thoughts of encouragement

I was reading "The Path of Loneliness" by Elisabeth Elliot in November, and these are some thoughts that jumped out at me at the time. And looking back, I am in awe at the preparation and tilling God was doing in my heart. I pray they encourage you as well... in light of the new perspective we all share! I will send out an email soon, I hope... once the words finally return.

"Get to know yourself so well that you cannot contemplate yourself without flinching; then there will be room for hope. Only in the sure knowledge that you are obliged to do the impossible, and that you can only do the impossible in HIM who strengthens you, are you ready for a task which can be performed only through the cross." -M. Maritain

"There is no hope for any of us until we confess our helplessness. Then we are in a position to receive grace. There we have the conditions: grace--first, last, and always. So long as we see ourselves as competent, we do not qualify. Jesus vividly depicted the obligation as beyond us." -Elisabeth Elliot

"The disciple should not be surprised, if as he travels the road with Christ, some of the old gang begins to thin out. He may feel lonely at first, but then he sees that there are many Companions of the Way, whom he never would have met on the lower road." -Elisabeth Elliot

"When we think of being lonely, we usually mean that there are no people around; no one with us, no one to talk to. Or else we find that the people around us are 'not on our wavelength'--they don't understand us and that can be worse than no company at all. So loneliness in my experience is not relieved by just anyone's company. It needs to be someone special, someone who understand me, someone who can listen and be there when I need them. It was that last part that forced me to confront the depths of my own loneliness... Christ calls me out of my natural self-centeredness by listening to my cries and then showing me the bigger picture. The better I come to know HIM, the more I decome interested in what HE is interested in--the more I live and breathe for HIS Kingdom to come, for the things to be done on earth as they are in heaven." -Bonnie (an example in E. Elliot's book)

"With what misgivings we turn over our lives to God, imagining somehow that we are about to lose everything that matters. Our hesitancy is like that of a tiny shell on the seashore afraid to give up the teaspoonful of water it holds lest there not be enough in the ocean to fill it again. Lose your life, said Jesus, and you will find it. Give it up, and I will give you all. Can the shell imagine the depth and plentitude of the ocean? Can you and I fathom the riches, the fullness, of God's love?" -Elisabeth Elliot

"If His Lordship is really established over me, it makes no difference whether I live or die. I am expendable. The knowledge is freedom. I have no care for anything; for all that I am, all that I have, all that I do, and all that I suffer have been joyfully placed at HIS disposal. He can do anything He pleases." -Elisabeth Elliot

"For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself; for if we live, we live for the Lord, and is we die, we die for the Lord; therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord's." -Romans 14:7-8

"Glory in HIS HOLY NAME; let the heart of those who seek the Lord be glad. Seek the Lord and His strength; Seek His face continually." -Psalm 105:3-4

"So let us know, let us press on to know the Lord." -Hosea 6:3a

Jesus, fill these your empty vessels. We're WHOLLY Thine.
Beth