she tackled the problem of trying to decide how she wanted to live and what was valuable to her. When am I happy and when am I sad and what is the difference? What do I need to know to stay alive? What is true in the world?

Reverend Father is the only kind man I ever see. When I arrive here I believe it is the place he warns against. The freezing in hell that comes before the everlasting fire where sinners bubble and singe forever. But the ice comes first, he says. And when I see knives of it hanging from the houses and trees and feel the white air burn my face I am certain the fire is coming.

The one set of plans she had made—getting away from Sweet Home—went awry so completely she never dared life by making more.

Exactly the way old folks said: not when you call Him; not when you want Him; only when you need Him and right on time.

I have been told that there are two human responses to the perception of chaos: naming and violence. . . There is, however, a third response to chaos, which I have not heard about, which is stillness. Such stillness can be passivity and dumbfoundedness; it can be paralytic fear. But it can also be art.

A lot of wives are trying too hard to make their marriages work, but they can't sustain the weight of what they're doing, and they crash. God says, "I want you to soar on the wind of the Holy Spirit. Position yourself in Me, and let Me glide your marriage into a changed relationship." When you are doing it God's way, you don't have to flap because you can soar.

Oftentimes, what is required on our part is taking a step, making the move, doing the thing that God has asked us to do without the accompanying emotions to go along with it. However, as you continue to walk by faith in the direction God has called you, your emotions are soon to follow.

If you are a Christian, you do not need to try to discover your purpose. Rather, it is in experiencing God that your purpose will be made known. Experience God, and you will experience your purpose. Know God, and you will know your destiny.

Beyond that, God will sometimes take us down a different path or on a different journey than we could have conceived or imagined. The simple phrase we are asked to insert, "If the Lord wills," is pregnant with meaning. It is a statement of surrender under the lordship and rule of God. It is an acknowledgment that our plans are not to be our own. Rather, they are God's to make, and we are to follow.

Women who want to please the Lord in their marriages often must ignore the people on the other side of the glass. That's because what God is telling them in His Word may go against what many of their friends are telling them and what the television is telling them. But none of us is here to please the onlookers.

doing life God's way is the secret to healing and freedom from the trappings that often weigh us down.

When we overcome emotional strongholds, we let go of our need to understand everything right now. We trust God to make a miracle out of what looks like a mess.