Often God has to shut a door in our face, so that He can subsequently open the door through which He wants us to go.

Whence comes this idea that if what we are doing is fun, it can't be God's will? The God who made giraffes, a baby's fingernails, a puppy's tail, a crooknecked squash, the bobwhite's call, and a young girl's giggle, has a sense of humor. Make no mistake about that.

The purpose of all prayer is to find God's will and to make that our prayer

Clean up a pigsty," she commented one evening, "and if the creatures in it still have pig-minds and pig-desires, soon it will be the same old pigsty again.

Why should a child's future be shaped by where they are born?

I believe the old cliché, 'God helps those who help themselves,' is not only misleading but often dead wrong. My most spectacular answers to prayers have come when I was so helpless, so out of control as to be able to do nothing at all for myself.

God's way of dealing with us is to throw us into situations over our depth, then supply us with the necessary ability to swim.