Makayla > Recent Status Updates

"The problem with love, I reflected, was that nothing but equal or surpassing love could satisfy its longings."

"Your accomplishments are meant to be a response to that [God's] love; instead you have made love a response to your accomplishments."

"This land that is home to the world’s largest reserves of an element crucial to the manufacture of the most dominant form of rechargeable energy in the world still awaits the arrival of electricity."

"The rest of the world saw them both as symbols. Intangible light to guide them in the darkness. She understood now why ancient people's turned their heroes into constellations."

"You misunderstand; I don't forgive him - I merely understand him."
"Well, then, you're not a god, are you? Because a god forgives."
"I never claimed to be a god. I am merely godlike."

"Ah, but theater is the hallmark of ritual, and ritual is the touchstone of religion."

"Hospitality shares what there is; that's all. It's not entertainment. It's not supposed to be."

"The godly submission of a faithful wife to her head - her husband - does not diminish the power and strength that God has given to women but instead channels it to serve the most important people first."

"The job of an ally makes the cross lighter, not by erecting or supporting laws that oppose God's law, but by being good company in the bearing of its weights."

I like the idea of family mission statements, but it feels way too regimented for me. I don't want my life to feel totally inflexible because every single aspect of my life is dictated by a "constitution". I do like the quote, "The core of any family is what is changeless." But I see this as keeping God and scripture truths at the center. Not a family-created mission statement.

So she almost drowns due to natural undertow, she gets taken to the hospital, and then they diagnose her with some rare heart condition? That then her mom blames herself for?? I'm confused at how this adds up...and I'm tired of the broken heart thing so I hope something incredible gets woven into this by the end of the book.

I would like to see how this book plays out, but so far I am disappointed in the writing. The dialogue is robotic, and the protagonist over explains everything. I also feel like the situation doesn't make any sense (for example, in the same paragraph the protagonist talks about seeing her neice multiple nights a week yet she barely speaks to her sister, her niece's mom. This doesn't add up for me.)

The first principle is that of the cross: Life comes out of death. I bring God my sorrows and He gives me His joy. I bring Him my losses and He gives me His gains. I bring Him my sins, He gives me His righteousness. I bring Him my deaths and He gives me His life. But the only reason God can give me his life is because He gave me His death.

"Everything that we have comes from Him and we have nothing to offer except what He has given us."

"In other words, if they were arrested for being Christians, would there be sufficient evidence to convict them?"

"The ultimate goal, however, is not steadfastness but what it in turn produces: it proves our faith; it polishes our graces; it causes faith to shine in the world in the face of adversity. It shows that trust in Christ is not merely an insurance policy to protect us from harm, sorrow, or danger, but a joyful reliance on the Savior who proves himself to us in all circumstances."

They are about men being held responsible to guard God's word and lead a community (of two, or two hundred, or two thousand) where that word is followed.

But it does not follow that sinful mishandling of biblical instruction makes the instruction itself evil and void. That would be like blaming and discarding the command to exercise hospitality because some hosts poison the food they serve their guests. (On marriage and abuse)

"He {Adam} bears the responsibility of leading Eve in all that he has been given to know and fo before she arrived on the scene."

"All men and women can show God's glory in the ordered relationships of our lives together."