The destiny of people cannot be reduced to a sociological or scientific formula; it contains mysterious, if not mystical factors.

Either we are adrift in chaos or we are individuals, created, loved, upheld and placed purposefully, exactly where we are. Can you believe that? Can you trust God for that?

A young woman asked the great preacher Charles Spurgeon if it was possible to reconcile God's sovereignty and man's responsibility. "Young woman," said he. "You don't reconcile friends".

He says no in order that He may, in some way we cannot imagine, say yes. All His ways with us are merciful. His meaning is always love.

Some of God's greatest mercies are in his refusals. He says no in order that he may, in some way we cannot imagine, say yes.

What a cynic would call a coincidence, Amy called a clear answer, and more than an answer--a sign of the love of the Lord.

Just start thanking God in advance because no matter what is about to happen, you already know that God is in charge. You are not adrift in a sea of chaos.

I'm convinced that there are a good many things in this life that we really can't do anything about, but that God wants us to do something with.

It was typical of Jim that, once sure of God's leading, he did not turn aside easily. The "leading" was to Ecuador, so every thought and action was bent in that direction. Jim practiced what he preached when he wrote in his diary: "Wherever you are, be all there. Live to the hilt every situation you believe to be the will of God.

Lord, where there are interruption, it seems that the disposal of the time I had planned so well have slipped out of my hands. Help me then to remember that it has not slipped out of Yours. In Your hands, these unexpected things will be fashioned into an unexpectedly beautiful design

Strange—or is it?—that childish hopes should be answered in the will of God for this now?

God calls me. In a deeper sense than any other species of earthbound creature, I am called. And in a deeper sense I am free, for I can ignore the call.