the world." ~

isaiah 64
ecclesiastes 3
john 16

to know joy

Man is fond of counting his troubles, but he does not count his joys. If he counted them up as he ought to, he would see that every lot has enough happiness provided for it. ~Fyodor Dostoevsky

When I was 18, I betrayed a friend. I started dating her boyfriend (it was terrible of me and don't ever do it, btw). I then dumped him a couple of weeks later to find that he had gone straight back to her. And it went back and forth like this for a while. I was devastated and broken, depressed, and upset with myself for the rest of the year. One day, I was sitting on a trampoline enjoying time with my favorite 9 year old when she started singing this song, "I choose to be happy." And her words, those simple words, changed me. It started an upward climb as for the first time in my short years I realized Happiness is a choice. Just a choice. Not something that happens to you but something decided.

I would like to say that the years that followed were all filled with the choice to be happy, but I would be lying. I chose to wallow in sorrow and self pity a couple of times. A couple of years. I had emotional baggage as we ALL do. I experienced life, as we all do, with all of its ups and downs. Sometimes the downs were traumatic. Sometimes in the trauma I chose to avoid dealing with it.

One time though, after being broken up with, I chose joy. I chose to look at my "terrible" circumstance and praise God for all the good things he has done in my life. I praised Him. I stopped looking at my sorrow and loss, and looked to my God. Someone told me for the first time in my life, "You are glowing". Someone who I looked up to and didn't know my circumstance. I faced my problem, wept, and chose joy.

I've quoted this before; as Abraham Lincoln said, "Most folks are as happy as they make their minds up to be." It's really true. I would also add that joy is something deeper than just happiness. Happiness only skims the surface of what joy is. Joy is looking in the face of tragedy and saying, I rejoice. And again I say, rejoice. I know what comes my way, whatever my lot, I have reason to be full of JOY. I will say, when I lost my friend last year, it was tragic. I was devastated. I've had other losses that brought sorrow, too. There is nothing wrong with experiencing sorrow, entering into sadness. But when it turns, and you'll probably know exactly when that is as I did, when it turns into bitterness and self-pity, when you can no longer see hope, then it is no longer good.

In those moments of sorrow and loss, I have had to look on to hope, on to the joy in my life, on to remembering all there is to be thankful for, all there is to rejoice in. For in those moments, hoping and rejoicing have brought me peace. They have reminded me that though sorrow and loss happen, I have a choice. I can wallow in them and be discontent and un-comforted, or I can look at them and say, there have been so many blessings, there is much to enrich my life with, and there is so much to hope in.

As a Christian, I have a great hope, a great joy in knowing Christ and trusting him and his promises. One such promise of the Lord's is from the Old Testament, "I will never leave you or forsake you." It is a promise I hold true. Another is of his love for his children. Shakespeare captured love beautifully when he said , "Love is not love which alters when it alterations find or bends with the remover to remove. Oh, no. It is an ever fixed mark that looks on tempests and is never shaken." (Sonnet 116)

He loves his children that much.

"Whatever my lot thou has taught me to say, it is well, it is well with my soul." ~Horatio Spafford (whose story and life were wrought with sorrow and inspired the hymn quoted)

"O the deep, deep love of Jesus, love of every love the best!
’Tis an ocean full of blessing, ’tis a haven giving rest!
O the deep, deep love of Jesus, ’tis a heaven of heavens to me;
And it lifts me up to glory, for it lifts me up to Thee!"

~Samuel Trevor Francis

How wide and long and high and deep is the love of Jesus Christ.

You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed the sack cloth and clothed me with JOY.

love must be sincere.

hate what is evil.

cling to what is good.

outdo one another in showing honor.

rejoice in hope.

show hospitality.

be patient in affliction.

be faithful in prayer.

bless those who persecute you.

rejoice with those who rejoice.

mourn with those who mourn.

live in harmony.

do not be proud.

do not be conceited.

Do not take revenge.

leave room for God’s wrath.

do not be overcome by evil.

overcome evil with good.





i didn't write any of those words. they belong to another. and no, it's not 1 corinthians; it's romans 12, shuffled around a bit. and it's true. to love and really love, to say that you are someone who loves means putting aside your own desires for those of another. it means letting go of anger and showing kindness. it means rejoicing with someone who is happy when you're not so happy. it means laying aside your joy to mourn with someone who is mourning. it means holding fast to goodness. it means no hypocrisy. it means love is not a feeling. it is action.

i cringe every time i hear someone equate love with a feeling. you're selling yourself short. you're cheapening love. and if there is no action behind the word love, it's not love at all.

this is love in action. this is true, sincere love.

breathing lessons

it's the time of year for me when everything is so, so busy. my job load increases with an upcoming gala and silent auction on top of my regular work. we're still in the throws of the honeymoon phase of the marriage. but there's health issues that have slowed me down considerably. and then there's the friend who is still hurting and it weighs on my heart. and then there's not having energy for the daily things... like laundry and cooking and writing.


last night i could not fall asleep thinking about too many things. my husband. our future. the gala. my friend. my health. i started praying, passionately. i was worked up and frustrated while i prayed, asking God to intervene in the difficult situations. and then i realized something i have encouraged for others but wasn't practicing myself; sometimes you have to put aside your worries, your health, your petitions to look and see how lovely and mighty and kind and good God is. I turned to Psalm 33 and saw. my God is so much more than these little things.

Shout for joy in the Lord, O you righteous!
Praise befits the upright.
Give thanks to the Lord with the lyre;
make melody to him with the harp of ten strings!

Sing to him a new song;
play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts.

For the word of the Lord is upright,
and all his work is done in faithfulness.
He loves righteousness and justice;
the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord.

By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,
and by the breath of his mouth all their host.
He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap;
he puts the deeps in storehouses.

Let all the earth fear the Lord;
let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him!
For he spoke, and it came to be;
he commanded, and it stood firm.

The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing;
he frustrates the plans of the peoples.

The counsel of the Lord stands forever,
the plans of his heart to all generations.
Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,
the people whom he has chosen as his heritage!

The Lord looks down from heaven;
he sees all the children of man;
from where he sits enthroned he looks out
on all the inhabitants of the earth,

he who fashions the hearts of them all
and observes all their deeds.
The king is not saved by his great army;
a warrior is not delivered by his great strength.

The war horse is a false hope for salvation,
and by its great might it cannot rescue.

Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him,
on those who hope in his steadfast love,

that he may deliver their soul from death
and keep them alive in famine.

Our soul waits for the Lord;
he is our help and our shield.

For our heart is glad in him,
because we trust in his holy name.

Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us,
even as we hope in you.

chains

i don't know of many who have not heard the quote from John 8 "Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free." if you read the rest of the context around the verse you get a truer sense of the meaning of the verse. there's so much i would love to get into (ie. the section before this where Jesus writes in the sand); but there is much in question of who Christ is in the verses above and below. Jesus is being challenged by the children of Abraham. who are you? right before this verse Jesus says, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples." and then after, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free then you are free indeed."

the truth Jesus spoke was hard on the ears it fell to. it was difficult to stomach. many denied his claims; this was not the savior they were looking for. he was from a terrible town (does anything good come from Nineveh?); he was meek; he was a carpenter's son. they heard Jesus proclaim, "before Abraham was born, I am!" and they were angered. this was blasphemy to their ears, so they picked up stone to throw at him ( Jesus escaped before the stones were thrown.)

what truth are you denying? are you listening to what you want to hear, pleased by good words? are you embracing a sugar coated lie that looks like the truth because how hard the truth really is?

a favorite quote of mine is from Flannery O'Connor: "The truth does not change with our ability to stomach it." the truth is the truth is the truth. i listened recently to truth be twisted into a lie; originally it was truth and it was truth that was difficult to hear. now after being twisted, it was lighter and sweeter but no longer truth, no longer powerful, no longer potent. it was impotent and weak. it was a lie. it was death. and now, with truth denied, the chains were placed back on.

a dear friend once told me a hard truth i needed to hear... but i did not want to hear it. she told me my apologies were not apologies because i followed them up with the word "but". i was angry, upset. but God used her to convict me. she was right. i listened to this truth; and i tell you, it gave me life, exposed brokenness and pride in me that needed to be addressed, and it improved my relationships and changed me.

the life Jesus is speaking about is the truth of who HE is, a hard truth but it is truth.


"A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic - on the level with a man who says he is a poached egg - or he would be the devil of hell. You must take your choice. Either this was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us." C.S. Lewis Mere Christianity

waiting

wednesday my dear dear friend gave birth to a son. i sat at the office waiting to hear the signal and see the flags waving that it was time, he was almost here. it was a lesson in patience, i tell you, one i did not handle well. later, i held his tiny body and i celebrated the beauty of something so precious and amazing created by two people i love. i loved watching brie's face as she took in the complete miracle that was and is the bundle of wonder laying at her breast. that was worth the wait (though i am VERY aware the waiting was so so much more intense for her involving that thing they call labor (and for a very good reason)).

there are times when waiting is the best thing. the caterpillar and the butterfly. the seed planted. the babe in the womb. i remember watching my grandfather's incubator waiting while the eggs from his show chickens prepared to hatch. we couldn't wait to see a beak peak through the shell!

there are times when waiting is the hardest thing to do. waiting for change. waiting for an answer. i am currently waiting for a change in a situation of loved ones; and i desperately wanting to do something to change the situation for them. i was reading from Lamentaions the other day, remembering all that Jeremiah went through, all that God's chosen went through. it wasn't pretty! "Though I cry for help, he shuts out my prayer," continuing, "He is a bear lying in wait for me, a lion in hiding; he turned aside my steps and tore me to pieces; he has made me desolate; he bent his bow and set me as a target for his arrow."

Israel waited. when they couldn't wait anymore and acted in pride, when they did things their own way, they had to wait longer and endure more. Jeremiah continues, "my soul is bereft of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is; so I say, “My endurance has perished; so has my hope from the Lord.” Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall! My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.

there is nothing i can do for my loved ones but pray and wait on the Lord. waiting is in no way a passive thing though it is viewed and feels as such; trusting Christ is completely active. it takes shutting down and quieting the voice and the desire to do things my way. it requires believing that God is who He says he is and will do what he says he will do. it means praying, without ceasing, even asking the the LORD to change me.



christopher elliot, welcome to the world. you are a joy and a blessing to those around you. i pray you are a man who loves and waits on the LORD.

in the presence of grace pt 2

responding to grace

The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is Rapidly fadin'
And the first one now
Will later be last
For the times they are a-changin'.

Bob Dylan "The Times They are A-Changin'"

i have been trying to nail down my thoughts on grace through some recent experiences in dealing with the ungracious among us, trying to understand the Grace i live under through Christ, trying to understand how i should respond to the ungracious, my own ungraciousness (yes, i made up a word. it's been done before by brilliant strategery.), what GRACE is, and what the consequences are in not responding to it.

lars von trier wrote Dogville partially in response to hearing Brecht's Threepenny Opera specifically the song "Pirate Jenny". in the song, jenny is abused, overlooked, made to work like a dog, but little do her overlords know that she actually belongs to a pirate ship. the pirate ship will be docking soon, and she sings how these men will get theirs in the end. it's plain and simple revenge.

not responding to grace has nothing to do with revenge. it has EVERYTHING to do with consequence. we live in a society that has taken consequence and almost thrown it out the window with philosophies like, "do what makes you happy" and "do what is best for you".

the God i know and trust in, the I AM, is a God of Grace. there is no doubt about that. he is loving and kind, he is charitable and patient, he is goodness defined. that same God is also a God of justice. many doubt this aspect of who He is because of how much goes unpunished, though reading through the New Testament it states many times, God will judge.

in reading the book of Malachi, they faced much of the same issues and problems as we do. "You have said, 'It is futile to serve God. What did we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before the LORD Almighty? But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly the evildoers prosper, and even those who challenge God escape.' "

BUT later it continues, "Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and that day that is coming will set them on fire," says the LORD Almighty. and then beautifully, "But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings."

this too is grace.

in the presence of grace pt.1

i have a love hate relationship with the movie Dogville. it is amazing, moving, touching, convicting, true, beautiful. it is also ugly, rough, disgusting, harsh, devastating, hard to stomach, difficult to watch. if you don't like spoilers then don't continue reading. it's a story of a girl that escapes a mob and ends up in a small backwoods town; the townspeople don't know what to do with her, so the scholastic, moralistic lead male, Tom Edison (played brilliantly by Paul Bettany) comes up with a plan, an experiment and life lesson on morality. The girl, Grace, must earn the trust of the townspeople by doing tasks for them. At first the townspeople don't really have anything for her to do. One by one they come around and Grace has a schedule to keep in doing menial tasks for the people. She earns their trust and they vote for her to stay. The police come around with a poster saying that Grace was wanted for participating in a bank robbery, and the townspeople are aware of Grace's innocence but they begin to fear the law for harboring a wanted woman.
Tom comes up with a plan that Grace will do more tasks for the townspeople. They become increasingly demanding and she begins to make mistakes due to an overloaded schedule. The female townspeople and the children become abusive, and the male townspeople begin sexually harassing and abusing her. Grace is enslaved and is made to wear a wagon wheel around and a bell to announce her presence. Tom, the one townsperson in love with Grace and the one male who has not had sex with her, tries to force himself on her and she refuses. Now he decides it is time to call the mob, more in fear of his own lack of morality. The mob shows up cordially greeted by Tom and the townspeople, and we then find out Grace is the mob boss' daughter. He takes her in his car and they discuss what to do. She asks him not to be harsh on the people, but then realizes her standard for herself is much higher than the standard she sets for others. The whole town is completely destroyed.

i love this film because it amazingly illustrates the abuse of grace. yes, grace can be and is abused on a daily basis. there was someone i offered grace to over and over and over. she took it freely over and over. she couldn't pay a bill? i obliged. she needed something from me, i gave. then came the moment i needed her grace in something small, and suddenly judgment and fire were poured on my head. i think of the times i abuse the grace God gives me. "He'll understand", "He knows I struggle with in this area."

"what do we say then? do we go on sinning that grace may increase? by no means! we died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?" romans 6:1. g.k. chesterton wrote, "I do not believe in a fate that falls on men however they act; but I do believe in a fate that falls on man unless they act."

i did some research on this film trying to understand it's roots and the author/director. lars von trier is in no way a morally impressive man. in fact, i'm pretty disgusted. his latest film illustrates what earth would have been like if Satan would have created it. no need to see that. but i am still impressed with dogville. it is hard to recommend to others because of how hard it is to watch. but von trier exits the hollywood "all-is-perfect" mentallity, and gives us a picture that is worth more than perfection. it exposes our grossness, our abuses, our iniquity not relishing or beautifying that iniquity but placing a mirror in front of the viewers face to see our own failing. one writer said after viewing the film, "I am ashamed in the presence of Grace".

in the presence of grace, how do you respond? how do i respond?

thanksgiving in july

eucharistia

We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures. ~Thornton Wilder

I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought; and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder. ~G.K. Chesterton

i'm trying to grasp thankfulness today. gratefulness. why do we say thanks? why do we send thank you notes and flowers and speak blessings? why don't we just accept a gift and leave it at that? why do we say thank you?

older generations are lamenting the fact that the younger generations have lost all proper forms of manners. i have to agree. we have. i have been reading through dear abby and miss manners columns and this is my favorite quote: "The art of writing a thank-you is a social grace that every wise parent should pass along to his or her child."

yes, i learned to say thanks because my parents taught me to accept gracefully though i didn't always do it well. i remember vividly getting a lesson in gratefulness. i was in second grade and we lived in peru. i had just sung in front of the church with a couple of adults. on the walk home with my dad, someone gave me a compliment, and my response was, "no. i wasn't very good," trying to be self-efacing, trying to divert the attention from me. my dad gently corrected me telling me the proper response was a thank you. plain and simple. no one had to tell me i was a good performer. no one was obligated to compliment me; but they did it out of the goodness of their heart. i guess it was more a lesson on receiving gifts but i will never forget what it taught me on the giving of gifts as well.

not only did i learn it from my parents, but i also learned gratefulness from knowing Christ, for, truly knowing him, gratefulness will pour out like a dam undone.

And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

i'm still exploring the concept of gratitude, but i thought i would start by saying thank you. thank you mom and dad for raising me in God's truth and in the love of Christ. for that i am eternally grateful. thank you kara and joel for putting up with me and the many times you have shown grace to me. thank you brie for 19 years of friendship, prayer, and love. thank you molly verdyun and mrs. t and debby polizzi and martha rasco and carla heltzel and johanna oudman for being Godly examples and extending your wisdom and kindness to me. thank you dr. t and david and geno and the beacham family for being steadfast in your faith and leadership. you have been very influential in my life and in my faith. thank you to angela clemens and emily harris and brie and charity and kristy hoffpauir for giving me a roof over my head when i did not have one. thank you jan and jane and kate and stephanie and jodi for your support and prayers and patience with me. thank you caroline and john for supporting me and caring for me when times were hard. thank you jerry goff and tim wallace for being excellent pastors to a silly teenage girl. through your leadership i grew deeper in the knowlege of Christ.

thank you, neal, for your love. you amaze me and words cannot express how grateful i am for you.

thank you Christ for your unfailing love and amazing grace, the gifts you give i do not deserve. thank you God for your sacrifice. thank you that you call me Your own.

good words, one.

Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.


after a year in an anglican church stateside and a year overseas, i have a new love for the english standard version.

there's a little dirt between my toes

A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.

this scripture stuns me in many ways. the night before he dies Christ gives this commandment. right before he made this commandment, he was serving his disciples by washing their dirty feet, a task usually performed by the lowest servant or, if you are an honored guest, by the host. it was not performed by the honored guest! but he does it; he showed them the full extent of his love. he gets on his knees, removes their sandals, wipes their feet clean with a towel around his waist. he washes all of their feet including judas, who jesus already knows will betray him. and still he extends his love for judas.

i am watching many people i care about focused on a desire to be loved, desire to be sought, a desire for relationship, a desire to be wanted. so many wanting friendship, wanting companionship. but how will it happen if we all sit on our hands and wait for others to come to us? i do this too. i want to be liked, to be needed, to be called. but it won't happen with my hands tied behind my back! and sometimes, it takes more than one phone call, more than one time sitting down with a coffee. sometimes it takes a good foot washin'.

neal and i had a funny incident a couple of weeks ago. i decided to pack him a lunch to take to work. and while i was doing that, he was getting a lunch for me. when i arrived at his house, we handed each other our lunches, both surprised by the simultaneous gesture. can you imagine if we were all washing each others feet, serving each other as Christ's example, not for our own reward? we might indeed be known by our love rather than what we are known for.

miracles in stride

january 2008 i got sick with an unknown, confusing illness, and by february i couldn't walk 1/2 a mile without intense pain. in fact, one day it took me 30-45 minutes to walk that 1/2 mile. by march, i walked a mile, BUT i was slower than a turtle tripping through jello with snow shoes on. really. i mean, really. for someone who used to dream of being a race-walker and had a fast paced one mile walk going, this was devastating. in the spring, i couldn't even walk through a grocery store or a mall without someone commenting on the "speed" of my stride.

but yesterday, yesterday i walked a 5-freakin-K. in an hour. i. walked. a 5.K.

you can credit diagnosis, celebrex, doctors, modern medicine, support and love, faith. i think it's a mixture of all of them. but mostly i think it's a miracle. i'm in pain today, but ohhhh, how i am thankful. my God still moves today.

the doctor told me in may i should not run anymore..... we'll see about that one. in his time.

"those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength."

tsunami

Deep calls to deep
in the roar of your waterfalls;
all your waves and breakers
have swept over me.

flood me.
consume me.
devour my pride.
dig your claw in my dragon skin
and release me of this
putrid hide.
shatter the glass
of pretense
of shallowness;
break it into a thousand pieces.
my bones they cry out for resplendence.
my flesh it cries out for goodness.
my heart it cries out for wholeness.
walls still remain. demolish them.
reek havoc on their foundations.
take the mortar and make it pliable.
take the stones and make them like dust
between your index finger and thumb.
vaporize my blindness.

but do not leave me unprotected, naked, trembling.
cover me. blanket me. lead me. hold me.
hide me in your iron grip.
when you do these things, i will be raw, exposed.
please, make a nest for me in grace. in peace. in mercy.

in unfailing love.

as the deer pants for streams of water

so my soul longs, thirsts for living. for reality. for truth. for an astonishing wave of mercy that i can do nothing but weep oceans of living water.

proverbial reflection

wisdom
bind it around your neck
pursue it like a precious treasure
its worth is greater than jewels
for it is the greatest thing man can desire

love and faithfulness
bind them like a tablet on your heart
walk with them all your days
for they bring favor and sweet incense

knowledge and understanding
seek them with your whole being
go to the ends of the earth for them
for they are foundational and invaluable

sound judgement and discernment
preserve them
move in them with faith
do not let them stray
for they will be a graceful ornament around your neck

wisdom
her ways are pleasant
her paths are peace
her inheritance is honor
for she is a tree of life to all those who embrace her


reflecting proverbs 3

haiti december 1994

my Dove,

in the clefts of the rocks

in the hiding places on the mountainside

Show me your face
Let me hear your voice


For your voice is sweet
and your face is lovely

sos 2:14

the sieve and the fire

"Come on, let's go back to God. He hurt us, but he'll heal us. He hit us hard, but he'll put us right again." Hosea 6:1-3 the Message

A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness he will bring forth justice; Isaiah 42:3 NIV

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. James 1:2-4 (I reaaaally struggle with this one. It is truth though)

And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. Romans 5:2-5 (Struggling with this one too at the moment. And again, it is true)

(and this one i like)

these things i have spoken to you that in me you might find peace. in this world you WILL have tribulation. BUT be of good cheer for I HAVE OVERCOME THE WORLD. Jesus