Encouragers
Seek out encouragers and seek to be an encourager yourself.
— Debbie Macomber, Knit Together, p. 108
The Vining Growth Plan
The key thing to know about Martin Luther, I think, is that every event of his life — like every event in yours and mine — was part of the vining growth plan of ups and downs God had devised for him. God frightened him, pushed him, wound him round the Word. As with Noah and Hezekiah and Jonah and others, many of the downturns of Luther’s life happened toward the end, when you’d think he’d be past all that badness, past his humanness, a completely godly man, producing the fullest and most mellow fruit. But it’s God’s plan, not ours, after all, and we are not his equal. As Job points out, “Who can bring what is pure from the impure? No one!” — no one except God, of course, who can do the impossible and did it with me and goes around doing it all the time.
— Patty Kirk, Confessions of an Amateur Believer, p. 42-43
Relax
As soon as we try to control anything, we split our mind and lose our sense of inner comfort. We can change what we bring to the people and circumstances surrounding us, but we can’t dominate them.
Perhaps the only approach that comes remotely close to a rule of life is that when you are relaxed and flexible, you are happy; when you are rigid and controlling, you are unhappy. Therefore, the key is actually to let go of our urge to get people to behave and events to go our way.
No matter how experienced the psychologist, how learned the theologian, how wise the philosopher, or how holy the saint, none of them can control a two-year-old.
— Hugh Prather, The Little Book of Letting Go, p. 204
Free from the Past
When we realize that we are responsible for freeing ourselves from the yokes of the past, we will also free everyone else of this responsibility. Only then can we begin to concentrate more on loving and less on blaming.
— Leo Buscaglia, Born for Love, p. 178
Get on With Your Life
Charlyne and I want you to “get on with your life.” You do that by loving Jesus more each day, praying more, growing in Him, and trusting God for your every need. We want you to be confident that God will bring about what He has promised.
— Bob Steinkamp, The Prodigal’s Pen, p. 251-252
Improve Their Weekend
Whether you are looking for the next step in your pursuit of success or are just trying to be a better, more successful, wife, mother, or friend — it’s important to remember the people you come into contact with. It’s important to keep those relationships, and be a friend yourself. And that’s the way I see my readers. I may not change their lives with the books I write, but I hope I improve their weekend.
— Debbie Macomber, Knit Together, p. 101
Story
What is a story but a golden lie that speaks the truth?
— Joel ben Izzy, The Beggar King and the Secret of Happiness
Resentment vs. Compassion
Most human beings subjected to the amplification, magnification, and oversimplification of resentment or anger get resentful, contentious, or sulky in return, just like you do. Resentment and anger also cause you to focus only on your own perspective, to the exclusion of everyone else’s….
On the other hand, compassion not only keeps you from avoiding and attacking, it also motivates behavior to improve, appreciate, connect, or protect, all of which are likely to make things better…. Compassion is power.
— Steven Stosny, You Don’t Have to Take It Anymore, p. 167-169
The Purpose of Emotional Pain
Emotional pain moves you to do something that will make you feel more alive, not numb. The primary purpose of emotional pain is to make us take action to increase the value of our lives. The purpose of guilt, shame, and anxiety is to get you to be more loving and protective. They hurt us until we act with love and compassion.
— Steven Stosny, You Don’t Have to Take It Anymore, p. 163
The Future
People who feel good about themselves are not easily threatened by the future.
— Leo Buscaglia, Born for Love, p. 177