“It’s sloppy theology to think that all suffering is good for us, or that it’s a result of sin. All suffering can be used for good, over time, after mourning and healing, by God’s graciousness. But sometimes it’s just plain loss, not because you needed to grow, not because life or God or anything is teaching you any kind of lesson. The trick is knowing the difference between the two.”
― Bittersweet: Thoughts on Change, Grace, and Learning the Hard Way
― Bittersweet: Thoughts on Change, Grace, and Learning the Hard Way
“God travels wonderful ways with human beings, but he does not comply with the views and opinions of people. God does not go the way that people want to prescribe for him; rather, his way is beyond all comprehension, free and self-determined beyond all proof. Where reason is indignant, where our nature rebels, where our piety anxiously keeps us away: that is precisely where God loves to be. There he confounds the reason of the reasonable; there he aggravates our nature, our piety—that is where he wants to be, and no one can keep him from it. Only the humble believe him and rejoice that God is so free and so marvelous that he does wonders where people despair, that he takes what is little and lowly and makes it marvelous. And that is the wonder of all wonders, that God loves the lowly…. God is not ashamed of the lowliness of human beings. God marches right in. He chooses people as his instruments and performs his wonders where one would least expect them. God is near to lowliness; he loves the lost, the neglected, the unseemly, the excluded, the weak and broken.”
― God is in the Manger: Reflections on Advent and Christmas
― God is in the Manger: Reflections on Advent and Christmas
“OPPORTUNITIES TO build friendship and community don’t always come at the most convenient times, but we have to grab them when we get the chance.”
― Savor: Living Abundantly Where You Are, As You Are
― Savor: Living Abundantly Where You Are, As You Are
“I don’t know if this is a season of sweetness or one of sadness. But I’m learning that neither last forever.”
― Bittersweet: Thoughts on Change, Grace, and Learning the Hard Way
― Bittersweet: Thoughts on Change, Grace, and Learning the Hard Way
“The general world population will survive without one more stage production and one more gallery showing. This is the thing, though: you might not. We create because we were made to create, having been made in the image of God, whose first role was Creator.”
― Savor: Living Abundantly Where You Are, As You Are
― Savor: Living Abundantly Where You Are, As You Are
Audrey’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Audrey’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
More friends…
Favorite Genres
Polls voted on by Audrey
Lists liked by Audrey





















