-
No one whose first concern is feeling good can be a disciple. We are called to carry a cross and to glorify God.
-
Until the will and the affections are brought under the authority of Christ, we have not begun to understand, let alone to accept, His lordship.
-
It is always possible to be thankful for what is given rather than to complain about what is not given. One or the other becomes a habit of life.
-
One step at a time, over the years, as I sought to plumb the mystery of suffering (which cannot be plumbed), I began to see that there is a sense in which everything is a gift. Even my widowhood.
-
The principles of gain through loss, of joy through sorrow, of getting by giving, of fulfillment by laying down, of life out of death is what the Bible teaches, and the people who have believed it enough to live it out in simple, humble, day-by-day practice are people who have found the gain, the joy, the getting, the fulfillment, the life.
-
The world cries for men who are strong--strong in conviction, strong to lead, to stand, to suffer. I pray that you will be that kind of man--glad that God made you a man, glad to shoulder the burden of manliness in a time when to do so will often bring contempt.
-
Silence, as someone has said, is the mother of prayer and the nurse of holy thoughts. Silence cuts down on our sins, doesn't it? We can't be sinning in so many different ways if we are being quiet before God. Silence nourishes patience, charity, discretion.
-
There is nothing worth living for, unless it is worth dying for.
-
It is through the tender austerity of our troubles that the Son of Man comes knocking. In every event He seeks an entrance to my heart, yes, even in my most helpless, futile, fruitless moments. The very cracks and empty crannies of my life, my perplexities and hurts and botched-up jobs, He wants to fill with Himself, His joy, His life...He urges me to learn of Him: 'I am gentle and humble in heart.
-
Faith has to be exercised in the midst of ordinary, down-to-earth living.
-
Prayer lays hold of God's plan and becomes the link between His will and its accomplishment on earth. Amazing things happen, and we are given the privilege of being the channels of the Holy Spirit's prayer.
-
A man must at times be hard as nails: willing to face up to the truth about himself, and about the woman he loves, refusing compromise when compromise is wrong. But he must also be tender. No weapon will breach the armor of a woman's resentment like tenderness.
-
If my life is surrendered to God, all is well. Let me not grab it back, as though it were in peril in His hand but would be safer in mine!
-
The will of God is not something you add to your life. It’s a course you choose. You either line yourself up with the Son of God…or you capitulate to the principle which governs the rest of the world.
-
There is something that pretends to be christianity which is mostly mood. The measure of its faith is merely the measure of its feeling.
-
Thanksgiving and Christmas then, for us who love God, are not mere time outs from work days. They are a celebration of the gift of work itself, days on which we celebrate work by declaring our freedom. In a manner of speaking we announce that on this one day we may rest from our work, and without pressure or guilt, we may be glad. A holiday is a holy day-meant for rejoicing in God.
-
We fundamentalists are a pack of mood-loving showoffs. I'm sure the Minor Prophets would have found subject for correction.
-
When the time comes to die, make sure that all you have to do is die!
-
The process of shaping the child, shapes also the mother herself. Reverence for her sacred burden calls her to all that is pure and good, that she may teach primarily by her own humble, daily example.
-
We must quit bending the Word to suit our situation. It is we who must be bent to that Word, our necks that must bow under the yoke.
-
I will offer to Him both my tears and my exultation. Nothing we offer to Him will be lost.
-
In order to learn what it means to be a woman we must start with the One who made her.
-
Blessings taken for granted are often forgotten.
-
She is free not by disobeying the rules but by obeying them.