Quotes from Liz Curtis Higgs

Simply put, Redeeming Love is the most powerful work of fiction you will ever read.

If the Almighty directs our steps, we've no need to look back over our shoulders.

But pleasing to the eye isn't the same as pleasing to God.

Hard times are purposeful, meant to refine and redirect us. They're not arbitrary or random, and they're definitely not cruel.

As writer Elisabeth Elliot phrased it, "The fact that I am a woman does not make me a different kind of Christian, but the fact that I am a Christian does make me a different kind of woman.

Now consider this: the first person to hold the newborn Christ was Mary of Nazareth, and the first person to touch the newly risen Christ, however briefly, was Mary of Magdala. God placed himself in a woman's care when he came to earth, then entrusted a woman to announce his resurrection when he came back to life.

Fun is temporary at best; it's risky, even dangerous, at worst. Joy, on the other hand, was mystery I couldn't seem to decipher.

Lord, what an honor it will be to start the day with you. Give me the strength to lift my head, the courage to lift my heart, the joy to lift my spirits, and the confidence to lift my eyes and see you rising and shining in me.

And consider this: the angel appeared to Mary first, not to her husband-to-be, Joseph. 'She had no status or honor apart from him,' yet Gabriel came to Mary—further proof of how much God values women.

A good friend of mine feels the same way about Italy and another adores a certain island in the Caribbean. For me it will always be Scotland - Galloway in particular. the musical lilt of a Lowland accent never fails to boost my spirits. I'm simply deliriously happy there.

There you are. A simple commandment. Not ten of them, just one: 'Thou shalt not eat.' (Personally, I wish the very first edict from God hadn't involved dieting, don't you?)

With God, it isn't who you were that matters; it's who you are becoming.

Long before silver bells jingled, Christmas lights twinkled, and horse-drawn sleighs went dashing through the snow, God reached down from heaven with the best gift of all. Love, wrapped in swaddling clothes. Hope, nestled in a manger.

Our love for people doesn't end when they pass away. More often our feelings deepen as we realize how much they mean to us and how dearly we miss them.

Even serving God in his holy temple, Zechariah was unprepared for something holy to happen.

In the end the women of Christmas quietly stepped aside, making room for the One who truly matters.

This wasn't the sixth month of the year; it was 'six months after Elizabeth knew she was to become a mother'. Imagine the Lord using an expectant mother's growing waistline to measure time! Never doubt for a moment that women matter to the Almighty.

Wise is the woman who rises above her circumstances.

An army bringing news of peace! And not 'good will toward men,' as we often say, but 'peace among people of good will!'. Peace comes from knowing God.

We all throw away perfectly wonderful lives because our foolish, sinful appetites take us places we should not go.

First the Lord used Elizabeth, who was 'too old,' then he used Mary, who would be 'too young' by today's standards. At any age we can serve the Lord.

The Lord hadn't forgotten Elizabeth, nor had he tarried in answering her prayer without a good purpose. He chose her—an older woman with an unproven womb—in order to display his power, his might, his authority. And he blessed her to honor her faithfulness. The truth is, God's strength is fully revealed when our strength is depleted.

As the sun moves higher in the cloudless sky, all the verses regarding seedtime and harvest come to mind, especially this one, which suits our hard-working Ruth: "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."26

The loss of speech wasn't punishment; it was the proof Zechariah had asked for, the assurance of God's power.