Quotes from Max Lucado

The path to the palace wasn't quick; it wasn't painless, but wouldn't you say that God took this mess and made it into something good? And wouldn't you think he can do the same with yours? Tally up the pain of your past. Betrayals plus anger plus tragedies. Poorly parented? Wrongly accused? Inappropriately touched? Oh, how onerous life can be.

To forgive is to move on, not to think about the offense anymore. You don't excuse him, endorse her, or embrace them. You just route thoughts about them through heaven.

Prayer is not a privilege for the pious, not the art of a chosen few. Prayer is simply a heartfelt conversation between God and his child. My friend, he wants to talk with you. Even now, as you read these words, he taps at the door. Open it. Welcome him in. Let the conversation begin.

An unprayed-for problem is an embedded thorn. It festers and infects—first the finger, then the hand, then the entire arm. Best to go straight to the person who has the tweezers. Let Jesus take care of you. He knows about thorns.

How would you have responded if Jesus, knowing everything about you, knelt before you to wash your feet?

Remarkable. He forgave their sin before they even committed it. He offered mercy before they even sought it.

So the angels went to the shepherds. Men who didn't have a reputation to protect or an ax to grind or a ladder to climb. Men who didn't know enough to tell God that angels don't sing to sheep and that messiahs aren't found sleeping in a feed trough.

If today starts to get hectic, take five minutes to be alone with God. If your work gets interrupted, ask God for patience to deal with the interruption and for endurance to finish the task.

him" (Deut. 11:2 TEV). Rather than ask God to change your circumstances, ask him to use your circumstances to change you. Life is a required course. Might as well do your best to pass it. God is at work in each of us whether

No life is too short or too long. You will live your prescribed number of days. You might change the quality of your days but not the quantity.

Anxiety and fear are cousins but not twins. Fear sees a threat. Anxiety imagines one. Fear screams, Get out! Anxiety ponders, What if?

And now without your boat you think you will sink. You're correct. You will, for a while. Waves will sweep over you. Fear will suck you under like a Pacific riptide. But take heart, says Paul. Take heart, says Christ: "In this world you will have trouble, but be brave! I have defeated the world" (John 16:33 NCV).