Quotes about Preparation

God never fails to give you the tools you need beforehand. You can see this aspect of His nature in this episode of the Exodus story: Then it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, "Lest perhaps the people change their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt" (Exodus 13:17).

The time to pray is beforehand, as Jesus did, crying out to God in private times when nothing is going wrong. That's how to store up power and create an inner atmosphere of peace and faith that you take with you into the troubling situation.

Being a professional wrestler surely prepares you for any acting role in that we have to act on live television, so there's a lot of pressure put there.

So much in football is touching, feeling, walking through, writing it on boards, drawing Xs and Os. And all those are the best for me.

In traveling, a man must carry knowledge with him, if he would bring home knowledge.

Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.

When asked what he would do if he knew the world would end tomorrow, Martin Luther said, "I would plant a tree."

Your difficulty, your disease, your conflict are preparing you to be a voice of encouragement to your brothers.

The step between prudence and paranoia is short and steep. Prudence wears a seat belt. Paranoia avoids cars. Prudence washes with soap. Paranoia avoids human contact. Prudence saves for old age. Paranoia hoards even trash. Prudence prepares and plans. Paranoia panics. Prudence calculates the risk and takes the plunge. Paranoia never enters the water.

Don't see your struggle as an interruption to life but as preparation for life. No one said the road would be easy or painless. But God will use this mess for something good. "This trouble you're in isn't punishment; it's training, the normal experience of children . . . God is doing what is best for us, training us to live God's holy best" (Heb. 12:8, 10 MSG).

Don't see your struggle as an interruption to life but as preparation for life. No one said the road would be easy or painless. But God will use your mess for something good. "This trouble you're in isn't punishment; it's training, the normal experience of children. . . . God is doing what is best for us, training us to live God's holy best" (Hebrews 12:8, 10 MSG).

Sometimes God takes his time: One hundred twenty years to prepare Noah for the flood, eighty years to prepare Moses for his work. God called young David to be king but returned him to the sheep pasture. He called Paul to be an apostle and then isolated him in Arabia for perhaps three years. Jesus was on the earth for three decades before he built anything more than a kitchen table. How long will God take with you? He may take his time. His history is redeemed not in minutes but in lifetimes.