J Allen > Recent Status Updates

"She sang, too, to an old cracked piano, which I think had been a spinet in its youth. Miss Jessie sang 'Jock o' Hazeldean' a little out of tune; but we were none of us musical, though Miss Jenkyns best time, out of time, by way of appearing to be so."

"...Margaret felt sure that she should like her brother as a companion as much as she already loved him as a near relation. Her heart was wonderfully lighter as she went up-stairs; the sorrow was no less in reality, but it became less oppressive from having some one in precisely the same relation to it as that in which she stood."

"'I were not i' th' best state, I'll own, for taking in what Hamper's friend had to say--I were so vexed at the way it were put to me;--but I thought, "Come, I'll see what these chaps has got to say, and try if it's them or me as is th' noodle.''"

"He had positive bodily pain,-- a violent headache, and a throbbing intermittent pulse. He could not bear the noise, the garish light.... He called himself a fool for suffering so; and yet he could not, at the moment, recollect the cause of his suffering, and whether it was adequate to the consequences it had produced. His greatest comfort was in hugging his torment...."

"...but whatever came, the Committee charged all members o' th' Union to lie down and die, if need were, without striking a blow.... And beside all that, Committee knew they were right in their demand, and they didn't want to have right all mixed up wi' wrong, till folk can't separate it, no more nor I can th' physic-powder from th' jelly yo' gave me to mix it in...."

"[T]he clear conviction dawned upon her, shined bright upon her, that he did love her; that he had loved her; that he would love her."

"Fanny was not sure, from Mrs. Slickson's manner, whether she ought to be proud or ashamed of her brother's conduct; and, like all people who try and take other people's 'ought' for the rule of their feelings, she was inclined to blush for any singularity of action."

"...[L]ooking back upon the year's accumulated heap of troubles, Margaret wondered how they had been borne. If she could have anticipated them, how she would have shrunk away and hid herself from the coming time! And yet day by day had, of itself, and by itself, been very endurable- small, keen, bright little spots of positive enjoyment having come sparkling into the very middle of sorrows."

"[W]e face circumstances that frustrate our expectations of what life should be like. Once it takes hold of our hearts, discontent quickly leads to other sins. Because we fundamentally distrust what God is doing in and for us, our hearts give way to worry. Every new circumstance feels surprising and potentially harmful....We do not believe that God is caring for us...."

" The goal of your time in God's word should always be worship. As you grow in your affections for Christ, the King, you put to death your disorder desires and ungrateful attitudes. The power of a greater affection for Christ can transform your soul." -Deepak Reju, editor

" We must remember that we aren't submitting to the will of a cruel or indifferent God. We are accepting the plans of loving and merciful father, who is always and only good."

1 Pet. 5:6; Ex. 3:19-20 "There is such comfort to be found here. When we submit to God's rule in our lives, we do so under his mighty hand, the hand that saved his people from oppression and slavery in Egypt and from sin and death at the cross. It is in this knowledge that we are able to surrender our lives and our wills humbly to him, even when it hurts."

"Her father...was pressing Mr. Thornton to stay to luncheon with them. It would have been very inconvenient to him to do so, yet he felt that he should have yielded, if Margaret by word or look had seconded her father's invitation; he was glad she did not, and yet he was irritated at her for not doing it."

"Robert Leighton, a bishop and theologian who lived in the 1600s, put it this way...'Sin has upset everything. All the approaches people make to God are warped, as are their relationships to each other, until a new Spirit comes in to rectify this. This is exactly what this particular grace of humility does, which the apostle here [in 1-2 Peter] recommends.'"

"Humility has always been misunderstood as a sign of weakness, a flaw that limits a person's potential and sets him or her up for failure. But God says clearly that it is the only way to a right relationship with him and with others."

"When the Bible instructs us to fear the Lord, it doesn't mean that we should live in terror of an angry God, eager to punish us as soon as we make a mistake. Nor does it mean that we should fear final judgment when Jesus returns. Our sins are completely covered by our Savior...What, then, does it mean to fear the Lord? It means that we recognize him for who he is and we respond accordingly."-Week 3•Day 1

"This verse [1 Thess. 5:16-18] is such a sweet reminder for me. How often do I forget to pray? A lot. I worry about things. I try to control things. I talk to friends and ask for people's advice. I say that I 'need to pray about this,' but so often, I wait so long to get down to the business of praying. And yet right here is God's command to 'pray continually. '"

"None of us can work our way into earning God's favor, nor can any of us through our work maintain God's ongoing favor.... If God caused you to be born again, you can be assured that he will complete this work.... As a believer in Christ, you are as certain of heaven as though you have already been there ten thousand years. God finishes what he starts."

"But sorrow is unreliable in that way. When people don't share it there's a good chance that it will drive them apart instead."