Gratitude is the ability to experience life as a gift. It liberates us from the prison of self-preoccupation.
John OrtbergThere is a world of difference between being friendly to someone because they're useful to you and being someone's friend.
John OrtbergGod is never a God of discouragement. When you have a discouraging spirit or train of thought in your mind, you can be sure it is not from God. He sometimes brings pain to his children-conviction over sin, or repentance over fallenness, or challenges that scare us, or visions of his holiness that overwhelm us. But God never brings discouragement.
John OrtbergGrace is the offer of God's ceaseless presence and irrational love that cannot be stopped.
John Ortberg