Leading Lady

By: Gabriela Yareliz

I am committed to writing more regularly here because I simply miss it. I am here, already dreaming of Easter. Pastel colored dresses, and light trench coats with no leggings. A dream. February is almost over. It’s wild.

Tonight, I read a magazine for a bit. Cherry Bombe featured the lovely and brilliant chef (and writer– let’s be honest) Sophia Roe. Her personal posts about her childhood and her mom’s addiction always leave me so moved.

[Sophia Roe for Tidal Magazine]

After that, I listened to an amazing podcast from Lewis Howes’ School of Greatness, featuring Erwin McManus. It was incredible. Erwin McManus has a special place in my heart because God has spoken directly into my life through his messages and books. I was lucky enough to meet him, this week, at his book launch party, in SoHo.

This season has been an interesting one. There are anticipated changes and uncertainty. Life is constant change, they say. McManus’s messages have helped me find healing and boldness in God and faith, like never before. Sort of like the writings of Sophia Roe. There is an interesting boldness that infiltrates the words of someone who has not only survived life, but thrived in life, despite a difficult and traumatic childhood or beginning. Healing does not come without discomfort, but the greatness that can emerge from vulnerability is unfathomable.

“Healing does not come without discomfort, but the greatness that can emerge from vulnerability is unfathomable.”

There are still things I am, of course, working on and working toward (always)– but I feel like the movie The Holiday can illustrate two things that have been on my mind, lately.

Letting Go and Changing the Narrative

First, letting go.

My favorite character in the movie The Holiday is Amanda. We meet her in the beginning with this horrible boyfriend who is always criticizing her and making her feel like she is the problem (and sure, she had some problems, like picking idiots as partners), meanwhile, this movie trailer voice narrates what is going on inside of her head. She spends essentially the whole movie not being able to cry, but trying to, and she certainly doesn’t cry when she dumps her cheating boyfriend.

It is later revealed that she doesn’t cry because of just how shattered she felt in her childhood, after her parents’ divorce.

Sometimes, I wonder if the occasional stress twitch near my eye is like Amanda’s inability to cry and her heart pills. Maybe, we all need a change of pace, a change in narrative and a good healing cry. Maybe, the act of crying is important, even if it is just a physical release because it is essentially an emotional letting go. Maybe a change in narrative is like what Sophia Roe wrote about as, “Let’s work on eventually solidifying ourselves as survivors, instead of victims. Perhaps even turn our shamed histories, into gilded glowing legacies.” (02.08.19)

Sometimes, our emotions, histories and tensions fill us up so much, that when they flow out, something has to break to let it out, and then, the healing can begin.

Perhaps, there is no cottage in England waiting for us (with that British guy who could be an eye glasses model, am I right? Lens Crafters, if you go out of business it’s because you didn’t wallpaper your walls with ads of Jude Law in glasses)–

—but we can still find moments of solitude, or make life-changing decisions for ourselves, even if the decision is as limited as positioning ourselves in a place where we can receive something we have no control over. Amanda decided her lame partner and pill popping stress needed to stop, and it was then, that her life changed. That one decision set everything else in motion. Lessons to be learned from Amanda: Don’t let anyone tell you who you are, separate yourself from the people and environments that harm you or keep you trapped in more of the same, and cry. Make the time or put things or people in your life that mean something to you. Feel a love, beauty or a passion that is deep enough to bring tears to your eyes.

Protagonist

The second thing is that we must be leading ladies.

So often, we give so much deference or we try to accommodate and be so amenable, and we forget that there are things we can make ours, things we don’t deserve (because we deserve more) and moments where we need to let go (see above).

I see too many women playing the best friend in their own lives. Sometimes, I fall into that trap, too. Be the leading lady. Get that Oscar. You are not, I repeat, you are not the best supporting actress. In your life, you are the protagonist.

Show up and “repurpose” your pain, as Sophia Roe likes to say. Heal. Heal. Heal. And write your story’s new beginning. You aren’t stuck with how the movie began, and you certainly get a say in who you are when it ends.

Several Observations

By: Gabriela Yareliz

These past few days have been refreshing. I have been mounting pieces of furniture that will help add chic storage to my sunny studio. I look forward to no longer seeing the things I will store inside these pieces and to having a more put-together look, in my humble home. I am excited for a proper entrée, for one. Building furniture is soothing to me. Maybe, it’s because I grew up in a house whose furniture my mother and I built during dark power outage hurricane days in Florida, when we first arrived to the hot, muggy and delightfully weather unstable state.

I like this feeling of knowing I made something or at the very least, I built it. Sometimes, it’s painful. You screw and feel the rawness on your palm; and other times, it’s a balancing act, and you learn to hold multiple pieces at once. Law books provide great support for this. (Thank God those ridiculously expensive books are good for more than one thing). Getting more bang for my buck.

Building is also an act of creativity. Especially, when the furniture is cheap and poorly engineered, and they make the holes all weird and unaligned with the piece that needs to be screwed in.

As I am putting together my apartment, my mind often wanders to some things I have observed on social media, which is a new thing for me, as I have no personal social media except the one for my site, Modern Witnesses. If you haven’t checked out the site, please do. We interview amazing Christian women, doing amazing things in the world.

My goal is to have it be an international and diverse collection of amazing true stories and a beacon of hope and community. I want women to feel empowered to share their stories in a secular sphere.

At first, I struggled with making the site diverse. I have a diverse set of friends that I started with, but as I started cold emailing young women, I realized, more and more, that most of the women who were vocal about their faith, from what I could tell, were not women of color, and the women of color I was finding were ignoring me, altogether.

This has been pretty much resolved, as through friends of friends and chains of connections one reaches more people, but there was another theme I saw on the site, recently, that really made me not too excited.

Maybe I am just noticing this, but suddenly, I started noticing that women I had interviewed or wanted to interview were quitting their jobs. They were quitting their jobs to dedicate themselves to “full-time ministry,” which really just meant being on Instagram Live most of the day and churning out newsletters that were popping into my inbox, en masse. I saw someone’s live, and it started with, “I just quit my job, so I could spend time with you and better serve you—” which brought a huge question mark to my mind.

In my mind, true ministry is being out there in the world and having interactions with people outside of your circle. Not staying home to be on Instagram Live to become one of many Christian-for-Christians blogs.

Some women have quit their jobs for “ministry,” while others have done it to raise their children. That is a wonderful personal decision. It is also a phase of life (meaning, not permanent). It is also something not all families can afford to do, and that is a reality.

I say it is wonderful until women decide that this is the maximum of their potential and stop living as the well-rounded humans they are meant to be. The argument that one wants to raise one’s own child as why one stays home seems weak to me. I grew up in a house with two working parents, where a daycare never raised me. I was very much raised by my own parents, every step of the way. That’s as if you decide to never send your child to school because you want to “raise” your child. If the amount of time spent with a child equates the deep act of raising and parenting a child, we are missing something from the big picture. It’s fine if you have other temporary reasons for leaving your job. People have health issues, etc. Not here to judge. And clearly, we live in a society that gives women a lot of flexibility to choose (if their husband’s job or personal financial situation allows). What is right for someone’s life looks different, from family to family, but what I want to say is that staying at home should never mean chucking away your full potential. And I am not talking about any abstract potential I think certain women have– I am thinking about the potential God has for each one of us.

All of this to say, I am concerned that so many Christian women out there are selling themselves short. They are limiting their potential and choosing a comfortable “ministry” of Instagram Live for their friends, rather than the true ministry we are called to do, which is every day, in the workings of the real world with difficult people.

I ask the young women I interview to share their interview in their spheres of influence. Not for followers but because the whole point is that everyone should have a circle of non-religious friends they should be able to share their life with. True ministry occurs in organic and vulnerable relationship with others, who are not like us. Many refuse to share, or to be fair, they don’t have that secular circle to share with. This, I find, to be the most amusing part of all. It’s a work in progress. What can I say? I voice my concerns here partly to express myself and also partly to express my intention with this site and all I am learning. My opinion may be very unpopular, as I haven’t heard anyone else voice it– but that’s fine by me.

“True ministry occurs in organic and vulnerable relationship with others, who are not like us.”

Some of our deepest issues as people, who are growing spiritually, stem from not knowing our identity, dreaming too small, having a comfortable and convenient vision of what religion is and focusing on doctrine and smaller moving pieces and missing the big-picture gospel, altogether.

I have noticed Christian young women place too much emphasis on relationships and what to do with yourself while single.

There are single women doing “singleness” workshops for other women, charging almost $1000 to confused and clearly vulnerable young women— which reminds me of when Carrie Bradshaw, a single 30-something-year-old started a class on how to meet men, yet when the women realized she was single and just like them, her class was left with five people. I understand relationships are important and everyone wants love, but what happens when we spend our lives talking about how relationships should not be an idol and how to meet Christian men, 24/7? It is an idol still, nonetheless. Why do we find our value in things that can be taken from us or aren’t guaranteed to us? We have created an obsessive culture that has landed many of our own in dysfunctional and foundation-lacking relationships that end up cutting our God-given potential. And if it’s clear to us that God doesn’t want our God-given potential to be cut, then why are the things that lead to that ok and common place?

I am noticing, more and more, that women are acting out of desperation, self-centeredness and emotionalism, rather than true understanding of who God is and what He wants for us. Do we pray as hard for our characters to be transformed as we do for a man? Do we repent as hard and search our souls in the way we look for a partner– with the same urgency?

There is an issue when our spirituality leads us to filling certain seasons of our lives with giving money or attention to repetitive seminars/podcasts/emails that are all about ending our current season or what will come after our season, rather than focusing on cultivating who you are and where you are, without expectation and without agenda. And shame on those who decide to exploit this mentality for their own financial gain.

These words are not meant as criticism, they are plain concern. Maybe I am just noticing this now, because I tend to be in secular spheres and not so much in the inner Christian circle. I have been taken aback. I am seeing patterns. I genuinely thought we were past certain things as a “Christian” culture, but we are still very much steeped in a misunderstanding of what God wants to do in us and through us.

I pray women will wake up to their true purpose, which includes caring for their families and loved ones, but a purpose that also puts them out in the world, where Jesus called us to be. (We were not called to be insulated or to insulate our families in some alternative reality.) I pray that we may realize that our identity does not equate whether we are alone or accompanied. Purpose is beyond all of this noise. Someone who joins your life has a purpose, too, and should help you reach your maximum potential in true ministry and life. You should help him/her do the same.

We must learn to discern what really matters. We do it in life. Only a fool would confuse a tabloid piece for a hard news piece.

At the end of the day, life is like building furniture. Except you can’t pay for someone to assemble it for you. You can try, but then, you didn’t build it. It would be a product of someone else’s hands. Sometimes, we give too much space to the noise around us. The truth is, the only one who can help you engineer it the way it really is meant to look is God.

God doesn’t need more women’s clubs looking for single available men or more stay-at-home bloggers, in my opinion. He has a lot more dreamed up for those who dare.

His Power

“I want to live the kind of life that demands the kind power that raised Jesus from the dead and seated Him at the right hand in the heavenly realms— whatever that means. […] I want to live my life in such a way that if God does not show up, I am ruined. I want to live a life that terrifies me. I want to live a life so big, it crushes me if I try to do it alone.” Erwin McManus

Something New

By: Gabriela Yareliz

Happy 2019, dear friends.

We have started a new year. Since I was last here, I have read about 10 books, burned a lot of candles, visited family, came back to NYC, tried to go back to my pre-holiday perfect sleep routine (still in progress), been guilt-tripped by my new Fitbit, transitioned more things in my house to non-toxic products, cooked more new meals with my beloved, cleaned out some closets, saved more money, wrote an abstract to see if I can make it to a conference to present a paper– the list goes on. I have been busy. But I didn’t forget about this place. I have been processing so much, I wasn’t even sure what to say to usher in the new year.

Before this year started, I had gotten myself a new planner in the form of Powersheets, from Cultivate What Matters. I set some very specific goals for the year and frameworks for how to achieve them. I have to say this month has been incredibly productive and action-packed, on that end. Just the fact that I committed to writing that abstract and application for the conference was a goal met, regardless of whether the pitch is accepted. I knew that, this year, I wanted to keep trying new things. I wanted to keep daring, and it has been clear to me that God has been nudging me to dream bigger and to get out of the mindset I have had.

I have always been ambitious, but that ambition also came with very “realistic” and cautious limitations. No one wants to be foolish, right? But this year has been different. From the minute it started, I found myself committed to more growth and doing the work that comes with acquiring more knowledge. I have been willing to be seen as foolish to risk getting a seemingly impossible yes.

I am not going to make this post a book, but I have been learning so much about boundaries, dreams, and living intentionally and with an urgent Godly passion.

No matter what is coming next, I want to move into it as a healthy, whole and maturing person. It’s only month one, but I have been so encouraged by the baby steps taken, each day. Inching closer and closer to that edge of something new.

This quote by Erwin McManus has inspired me so much, in recent days:

“Yes, Solomon said there’s nothing new under the sun, but he also said that everything is meaningless. But everything isn’t meaningless. Life can be full of meaning. It’s only meaningless when our lives are absent of God. Yet when our lives are alive in God, our lives are full of meaning. Of course, there would be nothing new under the sun if we lived our lives apart from God, but we were never intended to live apart from Him. We were always intended to live our lives with Him, and with Him there is always something new.” Erwin McManus, The Last Arrow

How do we know that God is always trying to give us something new, as soon as we are able to receive it? He says so.

“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up, do you not perceive it?” Isaiah 43:19

I hope your 2019 is off to a good start. Healing and growth are not the most comfortable places to be, but there is something exciting in forgetting the former things and forging the new. Let’s brush off our unhappiness or dissatisfaction or the capricious nature that sometimes clouds our judgment. Make room to receive the unexpected. Have your actions prepare the way for the impossible. Be love in action.

What is He springing up in your life? Perceive it now! See, He is doing a new thing. And we know that if it’s from Him, it has to be good.

Home

By: Gabriela Yareliz

Recently, Atelier Doré announced its theme for the month is ‘coming home.’ Ahhh, the classic holiday move of returning to family and familiar grounds. For so many of us, home means two places: where our family lives and where we made memories, and also, the place where we lay our heads to rest each day, even if those two are miles apart. Also, home can mean a person.

Going home can be comforting, exciting, nostalgic and also stressful. (This isn’t including the whole airport hoopla). Some people have these homes that remain unchanged, and they encounter the same people at their family get-togethers. For me and for some of you whom I have spoken to, the constant of life is change, and it seems that sometimes, that has made us afraid. I know that personally, I have seen and dealt with more change than most see in a lifetime. I get how daunting that is.

But I guess, in this ever growing and expanding world, we all face some levels of change (even if, for some, it’s smaller and less emotional).

Families, cities, streets, campuses, churches and all kinds of things seem to change without us. Suddenly, we are back in a place that means so much to us, and so much is different, including ourselves. It would be naive to think that we are static.

It’s important to go and make new memories in all the changes with the people whose stories have shaped our own. Family ties uphold us in the darkest of times. And the ties that remain, must be celebrated. The ties broken, must be prayed for.

Holidays sometimes have a way of reminding us of all that is not as it should be, but that’s not what Christmas is about. We may be reminded of the absence of some loved ones, but that is not what Christmas is about. Christmas isn’t about absence or lack. It’s about God with us. Christmas is about a promise of restoration and redemption being fulfilled.

What I want to do is focus on that which is still the same. The members of family that remain. My perfectly adorable creature of a dog, who I pray hasn’t forgotten me. The sunrise on the cows and property out front, and the sunset through the trees and the property out back. I want to drive through Raleigh with the radio up; and drive up 34th Street and see the graffiti wall; and I want to go to Dauer Hall, and sit quietly by the basement door, where I spent so many mornings.

Florida always speaks to me. It offers a healing whisper in the crisp star lit nights. It’s simple, like a Cracker Barrel hashbrown casserole. Home isn’t a tourist attraction. Home is for those who can see beauty in bare nature and simple southern stillness.

Home is about bubbling springs, sprawling trees draped in Spanish moss, quiet so loud you can hear every insect, and strength— lots of quiet strength that will carry me through the next turning point.

I hope you find your own quiet strength and hope in whatever home means to you.

Christmas is coming, and I know there will be a bright shining star in the dark night, because it wouldn’t be Christmas without it.

Boxes

By: Gabriela Yareliz

I have had this on my mind, lately; this idea of boxes. No, before you ask, I am not moving.

The truth is, there is always a box in every career that you are expected to fit into. There is a set rubric and technique that you need to comply with, to do well.

I saw this in journalism school, where they wanted everyone to basically sound the same. I saw this in law, where there is this checklist you need to check off and sell your soul for.

I know that to learn something, you need to get the basics down, and rubrics help with this. I know we need a measuring standard, but boxes can be tough on those of us who don’t fit into them, in the long run.

I love Dancing With the Stars. I like dancing, and I LOVE storytelling, so what is not to love?

Recently, people were shocked at the fact that Juan Pablo, a contestant with perfect scores and at the top of the leaderboard, was sent home.

His routines were perfect. There were times when we didn’t know who was the pro and who was the celebrity. He checked off every box.

His pro said something along the lines of, “I guess people want to see someone with two left feet become a dancer” in one of those post-elimination interviews. Maybe, we do.

I really don’t think they were eliminated because people “forgot” to vote because they were “so good”, as they insinuated. To be honest, I think his perfection bored us all. I know it bored me. And confirmed by their post-elimination interview was this impression the couple gave off of slight arrogance.

He is a great dancer. I am not taking anything away from him. Juan Pablo was perfection, but I prefer some of the other, dancers on the show. (See Bobby Bones).

See, the box here is the rubric with which the judges come up with their scores.

My point is that I realized that staying in the box and perfection and adherence to an arbitrary and commonly recognized standard is a high score, but it doesn’t make people feel things. Fitting into a box can also lead to arrogance and complacency.

I vote for the dancer who inspires me and makes me feel something. Perfection doesn’t always make people feel things– vulnerability does.

I want to live outside of the box. How we live is art. I may not get a perfect score in my art or craft, but I want to make people see the real me. I want to be vulnerable. At the end of the day, I don’t want to make people remember my perfect score or perfect grade, I want them to remember me and the fact that I got up every day and gave it my all. I want them to remember how I made them feel.

You can keep your ten, if it means you will cry with me. This is true art, in every field, in every way.

On the NYC Train

By: Gabriela Yareliz

It’s November. Apple picking is done for the season. The elections came and went, and here we are. Amazing. I don’t want to sound like a broken record, like that girl whose podcast I always listened to, but then she said the same thing every time and would cry in every episode, and I had to take a break because I started to feel like her therapist. I want to share some things with you, but in a different way.

The year is coming to a close. The new year always brings us hope. We have an idea of who we want to be and all we want to do. (Or not…) We end up traveling, spending time with family, and sometimes, this time of the year brings back bad memories.

I want to give you some reminders, and I am going to look around the train and gather lessons for the end of the year from the failing and ever insane NYC subway.

Coming to you from the underground tunnels:

1.Projection

I just saw two 60-something-year-old sisters with faux orange skin, bleach blonde hair and tons of blue eyeshadow. The reminder is to be your best, natural, true self. Not sure if it is because I am getting older, but I feel more and more “right in my skin” (if that’s the expression. Is it? My English-as second-language self is anxiously questioning). What has felt right for me is: Less makeup (only spending like 7 minutes on that); my own skin; supplements until death do us part, and less wired and shaped undergarments. It’s weird. It’s refreshing. Be you. My point is, though, remember that how you project yourself has consequences. These sisters looked stiff and trying way too hard. They got the attention of the subway car, but it was negative attention. Let’s not make life more complicated than it is. You are great. Be you.

“It’s weird. It’s refreshing. Be you.”

2.People

There was a man who furiously walked past me, mumbling something to himself. For a minute, I said a prayer that he wouldn’t stab me or throw me on the train tracks. (Sounds dramatic, but I assure you, you would have done the same). The train is the perfect place to find angry people. It just is. To avoid anger, we are all either staring at our phones or the headphones are in as we listen to that podcast of the crying girl (the one I mentioned before), or we are reading our New Yorkers with furious focus, so we can catch up. When the mariachi band interrupts, there is a collective sigh of irritation, a slight smile, and then, we resume. Let’s make a commitment to not ignore each other. It’s fine to have your alone moments— to read and do your thing (I need them). But let’s always be present. Let’s not give up on people, and let’s not think we are alone in the world. Being alone is easy, but there is no growth in easy. Acknowledgement, even with the fear of death, can be all someone is looking for.

“Being alone is easy, but there is no growth in easy.”

3.Wellness

Winter is coming. I got away with sheer tights today, but oh man, it’s coming. The black pumps and mules will be put away, and I will live in my boots for the rest of my days (just kidding— just until next July). I see the subway poles and stuff we all touch, and one word comes to mind: Immunity. May we build and protect our immunity from the germs we will all share when we will be coughing on each other, in a month. And let’s build our immunity for the bad and negative thoughts and energy that threaten to invade our minds and souls. Sanitize that.

“Sanitize that.”

4.Patience

You develop the patience of a saint in NYC. I think we New Yorkers think of ourselves as impatient because sometimes our frustration eats us alive inside, but we are actually very patient. There is no other way to navigate and survive. There are masses of people, and sometimes, you get trapped behind the person with the cane going up the stairs or helping the woman with the stroller up the same said stairs. It’s a way of life. You learn to just be like “deep breath.” “Fix it Jesus.” We need more of this patience as our life unfolds. Sometimes, we have to help someone carry his/her burden. Sometimes, we need to go slowly because there is brokenness, but one thing is certain, we make it to our destination.

“Sometimes, we need to go slowly because there is brokenness, but one thing is certain, we make it to our destination.”

5.Scent

Always smell good. Enough said. Dishonesty smells. Be as honest as the notes of Chanel N•5. Bold, beautiful and so timeless. Secrets, double lives, shenanigans— that smells as good as that Walmart imitation fragrance that fades in about twenty minutes. Smell is not something you can hide. Honey, we can all see it and smell it. You are only fooling yourself. When you smell bad, people gag. Same goes for your character.

“When you smell bad, people gag. Same goes for your character.”

6.Accountability

I hate when people leave their trash, and then, the subway floor gets sticky or wet. Nothing beats the tsunami of spilled coffee or soda you see making its way down the subway car. Clean up your mess. If you can’t contain the spill and the damage is done, at least apologize to the car and take your empty cup with you. (Literally and figuratively).

“If you can’t contain the spill and the damage is done, at least apologize to the car and take your empty cup with you.”

7.Share moments

Do not come and sit to eat your egg and cheese sandwich next to me at 7:30 AM, on the slowest train in NYC. But yes, we share a lot of moments. We eat breakfast together, put on makeup together, we smile at each other when a cute kid says something adorable in an extremely loud voice, we witness fights and share our expressions as the couple exits the train, we hold the door open for that commuter who looks like he or she will have a breakdown if he/she misses that train (even if we piss off the train conductor), we cry along with the crying girl in the aforementioned podcast, while staring out the train window— we have moments. Make memories. The routine may seem lame, but these can be the most interesting moments that we remember. It’s how we build a life.

“It’s how we build a life.”

8.Sleep

Sleep at home. I can’t tell you how many Asian men have fallen asleep on my shoulder (not intentionally) (not sure why they are all Asian— it’s a thing). Sleep is important. We don’t get enough of it. Sleeeeeeeeep.

9.Ads

There are a memorable one or two, but usually, I don’t remember the ads because I ignore them. Block out the noise and everything crying out for your attention. Ignore the noise and remember the cute stuff.

10.Hurt

I have been elbowed in the face and hit in the eye, unintentionally (I can only assume as they were strangers) by people taller than me. It happens. People will hurt us. Sometimes, they don’t even realize it. I have had to just keep moving and run to court, even after feeling like I got punched in the eye by a total stranger. You blink back the tears and keep on moving. Nothing can keep you down. (And learn to duck— it’s a good skill to have).

“Nothing can keep you down.”

All right, this is my stop. I am getting off. Until next time, my fellow commuters.

Choose Life

“We are impacted by the choices of the people who came before us; we are impacted by the choices our parents made, in fact, there’s some things about who you are that you are that because someone chose that for themselves, and they passed it on to you— and a lot of times, it’s the worst of us (…)

I wish my father had chosen me over alcohol, and I’ll wish that ‘til the day I die. I wish he had chosen to stay, instead of run. I’ll wish that until my last breath because here’s the reality— those moments, those defining moments in our lives, some of them are not the choices we made, but the choices that are made that impact us.

So then, you have to step up into a new moment and decide that you’ll choose a moment more powerful than their moments, in your life.

Choose life so that you and your children may live; now, here is the beautiful thing— if they can pass onto us the worst of them, then we can choose life and pass on the best of us. ‘That you may love the Lord your God, listen to His voice and hold fast to Him.’ This is what it looks like when you live in a relationship with God (…) ‘For the Lord is your life.’ (…)

God can’t give you life apart from Himself because God does not give life. God is life, and the only way you step into life is to step into Him. (…) If He chose you, who cares who doesn’t choose you.”

Chasing Daylight: Choose to Live, Erwin McManus

“God can’t give you life apart from Himself because God does not give life. God is life.”