Sorrow & Joy

“It is possible to experience intense sorrow and real joy at the same time, in the same heart.” ~ John Piper

By Grace...

"The Kingdom of God is given by grace to the humbly penitent who believe and are born again." ~ Jerry Porter

Spiritual Transformation

Spiritual transformation is primarily the work of the Holy Spirit. He is the Master Sculptor ~ Jerry Bridges 

Answered Questions

"It will help us greatly and keep us from much confusion, if we keep constantly before us this fact, that God will answer all our questions in one way only, namely by showing us more of His Son." ~ Watchman Nee

I Don't Know Where to Turn...

“How often have we ourselves said or have heard others exclaim in times of crisis or trouble, ‘I just don’t know where to turn’? If we will just use it, there is a gift available to all of us—the gift of looking to God for direction. Here is an avenue of strength, comfort, and guidance.” ~ Marvin J. Ashton

Forgiveness: God's Invention

"Forgiveness is God's invention for coming to terms with a world in which, despite their best intentions, people are unfair to each other and hurt each other deeply. He began by forgiving us. And He invites us all to forgive each other." ~ Smedes

What Love Looks Like

"What does love look like? It has the hands to help others. It was the feet to hasten to the poor and needy. It has eyes to see misery and want. It has the ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men. This is what love looks like." ~ Augustine

Marriage Is About...

"Marriage is about gently encouraging each other toward Christlikeness, not tearing one another down because we're not already there." ~ Gary Thomas

Memorial Day...

"A HERO is someone who has given his or her life to something BIGGER than oneself." ~ Joseph Campbell

Moral Exellence

"Keep feeling the need for being first. But I want you to be the first in love. I want you to be the first in moral excellence. I want you to be the first in generosity." ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

Power...

"Power, no matter how well-intentioned, tends to cause suffering. Love, being vulnerable, absorbs it. In a point of convergence on a hill called Calvary, God renounced the one for the sake of the other." ~ Philip Yancey

Teachers and Leaders

"Oh, for more teachers among us! Leaders who know how to read hearts and apply truth to the needs of the people as a good physician reads his patients and applies remedies to their ills." ~ Samuel Logan Brengle

Beautiful People

"The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen." ~ Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

Leading...

“Leading is to ignite the imaginations of others with the promises and purposes of God.” ~ J.K. Warrick

Marriage Is...

"Marriage is a picture of the gospel before it is a vehicle of happiness." ~ Gary Thomas

What You Can Do...

"Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do." ~ John Wooden

Need Love...

“Sometimes when family members least deserve love, they need it most. Love is not appropriately expressed in threats, accusations, expressions of disappointment, or retaliation. Real love takes time, patience, help, and continuing performances.” ~ Marvin J. Ashton

God's Will

"Our difficulty is not that we don't know God's will. Our discomfort comes from the fact that we do know His will, but we do not want to do it." ~ Henry Blackaby

His Grace

"I am not left to find my destiny in this boundless sea; but He bears me up with the certainties of His revelations and the riches of His grace." ~ Phineas F. Bresee

Prayer...

Fulfillment of Life

"Regardless of what happens, remember that money does not give you identity or fulfillment; it only serves to empower or prohibit the fulfillment of the life purpose that God has ordained for you." ~ Chuck Bentley

True Peace...

"True peace comes from accepting God's lordship over all things, including money; managing resources He entrusts to us according to His financial principles; and being a generous giver." ~ Chuck Bentley

The Survivor's Creed

"I'll get through this. It won't be painless. It won't be quick. But God will use this mess for good. In the meantime...don't be foolish or naive. But don't despair either. With Gods help...I will get through this." ~ Max Lucado

Optimism

"We ought to be the most optimistic people on the face of the earth." ~ Jesse C. Middendorf

He Wants to Make You...

"What God wants to make of us is more important than what we can make of ourselves." ~ B. Brown

Beggars

"We are all beggars. We are all members of a species that is not sufficient unto itself. We are all creatures plagued by unending doubts and restless, unsatisfied hearts. Of all creatures, we are the poorest and the most incomplete. Our needs are always beyond our capacities, and we only find ourselves when we lose ourselves…. The unending nature of our poverty as human beings is our only innate treasure." ~ Johannes Metz

Would You Throw It Away?

"He, who gives what he would as readily throw away, gives without generosity; for the essence of generosity is in self-sacrifice." ~ Jeremy Taylor

The Call...

"The work which God has called us to do, must be done. Not something else, not something similar..."~ Phineas F. Bresee

Learning to Love

"Learning to love unselfishly is not an easy task. It runs counter to our self-centered nature." ~ Rick Warren

Ultimate Goal of Church...

"Missions is not the ultimate goal of church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn't." ~ John Piper

Bear the Load

"We are pilgrims on a journey, We are travelers on the road; we are here to help each other. Walk the mile and bear the load." ~ Gillard

Reach Out

"Selfless acts of reaching out to those in need in tangible ways are hugely impactful." ~ David A. Busic

Hard & Holy Conversations

"The ability to have hard and holy conversations begins with a skill that seems to be lacking in our cultural discourse—the ability to listen." ~ M. Schutz

Communion

“Some people say their prayers and go to communion, but because their hearts are full of earth they derive little profit from it.” ~ Liguori

Worship Songs

“Worship songs can’t just be rooted in culture – they won’t be deep enough. They have to be rooted in Scripture.” ~ Matt Redman

Turn It into Testimony

"Don't bear trouble, use it. Take whatever happens - justice and injustice, pleasure and pain, compliment and criticism - take it up into the purpose of your life and make something out of it. Turn it into testimony." ~ E. Stanley Jones

Truth Always Carries...

"Truth always carries with it confrontation. Truth demands confrontation; loving confrontation nevertheless. If our reflex action is always accommodation regardless of the centrality of the truth involved, there is something wrong." ~ Francis A. Schaeffer