Elizabeth Musser > Quotes

“Thinking too much just brings it back to me, me, me—but thanking takes my eyes off myself and my mistakes and puts them on others, on things bigger than myself. I can’t stand here very long without being humbled at how small I am and amazed at how big and beautiful our world is.”
― Elizabeth Musser, Words Unspoken

“When you love, it will hurt. You have to choose to forgive, again and again. But it’s worth it. That’s the crux of human relationships, Dobbs. The sweetest thing. Loving deeply. And forgiving.”
― Elizabeth Musser, The Sweetest Thing

“The absolute gut-level truth was that he had no desire for God to interrupt him in this way.”
― Elizabeth Musser, Words Unspoken

“Pain and blessings, deep wounds and healed scars, and, thank heaven, a God who could make sense of it all.”
― Elizabeth Musser, Two Destinies

“It’s okay to ask questions, sweetheart. You’re going through some rough waters. God is bigger than your questions. Don’t you worry about that.”
― Elizabeth Musser, The Sweetest Thing

“seeking to be free of something and freed to something.”
― Elizabeth Musser, Two Destinies

“Honey, I’ve learned to ask not why but what? ‘Now that I’m in this impossible place, Lord, what do I do next?”
― Elizabeth Musser, The Sweetest Thing

“Our part is to get to know God, as a Father and a friend. But to understand Him? His ways are far past our understanding. Infinitely far.”
― Elizabeth Musser, The Sweetest Thing

“Life ain’t fair. It’s brutal sometimes. . . faith don’t stop the horrible things. But faith helps you walk through those things, whipped and angry and screaming on the inside. Lord don’t mind our screaming and raging. He done shown us how to do it in those psalms of his that King David wrote.”
― Elizabeth Musser, By Way of the Moonlight

“Have you noticed that it is usually easier to judge than obey? Religious people are especially good at it. I tried”
― Elizabeth Musser, Two Crosses

“always a choice, even in not choosing.”
― Elizabeth Musser, Two Testaments

“He forced his mind clear of other thoughts and waited. Stillness, he had learned, did not come naturally. He practiced it. Sometimes, as he waited, he heard the Lord’s voice coursing through his spirit almost audibly. Other times he heard nothing, but he felt filled up and satisfied and understood.”
― Elizabeth Musser, Words Unspoken

“When she looked unconvinced, he added, "Remember what Saint Augustine said: 'Hope has two beautiful daughters. Their names are anger and courage; anger at the way things are, and courage to see that they do not need to ramain the way they are.”
― Elizabeth Musser, From the Valley We Rise

“God dwells in your heart, it means you are safe and that He will never, ever leave you. He becomes your dwelling place‑‑a place of shelter and caring and protection.”
― Elizabeth Musser, Dwelling Place

“Aching for one thing and enjoying something else aren’t mutually exclusive.”
― Elizabeth Musser, The Long Highway Home

“Dying to something old, a pattern that is comfortable in its dysfunction, so that one can move to a different system, a new freedom.”
― Elizabeth Musser, The Promised Land

“Life takes many twists and turns. It bruises and burns and rips apart. But it also loves and heals and forgives.”
― Elizabeth Musser, Two Testaments

“After all, I’d never met anyone who would just start praying over a glass of iced tea.”
― Elizabeth Musser, The Swan House

“Before the trip I read that pilgrims often bring a small rock or stone from their home. It represents a burden they’ve been carrying or a loved one they are grieving or a sin for which they’re doing penance. At some point on the Camino, they lay down that stone. The most popular place is at the Cruz de Ferro in Spain, the highest point on the Camino Frances.”
― Elizabeth Musser, The Promised Land

“In her enthralling debut, Circle of Chalk, Christina McClelland tackles the complicated and sometimes controversial subject of IVF with compassion and honesty. McClelland doesn’t shy away from the messiness but rather invites the reader into the decades’ long journey. The story twists and turns until the very last page.
Elizabeth Musser, author of The Swan House, When I Close My Eyes, The Promised Land”
― Elizabeth Musser

“But healing isn't the same as recovery, is it? Healing slides way down in your heart and settles there.”
― Elizabeth Musser, By Way of the Moonlight

“God does not waste our suffering. It always serves a purpose.”
― Elizabeth Musser, Two Testaments

“When life gets hard to stand, kneel.”
― Elizabeth Musser, By Way of the Moonlight

“Almighty God, You never stop showing Your goodness to those who love You, and You let Yourself be found by those who seek You; show Your favor to your pilgrims as they pursue their pilgrimage and guide their path according to Your will. Be to them a shade in the heat of the day, a light in the darkness of the night, a relief in the midst of their fatigue, so that they can happily finish their journey under Your protection. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.’ I hope this has been your experience.” Heads nod all around the room. The monk waits a moment and then adds, “Here is another blessing for the end of your Camino. ‘May the Lord Christ go with you wherever He may send you, guide you through the wilderness, protect you through the storm. May He bring you home rejoicing at the wonders He has shown you. May He bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors.’” He opens up the gathering to a time of sharing for the pilgrims, but I am too overcome to trust my voice. I sit with the cross-stitch across my lap, fingering its nubby surface, and listen as, one”
― Elizabeth Musser, The Promised Land

“God doesn’t want us to rescue our children. He’s the Rescuer.”
― Elizabeth Musser, Words Unspoken

“Sometimes the breaking of things is cruel, and sometimes it is necessary, and sometimes it is just an accident."

"My mother was a painting in the storm, convinced down to the last fibers of canvas and the last drop of paint on the brush that the rain was an important part of the making of a masterpiece.”
― Elizabeth Musser

“Faith and mental stability aren't mutually exclusive.”
― Elizabeth Musser, When I Close My Eyes

“It’s a dangerous thing to want everyone’s approval, Gabriella. You must be willing to stand firm and take the risk of being misunderstood. We must find our approval at the feet of our Master.”
― Elizabeth Musser, Two Testaments

“Some people ask me what it’s like to be forgiven, to feel grace. It’s like walking on a long stretch of beach with nothing in sight but sky and waves and sand. With the sun piercing its brightness, the water tickling my toes, the roaring of the sea singing omniscience and power and yet, a deep peace, the waters changing from sandy brown to light green to a heavy blue, the waves cresting with the white peaks and then rushing to find my toes.”
― Elizabeth Musser, When I Close My Eyes

“No wound. No scar? Yet as the Master shall the servant be, And pierced are the feet that follow Me, But thine are whole, Can he have followed far who has no wound, No scar?”
― Elizabeth Musser, The Swan House