Links that make me think: Part 5

Don't Waste Your Weaknesses in 2014 (John Piper)

This year, don’t focus too much on finding your strengths. Give attention to identify and exploit your weaknesses. God has not given them to you in vain. Identify them. Accept them. Exploit them. Magnify the power of Christ with them. Don’t waste your weaknesses.

20 Things Every Twentysomething Should Know How To Do (Tyler Huckabee)

1. Make a great breakfast
2. Argue kindly
3. Hold a conversation with someone of any age
4. Parallel park
5. Defend your media choices
6. Limit your online life
7. Approach a stranger
8. Stand up for yourself
9. Say "I was wrong"
10. Brew a great cup of coffee or tea
11. Tip generously
12. Maintain a mentor
13. Bite your tongue
14. Stay well rested
15. Respond to criticism
16. Write a cover letter
17. Be alone
18. Recommend a book, movie, or album
19. Prioritize the important over the urgent
20. Hold on to a good friend

The Fear of Being Alone (Leo Babauta)

We tend to see aloneness as bleak, depressing, scary. But it can be seen as freeing, as an opportunity for growth, an opportunity to get to know yourself.

Am I Waiting for a Guy Who Doesn't Exist? (Leslie Ludy)

Don’t ask the question, “am I compatible with this guy?” but rather, “does this guy put Jesus Christ first above all else, and does he lead me closer and closer to my true Prince?”

...Focus on your intimate love-relationship with Jesus Christ, and He will be more than faithful to bring a Christ-built man into your life in His own perfect time and way. It’s amazing how God brings like-minded men and women together when we actually step back and give Him the chance to work.

Finding Comfort During Waiting (Beverly Chao Berrus)

Above all, be comforted that all your longings will be fulfilled in God’s promises through Christ, in whom we are given an everlasting family, secured an inheritance that will never fade, built a home that cannot be destroyed, and provided eternal job security, praising our Triune God for endless days in the fullness of joy in His presence!

...We have a God who keeps all His promises in Jesus and whose timing is impeccable. We may feel abandoned and cursed, but be encouraged that though we live in a world cursed by sin, we are not waiting because we are cursed. Singleness and infertility are not curses upon us. The process of waiting can be the means by which God produces steadfastness so that we would be complete, lacking nothing (James 1:4). Our waiting, especially in trials and suffering, is our faith in action.