“It is the capacity to feel consuming grief and pain and despair that also allows me to embrace love and joy and beauty with my whole heart. I must let it all in.” LovePainJoyFaithBeautyGraceDespairPersonal GrowthMemoirEcstasyBereavementGrieveWhole Hearted Book:Mended: Thoughts on Life, Love, and Leaps of Faith Source: Mended: Thoughts on Life, Love, and Leaps of Faith
“I am still not good enough. I am still not whole enough. I am still not pure enough. I am still weakness and sharp edges and broken, but He is good and pure and whole, all that I strive for but am not. I wake up every morning and I sit in silence and I choose to believe. I may speak. I may not. I let Him wrap up all my broken in to His grace. He takes me imperfect. This is the great mystery I never knew.” GodInspirational QuotesReligionFaithJesusHealingChristianityGraceForgivenessInspirational QuoteMemoirLife QuoteBrokenness Book:Mended: Thoughts on Life, Love, and Leaps of Faith Source: Mended: Thoughts on Life, Love, and Leaps of Faith
“I love that there's no cutoff where we get labeled and sent off to a home for hopeless, cranky, depressives. Every day is a new chance to listen longer and be braver and love more. We get to try again and again and again.” LoveFaithChangeChristianityGraceBraveInspirational QuoteMemoirHopelessLife QuotePersevereNew DayTry AgainHumor QuoteDespressionNew Chance Book:Mended: Thoughts on Life, Love, and Leaps of Faith Source: Mended: Thoughts on Life, Love, and Leaps of Faith
“I've always let my imagination run free, but now I try to rein it in. Things never turn out the way I imagine, so I am letting them rest. Instead, I am holding just what is in my hand.” ImaginationFreedomInspirational QuoteMemoirPresent MomentDream Quote Book:Mended: Thoughts on Life, Love, and Leaps of Faith Source: Mended: Thoughts on Life, Love, and Leaps of Faith
“The road to the heart is not a long, linear path, but this turning. There is no race or competition, just me and God going deeper, carving a canyon to the soul.” ReligionInspirational QuoteMemoirLife QuoteFaith QuotePath To God Book:Mended: Thoughts on Life, Love, and Leaps of Faith Source: Mended: Thoughts on Life, Love, and Leaps of Faith
“In this week I see such a picture of life, hard and joyful pressed up together and sleeping in the same bed. They come knit together. The lines of pain run through the joy and remind us to go all in, because life is short. The joy edges the pain and gives us a reason to rise.” PainJoyLossGriefHealingDarknessDepressionInspirational QuoteMemoirRecoveryLife QuoteLife Is ShortPersevereRise AgainGo All In Book:Mended: Thoughts on Life, Love, and Leaps of Faith Source: Mended: Thoughts on Life, Love, and Leaps of Faith
“Everything we have, everything we are, is a gift. How can we judge and shame ourselves if this is true?” LightReligionFaithFreedomChristianityGraceShameInspirational QuoteMemoirJudgementLife QuoteGifts Book:Mended: Thoughts on Life, Love, and Leaps of Faith Source: Mended: Thoughts on Life, Love, and Leaps of Faith
“I can't say for sure if I'm better off, since I have no way of knowing what would have been. I could have traveled to exotic places and kissed exotic men in the moonlight. Or I could have ended living alone in a dumpy apartment with the flesh eating virus I contracted from a public toilet. Could haves are always a great unknown.” LifeHumorChoicesInspirational QuoteMemoirUnknownUnknown QuoteHumorous Life Book:Mended: Thoughts on Life, Love, and Leaps of Faith Source: Mended: Thoughts on Life, Love, and Leaps of Faith
“I grew up believing Christians didn’t just believe in Jesus. To be saved, people had to look and speak a certain way. They followed a long list of nots to ensure their holiness. They fit the mold. They followed the rules.” ReligionFaithSinChristianitySalvationHolinessJesus Quote Book:Mended: Thoughts on Life, Love, and Leaps of Faith Source: Mended: Thoughts on Life, Love, and Leaps of Faith
“I was taught growing up not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers, to withdraw myself from the sinful 'others'. But we are all others. We are all sinners in someone's eyes.” ReligionFaithSinChristianityMemoir Book:Mended: Thoughts on Life, Love, and Leaps of Faith Source: Mended: Thoughts on Life, Love, and Leaps of Faith
“I realized that I was okay with myself. I was quirky and withdrawn and loud, but I liked that. I smiled at strangers without thinking they were going to attack me and drag me into their cars. I went to doctors’ offices and touched magazines that had been touched by sick people.” HumorFearHealingSelf EsteemAnxietyHumorousMemoirObsessionRecoveryGermsOcd Book:Mended: Thoughts on Life, Love, and Leaps of Faith Source: Mended: Thoughts on Life, Love, and Leaps of Faith
“Truth: last week I online shopped too much. Then I ate 2 pounds of jelly beans to feel better about that. In fact, while I was trying to read soul-nourishing things all I could think about was shopping and jellybeans. Points to the monkey mind.” HumorLife QuotesMemoirObsessionShoppingSelf ControlHumorous QuotesOvereatingMonkey Mind Book:Mended: Thoughts on Life, Love, and Leaps of Faith Source: Mended: Thoughts on Life, Love, and Leaps of Faith
“I want to share my story, and I want to know yours. I believe with all my heart that sharing our stories, the real, ugly, broken ones, is one of the most powerful things in the world, because to share our story we must first accept it. We must own it. We must stop running from it or shoving it into the corner when company comes over. To share our story is to admit that we've been changed.” InspirationalFaithChangeHealingGraceAcceptancePersonal GrowthMemoirRecoveryStoryBrokenness Book:Mended: Thoughts on Life, Love, and Leaps of Faith Source: Mended: Thoughts on Life, Love, and Leaps of Faith
“Maybe it’s not about having a beautiful day, but about finding beautiful moments. Maybe a whole day is just too much to ask. I could choose to believe that in every day, in all things, no matter how dark and ugly, there are shards of beauty if I look for them.” LossStruggleDepressionMemoirSmall ThingsBad DaySeek BeautyChoose BeautyEveryday BeautyOptimisism Book:Mended: Thoughts on Life, Love, and Leaps of Faith Source: Mended: Thoughts on Life, Love, and Leaps of Faith
“The God I serve is able to save us both. To give us the winning lottery ticket so all our money problems will go away. To mend our broken hearts. To bring us close to those we love. He is able. He is able. He is able. But even if He doesn’t, do not bow to bitterness. Do not fall down onto your broken pieces and let them cut you to ribbons. Even if He doesn’t do all that He is able to do, all that we wish He would do, He is good.” GodReligionSufferingFaithJesusLossChristianityStruggleGraceSeparationMemoirBereavementGrieve Book:Mended: Thoughts on Life, Love, and Leaps of Faith Source: Mended: Thoughts on Life, Love, and Leaps of Faith
“Now I know this is going to seem counter to every instinct that you have, but I'm going to ask you to sit still, or I'll put you in the trunk.” FunnyHumourJackTrunkAnna WhiteJack To SamaraSamaraThe Light And Fallen Book:The Light and Fallen Source: The Light and Fallen
“Acts of love, for me, are leaps of bravery.” LoveRiskRelationship QuotesBraveryPersonal GrowthMemoirLeapLove Quote Book:Mended: Thoughts on Life, Love, and Leaps of Faith Source: Mended: Thoughts on Life, Love, and Leaps of Faith
“My fear of being real, of being seen, paralyzes me into silence. I crave the touch and the connection, but I’m not always brave enough to open my hand and reach out. This is the great challenge: to be seen, accepted, and loved, I must first reveal, offer, and surrender.” LoveFaithFearFriendshipGraceRelationshipAcceptanceSurrenderMemoirConnectionChallengeSisterhood Book:Mended: Thoughts on Life, Love, and Leaps of Faith Source: Mended: Thoughts on Life, Love, and Leaps of Faith
“I think this is what we all want to hear: that we are not alone in hitting the bottom, and that it is possible to come out of that place courageous, beautiful, and strong.” FaithFearBeautyCourageStrengthDepressionAnxietyMemoirNot AloneRelationship AdviceRock Bottom Book:Mended: Thoughts on Life, Love, and Leaps of Faith Source: Mended: Thoughts on Life, Love, and Leaps of Faith
“My husband says this longing for isolation is not a good quality, that if I wanted to be a hermit I should have moved to the West Coast and adopted a lot of cats, not gotten married and had children that demand to be fed several times a day.” LoveFamilyParentingIsolationIntrovertWithdrawalHumor RelationshipsIntrovertedness Book:Mended: Thoughts on Life, Love, and Leaps of Faith Source: Mended: Thoughts on Life, Love, and Leaps of Faith
“Being broken isn't the worst thing. We can be mended and put together again. We don’t have to be ashamed of our past. We can embrace the history that gives us value, and see our cracks as beautiful.” InspirationalHealingMemoirRecoveryUpliftingChristian LivingWholenessBrokennessRepairMended Book:Mended: Thoughts on Life, Love, and Leaps of Faith Source: Mended: Thoughts on Life, Love, and Leaps of Faith
“Christmas is such a time of struggle anyway, crammed with busy and hurry and the expectation that you will be joyful, no matter what. Then, if you’re like me, when you just sit quietly, just be, and let yourself feel what you feel, the guilt creeps in. Because you’re alive and the world is big, and you should be feeling some freakin’ Christmas spirit.” LossStruggleShameGuiltMemoirChristmasBereavementHolidaysChristmas SpiritChristmas Humor Book:Mended: Thoughts on Life, Love, and Leaps of Faith Source: Mended: Thoughts on Life, Love, and Leaps of Faith
“I want my heart to be the thin place. I don't want to board a plane to feel the kiss of heaven. I want to carry it with me wherever I go. I want my fragile, hurting heart, to recognize fleeting kairos, eternal moments as they pass. I want to be my own mountain and my own retreat.” InspirationalGodDivineTravelEternalMemoirRetreatKairosThin Place Book:Mended: Thoughts on Life, Love, and Leaps of Faith Source: Mended: Thoughts on Life, Love, and Leaps of Faith
“A basic reality of life is that we all struggle. We hurt and have hurt other people. We all feel lost sometimes. This isn’t all we are, but it is a part of who we are. The only question I have when I’m with someone is, “Can they admit it? And will they let me admit it too?” LifePainReligionFaithLostRelationshipsHurtChristianityStruggleGraceJourneyHonestyMemoirSisterhood Book:Mended: Thoughts on Life, Love, and Leaps of Faith Source: Mended: Thoughts on Life, Love, and Leaps of Faith