Oceans (Where Feet May Fail)

I heard this in a song this morning. It describes exactly how I feel!

Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders

Let me walk upon the waters

Wherever You would call me

Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander

And my faith will be made stronger

In the presence of my Savior

Savage, My Kinsman | Elisabeth Elliot Quotes

"It was strange to see this gaunt, tall, blonde American woman walk through the jungle, often shoeless because it was easier that way, but with a wary eye for poisonous snakes. With her, also barefoot, went her daughter. Valerie, a tiny ethereal creature who seemed to walk not on the earth but slightly above it." [p. 13]

The word "missionary" may call to mind preaching, teaching, church-building (and even this often means merely a physical plant, rather than a spiritual building}, medical work, baptizing, catechizing, social improvement - almost any form of philanthropy.... [[p.16]

The word "missionary" does not occur in the Bible. But the word "witness' does." [p. 16]

I had noticed throughout the Bible that, when God asked a man to do something, methods, means, materials, and specific directions were always provided. The man had one thing to do: obey'. [p.19]

George MacDonald said, "All that is not God is death." [p. 76]

Death is the one thing none of us is willing to face, and the one thing we shall be forced to face. Edna St. Vincent Millay wrote:
                                                          This I do, being mad:
                                                          Gather baubles about me,
                                                          Sit in a circle of toys, and all this time
                                                          Death beating the door in.

                                                          White jade and an orange pitcher,
                                                                   Hindu idol, Chinese god, —
                                                           Maybe next year, when I’m richer—
                                                                   Carved beads and a lotus pod. . . .

                                                           And all this time
                                                           Death beating the door in.

[p. 82]

"It is by loving, and not by being loved, that we come closest to another person." [p. 102]  

We are horrified at lies told to children. Yet we not only condone but are amused at anything - no matter what it may have cost someone else-which is called 'only kidding'. We have confused inhibition with virtue, refinement with purity, propriety with purity. [p. 129]
 

Through the Gates of Splendor | Elisabeth Elliot Quotes

"They were full of anticipation of what lay ahead, but at the same time they drank in the beauties of the great Amazon rain forest through which they passed. It was a virgin jungle. Trees with great buttress-shaped roots grew to tremendous heights, often with no branches except at the top. Under these umbrellas an incredible variety of flora thrives...Orchids everywhere lent their soft colors to the living green. Fungus grew in vivid colors and bizarre shapes - vermilion, shaped like the ruffle on a lady's dress; turqouise, shaped like a shell, half under a rotten log." [ p. 29]

 "The missionaries prayed and discussed these problems, but still they felt themselves foreigners - felt that they would always be foreigners. The Indian himself must be the answer - he must learn the Scriptures, be taught, and in turn teach his own people." [p. 47]

"We have believed God for miracles, and this may include the Aucas. It has got to be by miracles in response to faith. No lesser expedient is a short-cut. O God, guide!" [Pete Fleming,  p.47]

"Ed's love for the girl he was going to marry was wholehearted: "When anybody speaks to me, it takes everything I've got to stay with them in conversation. It's the craziest sensation! I'm beginning to  believe everything the poets and songwriters have to say about love!" [p. 53]

"When life's flight is over, and we unload our cargo at the other end, the fellow who got rid of unnecessary weight will have the most valuable cargo to present the Lord." [Nate Saint, pilot of MSF p. 60]

"During the last war we were taught to recognize that, in order to obtain our objective, we had to be willing to be expendable...This very afternoon thousands of soldiers were known by their serial numbers as men who are expendable." [a short sermon by Nate Saint delivered over the missionary radio station HCJB-The Voice of the Andes in Quito, p. 60]

"While he [Nate Saint] was still in the Army he met Marj Farris, whom he later described in a letter: "Among other blessings, the greatest. She has just finished her State exams and is now a practicing registered nurse in California. She is a graduate of U. of California at Los Angeles, and ardent student of the Word, and has a challenging love for the lost. She is the most selfless person I have met in my life except my Mother. She is a meek girl of deep conviction ready for service for the Lord of the Harvest..." [p. 68]

"They started a Bible club for teenagers. Nate called the program "a sort of candy-box, loaded with Gospel dynamite."" [p. 70]

"A missionary plods through the first year or two, thinking that things will be different when he speaks the language. He is baffled to find, frequently, that they are not." [p. 151]

"As we have a high old time this Christmas, may we who known Christ hear the cry of the damned as they hurtle headlong into the Christless night without ever a chance. ..Beyond the smiling scenes of Bethlehem may we see the crushing agony of Golgotha. May God give us a new vision of His will concerning the lost and our responsibility." [Nate Saint, p. 176]

"I want to be free of self-pity. It is a tool of Satan to rot away a life. I am sure that this is the perfect will of God...The Lord has closed our hearts to grief and hysteria, and filled in with His perfect peace." [Elisabeth Elliot after the death of the five missionaries, p. 326]

"In the darkness of the night, with the firelight flickering on his face, and the sound of jungle birds and pumas' groans punctuating the air, this clearly spoken 'conversation' with God was of great emotional impact." [p. 240]

"To the world at large this was a sad waste of five young lives. But God has His plan purpose in all tings. There were those whose lives were changed by what happened on Palm Beach." [E. Elliot, p. 252]

"Mayhap in mercy He shall give me a host of children that I may lead them through the vast start fields to explore His delicacies whose finger ends set them to burning. But if not, if only I may see Him, touch His garments, and smile into His eyes - ah then, not starts nor children shall matter, only Himself". [Jim Elliot, p. 256]

For the love of the game | Michael Jordan quotes

"If I hadn't evolved at my own pace, I wouldn't have been able to paint the tiny details that defined my career. I remember every little step, every little crease. Now when I look back I see one big beautiful picture. Some of these young kids just have that big blob of paint without any detail. Their careers are just a mass of color without any definition because they haven't taken the time to work on the details or they don't appreciate or understand the process."

I remember thinking "When does jumping become flying."

If you bought into their tactics, you would become vindictive because of all the stuff they were doing to you. So they forced us to keep our composure.

The process of seeing success before it happened put me in a positive frame of mind and prepared me to play the game. Once the game started, I never thought about what was supposed to happen. Instincts took over.

If you practice the way you play, there shouldn't be any difference. That's why I practiced so hard. I wanted to be prepared for the game. I practiced hard enough that the games were easier.....I took pride in the way I practiced.

[1993 Championships] The Suns didn't know how to win. They knew how to compete, but they didn't know how to win. There is a difference.

If anyone didn't think I was serious it was because they could not see the blood dripping off my hands or those 6 a.m. batting sessions.

If you do the work, you get rewarded. There are no shortcuts in life.

The money never had anything to do with me playing basketball.

I have used all the great players who came before me to improve my skills. So I can't be the greatest....there will be a player much greater than me.

I listened, I was aware of my success, but I never stopped trying to get better.

Purity

Purity has been a recurrent message in my life and one that I feel will be a theme for my life this year (and for the rest of my life as well, I hope!).

Matthew 5:8 says

"Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God."

Ever since I first read this verse in the Beatitudes, I didn't understand the significance or the connection of purity of heart and seeing God. I used to say to myself "Okay. I don't understand. Huh?" But now, years later, I finally understand but it took me being purified in the process to guage the difference.

When my heart isn't pure, things are hazy. I'm not able to enjoy the relationships I have and the folks around of me because my heart isn't in the right place. For instance, I couldn't see the friends around me who needed to experience the love of Christ through me. I couldn't give them hope because my heart was only looking to satisfy my own needs at the moment. I was too busy to hear them. I couldn't love others wholeheartedly through the 5 love languages (quality time, acts of service, words of affirmation, gifts, and ???) because I was looking to myself to receive it. When your heart is pure, you can love with no bounds! You don't fear the rejection that may come. You are more sensitive to the little moments in the day when God is speaking directly to you. You see the hurting, the lonely, the lost, the orphans and the widows.

You see God.

It isn't something that is simply seen with the natural eye. The spiritual eyes get involved. Once those open, it's very hard to close them.

My ultimate desire is that my eyes never close to the vision that I now see; that my heart stays pure, in and every relationship and throughout the time I have left to walk this earth.

Elisabeth Elliot quotes

“There is nothing worth living for, unless it is worth dying for.”

-Eisabeth Elliot

“What does it mean to be a man? Christ is the supreme example. He was strong, and He was pure, because His sole aim in life was to be obedient to the Father. His very obedience made Him most manly- responsible, committed, courageous, courteous, and full of love. A Christian man’s obedience to God will make him more of a man than anything else in the world.”

—

Elisabeth Elliot “The world cries for men who are strong - strong in conviction, strong to lead, to stand, to suffer. I pray that you will be that kind of man - glad that God made you a man, glad to shoulder the burden of manliness in a time when to do so will often bring contempt.” — Elisabeth Elliot to her nephew, Pete “If your goal is purity of heart, be prepared to be thought very odd.” — Elisabeth Elliot

Passion and Purity | Elisabeth Elliot

“Often a Christian man or woman falls prey to that cruel and vexatious spirit, wondering how to find marriage, who, when, where? It is on God that we should wait, as a waiter waits--not for but on the customer--alert, watchful, attentive, with no agenda of his own, ready to do whatever is wanted. 'My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him.' (Ps. 62:5 KJV) In Him alone lie our security, our confidence, our trust. A spirit of restlessness and resistance can never wait, but one who believes he is loved with an everlasting love, and knows that underneath are the everlasting arms, will find strength and peace.” 

― Elisabeth Elliot, Quest for Love: True Stories of Passion and Purity

“One reason we are so harried and hurried is that we make yesterday and tomorrow our business, when all that legitimately concerns us is today. If we really have too much to do, there are some items on the agenda which God did not put there. Let us submit the list to Him and ask Him to indicate which items we must delete. There is always time to do the will of God. If we are too busy to do that, we are too busy.” 

― Elisabeth Elliot, Secure in the Everlasting Arms

“I took it for granted that there must be a few men left in the world who had that kind of strength. I assumed that those men would also be looking for women with principle. I did not want to be among the marked-down goods on the bargain table, cheap because they’d been pawed over. Crowds collect there. It is only the few who will pay full price. "You get what you pay for.” 

― Elisabeth Elliot, Passion and Purity: Learning to Bring Your Love Life Under Christ's Control

“Our vision is so limited we can hardly imagine a love that does not show itself in protection from suffering. The love of God is of a different nature altogether. It does not hate tragedy. It never denies reality. It stands in the very teeth of suffering.” 

― Elisabeth Elliot, Passion and Purity: Learning to Bring Your Love Life Under Christ's Control