You do not move ahead by constantly looking in a rear view mirror. The past is a rudder to guide you, not an anchor to drag you. We must learn from the past but not live in the past.

A prophet weeps while others are laughing.

If you look to others you will be distracted; if you look to yourselves you will be discouraged; but if you look to Christ you'll be delighted.

If the Lord calls you, He will equip you for the task He wants you to fulfill

Hypocrisy means deliberately pretending. None of us lives up to his ideals; none of us is all that he would like to be or all that he could be in Christ. But that is not hypocrisy. Falling short of our ideals is not hypocrisy. Pretending we have reached our ideals when we have not - that is hypocrisy.

When it seems as if God is far away, remind yourself that He is near. Nearness is not a matter of geography. God is everywhere. Nearness is likeness. The more we become like the Lord, the nearer He is to us.

The Christian life is a pilgrimage from earth to heaven, and our task is to take as many as possible with us as we make this journey.