Good Books

I have been reading a lot lately. I joined a Book Club, so that was the starting motivation in reading, but I'm hooked now and am loving it. I think this is the first time since I started college (5 years ago!) that I am finally reading for the pure pleasure of it. There was always something to read in school, especially when I was studying Education, so I didn't really have much time for extracurricular reading. Recently I've read "Cry, the Beloved Country," "Catcher in the Rye," and "The Hiding Place." I am now reading "The Practice of the Presence of God" by Brother Lawrence. Reading "The Hiding Place" really woke me up and convicted me of some things in my own life. But man, it was a good book. Here are some of my favorite quotes from it that I wrote down.

"Today I know that such memories are the key not to the past, but to the future. I know that the experiences of our lives, when we let God use them, become the mysterious and perfect preparation for the work He will give us to do."

"But our well-meant words were useless. In front of us the proud face crumpled; Tante Jans put her hands over her eyes and began to cry. "Empty, empty!" she choked through her tears. "How can we bring anything to God? What does He care for our little tricks and trinkets?" And then we listened in disbelief as she lowered her hands and with the tears still coursing down her face, she whispered, "Dear Jesus, I thank You that we must come with empty hands. I thank You that You have done it all--all--on the Cross, and that all we need in life or death is to be sure of this."

"Our wise Father in Heaven knows when we're going to need things, too. Don't run out ahead of Him. When the time comes that some of us will have to die, you will look into your heart and find the strength you need--just in time."

"It would be a pretty poor father who would ask his little girl to carry such a load. It's the same way with knowledge. Some knowledge is too heavy for children. When you are older and stronger you can bear it. For now you must trust me to carry it for you."

"Lord, You turn the wheels of the galaxies. You know what makes the planets spin and You know what makes this watch run..."

"If God has shown me bad times ahead, that's enough for me that He knows about them. That's why He sometimes shows us things, to tell us that this too is in His hands."

"We must go everywhere. We must tell people that no pit is too deep that He is not deeper still. They will believe us because we were here."

"The truth is that God's viewpoint is sometimes different from ours--so different that we could not guess at it unless He had given us a Book which tells us such things."

"If people can be taught to hate, they can be taught to love. We must find the way, you and I, no matter how long it takes..."

"Surely there is no more wretched sight than the human body unloved and uncared for."

"More and more the distinction between prayer and the rest of life seemed to be vanishing for Betsie."

"In darkness, God's truth shines most clear."

"There are no 'ifs' in God's Kingdom."

"And so I discovered that it is not on our own forgiveness anymore than on our goodness that the world's healing hinges, but on His. When He tells us to love our enemies, He gives, along with the command, the love itself."