Love accepts the trying things of life without asking for explanations. It trusts and is at rest.

You have given it all to me. To you, Lord, I return it. Everything is yours; do with it what you will. Give me only your love and grace. That is enough for me.

I will always come for you. No matter what. I. Choose. You.

Do you know why I believe in the Lord Jesus and what He says? Because He has proved to me that He has my best interests at heart. What could He do that He did not do? He already gave His life for us (Romans 5:8-10; 8:32)

Believing in him is not the same as believing things about him such as that he was born of a virgin and raised Lazarus from the dead. Instead, it is a matter of giving our hearts to him, of come hell or high water putting our money on him, the way a child believes in a mother or a father, the way a mother or a father believes in a child.

There is only one thing God wants of us, and that is our unconditional surrender.

God's commandments are not given to limit or punish us.

A blessed thing it is for any man or woman to have a friend, one human soul whom we can trust utterly, who knows the best and worst of us, and who loves us in spite of all our faults.

Friend: One who knows all about you and loves you just the same.

I made a single decision early on. I decided I wouldn't judge my kids. No matter what they told me, I wouldn't judge them. I might have to discipline them, but I wouldn't make them feel like lesser people for their mistakes. And because of that, they learned to trust me with their deepest thoughts... We taught them the basics early. But the older they got, the more I listened without judgment as they figured out how to apply wisdom in their own lives. And they've turned out well.

We project into the Lord our own measured standard of acceptance. Our whole understanding of him is based in a quid pro quo of bartered love. He will love us if we are good, moral, and diligent. But we have turned the tables; we try to live so that he will love us, rather than living because he has already loved us.

True simplicity implies love and trust—it does not expect to be derided and rejected, any more than it expects to be admired and praised.