risky in 2014.

this is the coolest series.  wow. grab a box of tissues, give yourself a good chunk of time, and head over to lark & bloom.  her beautiful and illuminating series of "an uncomfortable january" is really something remarkable.

scroll through story after story.  person after person.  life after life.  read the words and emotions and guts of extraordinary people who have decided to embark upon an uncomfortable life.  some have taken a giant leap into this risky life.  selecting this course.  this adventure.  others have just turned the knob and are ushered into a world of discomfort.  an existence that was not necessarily of their own choosing.  but, faced with the seemingly impossible, they waded in.

each discovering that they were supernaturally strengthened for the task.  each unearthing a rare beauty on their journey.  each finding a peculiar peace in their maelstrom.  each feeling exposed.  each being infused with fresh hope.

each story, an inspiration.

God is a GREAT, GREAT, BIG, BIG God.  praise Him for giving us adventures.  for giving us the desire for something bigger.  something grand.  not just the mediocre vapor of this world.  He has etched onto our hearts a desire for the Heavenly.  we yearn for meaning and true beauty and lives of value.  may we be bold enough to venture.  to explore.  to captivate.  let us not be afraid.  what can man do to us?  though our buildings may quake and crumble around us, our foundation will not be shaken.  Christ is our Cornerstone.  we cannot be utterly ruined.  though our plans may be desolated, His plans were established before time.  His plans are for our good.  He will complete His work.  He will not be thwarted.  The Alpha and Omega has proclaimed it.  though our worlds may burn, He brings beauty from the ashes.  though our dreams and creations are melted.  The Holy Refiner wields His tools carefully, with love.  His purifying fire revealing that which lasts, the glimmering resplendent glorious luminous radiant all-together loveliness.  if and when our bodies fail, our souls are His.  our spirits should be free to move and chase after big things.  God has chosen us - little me - to do huge things for His Kingdom.  His Spirit is at work within us.  we can do all things through Him.  and this world is not our home.  this isn't it.  so, let us roam and take risks and get uncomfortable.  even when it seems like we are risking it all, we are safe and sound.  as long as our eternity is sure, what is the risk, really?  He holds us in the palm of His hand.  His banner over us is love.  He is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us.  we may be but dust.  but God breathed life into these bodies of flesh for a reason.  He wants to use our story for His glory.  may my story be a big, bold, bright one.