Our love for Christ is more important to Him than all of our service to Him. Strict obedience and services are not enough. Love for Jesus must come first.

Religion can be one of the greatest impediments to finding God.

The blessing of my mother is that she is so interested, she is so bright, she never complains - the joy of the Lord just bubbles out of her. Anybody who's in her presence is blessed to be there.

If I can center down and strengthen the core of who I am, and the core of who I am is my relationship with God, then that helps me maintain peace deep down. If I can maintain a healthy spiritual core, I think that's enormous for helping the stress.

If our lives are easy, and if all we ever attempt for God is what we know we can handle, how will we ever experience His omnipotence in our lives?

When life is good and we have no problems, we can almost let ourselves believe we have no need for God. But in my experience, sometimes the richest blessings come through pain and hard things.

God can change our circumstances, but sometimes He waits for us to show real desire for change as well as our faith in Him.