Quotes from Elizabeth Musser

Aching for one thing and enjoying something else aren't mutually exclusive.

Dying to something old, a pattern that is comfortable in its dysfunction, so that one can move to a different system, a new freedom.

Some people ask me what it's like to be forgiven, to feel grace. It's like walking on a long stretch of beach with nothing in sight but sky and waves and sand. With the sun piercing its brightness, the water tickling my toes, the roaring of the sea singing omniscience and power and yet, a deep peace, the waters changing from sandy brown to light green to a heavy blue, the waves cresting with the white peaks and then rushing to find my toes.

Before the trip I read that pilgrims often bring a small rock or stone from their home. It represents a burden they've been carrying or a loved one they are grieving or a sin for which they're doing penance. At some point on the Camino, they lay down that stone. The most popular place is at the Cruz de Ferro in Spain, the highest point on the Camino Frances.

Sometimes the breaking of things is cruel, and sometimes it is necessary, and sometimes it is just an accident." "My mother was a painting in the storm, convinced down to the last fibers of canvas and the last drop of paint on the brush that the rain was an important part of the making of a masterpiece.

God dwells in your heart, it means you are safe and that He will never, ever leave you. He becomes your dwelling place??a place of shelter and caring and protection.

God doesn't want us to rescue our children. He's the Rescuer.

Life takes many twists and turns. It bruises and burns and rips apart. But it also loves and heals and forgives.

It's a dangerous thing to want everyone's approval, Gabriella. You must be willing to stand firm and take the risk of being misunderstood. We must find our approval at the feet of our Master.

No wound. No scar? Yet as the Master shall the servant be, And pierced are the feet that follow Me, But thine are whole, Can he have followed far who has no wound, No scar?

After all, I'd never met anyone who would just start praying over a glass of iced tea.

But healing isn't the same as recovery, is it? Healing slides way down in your heart and settles there.