I don't know what You're doing, but I do know who You are.

"...God's children please Him just as well when they sit patiently with folded hands, if that is His will, as when they are hard at work. But to be at work, to be useful, to be necessary... is just what I want, and I do find it hard to be set against the wall... I see now that my first desire has not been to please God, but to please myself, for I am restless under His restraining hand. ...if I could only have the health and strength for my beloved ones..."

"But how often I have prayed that God would do His will... in defiance, if need be, of mine! I have tried to remind myself of this everyday."

(excerpts from Stepping Heavenward by E. Prentiss)

something's missing

I love the passages of Scripture where Jesus welcomes the children. But, hanging out with children a lot myself... there's something that's so blatantly missing from every picture I've ever seen out there of Jesus with the little children. DIRT. I don't know about all of you, but I know when I hang out with kiddos -- I never come away as clean as the Jesus in these pictures. Ever notice that? That Jesus is always in white. And even with children clambering all over him... he's still perfectly clean and white? It never quite fits with my mental image of human Jesus -- fully God, fully man... with dirty handprints on his clothes and muddy footprints on his hem. :-) If you can find a picture like that -- send it to me. Because that's my Jesus... the one who welcomes me even when I'm dirty and might get stains on his clothes... He doesn't care, because He knows... it's all washable. His blood covered it all. So, uncaring, He picks me up and wraps me in His arms. That's my Jesus.

battles worth fighting

Sometimes there are battles worth fighting even if you know you can't win... for no other reason than to relentlessly affirm the VALUE of the ones you're fighting for. To stand up and say: "I want you to know, that it doesn't matter if I win or lose... I will fight for you. Because YOU are WORTH it."

is He not kind? is He not wise?

"You said just now that you would gladly go through any trial in order to attain a personal love to Christ that should become the ruling principle of your life. Now as soon as God sees this desire in you, is He not kind, in He not wise, in appointing such trials as He knows will lead to this end?"  (E. Prentiss, Stepping Heavenward)