[elzbelz]

Hello Everyone,

I'm quite new to this site and am enjoying reading all these old threads.  This is a good one, so I'll add some song lyrics, too, in this case a hymn. I first heard it sung by Rich Mullins on his "The World As Best As I Can Remember It, Vol. 2" album.  The words are by Fanny Crosby, one of the most famous hymn writers of all time.  She was blind from the time she was a baby and said of her blindness: "It seemed intend­ed by the bless­ed prov­i­dence of God that I should be blind all my life, and I thank him for the dis­pen­sa­tion. If per­fect earth­ly sight were of­fered me to­mor­row I would not ac­­cept it. I might not have sung hymns to the praise of God if I had been dis­tract­ed by the beau­ti­ful and in­ter­est­ing things about me.

All the way my savior leads me;
What have I to ask beside?
Can I doubt His tender mercy,
Who thro' life has been my guide?
Heav'nly peace divinest comfort,
Here by faith in Him to dwell!
For I know whate'er befall me,
Jesus doeth all things well;

All the way my Savior leads me;
Cheers each winding path I tread,
Gives me grace for ev'ry trial,
Feeds me with the living bread;
Tho' my weary steps may falter,
And my soul athirst may be,
Gushing from the Rock before me,
Lo! a spring of joy I see;

All the way, my Savior leads me;
Oh, the fullness of His love!
Perfect rest to me is promised
In my Father's house above:
When my spirit, clothed immortal,
Wings its flight to realms of day,
This my song thro' endless ages:
Jesus led me all the way.

[lizlane]

Proverbs 16:3
"Commit to the LORD whatever you do and your plans will succeed."

[luckydog]

Here's mine - it's my motto for life:

Col 3:23  "Whatever you do, work at it with your whole heart. Do it for the Lord, rather than for men."


Donna

[lizlane]

Ooh! Good one, Donna!  Thanks!  I need to be reminded of that since I hope my book will become a ministry and it's so discouraging when rejection comes!  As soon as I post this, I'm going to jot that one down and put it on my computer so I can stare at it every day! (That's where I have the one I posted!)

[emykate03]

I don't know who wrote this, but it is a song that truly inspires me...

I want to be a window to His love,
So when you look beyond, you will find Him
I want to stand so straight and tall
that you won't notice me at all
And through my open door,
He will be seen

A window to His love, a doorway to the truth
A bearer of the message He'd have me bring to you
And with each passing day, I want to fade away
'Till only He, can be seen
and I've become a window to His love.

[lizlane]

Welcome, Elzbelz!  Enjoyed the post! The one I'm thinking of today and all yesterday is 2 Corinthians4:7-9!
  "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, to show that the transcendent power belongs to God and not to us.  We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed..."

Thank God that Paul didn't have to deal with agents and editors!

[Stef Posts: 591 Status: Offline The Light Across the River WWW]

I hope this will help someone else as it helped me.  When I wondered if I had at last found my book topic, I fasted but didn't tell anyone, and then prayed, as I had learned from Dr. Charles Stanley.  I didn't want to write it if it wasn't from God.  So when I finished praying, I stuck in a fingernail and opened my Bible there.  The first verse I saw was Mark 9:23, which is the verse in my signature below.  "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes."  At first I was elated, but then I cried when I realized it all hinged on my faith, "IF you can believe."  I didn't know if I had enough faith.  I cried, "Help me, Lord!".  Then I read the next verse in awe.  I wasn't the first person to have that reaction.  Mark 9:24 reads: Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”

Well, it did take a lot of faith, but what I read that day came true, and the proof is to the left--my book. 

[Rachel]

A stop-and-thinker:  "We don't see things as they are; we see them as we are."

And a funny one:  "Oh, Lord, let my words be sweet and tender, for tomorrow I may have to eat them."

[eniola]

"Don't let the fear of the time it will take to accomplish something stand in the way of your doing it. The time will pass anyway; we might just as well put that passing time to the best possible use." Earl Nightingale

viva la writing!

[howlingsquash]

I'm glad that I took the time to read these threads today, for they've meant a lot to me.  Stef, I can relate to what  you went through.

[lurban]

A friend told me about the slogan of a garbage collection company:

You are what you can't get rid of.

I try to remember that when I hold on too tight to things that aren't important -- and when I'm tempted to let that which really matters slip through my fingers.

[KatyD Posts: 839 Status: Offline www.katyduffield.com WWW]

A recent favorite from a country song--"If you want to hear God laugh, tell him your plans."

And another from a Clay Walker song--

Why do I feel like you hear these prayers of mine
when so many ought to be ahead of me in line?
When you look down on me,
can you see the good through all the bad?
These are just a few questions I had.

[Soosaw]

Here's one that I rememer from a movie I saw several years ago:

"Coincidence is nothing more than God's way of maintaining anonymity."

Soosaw 

[C.K. Posts: 907 Status: Offline WWW]

"If I am not for myself, then who will be for me?
And if I am only for myself, then what am I?
And if not now, when?"

- Hillel

[schmara]

Our greatest fear is not that we are inadequate, but that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us.
We ask ourselves, "Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, handsome, talented and fabulous?"
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small does not serve the world.
There is nothing elightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.
We were born to make manifest the glory of God within us.
It is not just in some; it is in everyone.
And, as we let our won light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

--Generally attributed to Nelson Madela, but I read somewhere that he was quoting Marianne Williamson

[NDM]

These are wonderful, thanks all for sharing.  Here's mine:

"Even the Goddess of Learning is still learning."
-- Brahamand Swamigal

I love this quote.  It makes me feel like it's okay to keep going when I feel I've messed up real bad (with my career, my children, my life, my children...).  It lets me go a little easier on myself because if the Goddess is still learning, it must mean that she's a little imperfect, too, just like me.  And that's okay, as long as I keep learning.

The other day, I sullenly looked at my (growing) list of "declines" from editors.  I read that quote and looked back at my list.  I decided then that I wanted to take a different approach to these declines.  I decided that instead of rejections, these were signposts from the Great Spirit, leading me right to the perfect editor for me 

[Melody Posts: 498 Status: Offline WWW]

Erin S - I love your father's quote about family. One of my favorites is:

"Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart." Psalm 37:4 (and another)

"Tho the fig tree does not blossom, and there are no fruit on the vines, tho the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, tho there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls (in other words - no contract in the mail??) YET I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior."
Habbakkuk 3:17