“One of the biggest mistakes we make is to think of surrender as a giving up of what we want, when in reality it is a letting go. When we surrender what we think we need to be happy in exchange for God, we’re not settling for less, we’re settling for more. Surrender to God […]
“We enter into solitude first of all to meet our Lord and to be with Him and Him alone. Only in the context of grace can we face our sin; only in the place of healing do we dare to show our wounds; only with a single-minded attention to Christ can we give up our […]
“Solitude is the place where Christ remodels us in his own image and frees us from the victimizing compulsions of the world.”- Henri Nouwen, The Way of the Heart “But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.”- Luke 5:16 (NIV) In Chapter 8 (“The Cultivation of Solitude”) of Transforming Loneliness, Ruth Graham stresses that […]
“Lonely times are preparatory times, but we will be able to see this and embrace the goodness of it if we make God’s purposes our own.”- Lydia Brownback, Finding God in My Loneliness “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God.”- Psalm 42:1 (NIV) Ruth Graham concludes […]
“Turn your loneliness into solitude, and your solitude into prayer.”- Elisabeth Elliot, The Path of Loneliness “Language has created the word loneliness to express the pain of being alone, and the word solitude to express the glory of being alone.”- Paul Tillich In Chapter 7 (“The Treasures of Solitude”) of Transforming Loneliness, Ruth Graham talks […]
“We tend to balk at loneliness and solitude. But we shouldn’t. We need quiet and solitude for our own health. It is a time to settle and grow quiet within ourselves. How else can we hear the ‘still, small voice’ — the whisper of God?”- Ruth Graham “Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire; he […]
“Let’s begin by gathering our loneliness and shame and taking them home to our Father, who will overwhelm our shame with His perfect love and satisfy our deepest longings for belonging.”- Ruth Graham “Even in laughter the heart may ache, and the end of joy may be grief.”- Proverbs 14:13 (ESV) “God makes a home […]
“Solitude is a gift from God. Isolation is not — it’s a tool of the Enemy.”- Carey Nieuwhof “Nothing feels quite as strange as people treating you as poorly as you regularly treat them. It brings out an indignation that only the hypocritical can truly appreciate.”-Carey Nieuwhof In Chapter 5 (“Is Anyone Out There?”) of […]
“Leisure is a form of silence, not noiselessness. It is the silence of contemplation such as occurs when we let out minds rest on a rosebud, a child at play, a Divine mystery, or a waterfall.”- Fulton J. Sheen “The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and […]
John Ortberg concludes Chapter 11 of Soul Keeping by discussing the fourth and final phase of The Cycle of Grace- Achievement. He describes this phase as follows: “To achieve- to bear fruit- is crucial to the soul. But fruitfulness is just as much a matter of grace as acceptance is. The fruitful soul is also […]
“The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry,’Abba, Father.’ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.”- Romans 8:15-16 In Chapter 1 (“The Necessity of Prayer”) of […]
At noon the whole country was covered with darkness, which lasted for three hours. At about three o’clock Jesus cried out with a loud shout, “Eli, Eli, lema, sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why did you abandon me?”- Matthew 27:45-46 (TEV) Max Lucado begins Chapter 19 (“Abandoned! God-Forsaken Places”) of Next Door Savior […]