what's your story, morning glory? {thankful thursday}

Thursday, December 6

{never mind my flatty flat flat hat hair while in england!}

still pluggin through Ann Voskamps 1000 gifts. 
and by plugging i really mean chug-a-luggin. 
this book is meeeaaaatttttyyyyy stuff! 

so meaty in fact that this chapter hit me like a freight train. 

any guesses on the nature of this chapter?
mmmmhhhhmmmmm.....

suffering. 

yeah! 
not. 

i hate that word, and even further I hate suffering. 
i hate to suffer
and i hate that others suffer. 

and as a side note it brings me back to high school, and let's be honest...
not.my.favorite.time. 

ok, now that we've got that out of the way, back to regular scheduled programing. 

suffering brings about
the perpetual "why"
which lingers on unanswered. 
fingers pointing at God. 
giving him my puppy dog eyes and wondering how he can watch me cry another day
and not DO something {or at least what I want him to do!}
those are the memories i long to forget. 
and it makes me think God's not really fair. 
hmmfffff, i mutter under my breathe! 

but.
suffering is a part of my story. 
{as much as i can pretend high school didn't happen. sadly, it did}
it will always be a part of my story. 
as much as i want to block out those nasty times, 
the good Lord has woven them into my life. 
so why? 

here is what is beginning to redeem suffering. 

well, jesus, for starters. 
he's the redeemer. 

but the idea that life is a movement from darkness to morning glory. 
from the beginning of time, the Lord spoke order into chaos,
light into darkness. 

it's a movement. 
as in something happens to produce something else. 
and in this case something is suffering
and grace is what's produced. 

Ann says 
"the ugly can be beautiful. the dark can give birth to life; suffering can deliver grace" 

"suffering nourishes grace" 

Like a surgeon cutting open a wound in order to best repair it,
"God chooses to cut into my ungrateful heart to make me whole" 

"all is grace only because all can transfigure" 

amen! hallelujah! 
did ya'll hear that?!?

God uses suffering to transfigure our lives into streams of flowing grace. 
more graceful living.
more graceful hearts. 

and then i'm ok with that. 
it makes me happy that my life can transfigure.
can change into something more beautiful. 
and gives me hope and reason that my wounds were not in vain. 

but really, i should have known all along that our Abba does nothing in vain. 
he has a purpose. 
to think otherwise is folly. 

he knows. 
and newsflash....
he knows everything.
{forget that "elf on the shelf" business, God's the real deal!}
every tear, every wound, every pain. 
and he's got this. 

and as he spoke LIGHT to the world to form it
so he takes the ugly and broken and dark places of our soul,
and fashions them into something quite stunning. 
and by stunning i mean grace.

because aren't graceful people the most beautiful? 
well worth the suffering? 
i think so:) 

happy Thursday dear ones! 
love Katie 

and ps- just for laughs i tottaaaaallllyyyyy wish you could see me right now. it's midnight, i'm in a bathroom stuffing my face with pepitos, and sitting in a chair in front of my fake first place thats blasting heat even though it's not cold outside at all! i'm quite the scene! ha! 

10 comments :

  1. Your words were like a sweet balm to my weary heart this morning Katie =) God is definitely moving through your blogging!

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  2. i, too, am just a chugg-a-luggin through that book. I have to reread a lot but she is deep. and sometimes my simple mind can't grasp everything. but it love this post! can i cannot wait for our skype date!! xox

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  3. this took me a long time to learn. i would flood my prayers with why's. today He's teaching me that suffering results in strenght and grace with His mercy.
    This was beautifully written!

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  4. You look BEAUTIFUL in that picture! And I looooved this post, Katie! I must look up this book!

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  5. Perfectly said...this one was a hard one, but a necessary one to read! God is good all the time!

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  6. SUCH a good post, girl. Every word you wrote resounded in me. And for the record? Sounds like we had similar high school experiences ;)

    Love you!

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  7. You're the best! This is PERFECTLY put!!!!!

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  8. haha i am slooowwwwly making my way through the book, too. it ministers to me so much!! thanks for this...such a great reminder that beauty can come out of any kind of pain!!

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  9. beautiful post. i think you might have written this just for me. ha! thanks for the reminder, friend!

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