Allison Hilleson

“Outside, she knew, the sky was speckled with stars. How could anyone number them one by one, as the psalm said? There were too many. The sky was too big.”
― Lois Lowry, Number the Stars

“We are never as thankful as we should be. When good things come to us, we do everything possible to tell ourselves we accomplished that or at least deserve it. We take the credit. And when our lives simply are going along pretty smoothly, without a lot of difficulties, we don’t live in quiet, amazed, thankful consciousness of it. In the end, we not only rob God of the glory due him, but the assumption that we are keeping our lives going robs us of the joy and relief that constant gratitude to an all-powerful God brings.”
― Timothy Keller, Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God

“If we can’t say “thy will be done” from the bottom of our hearts, we will never know any peace. We will feel compelled to try to control people and control our environment and make things the way we believe they ought to be.”
― Timothy Keller, Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God

“As the story grew, it put down roots into the past and threw out unexpected branches .”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring