How does God teach me love? By putting me around unlovely people. How does God teach me joy in the middle of grief? Not happiness, which is based on happenings. How does God teach me peace? Not when I am out fishing and everything is going my way and it doesn't get better than this. But in the middle of chaos. How does God teach me patience? By putting me in His waiting room.

We are products of our past, but we don't have to be prisoners of it.

Limited faith, limited future. Unlimited faith, unlimited future.

Explanations don't comfort. You won't feel better if you know why. It won't hurt any less.

I love the verse in Job, where it says a man deserves the devotion of his friends even when he forsakes the Almighty. Now what that verse means to me is, even if I were to say, right now I don't believe in God. I still need you to be my friend, and say, I can believe God for you right now. I'm going to hold you up while you are ranting and railing, and God can handle my ranting and railing because He certainly handled David's and Job's and so many others.

To become a master communicator: shut your mouth & listen first.

Get honest with God, and your focus will shift from just seeing your problems - no matter how overwhelming they seem - to the grace of God.