Quotes

[Madre]

"For what are circumstances but God’s ordering for His children! It is God, not you, who appoints your lot in life, and however it may seem, if you truly believe His promises you can rest satisfied, knowing His choice is the very best for you, and that if any other lot, any other discipline, would have been better for the development of life’s great object – growth in grace – He would not have placed you where you are. Remember this, and the next time you feel discontented with circumstances, say softly to yourself; 'God knows,' and 'God is love.'

Remember also,

'Thou cam’st not to thy place by accident,
It is the very place God meant for thee;
And shouldest thou there small scope for action see
Do not for this give room to discontent;
Nor let the time thou owest to God be spent
In idly dreaming how thou mightest be,
In what concerns thy spiritual life more free,
From outward hindrance or impediment:
For presently, this hindrance thou shalt find
That without which all goodness were a task.'”

~ Rose Porter, from Life's Everydayness

[Madre]

"Sometimes you feel caged when really you’re only cupped."

~ Ann Voskamp

[Madre]

"'Ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.'
--Galatians 3:26

The fatherhood of God is common to all his children. Ah! Little-faith, you have often said, "Oh that I had the courage of Great-heart, that I could wield his sword and be as valiant as he! But, alas, I stumble at every straw, and a shadow makes me afraid." List thee, Little-faith. Great-heart is God's child, and you are God's child too; and Great-heart is not one whit more God's child than you are. Peter and Paul, the highly- favoured apostles, were of the family of the Most High; and so are you also; the weak Christian is as much a child of God as the strong one.

'This cov'nant stands secure,
Though earth's old pillars bow;
The strong, the feeble, and the weak,
Are one in Jesus now.'

All the names are in the same family register. One may have more grace than another, but God our heavenly Father has the same tender heart towards all. One may do more mighty works, and may bring more glory to his Father, but he whose name is the least in the kingdom of heaven is as much the child of God as he who stands among the King's mighty men. Let this cheer and comfort us, when we draw near to God and say, 'Our Father.'

Yet, while we are comforted by knowing this, let us not rest contented with weak faith, but ask, like the Apostles, to have it increased. However feeble our faith may be, if it be real faith in Christ, we shall reach heaven at last, but we shall not honour our Master much on our pilgrimage, neither shall we abound in joy and peace. If then you would live to Christ's glory, and be happy in His service, seek to be filled with the spirit of adoption more and more completely, till perfect love shall cast out fear."

~ Mr. Spurgeon

[Madre]

This spoke to me this morning.

"You would be very ashamed if you knew what the experiences you call setbacks, upheavals, pointless disturbances, and tedious annoyances really are. You would realize that your complaints about them are nothing more nor less than blasphemies--though that never occurs to you. Nothing happens to you except by the will of God, and yet [God's] beloved children curse it because they do not know it for what it is."

~ Jean-Pierre de Caussade, quoted in A Guide to Prayer for All God's People

[Madre]

"This is my Father’s world. O let me ne’er forget
That though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet."

~Maltbie D. Babcock

[Madre]

“Fairy tales are more than true; not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten."

~ G.K. Chesterton

[Madre]

"All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king."

~ J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings

[Madre]

“What God may hereafter require of you, you must not give yourself the least trouble about. Everything He gives you to do, you must do as well as ever you can, and that is the best possible preparation for what He may want you to do next. If people would but do what they have to do, they would always find themselves ready for what came next.”

~ George MacDonald

[Madre]

"Let nothing upset you,
Let nothing startle you.
All things pass;
God does not change.
Patience wins all it seeks.
Whoever has God lacks nothing:
God alone is enough."

~ Teresa of Avila

[Madre]

"Faith for my deliverance is not faith in God. Faith means, whether I am visibly delivered or not, I will stick to my belief that God is love."

~ Oswald Chambers