If God gave it to me," we say "it's mine. I can do what I want with it." No. The truth is that it is ours to thank Him for and ours to offer back to Him, ours to relinquish, ours to lose, ours to let go of - if we want to find our true selves, if we want real Life, if our hearts are set on glory.

Teach me to treat all that comes to me with peace of soul and with firm conviction that Your will governs all.

By trying to grab fulfillment everywhere, we find it nowhere.

We want to avoid suffering, death, sin, ashes. But we live in a world crushed and broken and torn, a world God Himself visited to redeem. We receive his poured-out life, and being allowed the high privilege of suffering with Him, may then pour ourselves out for others.

The question is simply,'Who is your master?'Once that's settled, you ask whether any word have been spoken. If it has, you have your orders.

Fear arises when we imagine that everything depends on us.

A prayerful heart and an obedient heart will learn, very slowly and not without sorrow, to stake everything on God Himself.