I want to
get out and see the world.
I want to
experience what it's like to get lost in a big city and
lose track of time on spontaneous adventures.
I want to
feel the excitement and exhilarating frustration
of stepping on ground where few people step and
of entering lands where the melodic words are foreign to my ears.

I want to
feel people's pain,
hear their stories,
see the mud caked on their feet that's reflecting the mud caked on their soul from living.
I want to
hear how people think,
see how they face adversary and rise to moral dilemmas.
I want to see people
become something
they didn't know they could be 
as they create something
that wasn't before.

I want to see the sunrise and feel the ocean at my feet
as I dance all my days and sing through the stormy nights.
I want to
run faster
than I knew I could,
sing louder
than what's allowed
and be the change in the places where people don't even know it's needed.

I want to be immersed in life,
for Christ is my goal, my strength, my purpose, my fuel.

Hello there!

A few months ago, I submitted a blog post that I'd written here on HopeShining to "The Rebelution" - a blog started by Alex and Brett Harris, the authors of "Do Hard Things."  Well, I heard back from Brett and was blessed to be asked to regularly contribute to the Rebelution Blog.  I am so excited to be a part of what God is doing through their blog!  Their site really is an incredible place to be challenged and encouraged, and it is specifically geared towards young people (which I really love!) although it is definitely applicable to many different people at many different ages.

Earlier this month an article I originally posted here (<<<click that word "here" to see the original post) was posted on their site.  You can see it - "3 Things You Should Know: From One Teenager to Another" - on The Rebelution by clicking here!

In August my first article was published on their blog.  You can see the original Hope Shining post by clicking here.  To see it - "College Applications: If God is For Us, Who Can Be Against" - on The Rebelution Blog, click here!

Please keep the readers of The Rebelution in your prayers; it is such a birthplace of amazing works for the Kingdom! 

Photo credit to Sarah Helen Photography and Design

Have you ever wondered if you're just missing God's plan?
The frantic hope that you are doing right-
The incessant trying, trying to do right to find right to be right to have right to want right-
I've been there. (Actually, I am there now).
It's a mess, right?

Have you questioned whether you're making the right decisions about... well,  basically anything?
The nagging guilt that you should be doing something else-
The constant worry that you are messing something up big time-
The hatred toward your weakness as, even though you're not exactly sure what right always looks like, you know what your doing for sure isn't even related (nope, not even a second cousin twice removed).
I've been there.  (Actually, I am there now).

The trying.
The self-put pressure.
The exhaustion.
The dread of having to try to do it all right another day-
The dread of knowing that you should stop your crazy trying to do it right 
And trying your hardest to try to stop trying.

Yeah.
Not so good. 

I have one word for you, reader, on the other side of this screen here where my fingers, tired after another day of trying, type on this teal-silicone covered keyboard:

doubt.

We're fearing - fearing that we're messing up, fearing that we shouldn't be fearing but fearing that we actually are.  We fear that we are weak and that we'll never be strong.  We fear that we'll always be striving and never arriving.  We fear that we will only fall and be incapable of getting up.  We fear that we are missing where we are supposed to be walking in the first place.

What is that fear?

It's a doubting - a doubting that God really is who He said He is and that He. is. enough.

He says that there is just no fear in love and that perfect love drives that fear straight outta here (1 John 4:18).  
Our weakness is actually beautiful, for He says that when we are weak, (oh yeah!), then, we are strong because His power is made perfect in that weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9-10).
Where does this strength come from, anyway?  From Him who gives us all the strength we need (Philippians 4:13).

Maybe what's really at the root of our issues, of our trying, of our fear is this:

We need more of Jesus.

Maybe it's not more full-force trying in our own strength that we need;
maybe we really need more of falling into His faithful arms even as we fail.  

For He. is. God.

Maybe we should be still and remember that more often (Psalm 46:10).

Maybe we need less of the details and more of Him.

Maybe we need to have more faith - faith not only in the promises God has for us but faith in who He Himself is.

He is faithful (1 Thessalonians 5:24).
He is a Might Warrior (Zephaniah 3:17).
He is a consuming fire (Deuteronomy 4:24).
He is unchangeable (Numbers 23:19).

What more could we need?

Just give us more of Jesus.

I once knew a dream chaser.

be found while finding Him.