Hardships are the Lord's greatest blessings to the believer. Without them we would love the Lord only for what He does for us. Our troubles teach us to love Him for who He is." Sister Norton in "The Preacher's Bride

If only I'd realized earlier that it never pays to fight evil with evil. But after watching my father die, I'd been consumed with bitterness and had allowed it to lead me astray from what was righteous and pleasing to God.

Bulldog grunted. And I knew the matter was settled. My pulse thrummed with excitement. I was going to marry Juliana Wessex.

God wanted him to go to Him with his deepest needs, to stop looking elsewhere, so that he could be made whole again.

Remember, we show courage in many ways.

We have no control over the future. We can only make the most of the present.

The decision was too important to make lightly without more prayer.

I find learning to be the most valuable of all the treasures in the world. It's priceless.

You're following the Lord wholeheartedly, yet you're missing out on the forgiveness part. God's not just in the business of saving us from our sins. He's also in the business of forgiving those sins and putting them as far as the east is from the west.

God's already let go of your past. He doesn't remember it. He doesn't count it against you. Now it's time for you to let go too.

For it is often the hardest tasks that build the most character.

You don't have to let his definition of success be yours

I guess I figured that as long as I was with people I loved, I was home. It didn't matter where we were or what kind of place we lived in. We had each other and that was enough.

I suppose you'll not let me rest until I admit that I like your company?""You're getting to know me well...""Very well, I'll admit. You're slightly more than tolerable.

Courage can be displayed in many forms, my lord,' I said gently. 'Sometimes it's evident in the knight charging forward with the lance on his steed. But perhaps it can also take the form of a head bowed before the enemy.

The words of the twenty-third Psalm had come back to her, verses Mutti had helped her memorize as a young girl--Elise Neumann

Marriage doesn't put an end to one's ability to serve God and bring him glory. In fact, I've seen many married couples who have done more for God together than was possible as individuals.

She smiled, and her smile was filled with all of the sweetness and forgiveness that she offered so freely - and that he didn't deserve. But maybe, as with God, it was time to finally stop condemning himself and accept the gift.

You challenge me to be a better person. And no one else does that, except maybe my mother.

You can't be perfect. No one is. That's why we need God.

And the only hope-perhaps the real hope he'd been missing all along-was found in God.

You're safe now.

Her face a mask of fury and determination.

But she'd learned instead to hope in the one Beacon that would always be there, no matter what darkness came her way.

The love within them shone as brightly as the lighthouse beam on the darkest, stormiest night. It broke through her confusion and heartache and filled her with a warm glow.

My vanity suggested I should take offense, but the deeper part of me was relieved- relieved that he was noble enough to want to make such a sacrifice from his heart rather than from his desire to impress me.