When the world careens out of control, we can rest in the fact that God spun this world with a simple word. Matter from emptiness. Beauty from void. Community from chaos.

When God wants to do an impossible task, He takes an impossible person and breaks her.

We may not understand the pathways God lays out before us. We may not even like walking the journey. But even in failure, we can trust that He’ll do more than we expect.

We grow when the walls press in. We grow when life steals our control. We grow in darkness.

We don’t like death. We’d rather produce seeds another way. But death to ourselves, our agendas, our expectations, our hopes is necessary to find deep joy that comes when we fully relinquish ourselves to the gospel.

To become more like Jesus we must understand that the only growth we can be in charge of is our own.