Carolyn Mahaney > Quotes

“Our conduct has a direct influence on how people think about the gospel. The world doesn't judge us by our theology; the world judges us by our behavior. People don't necessarily want to know what we believe about the Bible. They want to see if what we believe makes a difference in our lives. Our actions either bring glory to God or misrepresent His truth.”
― Carolyn Mahaney, Feminine Appeal: Seven Virtues of a Godly Wife and Mother

“The challenge of ministry in our home is that we do not always feel very “spiritual” when we wash our dishes. It hardly feels significant to scrub our toilet. and we can feel that we are truly ministering when the Lord uses us to communicate a word of wisdom to someone, or He provides an opportunity to share the gospel with our neighbor. That seems like real ministry. And that is real ministry to be sure! But no more so than when we are wiping runny noses or cleaning the bathroom. That is because we have a very narrow view of true spirituality... The Lord wants to help us see the significance of ministry at home. He also wants to expand our vision for the multiple opportunities that we have for ministry in the home. Let’s ask the LORD to help us gain a biblical perspective of our ministry at home.”
― Carolyn Mahaney, Feminine Appeal: Seven Virtues of a Godly Wife and Mother

“Emotions are the reporters for the soul.”
― Carolyn Mahaney, True Feelings: God's Gracious and Glorious Purpose for Our Emotions

“God created our emotions to work in harmony with our other two most fundamental faculties: our mind and our will.”
― Carolyn Mahaney, True Feelings: God's Gracious and Glorious Purpose for Our Emotions

“Waiting to feel before we act in obedience is a bad habit that bolsters our sinful emotions. Sinful beliefs and values only get stronger when we indulge our sinful feelings.”
― Carolyn Mahaney, True Feelings: God's Gracious and Glorious Purpose for Our Emotions

“As Christian women, this is the attitude that should characterize our lives. We are to be women who love our homes. We are not to merely workers at home, but we are to take great pleasure in working in our homes. We are to thoroughly enjoy the sphere that God has assigned to us.”
― Carolyn Mahaney

“God has a purpose for our feelings -- the good and the bad.”
― Carolyn Mahaney, True Feelings: God's Gracious and Glorious Purpose for Our Emotions

“If we spend twenty minutes a day reading our Bibles, but the remaining twenty-three hours and forty minutes ruminating on unbiblical thoughts, then it is no wonder that our sinful beliefs and values are so stubborn and our sinful emotions so strong. Sinful ruminating can reverse the good effects of time spent in God’s Word. It slows our growth and keeps us stuck in the same sinful emotions. We can’t expect to grow godly emotions in the soil of our sinful ruminations, so if we struggle to change our beliefs and values, this bad habit is the place to start.”
― Carolyn Mahaney, True Feelings: God's Gracious and Glorious Purpose for Our Emotions

“If we want to get to the source of what we feel, we need to figure out what we believe and value.”
― Carolyn Mahaney, True Feelings: God's Gracious and Glorious Purpose for Our Emotions

“Stifling our emotions is like marking "return to sender" on God's good gift.”
― Carolyn Mahaney, True Feelings: God's Gracious and Glorious Purpose for Our Emotions

“Our hope is in Christ, who started this good work in the first place. He is at work, right now, creating godly emotions in our hearts, and he won’t stop until our lives are bursting with beautiful, passionate, true feelings.”
― Carolyn Mahaney, True Feelings: God's Gracious and Glorious Purpose for Our Emotions

“The woman who looks to God in the face of unkindness becomes more beautiful through suffering. Her face does not bear the lines of bitterness and a disturbed countenance. She displays a rare and remarkable beauty because she has learned to wait upon God. Her happiness is out of reach of those who have wronged her.”
― Carolyn Mahaney, True Beauty

“The myth that “emotions are bad” puts the blame in the wrong place. Emotions aren’t inherently bad or unruly, but sin has devastated our emotions.”
― Carolyn Mahaney, True Feelings: God's Gracious and Glorious Purpose for Our Emotions

“Our emotions don't necessarily tell us the facts about the situation, rather they tell us our interpretation of the facts.”
― Carolyn Mahaney, True Feelings: God's Gracious and Glorious Purpose for Our Emotions

“As we meditate on the undeserved mercy of God in forgiving our sins, we will freely grant forgiveness and kindness to our husbands and children.”
― Carolyn Mahaney, Feminine Appeal: Seven Virtues of a Godly Wife and Mother

“the wife is to exemplify the church’s joyful submission to Christ by following her husband’s leadership.”
― Carolyn Mahaney, Feminine Appeal: Seven Virtues of a Godly Wife and Mother

“In fact, you get the feeling nowadays that doing anything outside of the home is more honorable than working in the home. Dorothy Patterson characterizes the current mind-set in this way: Much of the world would agree that being a housekeeper is acceptable as long as you are not caring for your own home; treating men with attentive devotion would also be right as long as the man is the boss in the office and not your husband; caring for children would even be deemed heroic service for which presidential awards could be given as long as the children are someone else’s and not your own.”
― Carolyn Mahaney, Feminine Appeal: Seven Virtues of a Godly Wife and Mother

“Submission is simply a demonstration of her confidence in the sovereign power of the Lord God.”
― Carolyn Mahaney

“Emotions aren't a hindrance to wise decision-making, but are central to the Christian life.”
― Carolyn Mahaney, True Feelings: God's Gracious and Glorious Purpose for Our Emotions

“Now I certainly had no intention of lying on the form, but I was trying to think of a creative way to make homemaker sound more important. Then the thought struck me: I am more concerned about the opinion of the individual who will read this questionnaire than I am about the approval of the One who has called me to be a homemaker. I had succumbed to worldly thinking rather than viewing my profession as the Bible portrays it—a high calling from God.”
― Carolyn Mahaney, Feminine Appeal: Seven Virtues of a Godly Wife and Mother

“But our highest objective should be that our children would repent from their sins, put their trust in Jesus Christ, and reflect the gospel to the world around them.”
― Carolyn Mahaney, Feminine Appeal: Seven Virtues of a Godly Wife and Mother

“no situation created by our sin is so horrible that God can’t redeem it for good—both for us and for our families.”
― Carolyn Mahaney, Feminine Appeal: Seven Virtues of a Godly Wife and Mother

“To do the opposite of what you feel may feel like the hardest thing to do, but it has an immediate effect.”
― Carolyn Mahaney, True Feelings: God's Gracious and Glorious Purpose for Our Emotions