Quotes from Carolyn Custis James

Pharasaical tendencies in all of us make the walk of faith doable. We can be moral, go to church, read our Bibles, and give our 10 percent. Jesus and Ruth knock down the walls of that kind of thinking. Real kingdom living is clostly. It will stretch, bend, and break us. Following Jesus isn't the path to a tame or easy life. It is about taking up a cross--which means laying down our lives as Jesus did for the sake of others.

Women in today's world--both those who suffer oppression and those who enjoy unprecedented opportunities--would find Jesus' interactions with women irresistible, life-giving, and profoundly healing.

whatever power and privileges Jesus' followers possess are gifts to be held loosely and wielded for the care and benefit of others...

God created his daughters to be image bearers, and that necessarily entails a call to leadership. Failure to see this creates problems that are often overlooked--the predicament and even the peril this creates for so many women, not to mention how this hampers the mission of the church.

Our strengths and gifts are not worth much if we allow them to lie dormant... If we do not hone our gifts and live on the ready instead of in a default mode of looking to others, in a crisis or under pressure we are at a loss to use our voices, make decisions, stand our ground, or take the initiative that our circumstances demand.

conflict reinforces our need for God, drives us to him, forces us to look at him more closely, and deepens our trust.

Conflict brings out the leader in us, transforms our lives from the mundane to the cosmic, and by God's grace forges us into more compassionate, selfless leaders.

Conflict in our stories isn't in the way; it is the way--to becoming better leaders, better image bearers, to creating a better story--to the fulfillment of the Story.

The call to bear God's image is an invitation to get to know God deeply.

The ezer is a warrior, and this has far-reaching implications for women, not only in marriage, but in every relationship, season, and walk of life.