Our Purpose

God, Life 0

Intimacy with God is the purpose of our lives.  It’s why God created us.  Not simply to believe in him, though that is a good beginning.  Not only to obey him, though that is a higher life still.  God created us for intimate fellowship with himself, and in doing so he established the goal of our existence — to know him, love him, and live our lives in an intimate relationship with him.  Jesus says that eternal life is to know God (John 17:3).  Not just “know about” like you know about the ozone layer or Ulysses S. Grant.  He means know as two people know each other, know as Jesus knows the Father — intimately.

— John Eldredge, Walking with God, p. 12

Promised Power

God, Life, Obedience 0

It was the Place of Hope.  It was the place where, after His resurrection and just before His ascension, He would speak to His disciples one last time.  On that occasion, with the authority of a man who had just conquered death, Jesus would say, “Soon you will receive power, power to be My witnesses.”

He would promise them not the power to avoid trouble, but the power to live the only life worth living.  He would promise them the same power that was keeping Him on course while His own worst nightmare came true.  He knew these words would strike a chord, that they would thrill His disciples and fill them with hope.

“Soon you will have that power,” Jesus would say.  “You will be able to remain faithful to Me no matter what happens in your life.  If your spouse leaves you, you will be empowered to reveal My character.  If your son is in jail, you will be able to go on loving him.  That is your hope till I return.  Never lose it!”

— Larry Crabb, Shattered Dreams:  God’s Unexpected Pathway to Joy, p. 42

Forward on our Journey

Letting Go, Life 0

Wouldn’t it be easier to skip this whole business?  If we can’t hang on to our desires, wouldn’t it be simpler not to acknowledge them in the first place?

Probably.  But it doesn’t work that way.  There’s something magical and necessary about the process, the way it stands.  The victory, joy, and growth aren’t achieved by avoiding.  The rewards come by overcoming.  Each time we surrender, each time we let go, we’ll be propelled forward on our journey.  We’ll be moved to a deeper level of play.

— Melody Beattie, Beyond Codependency, p. 243-244

A Conversational Walk with God

God, Guidance, Life 0

I’ll tip my hand to one assumption I am making.  I assume that an intimate, conversational walk with God is available, and is meant to be normal.  I’ll push that a step further.  I assume that if you don’t find that kind of relationship with God, your spiritual life will be stunted.  And that will handicap the rest of your life.  We can’t find life without God, and we can’t find God if we don’t know how to walk intimately with him.

— John Eldredge, Walking with God, p. 7

Something Better Is Brewing.

Letting Go, Life, Obedience, Trust 0

This is at least some of what it means to “wait on the Lord.”  Waiting on God does not mean passive indifference — hanging around and doing nothing.  It has more to do with saying no to impulsive, spur-of-the-moment actions or decisions, and by so doing, saying yes to something you know will satisfy much better down the line.  Those who have not yet learned how to wait on the Lord may tend to indulge in something immediate that only half satisfies.  But Christians who have fostered a degree of self-control — Christians who know God better — don’t mind putting pleasure on hold.  They know something better is brewing down the line.

— Joni Eareckson Tada, Pearls of Great Price, May 2 entry

You Are Enough.

Joy, Letting Go, Life, Relationships 0

Throughout this book, I’ve been carrying on about men and finding them and getting them and keeping them and deciding whether or not to kill them, and if so, how, and so on.  And that’s all funny and mostly true and all that, but the real truth is you are enough — just the way you are, just who you are.  You are a complete entity, a whole person, right there in the skin you’re in.  You don’t need to have a guy to be happy.  Admit it:  You have more fun with a gang of girlfriends than you’ve had on the absolute best date of your entire life.  If somebody comes along who treats you right and makes you happy and you can do the same for him, well, that’s just dandy.  But I’m telling you, the only way that I know to get and keep a happy, healthy relationship is first to create a happy and healthy life for yourself without one.  This is your life to live.

— Jill Conner Browne, The Sweet Potato Queens’ Field Guide to Men, p. 206

Rock Bottom

Letting Go, Life, Trials 0

It’s a good thing to have all props pulled out from under us occasionally.  It gives us some sense of what is rock under our feet, and what is sand.  It stops us from taking anything for granted.

— Madeleine L’Engle, The Summer of the Great-Grandmother, quoted in Glimpses of Grace, compiled by Carole F. Chase, p. 104

God Catches Our Balloons

God, Letting Go, Life, Trust 0

When my children were young, they loved brightly colored helium balloons.  But sometimes either accidentally or purposely, they’d let go of the string.  There they’d stand, with tears in their eyes, watching their precious balloon fly high into the heavens until it disappeared from sight.

When that happened, I’d tell them a story.

“Don’t cry,” I’d say.  “God’s up there.  And you know what?  He catches every balloon you let go of.  He’s keeping all of them just for you.  Someday, when you get to heaven, you’ll get every one back.”

My children are older now; so am I.  But we still believe God’s saving our balloons for us.

And I believe God catches all our balloons too — each one we let go of.  Only we don’t have to wait until we get to heaven to get them back.  The best and most perfect of our balloons, the ones just right for us, He gives back as soon as we’re ready to accept them.  Sometimes, He gives back better ones than we let go of.

— Melody Beattie, Beyond Codependency, p. 243

Your Own Wonderful Life

Joy, Life, Relationships 0

Frankly, I think it’s time we take a page out of their book.  The next time a guy you have a remote interest in fails to call you when he says he will, do not ponder the potential whys and wherefores of the situation.  If at all possible, be so busy with your own wonderful life that you simply don’t even notice he hasn’t called.  It would be great if you could just be so involved having a Big Time with all the people in your life who do right that if in fact he does call at some point, it takes you a minute to remember who he is.

— Jill Conner Browne, The Sweet Potato Queens’ Field Guide to Men, p. 195