“Our huffing and puffing to impress God, our scrambling for brownie points, our thrashing about trying to fix ourselves while hiding our pettiness and wallowing in guilt are nauseating to God and are a flat denial of the gospel of grace.”

I have been seized by the power of a great affection.

The Good News of the gospel of grace cries out: We are all, equally, privileged but unentitled beggars at the door of God’s mercy!

We even refuse to be our true self with God- and then wonder why we lack intimacy with him.

The gospel declares that no matter how dutiful or prayerful we are, we can’t save ourselves. What Jesus did was sufficient.

Hope knows that if great trials are avoided great deeds remain undone and the possibility of growth into greatness of soul is aborted.

There is an essential connection between experiencing God, loving God, and trusting God. You will trust God only as much as you love him. And you will love him to the extent you have touched him, rather that he has touched you.

Jesus reveals a God who does not demand but who gives; who does not oppress but who raises up; who does not wound but who heals; who does not condemn but forgives.

The Christian with depth is the person who has failed and who has learned to live with it.

The men and women who are truly filled with light are those who have gazed deeply into the darkness of their own imperfect existence.

Today on planet Earth, may you experience the wonder and beauty of yourself as Abba’s Child and temple of the Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ

There is a beautiful transparency to honest disciples who never wear a false face and do not pretend to be anything but who they are.

When we wallow in guilt, remorse, and shame over real or imagined sins of the past, we are disdaining God’s gift of grace.

Ruthless trust ultimately comes down to this: faith in the person of Jesus and hope in his promise.

The litmus test of our love for God is our love of neighbor.

The only kind of love that helps anyone grow is unconditional love.

I asked for wonder, and He gave it to me.

We know we’re coming full circle with God when we stand at a very similar crossroad where we made such a mess of life before, but this time we take a different road.

There is strife between God’s ways and human ways; damned by you, we are absolved by God.

What a vast difference there is between knowing God and loving Him.

We can’t solve problems for others. We can introduce them to the Lord.

When the stakes are high, bow down low.

Intimacy with God is that I can come in with the honesty of my heart, tell Him how much I’m hurting.

If God has called you, do not spend time looking over your shoulder to see who is following you.

Worries carry responsibilities that belong to God, not to you. Worry does not enable us to escape evil; it makes us unfit to cope with it when it comes.