Quotes from Terri Blackstock

There have been many times in my life when I felt like I'd never pick up the pieces, but God has always given me the power to do it.

There is nothing we've done that can't be wiped clean by Christ.

There's nothing heavier than the weight of sin in our lives. It's crushing. What a luxury to know the burden of it can be lifted off our shoulders if we repent and give it to God.

I believed God had wired me as a writer for a purpose, and I was squandering that purpose. I finally repented of doing things my way and told God that, in the future, I would only write books that glorified Him. That meant I had to buy back some of my contracts.

One of the themes in my novels is that our crises can turn into blessings. We can feel like our world has crumbled, but ten years down the road when we look back on that time, we can see God's hand at work. I love writing that theme into my books.

I put ordinary people in jeopardy and give them the opportunity to be heroic. Then there's a great payoff for the reader at the end, when the heroic character gets what he or she deserves. Readers will come back again and again if they feel satisfied at the end.

I want readers to rehearse that day when everything shatters and think through what they'll hang onto when that happens.

Bad days will come for each one of us, and the more we've thought these things through ahead of time, the better prepared we'll be when tragedy strikes or struggles emerge.

I was divorced when my children were young, so I was a single mother for a while. It's so hard to have to do every little thing yourself and be forced to navigate the rocky emotions of motherhood alone.

You know, son, God will give you what you choose. And if you think about that real hard, it'll scare you to death. I don't think you're ready to suffer the consequences of those choices.

See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.

God wouldn't exist just because she forced herself to believe, any more than Cade would be all right just because she wanted him to be.

Believing in God had to do with a system of convictions, deep faith, things that her parents and her sister and Jonathan had, things that had never come easily to Blair.

We — you and I — are fearfully and wonderfully made. His works are wonderful (Psalm 139:1 – 5, 13 – 14).

You can't just check out and think it will all be over. It won't be over for anyone who loves you. You'll only leave them to run after the pieces that scatter in the angry wind. You'll leave them desperately trying to solve the problems you wouldn't . . . all while plugging their own wounds. Even if you're like me, single without children, you could impact generations. Is quick relief worth it?

There were benefits to working with addicts. They didn't even realize they were slaves.

The Lord sometimes uses sorrow in our lives to deepen us," Miss Lucy says. "This is one of those times." "Why do we have to be deep?" I wonder aloud. Miss Lucy looks at me as if she's never considered that question. "Because what good are we if we're shallow? He can use us when we have some depth. He had sorrows, so why shouldn't we?

Don't disappear on me, Dylan." I hope I don't disappear on myself.

I do kind of wish he had chosen another way to do it. But I'll take grace anywhere I can get it.

What are we, Charlie's Angels?

It's time to start storing up our treasures in heaven, instead of hoarding them on earth.

This town has so many blessings from God, but if we do something stupid out of greed, we could destroy those blessings.

God will help you," Maggie said. "He's just waiting to be asked.

Maybe God was about to show him what he was made of.