59 Quotes by Mary E. DeMuth

When we think of other people as our center and fulfillment, we live frustrated lives.

Worry is a weighty monster with poisoned tentacles. It clutches at us, grabs at our minds, steals our breath, our will. It lurks. It pounces. It colors how we perceive the world.

When I became a Christian as a teenager, I gathered a false belief to myself that my Christian friends would be my forever friends. Surely, since we both loved Jesus and followed Him, we would always be in each other's lives. No one would hurt the other -- because Jesus! It didn't take long for that theory of mine to be tested by reality.

This same Jesus, though, didn't say we had to be in relationship with everyone. We are not to 'throw [our] pearls to pigs.' (See Matthew 7:6.) He didn't deeply entrust his heart to Pharisees. You see him slipping through the throng of people bent on killing him. Often he withdrew from crowds in order to be with his Father. His is a story of connection with others, yes, but it's also a reminder that relationships don't come with an easy-to-understand blueprint.

So much growth can come in discord. The pain we walk through can become a catalyst to push us toward God.

Growth comes from God, to those with surrendered, yielded hearts.

With an all-or-nothing mind-set, you tend to judge yourself relentlessly…Eeyore becomes your best friend.

The more we love, the more it hurts, and the more we have to let go.

I understand true life doesn't happen when I constantly gaze backwards, mulling over all the injustices others have done or I have done to others.