“You miss the living because you are waiting for perfect, and so you let goodness and blessings pass you right on by.”

“If what you are called to feels less than extraordinary, there is a tendency to think, 'Well, the Lord has big plans for me later.' And you wait patiently until he decides to reveal that master plan. But what if his plan for you is right where you are? Are you missing it because you are looking for something 'more' extraordinary?”

“Because I care so much about what you think, my hiding has everything to do with you. I desperately want to manage your opinion of me. Nearly anything I do is to convince you I am good.”

“These outward identities we build for ourselves are not all that we are. A person is made of so many layers. Skin is just the top layer. It's the part you can see, so when you walk into a room, others won't run into you. It's the brown-hair, brown-eyes layer; the you-look-good-in-green layer. Your outside is important because God made that part. He made you on purpose, uniquely beautiful. But you can't stop there, because that's your body, your skin, your outside. Dead people have all that stuff too.”

“These hiding places may have been helping you cope, but they are not who you are. These good girl voices challenge your identity.”

“You are worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her" (Luke 10:41-42)Choosing to please God sounds right at first, but it so often leads to a performing life, a girl trying to become good, a lean-on-myself theology. If I am trying to please God, it is difficult trust God. But when I trust God, pleasing him is automatic.Anything we do to get life and identity outside of Christ is an idol, even service to Christ. He doesn't want my service. He wants me. And from that life-giving relationship, "streams of living water will flow from within" (John 7:38 NIV)”

“Either way, the result is you depending on yourself to do life right. Either way, God isn't even in the room.”