Elisabeth Elliot Quotes

“Christ is sufficient. We do not need "support groups" for each and every separate tribulation. The most widely divergent sorrows may all be taken to the foot of the same old rugged cross and find there cleansing, peace, and joy.”
― Elisabeth Elliot, These Strange Ashes

“The disciplined Christian will be very careful what sort of counsel he seeks from others. Counsel that contradicts the written Word is ungodly counsel. Blessed is the man that walketh not in that.”
― Elisabeth Elliot, Discipline: The Glad Surrender

“Eternity shall be at once a great eye-opener and a great mouth-shutter." -Jim Elliot”
― Elisabeth Elliot, Shadow of the Almighty: The Life and Testament of Jim Elliot

“I am not a theologian or a scholar, but I am very aware of the fact that pain is necessary to all of us. In my own life, I think I can honestly say that out of the deepest pain has come the strongest conviction of the presence of God and the love of God.”
― Elisabeth Elliot

“St. Augustine said, "The very pleasures of human life men acquire by difficulties." There are times when the entire arrangement of our existence is disrupted and we long then for just one ordinary day - seeing our ordinary life as greatly desirable, even wonderful, in the light of the terrible disruption that has taken place. Difficulty opens our eyes to pleasures we had taken for granted.”
― Elisabeth Elliot, Keep a Quiet Heart

“Cwe give up all for the love of God? When the surrender of ourselves seems too much to ask, it is first of all because our thoughts about God Himself are paltry. We have not really seen Him, we have hardly tested Him at all and learned how good He is. In our blindness we approach Him with suspicious reserve. We ask how much of our fun He intends to spoil, how much He will demand from us, how high is the price we must pay before He is placated.

If we had the least notion of His loving-kindness and tender mercy, His fatherly care for His poor children, His generosity, His beautiful plans for us; if we knew how patiently He waits for our turning to Him, how gently He means to lead us to green pastures and still waters, how carefully He is preparing a place for us, how ceaselessly He is ordering and ordaining and engineering His Master Plan for our good-if we had any inkling of all this, could we be reluctant to let go of our smashed dandelions or whatever we clutch so fiercely in our sweaty little hands?

If with courage and joy we pour ourselves out for Him and for others for His sake, it is not possible to lose, in any final sense, anything worth keeping. We will lose ourselves and our selfishness. We will gain everything worth having.”
― Elisabeth Elliot, The Path of Loneliness: Finding Your Way Through the Wilderness to God

“If God loves me, He´ll make me happy”.
Well, yes and no. Happy isn´t the word, really. It´s joy, a far better thing. Not a sentiment, not mere “feeling good”, but something that can never be taken away.”
― Elisabeth Elliot, Loneliness: It Can Be A Wilderness. It Can Be A Pathway To God.

“Theirs was a deep and delighted love, something they handled with extraordinary sacredness, even as it stretched and surprised them in ways they never saw coming--spiritually and beyond.”
― Valerie Elliot Shepard, Devotedly: The Personal Letters and Love Story of Jim and Elisabeth Elliot

“Jim and Betty modeled--not perfectly, but persistently--the way God intends us to handle love, steward it, and keep it continually under His guidance.”
― Valerie Elliot Shepard, Devotedly: The Personal Letters and Love Story of Jim and Elisabeth Elliot

“The words that had already begin to flow into this private little notebook of hers--though punctuated, of course, with the typical cares and crises of any young woman’s life—would never shift from this due-north orientation. God was first; God was supreme; God was all.”
― Valerie Elliot Shepard, Devotedly: The Personal Letters and Love Story of Jim and Elisabeth Elliot

“When you hear my mother at twenty-two saying she feels ‘useless’ and ‘fearful’ and ‘ashamed,’ recall what she went on to become in life by God’s grace and power. Think what our Father is capable of doing, encouraging you to press into Him, as she did, for His glory.”
― Valerie Elliot Shepard, Devotedly: The Personal Letters and Love Story of Jim and Elisabeth Elliot

“If I could express my one hope for compiling this book, my prayer is that these entries of theirs would call us to search faithfully for God in His Word. And upon discovering His unchanging, faithful, merciful, and loving character, I pray we would be more fully moved in obedience to Him that we too might leave a lasting legacy of faith as my parents did.”
― Valerie Elliot Shepard, Devotedly: The Personal Letters and Love Story of Jim and Elisabeth Elliot