Quotes from Jen Hatmaker

Thank you for inviting me into this good thing of yours. It is as extraordinary as you are. But any new yes I give means a no to my family and sanity. Please accept my sincere regrets and count on my prayers,

You don't have to be who you first were. That early version of yourself, that season you were in, even the phase you are currently experiencing—it is all good or purposeful or at least useful and created a fuller, nuanced you and contributed to your life's meaning, but you are not stuck in a category just because you were once branded that way. Just because something was does not mean it will always be.

It isn't our responsibility to defend our values and prioritize our message over our posture. We inherited a kingdom that cannot be shaken; we are an unthreatened people. God will stay on His throne without our rigorous defense.

If anyone has made you feel invisible or less-than, write a new narrative on your heart.

Dear one, the wine is still good. If you are asking hard questions, it is because you love the wine. You believe it is good and marvelous and worthy of consumption. It has real lasting power. The wine has managed to woo every generation since time began. You are asking questions of the wineskins, which is wise and appropriate, because they don't last . They stretch as long as they can, but at some point, they have to be replaced so the wine can keep flowing.

And even if someone is nasty, recognize the safe people who guard your story. They deserve to be in your stable and be trusted with your truth. As for the others? As Scott Stratten, author of UnMarketing says: "Don't try to win over the haters; you're not the jackass whisperer."2 (I will now abuse this phrase with reckless abandon.) That brings

She works hard because she has to. She isn't attempting to discern an elusive calling. She is raising her babies, working for a living, doing the best she can with what she has. Her purpose may not venture outside the walls of her home. We will never know her name. She probably won't step into leadership or innovation or advocacy or social revolution. Yet she is also worthy of the calling she has received.

The next generation is screaming, 'We can't find God in church! How does God work in the broken places? Why are Christians so mean and scared and defensive? Where is the 'good news' part?

780 million people lack basic water sanitation, which results in disease, death, wastewater for drinking, and loss of immunity.[17] Americans consume twenty-six billion liters of bottled water a year.[18] We spend more annually on trash bags than nearly half the world spends on all goods combined.

The cross leveled the playing field, and no earthly distinction is valid anymore.

The boys organized air-soft gun wars, so eight sweaty, stinky boys are running through my house wielding semiautomatic pellet guns dressed in sweatshirts though it was 97 degrees yesterday. My rule on this boy business: "Don't cry if you get pinged, and if one stray pellet hits me, I will run over your guns with my car." This is life with sons, people.

Simply speaking truth out loud is healing in and of itself. When people courageously voice a true, hard thing, they've already stolen some of its dark power before we offer one word to fix it. Theology backs that up. Of our own Jesus, Scripture says, "In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it" (John 1:4–5).

Saying "I meant well" is not going to cut it. Not with God screaming, begging, pleading, urging us to love mercy and justice, to feed the poor and the orphaned, to care for the last and least in nearly every book of the Bible. It will not be enough one day to stand before Jesus and say, "Oh? Were You serious about all that?

Can't we all simmer down a bit? Let the teachers teach, the parents parent, and the kids do the learning. Our children will be fine, just as we were. They will figure it out, just as we did. They don't need every advantage skewed their way and every discomfort fluffed with pillows. I bet they don't even need sandwich dolphins. I am a product of bologna, red Kool-Aid, and home perms, and I turned out okay.

The poor world is begging for mercy like Bartimaus, while the rich world is asking for more favor like James and John.

We cannot carry the gospel to the poor and lowly while emulating the practices of the rich and powerful.

How lovely is a faith community that goes forth as loving sisters and brothers rather than angry defenders and separatists.

Then into the trash, la de da. For the bargain price of a dollar, I receive sixteen ounces of tap water and contribute to the waste crisis.

We need each other, so we probably ought to practice radical grace, because our well-flaunted opinions are cold companions when real life hits.

Grief cannot be sidestepped; it must be endured.

But even if we disagree, perhaps even strongly, it is still possible to hold a civil dialogue where ideas find their way out into the open.

God measures our entire existence by only two things: how we love Him and how we love people. If you get this right, you can get a million other things wrong.

The love of God and people is the whole substance of life. Nothing is more important. This is sacred work and very much counts.

Thank you, Caillou, for having a nonphonetic title so my son cannot look you up on Netflix.