Quotes from Lynn Austin

Time and a hundred daily distractions can slowly turn us away from God before we even realize it's happening.

You're feeling the flames, Ezra, but that's part of the process. This pot I just made won't be useful for anything until it goes through that fire." He pointed to the kiln, where waves of heat shimmered above it. "The pots baking in there right now would be useless if they didn't endure the heat.

What do you think Jesus is gonna say if we come walking up to those pearly gates carrying a whole sackful of grievances and grudges on our backs? Jesus is gonna ask, What's that you toting there on your back? Do you want to be opening that sack and showing Him all those ugly things? He's dressed all in white and shining like the sun, and you're coming in with a load of hate in your arms? Umm hmm. I can't imagine doing that.

Don't ask God what He's doing. That's the wrong thing to ask. Ask Him what you should be doing.

Adversity is the testing ground of our faith. God has to risk losing you forever to your anger and bitterness in order to have you for His true son. Anyone can believe and sing praises on the Temple Mount when the sun is shining, but true praise is sung in the darkest valley when the Accuser tells you to curse God for making you suffer so much pain. If you can still praise your Father's goodness, even in the darkness, then you are His son indeed.

We were meant to love people, and we need to accept their love in return. Otherwise, we ain't really living.

God has His reasons for allowing this great upheaval. Maybe He's asking us to join the fight against evil and help redeem this fallen world." "I don't have enough faith for this, Papa." "None of us do. All we can do is ask Him each day what He wants us to do." She nodded, keeping her tears at bay.

Once the sacrifice has burned into ashes on the altar, your sin is nothing but ashes, as well. The Holy One forgives us—and we have to believe it in faith. That means leaving our past in the past, not agonizing over it, not bringing it to life in your memory again and again. We must forget it the same way God does—'As far as the east is from the west.' That's how far in the past our sins will be.

His questions will make his faith stronger in the end.

It's the highest form of praise," Abba had said, "to keep believing that God is good even when it doesn't seem that way.

In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength

Bitterness is one of the deadliest emotions we ever feel. You can't look forward when you're bitter, only backward—thinking about what you've lost, stuck in the past, despairing because it's gone. In the end, it devours all hope.