In naming that which is right before me, that which I'd otherwise miss, the invisible becomes visible.
Ann VoskampAre stress and worry evidence of a soul too lazy, too undisciplined, to keep gaze fixed on God?
Ann VoskampI make soup and I back bread and I know my supreme need is joy in God and I know I can't experience deep joy in God until I deep trust in God. I shine sinks and polish through to the realization that trusting God is my most urgent need. If I deep trusted God in all the facets of my life, wouldn't that deep heal my anxiety, my self-condemnation, my soul holes? The fear is suffocating, terrorizing, and I want the remedy, and it is trust. Trust is everything. If fear keeps our lives small, does a life that receives all of God in this moment grow large too?
Ann VoskampHe does have surprising, secret purposes. I open a Bible, and His plans, startling, lie there barefaced. Itโs hard to believe it, when I read it, and I have to come back to it many times, feel long across those words, make sure they are real. His love letter forever silences any doubts: โHis secret purpose framed from the very beginning [is] to bring us to our full gloryโ (1 Corinthians 2:7 NEB).
Ann VoskampI know there is poor and hideous suffering, and I've seen the hungry and the guns that go to war. I have lived pain, and my life can tell: I only deepen the wound of the world when I neglect to give thanks for early light dappled through leaves and the heavy perfume of wild roses in early July and the song of crickets on humid nights and the rivers that run and the stars that rise and the rain that falls and all the good things that a good God gives.
Ann Voskamp