Love is an electric blanket with somebody else in control of the switch.

Maizy swallowed hard, a motion that almost strangled her in this blasted dress, and she nodded.

Praying should help, remembering Bible verses should help. Rylan figured he must be doing it wrong because it was only making him worry more. So he forced his thoughts from those worries and found himself watching every move Maizy made. That was another kind of madness.

Rylan tried not to share so many of his worries. She was so sympathetic it made him want to succeed all the more, and that made his fear of failing cut so deep he couldn't stand it. Rylan wasn't good at church attendance. He was a believer, but he found Sundays to be as demanding on a ranch as every other day, and he'd let his worship time slip.

Love is blind, but a broken heart sees everything.

How can a person deal with anxiety? You might try what one fellow did. He worried so much that he decided to hire someone to do his worrying for him. He found a man who agreed to be his hired worrier for a salary of $200,000 per year. After the man accepted the job, his first question to his boss was, "Where are you going to get $200,000 per year?" To which the man responded, "That's your worry.

I know when to say no and when to say yes. I take responsibility for my choices. The victim? She went somewhere else. The only one who can truly victimize me is myself, and 99 percent of the time I choose to do that no more. But I need to continue to remember the key principles: boundaries, letting go, forgiveness after feeling my feelings—not before, self-expression, loving others but loving myself, too.

Most especially, he was miserable because of Donald Trump, whose cruelties, always great even when they were casual, were unbearable when he truly turned against you.

In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world" (John 16:33). The peace that Jesus brings is divine peace, the peace of God, the only peace worthy of the name. Divine peace is the only permanent peace. Divine peace is that kind of peace you feel inside even when the world is falling apart all around you.

I cannot live under pressures from patrons, let alone paint.

Negativity can flow out of our spirits during these times of testing. The goal, however, is that in the midst of trials we open our spirits with affection, trusting His leadership without beginning to guard our hearts in fear of more hurt. When this happens, our woundedness affects our relationship with God, and our intimacy with Jesus can be hindered. Harboring offense in our hearts toward God wounds our love for Him, and the devil knows this very well.

A few days after I left UConn my mom took me to a psychiatrist in Stamford. After talking with me for an hour, smiling kindly and calmly asking me questions, he diagnosed me. "You have an anxiety disorder," he said. "It's a rare and very unpleasant type called 'plateau panic disorder.' Basically you're having panic attacks that don't ever end.