The meaning of our lives is revealed through experiences that at first seem at odds with each other--moments we wish would never end and moments we wish had never begun.

Of course, none of this can happen for us until we give our lives back to God. We cannot know the joy or the life or the freedom of heart I've described until we surrender our lives to Jesus and surrender them totally... We turn, and give ourselves body, soul, and spirit back to God, asking him to cleanse our hearts and make them new. And he does. He gives us a new heart. And he comes to dwell there, in our hearts.

The true story of every person in this world is not the story you see, the external story. The true story of each person is the journey of his or her heart.

But a wound unfelt is a wound unhealed.

My heart matters to God. My heart has always mattered to him.

Desire, both the whispers and the shouts, is the map we have been given to find the only life worth living.

Faith looks back and draws courage; hope looks ahead, and keeps desire alive.