Welcome to The Week In Words, where we share quotes from the last week’s reading. If something you read this past week  inspired you, caused you to laugh, cry, think, dream, or just resonated with you in some way, please share it with us, attributing it to its source, which can be a book, newspaper, blog, Facebook — anything that you read. More information is here.

Here are a few quotes that spoke to me this week:

From Diane‘s Facebook:

“What would you expect? Sin will not come to you, saying, ‘I am sin.’ It would do little harm if it did. Sin always seems ‘good, pleasant, and desirable,’ at the time of arrival.” ~ J.C. Ryle

So very true.

From Chris Anderson‘s Twitter:

The inevitable fruit of any fleshly attempt to engineer unity apart from truth will be worse division than ever. ~ Phil Johnson

Unity just for unity’s sake usually involves a compromise of truth. There are multitudes of personal preferences it’s ok to compromise on, but we dare not compromise truth.

From the chapter “Not One Thing Has Failed” in Elisabeth’s Elliot‘s book Love Has a Price Tag, quoted in her e-mail devotional:

“I visited Indians at Crossweeksung,” [David] Brainerd records, “Apprehending that it was my indispensable duty…. I cannot say I had any hopes of success. I do not know that my hopes respecting the conversion of the Indians were ever reduced to so low an ebb … yet this was the very season that God saw fittest to begin His glorious work in! And thus He ordained strength out of weakness … whence I learn that it is good to follow the path of duty, though in the midst of darkness and discouragement.”

You can share your family-friendly quotes in the comments below or write a post on your blog and then put the link to that post (not your general blog link) in Mr. Linky below.

I hope you’ll visit the other participants as well and glean some great thoughts to ponder. And I hope you’ll leave a comment here, even if you don’t have any quotes to share.

Welcome to The Week In Words, where we share quotes from the last week’s reading. If something you read this past week  inspired you, caused you to laugh, cry, think, dream, or just resonated with you in some way, please share it with us, attributing it to its source, which can be a book, newspaper, blog, Facebook — anything that you read. More information is here.

Here are a few quotes that spoke to me this week:

From a friend’s Facebook:

To derive the fullest comfort and encouragement from Romans 8:28 we must realize that God is at work in a proactive, not reactive, fashion. That is, God does not just respond to an adversity in our lives to make the best of a bad situation. He knows before He initiates or permits the adversity exactly how He will use it for our good. – Jerry Bridges

Nothing takes Him by surprise. He is proactive, not reactive. He is wise and purposeful, not just responsive. What a blessing.

Quoted in Created for Work by Bob Schultz:

A man should never be ashamed to own he has been in the wrong, which is but saying, in other words, that he is wiser today than he was yesterday. ~ Alexander Pope

Hopefully one can say that, if one has learned from mistakes!

From Carver of Tuskegee, quoted in Created for Work by Bob Schultz:

“Didn’t you plan to be an artist at one time, Professor?”

Carver smiled. “I am an artist…I make beauty instead of recording it. There is beauty in well-tilled fields, in healthy and happy people, beauty to living in harmony with others. With God helping me, I have tried to create beauty according to His directing.”

You can share your family-friendly quotes in the comments below or write a post on your blog and then put the link to that post (not your general blog link) in Mr. Linky below.

I hope you’ll visit the other participants as well and glean some great thoughts to ponder. And I hope you’ll leave a comment here, even if you don’t have any quotes to share.

Welcome to The Week In Words, where we share quotes from the last week’s reading. If something you read this past week  inspired you, caused you to laugh, cry, think, dream, or just resonated with you in some way, please share it with us, attributing it to its source, which can be a book, newspaper, blog, Facebook — anything that you read. More information is here.

Here is my collection for today:

From a post titled Are We Required to Attend Church on the Lord’s Day? via Challies:

The key to a Christian use of the Lord’s Day is not drawing up a list of what can and cannot be done, but to give the whole day to basking in God’s Word, loading ourselves up with the treasures of Christ.

This was similar to the conclusion I came to after seriously encountering Isaiah 58:13-14: “If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.” It dawned on me that the OT regulations about not working on the sabbath weren’t so much about rest from work, though that was a part of it, but about having a day for God. I’m not going to get into the arguments of the OT sabbath vs. the NT Lord’s Day or OT Jewish regulations vs. NT Gentile practices of the day — that would be another whole post. But the key part of this quote for me was that it points out our tendency to draw up our little lists when instead we need to get to the heart of the matter and do whatever we do as unto the Lord.

This was from Robin Lee Hatcher’s Facebook:

How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. ~ Annie Dillard

Sounds obvious, yet it’s so easy to think about what we’re going to do with out lives “some day” while forgetting this day’s contribution to our lives.

And finally, from a the Facebook page of a friend who is a teacher:

“To get the best out of someone, you’ve got to give the best of yourself.”

Good reminder for anyone who invests in the life of another…which is all of us. 🙂

You can share your family-friendly quotes in the comments below or write a post on your blog and then put the link to that post (not your general blog link) in Mr. Linky below.

I hope you’ll visit the other participants as well and glean some great thoughts to ponder. And don’t forget to leave a comment here, even if you don’t have any quotes to share.

Welcome to The Week In Words, where we share quotes from the last week’s reading. If something you read this past week  inspired you, caused you to laugh, cry, think, dream, or just resonated with you in some way, please share it with us, attributing it to its source, which can be a book, newspaper, blog, Facebook — anything that you read. More information is here.

Hope you’re having a good new year so far! Is this still a day off for you? It is for us, but tomorrow works begins again for Jim and Jesse starts back to school Wednesday.

A friend posted this on Facebook last week neat the end of the year:

“The year is almost over, and the years of my life are growing few, but time does not change my Lord. New lamps are taking the place of old; perpetual change is on all things, but our Lord is the same. Force overturns the hills, but no conceivable power can affect the eternal God. Nothing in the past, the present, or the future can cause Jehovah to be unkind to me. My soul, rest in the eternal kindness of the Lord, who treats thee as one near of kin. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

Blessed, blessed thoughts.

This was posted by another friend on Facebook:

Good habits are not made on birthdays, nor Christian character at the New Year. The workshop of character is everyday life. The uneventful and commonplace hour is where the battle is lost or won.

She quoted from another friend’s Facebook and hadn’t gotten a reply back yet as to whether the quote was original with her. But it is a good one. Good habits can start with resolutions, but until they get worked down into the “uneventful and commonplace,” they’ll be the kind that fade out by March.

And I saw this one on our youth pastor’s wife’s Twitter. It doesn’t directly mention the new year, but it certainly applies:

Why would you panic at your loss of control when you can rest in the arms of the One who, in righteousness and grace, controls all things? ~ Paul David Tripp

Why? I don’t know, but I do. But I need to remember Who does have everything under control and trust Him.

You can share your family-friendly quotes in the comments below or write a post on your blog and then put the link to that post (not your general blog link) in Mr. Linky below.

I hope you’ll visit the other participants as well and glean some great thoughts to ponder. And don’t forget to leave a comment here, even if you don’t have any quotes to share.

Welcome to The Week In Words, where we share quotes from the last week’s reading. If something you read this past week  inspired you, caused you to laugh, cry, think, dream, or just resonated with you in some way, please share it with us, attributing it to its source, which can be a book, newspaper, blog, Facebook — anything that you read. More information is here.

Here are a few thought-provoking quotes I came across this week:

Seen at Carrie’s review of  Growing Grateful Kids, by Susie Larson:

“We cannot grow beyond our ability to receive correction.” Francis Frangipane

I have never heard of Frangipane before and know nothing about him, but, wow, that one hit me between the eyes. Taking correction really goes against the grain, but how else will we be alerted to our blind spots? The Bible had much to say about being willing to receive correction and rebuke.

Seen at Robin Lee Hatcher‘s Facebook page:

Anything I’ve ever done that ultimately was worthwhile initially scared me to death. ~ Betty Bender

I sure can identify with that, and it helps to know others have felt the same way. I used to think being scared to death meant I shouldn’t do whatever it was I was scared of….but that’s not necessarily true.

I saw this while looking in my downloaded documents section. It was on a page of tips on prayer along with prayer requests for missionary Anne Dreisbach. I don’t know if this is something she said or if it is quoted from someone else:

Such as cast their eye on the promise, with a neglect of the command, are not edified by Scripture, as they look more for comfort than for duty.

I can tend to do that — scan a passage for the promises and comfort while touching lightly on the warnings or commands. But we can’t have one without the others.

You can share your family-friendly quotes in the comments below or write a post on your blog and then put the link to that post (not your general blog link) in Mr. Linky below.

I hope you’ll visit the other participants as well and glean some great thoughts to ponder. And don’t forget to leave a comment here, even if you don’t have any quotes to share. I usually try to visit everyone who comments, but often I forget to check Mr. Linky for those who participated but didn’t comment.

Welcome to The Week In Words, where we share quotes from the last week’s reading. If something you read this past week  inspired you, caused you to laugh, cry, think, dream, or just resonated with you in some way, please share it with us, attributing it to its source, which can be a book, newspaper, blog, Facebook — anything that you read. More information is here.

Here are a couple of thought-provoking quotes I came across this week:

Seem at Chris Anderson‘s:

“He who loves God will endeavour to make Him appear glorious in the eyes of others. Such as are in love will be commending and setting forth the amiableness of those persons whom they love. If we love God, we shall spread abroad His excellences, that so we may raise His fame and esteem, and may induce others to fall in love with Him. Love cannot be silent; we shall be as so many trumpets, sounding forth the freeness of God’s grace, the transcendency of His love, and the glory of His kingdom. Love is like fire: where it burns in the heart, it will break forth at the lips. It will be elegant in setting forth God’s praise: love must have vent.” ~ Puritan Thomas Watson, All Things for Good, p. 86.

“Love must have vent.” Love that.

Via Diane:

“How little people know who think that holiness is dull. When one meets the real thing . . . it is irresistible.” –C.S. Lewis

So very true.

You can share your family-friendly quotes in the comments below or write a post on your blog and then put the link to that post (not your general blog link) in Mr. Linky below.

I hope you’ll visit the other participants as well and glean some great thoughts to ponder. And don’t forget to leave a comment here, even if you don’t have any quotes to share.