compared to what I knew I was capable of, I was, shall we say, unimpressed. I

It's the messy parts that make us human, so we should embrace them too —pat ourselves on the back for getting through them rather than being angry for having gotten into them in the first place

We need days of failure because they help humble us, and through them we can see how God's grace is poured out on the humble.

The weaknesses, failures, and sins of our family are the places where we learn that we need grace too. It is there, in those dark mercies, that God teaches us to be humbly dependent. It is there that He draws near to us and sweetly reveals His grace. Paul's suffering teaches us to reinterpret our thorn. Instead of seeing it as a curse, we are to see it as the very thing that keeps us pinned close to the Lord.

Together they would brave satan and all his legions.

So in the field of assent you cannot be hindered or obstructed. 'Evidently.

You are always naked when you start writing; you are always as if you had never written anything before; you are always a beginner. Shakespeare wrote without knowing he would become Shakespeare

The fact that the Lord can work and act even with insufficient means consoles me, and above all I entrust myself to your prayers.

I am pretty happy with myself. I am not saying I am flawless, but I am content with the way I am.

Augustine does not disagree with this when he teaches that it is a faculty of the reason and the will to choose good with the assistance of grace; evil, when grace is absent.

the greatest weapon you have been given is the Father's love. As long as you walk in My Father's love, you will never fail.

What gives me the most hope every day is God's grace knowing that his grace is going to give me the strength for whatever I face, knowing that nothing is a surprise to God.