When our God who is Mercy comes like a shout into your darkness, when the Father stoops down and tenderly picks up the pieces of your broken life, when Jesus steps in front of what you could have deserved, and when the the Lord of Heaven says, "I still want you," after you thought no one would, it is the most amazing truth of all. I have been overwhelmed by this lavish kingdom gift called Mercy.

God will never reject you. Whether you accept Him is your decision.

When I grew up, my model of God was like a lifeguard: I knew He loved me, but He blew his whistle a lot.

I remember as a little girl I could tell you the name of the dog next door, but I couldn't tell you the names of the kids. The dog was my best friend. I love animals. They give so much to you and demand so little.

You think dogs will not be in heaven? I tell you, they will be there long before any of us.

To Jesus she already is somebody. Like the loving father of the prodigal son, Jesus is frantically scanning the horizon, watching for Madonna to return to him. He's absolutely convinced that she's so valuable that she's worth dying for. 'Greater love has no one than this,' said Jesus in John 15:13, 'that one lay down his life for his friends.' That's what He did for her on the cross!

Real love—our love of God and our love of each other—must involve a choice. But with the granting of that choice comes the possibility that people would choose instead to hate.

Grace means there is nothing we can do to make God love us more . . . and there is nothing we can do to make God love us less. Philip Yancey1

When the Bible says God loves the world, it doesn't footnote any exceptions. God's grace is inexhaustible.

God didn't love me because I made myself valuable through service; on the contrary, I was valuable because I was loved by God.

True love frees us, and at the same time it binds us:

We may give our human loves the unconditional allegiance which we owe only to God. Then they become gods: then they become demons. Then they will destroy us, and also destroy themselves.