Quotes from Sally Clarkson

God's unfailing love for us is an objective fact affirmed over and over in the Scriptures. It is true whether we believe it or not. Our doubts do not destroy God's love, nor does our faith create it. It originates in the very nature of God, who is love, and it flows to us through our union with His beloved Son. ~ Jerry Bridges

Years from now, people may not remember your name, but the way you owned your life, the choices you made, the way you loved . . . your legacy . . . that is what will ripple through the generations who follow after you.

We should never expect the world to behave according to our morality, our standards of holiness, or our wisdom. Jesus would still call us to "owe them our love" to fulfill the law.

He who walks with wise men will be wise, But the companion of fools will suffer harm. PROVERBS 13:20

A WISE WOMAN TAKES CARE OF HER EMOTIONAL HEALTH, her spiritual health, and her intellectual growth.

Home is your garden of life, so to speak, and you are free to order it and plant it as you will. But all great works of life must be planned in order to make them productive, useful, and flourishing.

Be sure to get away often enough that you are regularly exposed to God's art and able to remember that He is transcendent above all the details of your life.

I began to picture my children's hearts as treasure chests of a different sort, and I vowed to fill them with intrinsic treasures: the best stories, memorized Scripture, priceless images of classical art, excellent books, memories from great feasts enjoyed together and special days celebrated, great Bible stories and wisdom passages, plus heart photographs of love given, holidays cherished, lessons learned.

Most of us do not have a corpus of Scripture in our minds, a comprehensive understanding of the Bible and its truths that can counteract the voices of culture.

Deep friendships are often so very hard to find because this is the fallen place.

God is active and present in every moment of our lives, but too often we are so caught up in how we ought to be rather than allowing ourselves to be swept up into the whirlwind of the Spirit. God desires that we learn to play again, to experience Him like little children do, open in wonder to the vastness and endless wonder of Him.

We allow the habit of busyness to replace our habits of prayer and Scripture reading.

You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. PSALM 139:13-14,

Taking time away to really seek God and to remember what He has done always shows us a bigger picture of Him.

Each of us is a steward of the days allotted for our lifetime, and learning to manage our commitments and priorities is critical. We can become empowered Christians who live meaningful lives. We can love generously and have relationships that satisfy. We can leave the past behind and own a life without condemnation. We are made to accomplish great feats of faith and courage and to live a life worth telling.

But to us the heart of tithing isn't in making sure to pay an exact amount, but rather in being prepared to give freely and generously of our money, our time, and our talents to support God's work in the world.

Interestingly enough, we found, the habit of regularly expressing our gratitude and our concerns to God actually made us more grateful and more determined to act generously on behalf of others. I think that's because regular prayer helps cultivate awareness, and awareness is key to both gratitude and generosity. We must learn how to nourish a heart that is keenly aware both of God's abundance as it comes to us and the needs of the world around us.

God loves when you wrestle Him, Nathan," she said. "Because wrestling is a full-contact sport, and God loves it when you are in contact with Him. Maybe He has a bigger view of your life and is willing to do more than you can presently see.

You need to teach your lips how to be persuasive," I would say, "You have a profound way of thinking, but you will lose your audience if you attack them. How could you have said that with more appeal?

We were meant, in other words, to continue the work of the God whose image we bore, a God who had just completed a cycle of rich, generous, lavish creation. We were meant to be fruitful, existing within the bond of family, connected to community, united in our care for the gift of the earth.

In the beginning God created" (Genesis 1:1), and every atom came from His imagination. I believe He made the world in such a way that to tend it, to touch it, would be to know His heart. He told a story into the earth, the tale of His bounteous heart. We were given the uplifted arms of pines and the vibrancy of a summer garden, the laden arms of apple trees and the dark patience of mountains, to keep us alive every day to all that God is and will continue to be.

I have always told my children that they might as well decide to embrace God's will for their lives right where they are and engage in the present moment with as much faith and wisdom and skill as they can, because their circumstances are not going to miraculously change.

As long as we believe we can control life by trying, controlling, manipulating, putting pressure on life, we will live in constant exhaustion. We learn daily of our need for His Spirit to live through us because we are inadequate in ourselves. We learn to give up expectations that life will ever be perfect and to be content in the midst of the chaos.

Your one life is a great tale, one facet of God's continuing narrative within the world.