Sunday, May 31, 2009

The Word...Because Sometimes We Have to Encourage Ourselves

Nothing supercedes the Word of God in giving me peace. My grandmother taught me that sometimes you have to encourage yourself, and speaking the Word of God over your life is the best way to do so. I thought I'd share what I read with you guys and hopefully encourage you, as well...just know that God has not forgotten about any of us...we're in His hands.

No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he'll never let you be pushed past your limit; he'll always be there to help you come through it.
1 Corinthians 10:13 (The Message Translation)

los ojos del corazón

"The heart has eyes which the brain know nothing of." -Charles H. Perkhurst

I first read this quote as an optimistic 15 year old, who wanted nothing more to have and believe in love. For me back then, it spoke to love's prolific power...it's ability to see through the external and connect soul to soul with another, despite flaws and differences or any other shallow precedent, seeing only that which is good and pure inside of us all.

More than a decade later, I still consider myself to be more idealistic than most...one of my heroes told me to never let that go, to never let anyone take that away from me or tell me not to dream. But try as I might, I end up jaded, at times...experience, namely heartache/break, lies and loss, have rendered me more cynical than my 15 year old self.

While I never lost my affinity to love, but all that I know now makes me believe Mr. Perkhurst's quote speaks to something more than I once thought it did. You see, at 26, I know what it's like to cry and feel as if the tears are coming from wells deep down in my soul...I've felt the fierce fire of heartache burning so incessantly, that it's flames appeared unquenchable...and yet, in the stillness after I cried myself to sleep, my heart always found a way to heal.

I believe the heart does have eyes that the brain knows nothing of...eyes that see past what we can into the future. Even in the midst of pain, those eyes look ahead and see our capacity to love again and recognize the necessity in our healing.

I hope this quote inspires you to believe in love's power and in the mystifying resilience of your own heart. Be encouraged in this, that no matter how dark it is right now, the sun will shine again. Keep livin'...keep lovin', ya'll.