Run from God

"He who runs from God in the morning will scarcely find Him the rest of the day."

~ John Bunyan

Pleasures

When I was on my feet, big boisterous pleasures provided only fleeting satisfaction. In a wheelchair, satisfaction settles in as I sit under an oak tree on a windy day and delight in the rustle of the leaves or sit by a fire and enjoy the soothing strains of a symphony. These smaller, less noisy pleasures are rich because, unlike the fun on my feet, these things yield patience, endurance, and a spirit of gratitude, all of which fits me further for eternity. It is this yieldedness that gains you the most here on earth.

~ Joni Eareckson Tada

Suffering Makes...

The greatest Christians in history seem to say that their sufferings ended up bringing them the closest to God - so this is the best thing that could happen, not the worst.

~ Peter Kreeft

The Wheelchair is a Gift

Even though I have rough moments in my wheelchair, for the most part I consider my paralysis a gift. Just as Jesus exchanged the meaning of the Cross from a symbol of torture to one of hope and salvation, He gives me the grace to do the same with my chair. If a cross can become a blessing, so can a wheelchair. The wheelchair, in a sense, is behind me now. The despair is over. There are now other crosses to bear, other "wheelchairs" in my life to be exchanged into gifts.

~ Joni Eareckson Tada

Who does suffering perfect?

We all know people who have been made much meaner and more irritable and more intolerable to live with by suffering: it is not right to say that all suffering perfects. It only perfects one type of person...... the one who accepts the call of God in Christ Jesus.

~ Oswald Chambers

Protection from Suffering?

Our vision is so limited we can hardly imagine a love that does not show itself in protection from suffering.... The love of God did not protect His own Son.... He will not necessarily protect us - not from anything it takes to make us like His Son. A lot of hammering and chiseling and purifying by fire will have to go into the process.

~ Elisabeth Elliot

Two Percent Matters

One time I had trouble with mice, so I bought some d-CON. I noticed on the package that only 2 percent of its contents was actually poison. The rest was edible.

Now if some educated mouse could read, he might reason: "But there is so much good in it, a little bit won't harm me, and besides, I'm hungry." Yet all that good food didn't do that poor creature much good, because the little bit of poison either killed him or gave him some mighty nasty indigestion. The 98 percent nourishment was useless if that 2 percent killed him! The 98 percent was not enough to offset the 2 percent. The makers of d-CON know they have to put much good-tasting food in before mice will be tempted to eat that little bit that kills them.

This parallel with a situation we often find in religion. Many feel that if there is so much good in their doctrines, a little bit of error won't hurt them. However, the devil is smart enough to give people enough of the truth to make his lies appear wholesome, but just enough error to condemn. No one will benefit from 98 percent truth if there is 2 percent error mixed in with it. Man won't go 98 percent to heaven and 2 percent to hell; he'll go either one place or the other. Did not James say,"For whoseover shall keep the whole law, and yet often in one point, he is guilty of all"? (James 2:10). The person who rejects 2 percent of the truth of God is guilty, just like the person who reject all. "The wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23).

Think about it.

~ Author Unknown

...Judge Persons...

"Make it a practice to judge persons and things in the most favorable light at all times and under all circumstances."

~ Saint Vincent De Paul