“We mustn’t allow our circumstances and disappointments to become the excuse for the choices we make in life. God is greater than all of that, and He can bring beauty out of ashes. Our trials come, Augustine said, “to prove us and to improve us.”
― The Hand of God: Finding His Care in All Circumstances
― The Hand of God: Finding His Care in All Circumstances
“But it didn’t stay that way. Sin entered the world, and since then everything has been a mess. Our world is sick, and none of us are immune to the infection. At our cores we’re sinners. We purposely rebel against our Creator. We were made to be mirrors perfectly reflecting God’s goodness, but with sin that mirror was fractured and the reflection is distorted. Instead of following God, we assume we’re wiser and follow our own misguided intuition. We’re choosing what we think will make us happy, but in the process we’ve made God angry. He despises sin and He will judge us for it. We’re beautifully made, but tragically broken.”
― Rise: Get Up and Live in God's Great Story
― Rise: Get Up and Live in God's Great Story
“I rest because he has said nothing would take his love from me, or you. I can’t say that would be true of any other human kind of love. In fact, it’s so different from “regular” love that it’s hard to believe that it could be really true. So God pursues us, courts us, and woos us to remind us. As if he wants to keep us mindful that he doesn’t get tired of us, he isn’t frustrated by our moods or by our irritating habits or put off by uncombed hair or out-of-style clothes. We are free to place the whole weight of our needs on him, to bring him our deepest questions, to look to him for acceptance and validation. And unlike any other relationship, the God who designed us will not lean, crumble, struggle, stagger, or falter in any way. This is a love that changes everything.”
― Fresh-Brewed Life Revised and Updated: A Stirring Invitation to Wake Up Your Soul
― Fresh-Brewed Life Revised and Updated: A Stirring Invitation to Wake Up Your Soul
“The myth of procrastination is that it will somehow be easier later. The truth is, it’s never easy, and putting it off only makes it harder.”
― Rise: Get Up and Live in God's Great Story
― Rise: Get Up and Live in God's Great Story
“Apparently it was okay for me to like Jesus as long as I didn’t get too serious and actually start to do what He said.”
― Rise: Get Up and Live in God's Great Story
― Rise: Get Up and Live in God's Great Story
April’s 2025 Year in Books
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