~ My Garden of Quotes  ~

"Trouble never comes to a man unless she
brings a nugget of gold in her hand."

~ Author Unknown ~

~  *  ~

 "God didn't promise days without pain,
laughter without sorrow, sun without rain,
 but He did promise strength for the day,
comfort for the tears, and light for the way."

"Were there no God,
we would be in this glorious world
with grateful hearts and no one to thank."

~ Christiana Rosetti ~

~  *  ~

"Nothing that is not God's will can come into the life
of one who trusts and obeys God."

"God delights to disappoint man's fears."

"To begin to think with purpose,
is to enter the ranks of those strong ones
who only recognize failure as one of
 the pathways to attainment."

~  Mrs. Charles E. Cowman  ~

~  *  ~

"Far away there in the sunshine
 are my highest aspirations.
I may not reach them, but
I can look up and see their beauty,
 believe in them, and try
 to follow where they lead."

"Love is the only thing
that we can carry with us when we go,
and it makes the end so easy."

~ Louisa May Alcott ~

~  *  ~

"If I can stop one heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain:
If I can ease one life the aching,
Or cool one pain,
Or help one fainting robin
Unto his nest again,
I shall not live in vain."

~  Emily Dickenson ~

~  *  ~

"If you have built castles in the air,
 your work need not be lost;
 that is where they should be.
Now put the foundations under them.

~  Henry David Thoreau  ~
~  *  ~

I'd rather see a sermon than hear one any day;
I'd rather one should walk with me than merely tell the way.

~   Edgar Guest  ~

~  *  ~

"In prayer it is better to have a heart without words
 than words without a heart"

~  John Bunyan  ~

~  *  ~

I try to avoid looking forward or backward,
 and try to keep looking upward.

~  Charlotte Bronte  ~

~  *  ~

"If, instead of a gem, or even a flower,
we should cast the gift of a loving thought
 into the heart of a friend,
that would be giving as the angels give"

"This is and has been the Father’s work from the beginning
 - to bring us into the home of His heart."

"Understanding is the reward of obedience.
Obedience is the key to every door."


"Anything large enough for a wish to light upon,
 is large enough to hang a prayer upon.
Anything large enough for a wish to light upon,
 is large enough to hang a prayer upon."

"It has been well said that no man ever
sank under the burden of the day.
It is when tomorrow's burden is added
to the  burden of today that the weight
 is more than a man can bear.
Never load yourselves so, my friends.
 If you find yourselves so loaded,
 at least remember this:
 it is your own doing, not God's.
 He begs you to leave the future to Him
 and mind the present."

"I find that doing the will of God leaves me
 with no time for disputing about His plans."

"The shadows of the evening that precedes
a lovelier morning are drawing down around us both.
 But our God is in the shadow as in the shine,
 and all is and will be well:
have we not seen his glory in the face of Jesus?
and do we not know him a little? . . .
This life is a lovely time,
 but I never was content with it.
 I look for better --- oh, so far better!
I think we do not yet know the joy of mere existence. . . .
May the loving Father be near you and may you know it,
and be perfectly at peace all the way into the home country,
 and to the palace home of the living one
 -- the life of our life."
(Letter of November 11, 1894)

"O Christ, my life, possess me utterly.
Take me and make a little Christ of me.
If I am anything but thy father's son (daughter),
'Tis something not yet from the darkness won.
Oh, give me light to live with open eyes.
Oh, give me life to hope above all skies."
(Diary of an Old Soul)

~  George MacDonald  ~
~  *  ~

"Among Life's precious jewels,
Genuine and rare,
The one that we call friendship
Has worth beyond compare."


"God understands our prayers even when we
can't find the words to say them."

"I believe in the sun even if it isn't shining.
 I believe in love even when I am alone. 
I believe in God even when He is silent."

  ~  Unknown Authors  ~

~  *  ~

"There is a God-shaped vacuum in every heart."

"Do little things as though they were great,
because of the majesty of Jesus Christ
 who does them in us, and who lives our life:
 and do the greatest things
as though they were little and easy,
because of His omnipotence."

 ~  Blaise Pascal  ~

~  *  ~

"I cannot imagine how the clockwork of
 the universe can exist without a clockmaker."

 ~  Voltaire  ~

~  *  ~

"How often we say about our earthly friends,
'I really would like to have a good quiet settled talk
with them so that I can really get to know them.'
And shouldn't we feel the same
about our Heavenly Friend,
that we may really get to know Him?
These thoughts have taught me the importance of
 the children of God taking time to
 commune daily with their Father,
so that they may get to know His mind
and to understand better what His will is."

"If the Lord sets you to guard a lonely post
in perfect stillness from all active work,
you ought to be just as content
as to be in the midst of the active warfare.
It is no virtue to love the Master's work
better than the Master's will."

~  Hannah Whitall Smith  ~
~  *  ~

"No matter how little you have,
 you can always give some of it away."

~  Catherine Marshall   ~
~  *  ~

"God is too good to be unkind
and He is too wise to be mistaken
. And when we cannot trace His hand,
 we must trust His heart."

"The quickest way to slay error
 is to proclaim the truth.
The surest mode of extinguishing falsehood
 is to boldly advocate Scripture principles.
Scolding and protesting will not be so effectual
 in resisting the progress of error
 as the clear proclamation of the truth in Jesus."

"Don't rely to much on labels,
Far too often they are fables."

"It is not how much we have,
but how much we enjoy,
that makes happiness."

"Those who dive in the sea of affliction
bring up rare pearls."

~  Charles H. Spurgeon  ~

~  *  ~

"Until you have given up your self to Him
 you will not have a real self"

"What will you do with Jesus,
Neutral you can not be,
One day your heart will be asking,
What will He do with me."

"If Darwin´s theory of Evolution was correct,
cats would be able to operate a can-opener by now."

"The moment you wake up each morning,
 all your wishes and hopes for the day rush
 at you like wild animals.
 And the first job each morning
 consists in shoving it all back;
 in listening to that other voice,
 taking that other point of view,
letting that other, larger, stronger,
 quieter life coming flowing in."

"Now Faith...is the art of holding on to things
 your reason 'has once accepted,
 in spite of your changing moods.
 For moods will change,
whatever view your reason takes.
 I know that by experience.
 Now that I am a Christian I do have moods
in which the whole thing looks very improbable:
 but when I was an atheist I had moods
 in which Christianity looked terribly probable.
This rebellion of your moods against
 your real self is going to come anyway.
That is why Faith is such a necessary virtue:
 unless you teach your moods "where they get off,"
 you can never be either a sound Christian
or even a sound atheist,
 but just a creature dithering to and fro,
 with its beliefs really dependent on the weather
 and the state of its digestion.
 Consequently one must train the habit of Faith."
(Mere Christianity)

~  C.S. Lewis  ~


~  *  ~

When one door of happiness closes, another opens;
but often we look so long at the closed door
 that we do not see the one which has been opened for us.

The best and most beautiful things in the
world cannot be seen, nor touched...
but are felt in the heart.

~  Helen Keller  ~

~  *  ~

To be able to be caught up into
 the world of thought -- that is to be educated.

~  Edith Hamilton ~

~  *  ~

No one can make you feel
inferior without your consent.

~  Eleanor Roosevelt  ~

~  *  ~

If only we'd stop trying to be happy,
we could have a pretty good time.

~ Edith Wharton ~

~  *  ~

 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 ~