Mary E. DeMuth quotes:

When the world careens out of control, we can rest in the fact that God spun this world with a simple word. Matter from emptiness. Beauty from void. Community from chaos.

Worry is a weighty monster with poisoned tentacles. It clutches at us, grabs at our minds, steals our breath, our will. It lurks. It pounces. It colors how we perceive the world.

We cannot let the haters of this world define us. Or frighten us into no longer being ourselves.

Because the culture we breathe and work in rushes against rest. It equates our worth with production and wealth and fame. The more we work toward those goals, the more society assigns us worth.

Jesus wastes none of our stories, even our tales of woe. He transforms them into epic adventures where we dare to face our past for the sake of our present.

Dare to be brave today, and trust that when you extend your wings, you will fly.

To abandon all is to take our hearts, place them before the One who created them, and dare to believe He can live life powerfully through our surrendered lives.

Growth comes from God, to those with surrendered, yielded hearts.

Jesus often calls us to risk. He asks us to be vulnerable, to be authentic, so others can see Him in and through us.

I understand true life doesn't happen when I constantly gaze backwards, mulling over all the injustices others have done or I have done to others.

My stubborn, self-savvy heart will not reach for the sky if my earth becomes everything I need. If people fill me up then where is my need for the transcendent? If everything is glory and beauty and sweetness and light, will I be the type of soul that reaches to Jesus?

Our task shouldn't be punishing the villains in our lives, but enlarging the God who heals us from all wounds.

The roadblocks to growth and joy come when we forget the bigness of God & instead make people bigger than He is.

Why must we cling to those who walk away instead of granting freedom? We must give the same liberty God gives to prodigals-an ability to let them go-or we'll be perennially bound to others for our happiness and effective service.

We grow when the walls press in. We grow when life steals our control. We grow in darkness.

A broken person understands she needs rescue, and she depends on God to resurrect and deliver. And she also understands that even if God chooses not to deliver, His ways are higher and more amazing then what we can fathom.

A hopeful book that moms will relish, Blue Like Playdough is an honest, peel-back-the-covers look at the creative way God shapes us through childhood and parenthood. Tricia Goyer explores her own weaknesses along the journey, revealing her desire to serve the God who forms strength and joy and perseverance within her. A compelling, fresh read.

As I look back over my mountains of growth and compare them to the molehills where I stagnated, community often made the difference.

God's heart"¦is not that we escape our lot, but that we learn to thrive in the midst of it.

Pain can either thrust me into the arms of Jesus or make me turn my back on Him. Either way, it's a choice.

We may not understand the pathways God lays out before us. We may not even like walking the journey. But even in failure, we can trust that He'll do more than we expect.

When we think of other people as our center and fulfillment, we live frustrated lives.