rebelling against low expectations
Unqualified. Too broken. Not enough. You may describe yourself this way, and the world may describe you this way too. You aren’t smart enough, strong enough, brave enough. Your mind is too broken, your heart is too worn, your body is too weak. The world may use any of these messages to tell you that you’re disqualified, and you might believe them. But what if these very things didn’t disqualify...
Chronic illness is one of the hardest things to ever happen to me. It’s also one of the best. I know, that probably doesn’t make sense. Chronic illness doesn’t sound like a “good” thing. Hard things generally don’t seem good. I didn’t think it was a good thing when I got sick. But, as time has gone on and my mindset has changed, I’ve realized what a gift it is. Maybe I just needed to redefine...
Last year, a few days before Christmas, my neat, happy familial world crashed around my feet. My mom was diagnosed with cancer. Really quickly debilitating cancer. The news, the surgery, and the treatments took a devastating toll on my mom and on us all. I’m 17, and I’ve seen sorrow and suffering in my life, but never experienced anything that struck so deeply or that hurt so much. As a natural...
Recently, one of my uncles died. While I wasn’t super close with him, he had always been a part of my family. He was a constant. Although I didn’t talk with him a lot, I knew he was always there. But those are things you don’t think about when that person is still in your life. Those are things you think about after they have passed. And it was only when my family prepared a song to record for...
You know what is one of the worst cliche sayings ever? “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” I’m not one for cliche sayings to begin with, but that one has never sat quite right with me. I’ve always felt like it was a lie; a saying to give you false hope in the midst of your suffering; something to slap on the walls of a classroom to give half-hearted encouragement to its readers. After...
Jim and Elisabeth Elliot are two of my heroes. I’ve devoured as many books by Elisabeth Elliot as I can get my hands on and been moved to tears by Jim’s commitment to God—and the tragedy it led to. I’ve read their journal entries and love letters, listened to audio clips from Jim and talks given by Elisabeth. God has used their steadfast devotion to Him to fuel a fire of passion in my own heart...
Scrolling through my old Instagram posts, I hesitated over one in particular. In that post, I made how sick I’d been public. It was pre-diagnoses, when the only thing doctors were telling me was that it was anxiety (it wasn’t). That was a very dark time in my life. I was at peace, yes, but that doesn’t change how dark it sometimes got—and sometimes still is. A lot of people told me things like...
I consider myself a Lord of the Rings nerd. Well, maybe enthusiast is a better word. I don’t know about you, but I am fascinated by talking trees, tiny people with an insane amount of grit, daring escapes, fiery depths, and yes, even a wizard who whispers to moths. But I do not only love this story for these reasons (although they’re all really good reasons). I love this story because...
“God, please show me how to live with this!” Three years earlier, Jesus had captured my heart and I was excited about new opportunities he was giving me to serve him. But as my health deteriorated through the next year and a half, one thing after another was taken from my life. Now, laying bed-bound at home, sick, helpless, and grieving, I prayed for God to show me how to live with this chronic...
We sat in the dark as the stories unfolded. Story after story of individuals who followed Christ through extreme persecution played out on the screen. We saw Christians faithfully witnessing for Christ, fully aware of the severity of the consequences. They are beaten and killed. Children grow up without their fathers because they were imprisoned for the sake of Christ. They could be free from all...
rebelling against low expectations
