sometimes in the moments of the most searing pain, we think we don’t have a choice. but we do, it’s in those moments that we make the most important choice: grow up or give up. it’s easy to want to give up under the weight of what we’re carrying. it seems sometimes like the only possible choice. but there’s always, always, always another choice, and transformation is waiting for us just beyond that choice.

this is what i know: God can make something beautiful out of anything, out of darkness and trash and broken bones. He can shine light into even the blackest night, and He leaves glimpses of hope all around us. an oyster, a sliver of moon, one new bud on a black branch, a perfect tender shoot of asparagus, fighting up through the dirt for the spring sun. new life and new beauty are all around us, waiting to be discovered, waiting to be seen.

“phoenix” | pages 233-234 | shauna niequist | bittersweet