Just because you…achieve what you always thought would make you feel special does not fix that deep-down internal insecurity. External achievement never equals internal acceptance.

She refuses to be a victim of a circumstance she can't fully change. Instead she changes what she can.

Do not love the world or anything in the world…. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life — comes not from the Father but from the world. (1 JOHN 2:15 — 16)

we must not confuse the disease to please with the command to love.

I want it to be evident that I'm a girl who spends time with Jesus and that He's working on me.

Rewriting the go-to scripts is one of the most crucial steps toward permanent progress.

What we see will violate what we know unless what we know dictates what we see.

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

I shift my focus from trying to fix the other person and the situation to allowing God to reveal some tender truths to me.

I have to trust that first comes the dust, and then comes the making of something even better with us. God isn't ever going to forsake you, but He will go to great lengths to remake you.

Rather than dwelling on wounds that leave us feeling emotionally empty, we can learn to look for whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy in life (Philippians 4: 8). When I park my mind and heart on thoughts that refresh me instead of ones that depress me, I am filled. Like the psalmist reminds us, "Taste and see that the LORD is good" (Psalm 34: 8).

If I want His promises, I have to trust His process. I have to trust that first comes the dust, and then comes the making of something even better with us. God isn't ever going to forsake you, but He will go to great lengths to remake you.