Category: Motivation

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Shout Out to the Plants Growing Through Concrete or Snow

I live in Wisconsin. Last night we had another snow emergency with another 1 to 4 inches. We are kinda buried in snow. It’s real pretty to look at – as long as you are inside, lol!Then you see it. There is always a sign. God never gives up on us. Here is a little geranium plant that refuses to give up. It won’t quit. Shout out to all the plants growing through concrete – or snow!

“But there’s far more to life for us. We’re citizens of high heaven! We’re waiting the arrival of the Savior, the Master, Jesus Christ, who will transform our earthy bodies into glorious bodies like his own. He’ll make us beautiful and whole with the same powerful skill by which he is putting everything as it should be, under and around him.” – Philippians 3:20 MSG

“Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead,I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” – Philippians 3:12-14 NKJV

This is my new favorite song!

The God Who Stays by Matthew West

Verse 1
If I were You I would’ve given up on me by now
I would’ve labeled me a lost cause
‘Cause I feel just like a lost cause
If I were You
I would’ve turned around and walked away
I would’ve labeled me beyond repair
‘Cause I feel like I’m beyond repair

Pre-Chorus
But (‘Cause) somehow You don’t see me like I do
Somehow You’re still hereChorus
You’re (From) the God who stays
You’re the God who stays
You’re the one who runs in my direction
When the whole world walks away
You’re the God who stands
With wide open arms
And You tell me nothing I have ever done
Could separate my heart
(From the God who stays)

Verse 2
I used to hide
Every time I thought I let You down
I always thought I had to earn my way
But I’m learning You don’t work that way

Bridge
My shame can’t separate my guilt can’t separate
My past can’t separate I’m Yours foreverMy sin can’t separate my scars can’t separate
My failures can’t separate I’m Yours forever
No enemy can separate
No power of hell can take away
Your love for me will never change
I’m Yours forever

AJ Pruis | Jonathan Smith | Matthew West

© Be Essential Songs (Admin. by Essential Music Publishing LLC)
Cashagamble Jet Music (Admin. by Essential Music Publishing LLC)
Combustion Five (Admin. by Me Gusta Music LLC)
Highly Combustible Music (Admin. by One77 Songs c/o Kobalt Songs Music Publishing (ASCAP))

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faith, God, Motivation, Religion and Spirituality, Spirituality

Filled With Awe and Wonder

It was an ordinary morning, until I opened the door to let our dog Max out. He is still a puppy at 6 months old. It had snowed overnight here in Wisconsin. Then it occurred to me, Max has never seen snow!

I could not resist taking a video of him and his first look at snow. He is a Borderjack, a mix between Border Collie and Jack Russell terrier. He was a bit hesitant at first, but then his sense of awe and wonder came out and he starts jumping around in it! He loves it.

That made me think of God and His Creation. Daddy God loves to surprise us, just like He surprised Max today. I have to admit it, I have been a bit cynical with all the things going on in my life. I had let the cares of the world take over. I was too busy trying to figure out my life that I had missed it, Just watching Max today reminded me of what awe and wonder look like.

I believe that Daddy God wants to surprise us with amazing things. He is good, all the time. But if I lose my sense of awe and wonder I am not paying attention to Him. Forgive me Lord.

God’s Word for You

Place Your Life Before God

“So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.” – Romans 12:1-2 MSG

Jesus knew exactly what they were thinking and said, “Why all this gossipy whispering? Which is simpler: to say ‘I forgive your sins,’ or to say ‘Get up and start walking’? Well, just so it’s clear that I’m the Son of Man and authorized to do either, or both. . . .” He now spoke directly to the paraplegic: “Get up. Take your bedroll and go home.” Without a moment’s hesitation, he did it—got up, took his blanket, and left for home, giving glory to God all the way. The people rubbed their eyes, incredulous—and then also gave glory to God. Awestruck, they said, “We’ve never seen anything like that!” Luke 5:22-26 MSG

The enemy spoke,
        “I’ll pursue, I’ll hunt them down,
    I’ll divide up the plunder,
        I’ll glut myself on them;
    I’ll pull out my sword,
        my fist will send them reeling.”

You blew with all your might
        and the sea covered them.
    They sank like a lead weight
        in the majestic waters.
    Who compares with you
        among gods, O God?
    Who compares with you in power,
        in holy majesty,
    In awesome praises,
        wonder-working God?” – Exodus 15:9-11 MSG

My Prayer for You:

Surprise us Daddy. Show us your Glory. Just like you surprised Max this morning. Fill us with an amazing sense of awe and wonder for our everyday ordinary lives, in Jesus Name.

God, Life, Motivation, Quotes, Religion and Spirituality, Spirituality

15 Beautiful Quotes for Mothers Day

I miss my Mom and my mother-in-law. They both passed away from Cancer in 2012. But they still live in my heart. The love that they gave me is still there. The memories still come . It is bittersweet. Their love never dies.

I am a Mom too. I am blessed with 4 beautiful children and 2 stepkids. I love them so much. I am so proud of all of them. You know…we always want the best for our kids. We don’t want them to go through the hard things we had to go through.

Here are some beautiful quotes and verses for Mother’s Day. Have a blessed day!

15 Beautiful Quotes for Mother’s Day

  1. Motherhood is a million little moments that God weaves together with grace, redemption, laughter, tears, and most of all, love. – Lysa TerKeurst
  2. All the forces on this planet, will never beat that of a mother’s love. ― Elle Smith
  3. Sometimes the strength of motherhood is greater than natural laws.– Barbara Kingsolver
  4. Mother’s love is peace. It need not be acquired, it need not be deserved.– Eric Fromm
  5. You made all of the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. – Psalm 139:13
  6. The love of a mother is the veil of a softer light between the heart and the heavenly Father.– Samuel Taylor Coleridge
  7. A mother’s love is the fuel that enables a normal human being to do the impossible– Marion C. Garretty.
  8. Children, obey your parents in the Lord, because this is right. Honor your father and mother which is the first commandment with a promise – that it may go well with you and that you may have a long life. – Ephesians 6:1-3
  9. I cannot tell you how much I owe to the solemn word of my good mother. – Charles Haddon Spurgeon
  10. A mother is your first friend, your best friend, your forever friend. – Unknown
  11. Mother is a verb. It’s something you do. Not just who you are. – Dorothy Canfield Fisher
  12. Moms are the people who know us the best and love us the most. – Unknown
  13. And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be. And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her. – Genesis 17:15-16
  14. Motherhood: All love begins and ends there. – Robert Browning
  15. Love is patient; love is kind. Love is not jealous; is not proud; is not conceited; does not act foolishly; is not selfish; is not easily provoked to anger; keeps no record of wrongs; takes no pleasure in unrighteousness, but rejoices in the truth; love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things. – I Corinthians 13:4-7.

God, Hope, Life, Motivation, Religion and Spirituality, Spirituality

Before the World was Made

Before the world was even made Daddy God had you on His mind. Yes, even before one sea or star or Earth even came to be, God wanted a family. He choose you, before everything.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.

Ephesians 1:3-6 NKJV

We all like being choosen.  Remember those awful gym classes in High School? I was not very athletic so I was always one of the last ones to be chosen. It was embarrasing. I hated that class. It’s not like that with God. Before God formed the world He chose YOU to be part of His family!

That gives me strength and hope. I am not always chosen by family, friends, or work opportunities, but God chose me first – and you too! Remember in those times of rejection who we belong to. God wants us first!

You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.

 

But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;  who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy. – 1 Peter 2:9 – 10

Life, Motivation, Quotes, Religion and Spirituality, Spirituality

Inspirational New Year’s Quotes

Inspirational New Year’s Quotes

  • If this is to be a Happy New Year, a year of usefulness, a year in which we shall live to make this earth better, it is because God will direct our pathway. How important then, to feel our dependence upon Him! – Matthew Simpson
  • You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream. – C. S. Lewis
  • Hope
    Smiles from the threshold of the year to come,
    Whispering ‘it will be happier’… ― Alfred Lord Tennyson
  • Do not remember the former things,
    Nor consider the things of old.
    Behold, I will do a new thing,
    Now it shall spring forth;
    Shall you not know it?
    I will even make a road in the wilderness
    And rivers in the desert. – Isaiah 43:18-19 NKJV
  • I am grateful for all that this year has given me, including the lessons it has given to my soul.
    This year I will be kinder and more compassionate to myself and to all beings.
    I will stop being so hard on me.
    I will laugh more.
    I will unplug more.
    I will shift into my heart more.
    I will make the time to connect to the Divine and feed my spirit.
    I will let go of the small stuff.
    I will surround myself with uplifting people and activities.
    This is my truth and so it is. Amen. ― Eileen Anglin
  • It Doesn’t Matter Where You Came From. All That Matters Is Where You Are Going.- Brian Tracy
  • You crown the year with Your goodness,
    And Your paths drip with abundance. – Psalm 65:11
  • I hope you realize that every day is a fresh start for you. That every sunrise is a new chapter in your life waiting to be written. ― Juansen Dizon
  • Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away (vanished), and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, arrayed like a bride adorned for her husband; and then I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “See! The tabernacle of God is among men, and He will live among them, and they will be His people, and God Himself will be with them [b][as their God,] and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be death; there will no longer be sorrow and anguish, or crying, or pain; for the former order of things has passed away.”
    And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also He said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true [they are accurate, incorruptible, and trustworthy].” – Revelation 21:1-5 AMP

God, Life, Motivation, motivational, Psalms, Quotes, Religion and Spirituality, Spirituality

21 Inspirational Thanksgiving Quotes for 2018

Happy Thanksgiving week!  I am thankful for each and every one of you. You have helped me in this journey called life with your words of life and inspiration. Life is always better together. I love you all. Have a blessed and peaceful Thanksgiving!

21 Inspirational Thanksgiving Quotes for 2018

  1. Gratitude is a constant attitude of thankfulness and appreciation for life as it unfolds. Living in the moment, we are open to the abundance around us and within us. We express appreciation freely. We contemplate the richness of our life. In life’s trials, we seek to understand, to accept, to learn. Gratitude is a continual celebration of life. — AUTHOR UNKNOWN
  2. Thanksgiving is one of my favorite days of the year because it reminds us to give thanks and to count our blessings. Suddenly, so many things become so little when we realize how blessed and lucky we are. – Joyce Giraud
  3. Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow. – Melody Beattie
  4. I will praise God’s name in song and glorify him with thanksgiving. — PSALM 69:30
  5. Careful for nothing, prayerful for everything, thankful for anything. – Dwight L. Moody
  6. Let us remember that, as much has been given us, much will be expected from us, and that true homage comes from the heart as well as from the lips, and shows itself in deeds. — Theodore Roosevelt
  7. I am grateful for what I am and have. My thanksgiving is perpetual. – Henry David Thoreau
  8. Each day is a gift from God. What you do with it is your gift to Him. – T.D. Jakes
  9. As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them. – John Fitzgerald Kennedy
  10. Perhaps it takes a purer faith to praise God for unrealized blessings than for those we once enjoyed or those we enjoy now. – A.W. Tozer
  11. Cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude. — RALPH WALDO EMERSON
  12. The Christian who walks with the Lord and keeps constant communion with Him will see many reason for rejoicing and thanksgiving all day long. – Warren W. Wiersben
  13. Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.- 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
  14. Give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way. — NATIVE AMERICAN SAYING
  15. O Lord that lends me life, lend me a heart replete with thankfulness. — WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
  16. Sharing in God’s blessings is at the heart of Thanksgiving and at the core of the American spirit. — PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON
  17. Thanksgiving Day is a good day to recommit our energies to giving thanks and just giving. — AMY GRANT
  18. Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough. — OPRAH WINFREY
  19. Almighty God, who hast given us this good land for our heritage; We humbly beseech Thee that we may always prove ourselves a people mindful of Thy favor and glad to do Thy will. – Franklin D. Roosevelt
  20. All across America, we gather this week with the people we love to give thanks to God for the blessings in our lives. – George W. Bush
  21. Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song. — PSALM 95:2

 

daughters, Hope, Motivation, motivational, Quotes, Religion and Spirituality, Spirituality, Women

15 Inspirational Quotes for Strong Women

We all know a strong woman. Someone who has stood up and fought despite all the drama and heartache that comes with life. There are women who carry eternity in their hearts and bring life to whatever they touch. I have been blessed to know many of them.

Strong women inspire us and give us hope and courage. They remind us why we are here and that God isn’t finished with us yet. Strong women give us encouragement and help us look forward instead of backwards. They listen and help us heal from all the past hurts. They help us brush the dust off, shake our ‘manes’ , and get back up. I love them all – my daughters, and granddaughter, my moms, my friends, my sisters, and my fellow bloggers. You are amazing!

15 Inspirational Quotes for Strong Women

  1. “She is clothed with strength and dignity and she laughs without fear of the future.” – Proverbs 31:25.
  2. “Women are like teabags. We don’t know our true strength until we are in hot water.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
  3. “Knowing what must be done does away with fear.”- Rosa Parks
  4. “Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.” – Maya Angelou
  5. “I believe in being strong when everything seems to be going wrong. I believe that happy girls are the prettiest girls. I believe that tomorrow is another day, and I believe in miracles.” – Audrey Hepburn
  6. “What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.” – Jane Goodall
  7. “If I stop to kick every barking dog I am not going to get where I’m going.” – Jackie Joyner-Kersee
  8. “God is within her, she will not fall.” – Psalm 46:5 
  9. “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
  10. “When we do the best we can, we never know what miracle is wrought in our life, or in the life of another.” – Helen Keller
  11. “And one day she discovered that she was fierce, and strong, and full of fire, and that not even she could hold herself back because her passion burned brighter than her fears.” – Mark Anthony
  12. In politics, if you want anything said, ask a man; if you want anything done, ask a woman.” —Margaret Thatcher
  13. “We are not held back by the love we didn’t receive in the past, but by the love we’re not extending in the present.” – Marianne Williamson.
  14. ‘When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, ‘I used everything you gave me’. “– Erma Bombeck.
  15. “Blessed is she who believed that the Lord would fulfill His promises to her.” – Luke 1:45

God, Hope, Motivation, Religion and Spirituality, Spirituality

You May Think You are a Nobody, but God Made You a Somebody

You may be like me. Feeling like a grain of sand of the beach. Buried in all the other grains of sand on the beach – feeling like a Nobody. But can I tell you, that is not who you are. God made you a Somebody. You matter. You have a purpose and a plan in this life.

Enlarge your vision. Like a pebble that makes waves when it hits the water, you are making a difference in the lives of those you touch. You matter. You were born for such a time as this. Your story is not over, God is not finished with you yet.

Sit back, relax, and enjoy the journey of becoming. Your were made to give light and love to all you meet. You carry in you the hope of glory. You are a special treasure and the apple of God’s eye. Rest in who He says you are – beloved, treasured, loved, and chosen.

Motivation, motivational, Quotes, Religion and Spirituality, Spirituality

12 Inspirational Quotes to Bring in the New Year of 2018

12 Inspirational Quotes to Bring in the New Year of 2018

“Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin.” — Mother Teresa

  1. “Remember who you are. Don’t compromise for anyone, for any reason. You are a child of the Almighty God. Live that truth.” –Lysa Terkeurst
  2. “Do not remember the former things,
    Nor consider the things of old.
    Behold, I will do a new thing,
    Now it shall spring forth;
    Shall you not know it?
    I will even make a road in the wilderness
    And rivers in the desert.” – Isaiah 43;18-19 NKJV
  3. “If you can’t fly, then run, If you can’t run, then walk, If you can’t walk, then crawl, but whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward.” –Martin Luther King Jr.
  4. “Hope
    Smiles from the threshold of the year to come,
    Whispering ‘it will be happier’…” ― Alfred Tennyson
  5. “Our greatest fear should not be of failure but of succeeding at things in life that don’t really matter.” –Francis Chan
  6. “Tomorrow, is the first blank page of a 365 page book. Write a good one.” ― Brad Paisley
  7. HIS UNFAILING PRESENCE
    Another year I enter
    Its history unknown;
    Oh, how my feet would tremble
    To tread its paths alone!
    But I have heard a whisper,
    I know I shall be blest;
    “My presence shall go with thee,
    And I will give thee rest.
    What will the New Year bring me
    I may not, must not know;
    Will it be love and rapture,
    Or loneliness and woe?
    Hush! Hush! I hear His whisper;
    I surely shall be blest;
    My presence shall go with thee,
    And I will give thee rest.” –Unknown Author
  8. “For last year’s words belong to last year’s language And next year’s words await another voice.” ― T.S. Eliott” I will greatly rejoice in the Lord,
  9. “My soul shall be joyful in my God;
    For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation,
    He has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
    As a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments,
    And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
    For as the earth brings forth its bud,
    As the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring forth,
    So the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.” -Isaiah 61:10-11 NKJV
  10. “Your success and happiness lies in you. Resolve to keep happy, and your joy and you shall form an invincible host against difficulties.” – Helen Keller
  11. “Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other.” –Abraham Lincoln

God, Hope, Motivation, motivational, Spirituality

Your Story Matters – Blog it!

Your story matters. It may not seem so right now. But you are not the only one going through it, that’s for sure. One of the the things I really like about blogging is that you get to meet people all over the world who may be going through the exact same situation.

When I blog about depression, I get to meet others who are in the battle and learn what worked for them to kick out the blues. When I write about my past domestic violence situations I get wisdom from others who have made it out alive. When I write about finding hope in God I get to meet others who have found Him faithful and true. We are a tribe of men, women, and children who share our hearts with people we have never met. I love it!!!

I am more honest on my blog than I am with people sometimes. It’s really easy to pour your heart out when you just type whatever you think. There is a freedom in that. Your heart, your feelings, your hopes, dreams, failures – it is really addicting! It’s a total no judgement zone.

Do you blog?

What do you blog about?

Why do you blog?

I read my about page today – funny how you write that page and forget about it. It helped me remember why I do this:

My Purpose – To overcome adversity, thrive, and live an abundant life

My Mission – To encourage and teach others how to rise above their circumstances, enlarge their vision, and soar to new heights with God

My Calling – To use words and music to find and share hope is this crazy world

What about you? What is your vision? Do you have a dream? A calling?

I encourage your to write it down. It’s real then. It helped me focus on why I do what I do. It gives me vision. Without vision the people perish I read…

Plus, it’s really funny to read something you wrote like 3 years ago and totally forgot about. Blogging gives me perspective – on how far I have come, what I have overcome, and how faithful God is to His promises!

 

 

Motivation, motivational, Quotes, Religion and Spirituality, Spirituality

10 Graduation Quotes that are not Dr. Seuss

I have been to 4 graduations this month. And out of those 4 there have been 3 of them that the teachers use Dr. Seuss quotes. Can I ask why? The kids that are graduating are either from High School or College. Do you know the last time they read Dr. Seuss? Probably when they were like 3.  Very strange. Maybe I’m just weird.

10 Graduation Quotes that are not Dr. Seuss

  1. “Be bold, be courageous, be your best.” – Former Rep. Gabrielle Gifford
  2. “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.” – Steve Jobs
  3. “In the game of life, when the final buzzer sounds, the only stat you carry with you is the number of assists you made. So help other people put some points on the board.” – -Mayor Mike Bloomberg
  4. “What lies behind us, and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us.””- Ralph Waldo Emerson
  5. “Don’t buy society’s definition of success. Because it’s not working for anyone. It’s not working for women, it’s not working for men, it’s not working for polar bears, it’s not working for the cicadas that are apparently about to emerge and swarm us. It’s only truly working for those who make pharmaceuticals for stress, diabetes, heart disease, sleeplessness, and high blood pressure.” – Arianna Huffington
  6. “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do, so throw off the bowlines, sail away from safe harbor, catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore, Dream, Discover.” – Mark Twain
  7. “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.” -Henry David Thoreau
  8. “To those of you who received honors, awards and distinctions, I say well done. And to the C students, I say you too may one day be president of the United States.” – George W. Bush
  9. “There is no script. Live your life. Soak it all in.” – Dick Costolo
  10. “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

 

 

Hope, Motivation, motivational, Quotes, Religion and Spirituality, Spirituality

10 Inspirational Quotes on Not Giving Up

10 Inspirational Quotes on Not Giving Up:

  1. “You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.” – Maya Angelou

  2. “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” – Thomas Edison

  3. “Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go.” – William Feather

  4. “When the world says, “Give up,” Hope whispers, “Try it one more time.” – Author Unknown

  5. “Failure is only the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.” – Henry Ford

  6. “The best way out is always through.” -Robert Frost

  7. “If you are going through hell, keep going.” – Winston Churchill

  8. “When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt

  9. “When you get into a tight place, and everything goes against you till it seems as if you couldn’t hold on a minute longer, never give up then, for that’s just the place and time that the tide’ll turn.” – Harriet Beecher Stowe

  10. “The greatest oak was once a little nut who held its ground.” – Author Unknown

 

“ Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.” – James 1:2-4 MSG

“There’s more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we’re hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we’re never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary—we can’t round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit!” – Romans 5:3-5 MSG

 

“So let’s not allow ourselves to get fatigued doing good. At the right time we will harvest a good crop if we don’t give up, or quit. Right now, therefore, every time we get the chance, let us work for the benefit of all, starting with the people closest to us in the community of faith.” – Galatians 6:9-10 MSG