Thus Spoke Zarathustra

I would believe only in a god who could dance. And when I saw my devil I found him serious, thorough, profound, and solemn: it was the spirit of gravity—through him all things fall.
Not by wrath does one kill but by laughter. Come, let us kill the spirit of gravity!
I have learned to walk: ever since, I let myself run. I have learned to fly: ever since, I do not want to be pushed before moving along.
Now I am light, now I fly, now I see myself beneath myself, now a god dances through me.
Thus spoke Zarathustra
Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra

Minnie Louise Haskins, God Knows

And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year: “Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.”
And he replied:
“Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.”
So I went forth, and finding the Hand of God, trod gladly into the night. And He led me towards the hills and the breaking of day in the lone East.

So heart be still:
What need our little life
Our human life to know,
If God hath comprehension?
In all the dizzy strife
Of things both high and low,
God hideth His intention.

God knows. His will
Is best. The stretch of years
Which wind ahead, so dim
To our imperfect vision,
Are clear to God. Our fears
Are premature; In Him,
All time hath full provision.

Then rest: until
God moves to lift the veil
From our impatient eyes,
When, as the sweeter features
Of Life’s stern face we hail,
Fair beyond all surmise
God’s thought around His creatures
Our minds shall fill.

- Minnie Louise Haskins, God Knows

Abraham Kuyper

"Oh, no single piece of our mental world is to be hermetically sealed off from the rest, and there is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: 'Mine!'"

- Abraham Kuyper

injury

what injury has taught me

1. root out my idols

My identity is in Christ alone. Dance/travelling shouldn't define me!

2. rest in God

Only He can give me true peace; for without Him our hearts would be restless.

3.remember that God is in control

He is sovereign and all-powerful. Everything occurs according to his plans:)

the cost of discipleship

Men go to God when he is sore bested:
find him poor and scorned, without shelter and bread,
whelmed under weight of the wicked, the weak, the dead.
Christians stand by god in his hour of grieving.
-second verse of "Christian and Unbeliever" by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Self-sufficiency is the most fatal sin

"Self-sufficiency...is the most fatal sin because it pulls us as if by magnet from God. The suffering and the poor have the advantage that their lack of self-sufficiency is obvious to them every day. They must turn somewhere for strength, and sometimes they turn to God. People who are rich, successful, and beautiful may go through life relying on their natural gifts. But there's a chance, just a chance, that people who lack such natural advantages may cry out to God in their time of need...suffering and oppressed people find themselves in a posture that befits the grace of God. They are needy, dependent, and dissatisfied with life; for that reason they may welcome God's free gift of love." (Yancey, Where Is God When It Hurts?, p. 148-149)

where is God when it hurts

"The book of Job should nail a coffin lid over the idea that every time we suffer it's because God is punishing us or trying to tell us something. Although the Bible supports the general principle that 'a man reaps what he sows' even in this life (see Psalms 1:3; 37:25), the book of Job proves that other people have no right to apply that general principle to a particular person. Nobody deserved suffering less than Job, and yet few have suffered more." (Yancey, Where Is God When It Hurts?, p. 81)

Cure vs healing

‎"Cure and healing are not one and the same. Cure refers to the complete physical resolution of a disease. Healing may involve physical cure, but it is vastly more encompassing. Healing refers to a psychological and spiritual regeneration after we have been wounded, whatever the nature of the wound. Those who cultivate healing might also find that they are cured, usually with the inestimable aid of modern medicine. Or they might not be cured. But regardless of the medical outcome, this broader healing is a goal worth all of our energies - and our prayers." (Chiel and Dreher, The Healing Power of Psalms, p. 19)

Prayer

"There are two broad categories (of prayer): directed prayer, in which we ask for a specific goal, image, or outcome ('make it happen'), and non directed or 'open-ended' prayer, in which no specific outcome is held in the mind ('let it be').

"...Certainly, both forms of petition have validity. But one reason to consider the non-directed approach to prayer is that it acknowledges a higher intelligence: We don't always know precisely what is best for ourselves or our loved ones." (Chiel and Dreher, The Healing Power of Psalms, p. 27)

Soul repair

"To truly surrender we must come to the end of our attempts to run our own lives. Once we are clear on the futility of our own spiritual efforts and the need for God's help and guidance, we can turn our lives over to God's care and direction. As long as some part of us is holding out and believing that we can make our lives work if we just try a little harder, we will find it difficult to fully surrender. Thus, surrendering to God's love and grace becomes a process of releasing more and more of our self-reliance as we grow in faith...God will take over when we come to the end of our futile attempts to be good enough, spiritual enough or smart enough to run our own lives." (Soul Repair, p. 141)