Joy bombs

Here are some assorted quotes from the Bible Study book the ladies and I just finished.

1.  Hope liberates.
Hope releases you from your past.
2.  Hope motivates.
Hope helps you bounce back.
3.  Hope initiates.
Hope sets you free to dream.
4.  Hope activates.
Hope is the fuel that makes the world a better place.
-Ray Johnston, pastor and author

Hope, for the Christian, is not wishful thinking or mere blind optimism. It is a mode of knowing, a mode within which new things are possible, options are not shut down, and new creation can happen.
-N.T.

Hope can get sick and die. Sometimes hope is murdered with shocking quickness when the one thing on which we set our deepest hope is blown out of our lives, like a tent in the path of a hurricane. Other times hope dies slowly, sliced away in bits and pieces of disappointment; one thing after another that we had hoped for whittled away, like wood chips flying from a green branch before the knife of an indifferent whittler. Whether it slips slowly like drippings from a leaking valve or gets smashed on the rocks of reality, when hope dies inside of us, we are all but done for. -Lewis Smedes, author and professor

(God's people are those) whose lives are bordered on one side by a memory of God's acts, and on the other by hope in God's promises, and who along with whatever else is happening are able to say, at the center, "We are one happy people."  -Eugene Peterson, pastor and author

Joy is a mystery because it can happen anywhere, anytime, even under the most unpromising circumstances, even in the midst of suffering, with tears in its eyes. Even nailed to a tree.
-Frederick Buechner, pastor and author

Psalm 139:14-16:  I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.

(Some of these are getting good as I look through them and deserve their own post. Trying to decide if I should keep them all together tho)

The chance to trust God when trusting isn't easy is wide open, the prospect for modeling hope for a hope-needy world is trending upward. And the possibility of cultivating a storm-proof faith is always going up. This is so because certain truths remain unchanged:  God remains sovereign, grace beats sin, prayers get heard, the Bible endures, heaven's mercies spring up new every morning, the cross still testifies to the power of sacrificial love, the tomb is still empty, and the Kingdom that Jesus announced is still expanding without needing to be bailed out by human efforts. God is still in the business of redemption, specializing in bringing something very, very good out of something very, very bad. -John Ortberg, pastor and author

All persons, to one extent or another, hold basic assumptions (conscious or unconscious beliefs) about themselves, the external world, and the relationship between the two. The 3 fundamental assumptions are that one's personal world is basically benevolent, that life makes sense (order and meaning), and that one is worthy and in control. It is these core assumptions that are overturned by severe and especially random trauma, and it is the struggle to reconstruct these adaptive illusions that is at the core of the coping process. It is the confrontation with one's own survival - whether resulting from serious accidents, natural disasters, disease, or criminal attacks - that is the defining feature of the trauma. One is forced to recognize his or her deepest vulnerability.  -Jerry M. Lewis, MD

You don't drown by falling in the water. You drown by staying there. -Unknown

The purpose of rejoicing is not so we can feel better emotionally (though that will happen). The purpose of joy is to glorify God by demonstrating to an unbelieving world that our loving and faithful heavenly Father cares for us and provides for us all that we need. -Jerry Bridges, author

Joy is the settled assurance that God is in control of all the details of my life, the quiet confidence that ultimately everything is going to be all right, and the determined choice to praise God in all things. -Kay Warren, author and speaker

Depth of sorrow is the sign of a healthy soul, not a sick soul. It does not have to be morbid or fatalistic. It is not something to embrace...Sorrow indicates that people who have suffered loss are living authentically in a world of misery, and it expresses the emotional anguish of people who feel pain for themselves or for others. Sorrow is noble and gracious. It enlarges the soul until the soul is capable of mourning and rejoicing simultaneously, if feeling the world's pain and hoping for the world's healing at the same time. However painful, sorrow is good for the soul. -Gerald Stittser, author

In Rabbinic literature, a sword represented mourning. The vivid imagery suggested a loss could strike deep at any time. During the first three days of mourning, the image of a sword was raised above a mourner's shoulder. Through day 7, the sword could approach the bereaved from the corner of the room. Those who suffered through loss of a loved one could expect the sword to pass him or her on the street until the end of day 30. And the sword was likely to strike any family member throughout the full year. This imagery reminds us that moments of mourning can hit us at any time - long after the loss has occurred.

A state of emotion always comes between the knowledge and the act...God intended that truth should move us to moral action. The mind receives ideas, mental pictures of things as they are. These excite the feelings and these in turn move the will to act in accordance with the truth...Be sure that human feelings can never be completely stifled. If they are forbidden their normal course, like a river they will cut a channel through the life and flow out to curse and to ruin and to destroy. -A.W. Tozer

Grief is derived from the Latin verb meaning to be burdened. For some, grief can feel like a heavy burden. Mourning is derived from the Latin verb meaning be anxious. Mourning is a process of remembering what was lost and provides a way for our bodies, minds, and hearts to metabolize loss.

Beware of spending too much time looking back at what you once were when God wants you to become something you have never been. -Oswald Chambers, evangelist and teacher

To better understand the difference between God taking pleasure in His people and taking pleasure in causing ruin, read Deuteronomy 28. God is so committed to our holiness that He will even allow destruction if it draws us back to Him.

The Old Testament teaches us that joy stems from God the Father. Jesus connects Himself to the same virtue in John 15:11 using possessive language. He says "My" joy, not "joy like mine." Paul speaks of joy in Galatians 5 as a fruit of the Spirit. The fact that joy is tied to all three persons of the Trinity underscores its importance in the life of a Christian.

A sacred echo is the repetitive nature of God's voice in your life. Often when God speaks, He will say the same thing again and again. See 1 Kings 19.