"Miracles occur within the rules"- Quote Round-up.

Whenever I read something that I love or want to think more about, but don't have time to journal or blog it, I stick it in my email drafts folder (no idea why). Theoretically this is so I'll go back and reread it later, but generally it takes me a few months to remember to do so. Here's the June-October-ish round-up...

(Certain blogs make frequent re-occurrences) Kisses from Katie:

"And slowly but surely I am learning to trust my Father in the way that my three year old trusts me. Learning to just allow Him to carry me, take me where He wants me and know that I will still wake up in His arms, and in His arms it is safe. Even when I wake up in unfamiliar territory."

"What are you going to do next/with your home/with your children/with your ministry/in five years/when you are older/etc... I am not concerned with what I am going to do. I am interested only in what I am becoming. Each day, I am hoping to become more like the One who created me."

"I believe that this is how He has loved us and I do not pretend to know why. But I know that He who did not spare His own Son will also graciously give us all things we need, and so I cling to believing this is for good."

"...I pray only that they are becoming people who know Him more."

"...And we pray and we pray that we could spill out the grace God has so lavished on us."

Fabs Harford:

"I have traded Him for the fleeting pleasures of this world too many times to count, but He has never traded me.  And He will never trade me.  And He has met me in the pig pen and He has led me home."

  "He doesn’t promise to give me everything I need to never be hungry.  He promises to give me everything I need to not starve to death on the road home to Him."

"There is only one thing I really need.  And it is secure."

Enjoying the Small Things:

"My bottom line in parenting--in special needs, in friendship, in anything--is always this: Most of the time I don't know what the hell I'm doing, but I damn well know how to spend time with my kids--how to have fun."

"It's about deeper relationships with family and friends and creating a loving, caring environment that everyone can flourish in."

Dig This Chick:

"I wonder what firsts will happen today? I wonder... "

"I decided it is a good place to be, excited for next and nostalgic for last."

"So much of diligence is about slowing down and attending to what is in my hand already."

(I actually can't find where I got this quote from, but I think it was here.)

 And then just random others from all over.

"...There are promises connected to everything we experience."

-Urban Servant

"Some people are more interested in knowing God's will than in knowing God."

-Mark Batterson

"The question is not, 'When will we get what we are waiting for?' but 'What will we become as we wait?'"

-Paul Tripp

"The good hostess is the person who makes you feel welcome, relaxed, and part of his or her life." 

-girltalk

"Breathe Him in and let Him exhale from every pore. Aren't we supposed to know Jesus so well that we know ourselves only in Him?"

-In the Heart of My Home

"I’m not saying it’s going to be easy. I don’t have any promises about ease, except: It gets worse. I DO have huge promises about joy."

-John Piper

"We lay our hope, full and tender, into the depths of Him and wait in hope for God to resurrect something good. Good always necessitate long waiting."

-Ann Voskamp 

"He who knows the why for his existence can bear almost any how."

-Victor Frankl

"In working out our callings, we are to perform for one audience, the audience of One."

-Os Guinness

"If you can only remember one thing, this is it: What is legitimate and godly is done in the light, known by others, and doesn't violate biblical standards. Anything you experience that is done furtively, in the dark, and kept secret is nearly always sinful."

 -Carolyn McCulley

"So how do we keep from wasting our trial? We persist in enduring. No matter how long the road. No matter how numerous the setbacks. No matter how deep the disappointment. We must keep before us that glorious destination: "perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." And having done all, we must simply stand." 

-girltalk

"The tricky part is living in the tension without becoming bitter about it. As my last six weeks in Longido approach, I'm trying to be mindful of that; I'm trying to let each day be its own and nothing else, trying not to manufacture experiences but thank God for the ones I have. Thank him for the people I have. Thank him for the sky that seems so much bigger here. Thank him for the dust that covers my feet, and the way the air feels so muggy on my runs at dusk. Thank him for his faithfulness; it's more than enough to make this very-not-Tanzanian-girl very happy in Tanzania for the time she has."

-Sweet Kait, current HNGR intern, Tanzania.

"Also, sorry but you're going to get me started on how much I hate the mobility of the modern world. Because we know such amazing people and have such cool lives and have had the privilege of being a part of amazing communities, we are destined to always miss people and want to be in a million places at once. 100 years ago, people lived in the same places their entire lives, with the same people. But lets be honest, I also love the freedom that modern transportation has afforded us. It has opened us up to incredible relationships and unique learning opportunities. And isn't it better to have this than never step out of our comfort zone? Hmmm the irony of it."

-my beautiful love Hayley, current HNGR intern, Ecuador- via email.
(I looovee her... this made me laugh so much- and I agree.)

"I just feel the present fact that if God weren't petitioning on my behalf, I'd be screwed."

-my dear friend Josh, via g-chat

"This change in the seasons always ushers in one of my favorite family traditions—spending our fall and winter evenings reading books together. Just about every evening we gather in the living room in that time between dinner and bedtime, and for 30 or 40 minutes the family sits while I read to them."
-Tim Challies

"Our rules for the group were to give encouragement as much as we could, and to give advice only once in a great while; we gave rebuke only when absolutely necessary, and we gave condemnation never. This was one of the times when they gave a little advice. They said, "We think you shouldn't pray. We will become your prayer for you."
-Richard Foster

"I believe that prayer truly worked for them, I believe that God heard them, and that even though things didn't necessarily get better, they were at least comforted by the Holy Spirit and that his presence was there with them. I want that, I've wanted that, so I went in search of how to pray like that."

-Foster again- both in a CT interview

"God always does more than we can ask or think."

-Worship Matters

"There is nothing worth living for, unless it is worth dying for."
-Elisabeth Elliot

"After calming the sea he said, “Why are you afraid?” Not because Christians never drown. But they are safe in drowning."
-John Piper again
(wow, I'm fairly verbal about not agreeing with a good amount of his theology, but apparently I do like his one-liners.)

"The essence of the Christian salvation is to say that He is good enough and that I am in Him."
-Martyn Lloyd-Jones

"I can't remember one single regret/
in serving God only/
and trusting His hand..."
-Sara Groves (from whom I got the name of my blog!)

"Today you'll preach to yourself the true Gospel of need and provision or a false gospel of independent righteousness, strength and wisdom."

-Paul Tripp

"The gospel is for tired receivers, not triumphant achievers."

-Tullian Tchidivjian

"Don’t think about what you don’t have or what you can’t do.  Ask yourself, Who can I encourage?  Who can I bless?  Who can I invite to my place for a meal?  Who can I offer to babysit for? ...  But you can be fruitful no matter where you are."
 -The Blazing Center

"Faith is the refusal to panic."

- Martyn Lloyd-Jones
 
"On the day when the weight deadens on your shoulders and you stumble/

may the clay dance to balance you."

-John O'Donohue

And last but not least, from the epic cancelled TV show, Joan of Arcadia: 

Joan: Make Kevin walk, please? I'll just ask this one favor and then I'll never ask for one again.
It's so easy for you. All you have to do is snap your fingers or blink your eyes.
Just let Kevin stand up.
God: People ask me to do things - big things, little things - billions of times, every day. 
Joan: What do you expect? You're God! 
God: I put a lot of thought into the Universe; came up with the rules. It sets a bad example if I break them - not to mention, shows favoritism. Why should one person get a miracle, and not everybody else? Can you imagine the confusion? It's better when we all abide by the rules. 
Joan: No miracles?
God: Miracles happen within the rules.

Holler!

(It's interesting to go back and look at what themes there are- I give basically no thought to it as I do it, just copy and paste something quickly and move on... so it's kind of revealing to see what's been pulling at me instinctively. Lots of trusting God, lots of waiting, and lots of cherishing relationships... the months where I was still working held lots of faithfulness and work ethic. Also, I'm not blogging most of these, but there were lots on adoption and fun homeschooling activities... yeah, maybe not this week.)