1
In perplexities -- when we cannot tell what to do, when we cannot understand what is going on around us -- let us be calmed and steadied and made patient by the thought that what is hidden from us is not hidden from Him.
--Frances Ridley Havergal
2
When you and I hurt deeply, what we really need is not an explanation from God but a revelation of God. We need to see how great God is; we need to recover our lost perspective on life. Things get out of proportion when we are suffering, and it takes a vision of something bigger than ourselves to get life's dimensions adjusted again.
--Warren W. Wiersbe
3
When we stand in the middle of a lifestorm, it seems as if the storm has become our way of life. We cannot see a way out. We are unable to chart a course back to smoother waters. We feel defeated--and broken. Will that brokenness produce a cynicism that will keep us forever in the mire of "if only" thinking? Or will we yield up that brokenness to the resources of One who calms the winds and the waves, heals the brokenhearted, and forgives the most grievous of sins? The choice is ours.
--Verdell Davis, in "Riches Stored in Secret Places"
4
All of us have wondered at times why God doesn't do more to fix our problems. But our human eyes often fail to see that God isn't rushing to change our circumstances because he is concerned with a much more serious problem -- our character. While you struggle with the woes of this world, god's main occupation is preparing you for the world to come. The focus of what God is doing in your life takes place in you, not around you.
--Andy Stanley, in "Like A Rock"
5
Disaster only brings the Christian closer to God. Nasty surprises or twists and turns of plot do not deter us from the path we tread. Because of the cross, we may march through earthly jungles, deserts, gardens, cities, but we are on a heavenly trek. No matter what our journeys lead us through, we always end up in God. From where we stand now, our future may look dreadful, exciting, boring, but we may rest assured that we are in better hands than our own if we simply give our future to Christ.
--Leslie Williams, in "Night Wrestling"
6
God has a time for everything, a perfect schedule. He is never too soon, never too late. The when of His will is as important as the what and the how.
--Richard C. Halverson
7
Your Holy Spirit enfolds me -- making me realize I am not alone. Thank You for Your strength, Your wisdom and the comfort of Your presence. Even in the most agonizing times I have the knowledge that You are there, Lord. When all I can do is whisper Your Name, it is enough. You hear. You care. You understand. My praise and adoration, Lord Jesus. Amen.
--Joan Winmill Brown
8
There is no circumstance, no trouble, no testing, that can ever touch me until, first of all, it has gone past God and past Christ, right through to me. If it has come that far, it has come with a great purpose, which I may not understand at the moment. But I refuse to become panicky, as I lift up my eyes to Him and accept it as coming from the throne of God for some great purpose of blessing to my own heart.
--Alan Redpath
9
This is the beginning of a new day. God has given me this day to use as I will. I can waste it or use it for good. What I do today is important, because I'm exchanging a day of my life for it. When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forever, leaving in its place something that I have traded for it. I want it to be gain, not loss; good, not evil; success, not failure; in order that I shall not regret the price I paid for it.
--Author Unknown
10
A difficult crisis can be more readiliy endured if we retain the conviction that our existence holds a purpose -- a cause to pursue, a person to love, a goal to achieve.
--John Maxwell
11
Be absolutely certain that our Lord loves you, devotedly and individually, loves you just as you are. . . . Accustom yourself to the wonderful thought that God loves you with a tenderness, a generosity, and an intimacy that surpasses all your dreams.
--Abbe Henri de Tourville
12
Snuggle in God's arms. When you are hurting, when you feel lonely, left out. . . let Him cradle you, comfort you, reassure you of His all-sufficient power and love.
--Kay Arthur
13
The goodness of God is infinitely more wonderful than we will ever be able to comprehend.
--A. W. Tozer
14
When we focus on God, the scene changes. He's in control of our lives; nothing lies outside the realm of His redemptive grace. Even when we make mistakes, fail in relationships, or deliberately make bad choices, God can redeem us.
--Penelope J. Stokes
15
When God is involved, anything can happen. . . . Be open. Stay that way. God has a beautiful way of bringing good vibrations out of broken chords.
--Charles R. Swindoll
16
Leave the broken, irreversible past in God's hands, and step out into the invincible future with Him.
--Oswald Chambers
17
Let's never forget that some of God's greatest mercies are His refusals. He says no in order that He may, in some way we cannot imagine, say yes. All His ways with us are merciful. His meaning is always love.
--Elisabeth Elliot
18
Be persuaded, timid soul, that He has loved you too much to cease loving you.
--Archbishop Fenelon
19
When you are in the furnace, your Father keeps His eye on the clock and His hand on the thermostat. He knows just how much we can take.
---Warren W. Wiersbe
20
When you suffer and lose, that does not mean you are being disobedient to God. In fact, it might mean you're right in the center of His will. The path of obedience is often marked by times of suffering and loss.
--Charles R. Swindoll
21
God will not turn away from doing you good. He will keep on doing good. He doesn't do good to His children sometimes and bad to them other times. He keeps on doing good and He never will stop doing good for ten thousand ages of ages. When things are going "bad" that does not mean God has stopped doing good. It means He is shifting things around to get them in place for more good, if you will go on loving Him.
--John Piper
22
When you have no helpers, see all your helpers in God. When you have many helpers, see God in all your helpers. When you have nothing but God, see all in God; when you have everything, see God in everything. Under all conditions, stay thy heart only on the Lord.
--Charles Haddon Spurgeon
23
This hard place in which you perhaps find yourself is the very place in which God is giving you opportunity to look only to Him, to spend time in prayer, and to learn long-suffering, gentleness, meekness -- in short, to learn the depths of the love that Christ Himself has poured out on all of us.
--Elisabeth Elliot
24
How can you expect God to speak in that gentle and inward voice which melts the soul, when you are making so much noise with your rapid reflections? Be silent and God will speak again.
--Francois Fenelon
25
Tuck this thought away: Never in eternity will we want to walk up to Jesus and say, "I surely wish you had answered my prayer differently."
--Blaine Allen
26
There is grace especially provided for His [God's] nos. If the Lord denied a request, then He sees to it that we are able to accept His answer. Whatever He demands from us, He always supplies for us. "Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass" (1 Thessalonians 5:24) applies to no and yes answers alike. That is His way of doing things.
--Blaine Allen
27
I've always admired "tea kettle" Christians. They can be up to their necks in hot water and still sing! The world wants to know how this God you talk about makes a difference in your life when you're sitting on the burner. They want to see the reality of a life within you beyond anything they've ever experienced. Peter had it nailed pretty good when he wrote, "Be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason for the hope that is in you" (1 Peter 3:15).
--Ken Hutcherson
28
Wherever you are, be all there. Live to the hilt every situation you believe to be the will of God.
--Jim Elliot
29
The world is full of suffering. It is also full of the overcoming of it. We could never learn to be brave and patient if there were only joy in the world. . . . Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through the experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired, and success achieved.
--Helen Keller
30
It is true that He does sometimes require of us things that to others seem hard. But when the will is once surrendered, the revolutionized life plans become just the plans that are most pleasant, and the things that to others seem hard, are just the things that are easiest and most delightful. Do not let Satan deceive you into being afraid of God's plans for your life.
--R. A. Torrey
31
Each of us may be sure that if God sends us on stony paths He will provide us with strong shoes, and He will not send us out on any journey for which He does not equip us well.
--Alexander Maclaren
