Quotes About Strength

This time, there are no tears. This time, there is only emptiness and I feel it set in the straight line of my mouth. I am not strong enough for this. I want an earthquake, a hurricane, anything - even a devil, the one with the cloven hoof - Mrs. Leed's unfortunate 13th child - to rush out and stomp on me, break me into little pieces and hurl me to the stars, let me go back with those people I love. Please.

Tomorrow, I will embody what it means to be aging gracefully. I will be the Perfect Single Guest. I will be Katharine Hepburn (at thirty-three, not eighty) of the wedding. I am going alone. And I am not allowing myself one second of self-deprecation. Not one second. Affirmations and visuals. I am Elizabeth Bennett in Pride and Prejudice. I am Bette Davis in All About Eve. I am anyone, anyone at all, but me, Diana Moore, of brown hair, nine of shoe, and wide of thigh.

When you get old, everyone wants to protect you," Rosie says to me. "They don't remember that if you managed to et this old, you've probably figured out how to protect yourself.

Kathleen E. Woodiwiss

Hers was a toughness born from bitterness and tragedy, where every ounce of optimism or humour had been beaten out of her by experience.

After all, from the ankles down, I still had it all going on.

The truth was, sooner or later life broke everyone. We were all broken pieces. The trick was to gather up our remaining fragments and move forward. "Life

One day someone is going to hug you so tight that all of your broken pieces will stick back together. —

Isaiah 40:21–31 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . those who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. (vv. 28, 31)

Three things come to mind as we look at this text: (1) we are theological amnesiacs; (2) the psalmist reminds us that God really is in charge; and (3) only when we feel weak and helpless, whether young or old, are we vulnerable enough to experience the power and grace of a God who "raises us up on eagle's wings." So, this text is about us, about God and what God does with us when all we seem to be is down.

Dear God, please help me find the strength and love within myself to forgive others so that I may move forward on my path in your service.

and that braw lad,...is the finest piece of man flesh in these parts.

God always has a reason, Abby. It's just so hard sometimes for us to accept it." She smiled sadly. "Fear gets in the way, doesn't it? Fear of that great unknown, fear that God will require something that we cannot, or don't want, to do. But we can, Abby. God never asks anything of us that He doesn't give us sufficient strength to do. And He never, ever asks it unless it's for our greater good.

A strong gust of wind slammed into

Ah, Abby thought, if only they knew and trusted in God's love! It was all the strength and comfort one could ever need. It was a light to guide one through the darkness. It lent purpose and direction when nothing else seemed to matter.

pain. Let me bear it. His grasp on her tightened, and he willed all the strength of his heart, his body, into hers. God forgive him, but he'd sacrifice the babe if only he could keep his bonny wife. How would he go on without her? She must live. She

Better to face bravely what God gives, to forget the past and forge on—

An old woman I know who has lived all her life on ranches here and rarely complains about deprivations (she raised a family with no electricity or running water, and can remember winnowing wheat by hand with blankets in the 1920s because her family could not afford to hire a threshing machine and crew) once said to me, "The one thing I could never stand was the wind.

was heartened by her assertion that "most people come

I often see it in people who have attained what the monastic tradition terms "detachment," an ability to live at peace with the reality of whatever happens. Such people do not have a closed-off air, nor a boastful demeanor. In them, it is clear, their wounds have opened the way to compassion for others. And compassion is the strength and soul of a religion.

Despite her promise to share every secret, Clara didn't tell Daphne about her faulty heart. It was too gratifying to be recognized for her strength. Clara wanted to be the person that Daphne saw.

We forgive not because it's easy or the right thing to do, but that the choice to forgive is in itself powerful. It's an affirmation, a willingness to take life on life's terms. And a privilege that no one can take from you. It

A young woman on the cusp of her sexual awakening is a powerful creature.' She

We are an army of broken and damaged angels, yet our light shines so bright it's like moths to a flame.