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“A single gentle rain makes the grass many shades greener. So our prospects brighten on the influx of better thoughts. We should be blessed if we lived in the present always, and took advantage of every accident that befell us, like the grass which confesses the influence of the slightest dew that falls on it; and did not spend our time in atoning for the neglect of past opportunities, which we call doing our duty. We loiter in winter while it is already spring.”
― Henry David Thoreau, Walden

“My vision of the gathered church that had come to me... had been replaced by a vision of the gathered community. What I saw now was the community imperfect and irresolute but held together by the frayed and always fraying, incomplete and yet ever-holding bonds of the various sorts of affection. There had maybe never been anybody who had not been loved by somebody, who had been loved by somebody else, and so on and on... It was a community always disappointed in itself, disappointing its members, always trying to contain its divisions and gentle its meanness, always failing and yet always preserving a sort of will toward goodwill. I knew that, in the midst of all the ignorance and error, this was a membership; it was the membership of Port William and of no other place on earth. My vision gathered the community as it never has been and never will be gathered in this world of time, for the community must always be marred by members who are indifferent to it or against it, who are nonetheless its members and maybe nonetheless essential to it. And yet I saw them all as somehow perfected, beyond time, by one another's love, compassion, and forgiveness, as it is said we may be perfected by grace.”
― Wendell Berry, Jayber Crow

“The power of music, whether joyous or cathartic must steal on one unawares, come spontaneously as a blessing or a grace--”
― Oliver Sacks, Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain

“When God is our Holy Father, sovereignty, holiness, omniscience, and immutability do not terrify us; they leave us full of awe and gratitude. Sovereignty is only tyrannical if it is unbounded by goodness; holiness is only terrifying if it is untempered by grace; omniscience is only taunting if it is unaccompanied by mercy; and immutability is only torturous if there is no guarantee of goodwill.”
― Ravi Zacharias

“The nativity mystery “conceived from the Holy Spirit and born from the Virgin Maryâ€�, means, that God became human, truly human out of his own grace. The miracle of the existence of Jesus , his “climbing down of Godâ€� is: Holy Spirit and Virgin Mary! Here is a human being, the Virgin Mary, and as he comes from God, Jesus comes also from this human being. Born of the Virgin Mary means a human origin for God. Jesus Christ is not only truly God, he is human like every one of us. He is human without limitation. He is not only similar to us, he is like us.”
― Karl Barth, Dogmatics in Outline

“Grace is a person. And his name is Jesus.”
― Judah Smith, Jesus Is: Find a New Way to Be Human

“Grace cannot be confused with righteousness. Grace is receiving what we do not deserve; mercy is not receiving what we do deserve. Righteousness, on the other hand, includes what most of us would consider difficult matters, such as punishment, correction and judgment. It also includes what most of us would consider positive matters, such as the fruit of the Spirit.”
― Francis Frangipane

“Grace is not simply leniency when we have sinned. Grace is the enabling gift of God not to sin. Grace is power, not just pardon.”
― John Piper, The Pleasures of God: Meditations on God's Delight in Being God

“If grace belongs to God, there are those who say that luck belongs to the Devil and that he looks after his own.”
― Sarah Dunant, In the Company of the Courtesan

“Isn’t that the way God works? She’d thought. He takes the things in our lives that are ugly, disgusting, and downright wicked, and transforms them into something magnificent.”
― J.E.B. Spredemann, An Unforgivable Secret

“God has certainly not called us to throw our brains out the window as an appropriate response to His Grace".

R. Alan Woods [2012]”
― R. Alan Woods, Apologia: A Collection of Christian Essays

“Pure, unadulterated, consistent love for God and pure, unadulterated, consistent love for others is the summation of all the law God has given us in both the Old and New Testaments. Of course, the problem is that we never obey these simple commands. We always love ourselves more than we love God or others. We are always erecting idols in our hearts and worshipping and serving them. We are always more focused on what we want and how we might get it than we are on loving Him and laying down our life for others. The law does show us the right way to live, but none of us obeys it. Not for one millisecond.
Even though our children cannot and will not obey God's law, we need to teach it to them again and again. And when they tell us that they can't love God or others in this way, we are not to argue with them. We are to agree with them and tell them of their need for a Savior.”
― Elyse Fitzpatrick, Give Them Grace: Dazzling Your Kids with the Love of Jesus

“...there is nothing unforgivable and there are no secrets before an all-knowing merciful God.”
― J.E.B. Spredemann, An Unforgivable Secret

“God is writing His story on the pages of our lives.”
― Rick Anderson

“My grace is sufficient for thee. The words soothed her soul like a healing balm.”
― J.E.B. Spredemann, An Unforgivable Secret

“Grace is God-given power to live differently.”
― Judah Smith, Jesus Is: Find a New Way to Be Human

“Life is a celebration. Consider everything that makes you happy as a gift from God and say, 'Thank you.”
― Francis Lucille, The Perfume of Silence

“After my first few tastes I was pretty much hooked. I'd have dry spells, months without any or only piddling amounts of grace, but I never forgot about it or stopped wanting it.”
― Mark Vonnegut, The Eden Express: A Memoir of Insanity

“His strength for your weakness! His wisdom for your folly! His drive for your drift! His grace for your greed! His love for your lust! His peace for your problems! His joy for your sorrow! His plenty for your poverty!”
― Major Thomas

“When you GIVE under “compulsionâ€� or “Grudginglyâ€� you are giving under the LAW of giving and NOT the GRACE given for giving. God loves a cheerful (thankful) giver, which is giving under GRACE. 2 Cor 9:7”
― John Paul Warren

“With positive attitude, you can graciously overcome every adversity.”
― Lailah Gifty Akita, Think Great: Be Great!

“We don’t know when a compatible person will come into our life. We don’t know, for sure, if they will leave or stay. If they leave, we don’t know if they will return. We don’t know if we will always feel the relationship is compatible and if we will want to be there. We don’t really know anything. We can only graciously accept what life brings and all the terror of change that comes with it and then keep moving forward. Life is not static. It doesn’t start nor does it end. It changes form. It is ongoing with highs and lows, successes and crushing failures, experiments, beautiful moments, touching visions, angers, forgiveness, awe, and love.”
― Donna Goddard, Love's Longing

“May you find the strength of will and the grace of endurance to overcome every challenge.”
― Lailah Gifty Akita, Think Great: Be Great!

“Only in the silence of our mind are we One.”
― Vivian Amis, The Essentials of Life

“Proximity has taught me some basic and humbling truths, including this vital lesson: Each of us is more than the worst thing we've ever done. My work with the poor and the incarcerated has persuaded me that the opposite of poverty is not wealth; the opposite of poverty is justice. Finally, I've come to believe that the true measure of our commitment to justice, the character of our society, our commitment to the rule of law, fairness, and equality cannot be measured by how we treat the rich, the powerful, the privileged, and the respected among us. The true measure of our character is how we treat the poor, the disfavored, the accused, the incarcerated, and the condemned.

We are all implicated when we allow other people to be mistreated. An absence of compassion can corrupt the decency of a community, a state, a nation. Fear and anger can make us vindictive and abusive, unjust and unfair, until we all suffer from the absence of mercy and we condemn ourselves as much as we victimize others. The closer we get to mass incarceration and extreme levels of punishment, the more I believe it's necessary to recognize that we all need mercy, we all need justice, and - perhaps - we all need some measure of unmerited grace.”
― Bryan Stevenson, Just Mercy

“I'll look to the cross
As my failure is lost
In the light of
Your glorious grace”
― Hillsong

“When you GIVE under “compulsionâ€� or “Grudginglyâ€� you are giving under the LAW of giving and NOT the GRACE given for giving.”
― John Paul Warren

“Grace is when God is a source of wholeness, which makes up for my failings. My failings hurt me and others and even the planet, and God’s grace to me is that my brokenness is not the final word. My selfishness is not the end-all…instead, it’s that God makes beautiful things out of even my own shit. Grace isn’t about God creating humans as flawed beings and then acting all hurt when we inevitably fail and then stepping in like the hero to grant us grace—like saying 'Oh, it’s OK, I’ll be a good guy and forgive you.' It’s God saying, 'I love the world too much to let your sin define you and be the final word. I am a God who makes all things new.”
― Nadia Bolz-Weber, Pastrix: The Cranky, Beautiful Faith of a Sinner & Saint

“Grace is not merited. Forgiveness is not earned. Love is not bought. Each are given freely by the only One who can.”
― Grace A. Johnson, Prisoner at Heart

“Let the ruins come to life
In the beauty of Your name
Rising up from the ashes
God forever You reign”
― Hillsong