Hannah Whitall Smith Quotes & Sayings

Before the acorn can bring forth the oak, it must become itself a wreck. No plant ever came from any but a wrecked seed. — Hannah Whitall Smith

Man's Christianity teaches sacrifice to save ourselves; Christ's Christianity teaches sacrifice to save others. Man's Christianity produces the fruitless selfishness of too much of our religion. Christ's Christianity produces the blessed unselfishness of lives that are poured out for others, as was His. — Hannah Whitall Smith

I saw that the kingdom must be interior before it can be exterior, that it is a kingdom of ideas, and not one of brute force; that His rule is over hearts, not over places; that His victories must be inward before they can be outward; that He seeks to control spirits rather than bodies; that no triumph could satisfy Him but a triumph that gains the heart; that in short, where God really reigns, the surrender must be the interior surrender of the convicted free men, and not merely the outward surrender of the conquered slave. — Hannah Whitall Smith

A happy heart can walk in triumphant indifference through a sea of external trouble; while internal anguish cannot find happiness in the most favorable surroundings. — Hannah Whitall Smith

Remember, then, that the real thing in your experience is what your will decides, and not the verdict of your emotions; and that you are far more in danger of hypocrisy and untruth in yielding to the assertions of your feelings, than in holding fast to the decision of your will. So that, if your will is on God's side, you are no hypocrite at this moment in claiming as your own the blessed reality of belonging altogether to Him, even though your emotions may all declare the contrary. — Hannah Whitall Smith

If our hearts are full of our own wretched 'I ams' we will have no ears to hear His glorious, soul-satisfying 'I am'. We say, 'Alas, I am such a poor week creature,' or 'I am so foolish,' or 'I am so good-for-nothing,' or 'I am so helpless' and we give these pitiful 'I ams' of ours as the reason of the wretchedness and discomfort of our religious lives, and even feel that we are very much to be pitied that things are so hard for us. While all the time we entirely ignore the blank check of God's magnificent 'I am,' which authorizes us to draw upon Him for an abundant supply for every need. — Hannah Whitall Smith

I find that every soul that has travelled on this highway of holiness for any length of time, has invariably cut loose from its old moorings. — Hannah Whitall Smith

Keep your face upturned to Christ as the flowers do to the sun. Look, and your soul shall live and grow — Hannah Whitall Smith

Thee may tell Aunt Janet from me that she might as well try to stop the stars in their courses as to try to stop a love affair. — Hannah Whitall Smith

How often we say about our earthly friends, "I really would like to have a good quiet settled talk with them so that I can really get to know them." And shouldn't we feel the same about our Heavenly Friend, that we may really get to know Him? These thoughts have taught me the importance of the children of God taking time to commune daily with their Father, so that they may get to know His mind and to understand better what His will is. — Hannah Whitall Smith

Those who are God's without reserve are, in every sense, content — Hannah Whitall Smith

It is of course evident that everything in one's religious life depends upon the sort of God one worships. The character of the worshiper must necessarily be molded by the character of the object worshipped. If it is a cruel and revengeful God, or a selfish and unjust God, the worshiper will be cruel, and revengeful, and selfish, and unjust, also. If it is a loving, tender, forgiving, unselfish God, the worshiper will be loving, and tender, and forgiving, and unselfish, as well. — Hannah Whitall Smith

The mother eagle teaches her little ones to fly by making their nest so uncomfortable that they are forced to leave it and commit themselves to the unknown world of air outside. And just so does our God to us. He stirs up our comfortable nests, and pushes us over the edge of them, and we are forced to use our wings to save ourselves from fatal falling. Read your trials in this light, and see if you cannot begin to get a glimpse of their meaning. Your wings are being developed. — Hannah Whitall Smith

Of all hateful occupations, housekeeping is to my mind the most hateful. — Hannah Whitall Smith

Nothing else but seeing God in everything can make us loving and patient with those who annoy us. When we realize that they are only the instruments for accomplishing His purpose in our lives, we will actually be able to thank them [inwardly] for the blessings they bring us. — Hannah Whitall Smith

The time for universal praise is sure to come some day. Let us begin to do our part now. — Hannah Whitall Smith

You must remember that our God has all knowledge and all wisdom, and that therefore it is very possible He may guide you into paths wherein He knows great blessings are awaiting you, but which, to the shortsighted human eyes around you, seem sure to result in confusion and loss. — Hannah Whitall Smith

You have trusted Him as your dying Savior; now trust Him as your living Savior. Just as much as He came to deliver you from future punishment did He also come to deliver you from present bondage. Just as truly as He came to bear your stripes for you has He come to live your life for you. — Hannah Whitall Smith

I wonder how many of our tombstones will have to be inscribed with the epitaph 'Died of too many meetings'? — Hannah Whitall Smith

I shall be glad to see thee back, daughter, for I miss thee dreadfully. I wish I did not! I was taking a nap in my chair today, and I thought I heard thee rustling thy papers, and I looked over at thy table expecting to see thee, and alas! thee was not there, and it was dreadful. — Hannah Whitall Smith

God will help us become the people we are meant to be, if only we will ask Him — Hannah Whitall Smith

The Bible is a statement, not of theories, but of actual facts ... things are not true because they are in the Bible, but they are only in the Bible because they are true. — Hannah Whitall Smith

No soul can be really at rest until it has given up all dependence on everything else and has been forced to depend on the Lord alone. As long as our expectation is from other things, nothing but disappointment awaits us. — Hannah Whitall Smith

Our God is so wonderfully good, and lovely, and blessed in every way that the mere fact of belonging to Him is enough for an untellable fullness of joy! — Hannah Whitall Smith

Sarah, I want to ask thee a solemn question. Did thee ever one single time have thy Bank book balance and thy own check book balance agree exactly? Do not tell, but I never did. Hannah Whitall Smith, Sarah, I want to ask thee a solemn question. Did thee ever one single time have thy Bank book balance and thy own check book balance agree exactly? Do not tell, but I never did. — Hannah Whitall Smith

In the secret of God's tabernacle no enemy can find us, and no troubles can reach us. The pride of man and the strife of tongues find no entrance into the pavilion of God. The secret of his presence is a more secure refuge than a thousand Gibraltars. I do not mean that no trials come. They may come in abundance, but they cannot penetrate into the sanctuary of the soul, and we may dwell in perfect peace even in the midst of life fiercest storms. — Hannah Whitall Smith

Faith, like sight is nothing apart from God. You might as well shut your eyes and look inside, and see whether you have sight as to look inside to discover whether you have faith. — Hannah Whitall Smith

If you were to write down all the possible ways to motivate people to do better work, friendly praise would have to come near the head of your list. — Hannah Whitall Smith

Once I knew what it was to rest upon the rock of God's promises, and it was indeed a precious resting place, but now I rest in His grace. He is teaching me that the bosom of His love is a far sweeter resting-place than even the rock of His promises. — Hannah Whitall Smith

You can't get to second base keeping one foot on first. — Hannah Whitall Smith

For the mother is and must be, whether she knows it or not, the greatest, strongest and most lasting teacher her children have. — Hannah Whitall Smith

It is a fact beyond question that there are two kinds of Christian experience, one of which is an experience of bondage, and the other an experience of liberty. — Hannah Whitall Smith

Put together all the tenderest love you know of, multiply it by infinity and you will begin to see glimpses of the love and grace of God. — Hannah Whitall Smith

For the decisions of our will are often so directly opposed to the decisions of our emotions, that, if we are in the habit of considering our emotions as the test, we shall be very apt to feel like hypocrites in declaring those things to be real which our will alone has decided. — Hannah Whitall Smith

Remember always that there are two things which are more utterly incompatible even than oil and water, and these two are trust and worry. Can you call it trust, when you have given the saving and keeping of your soul into the hands of God, if day after day you are spending hours of anxious thought and questionings about the matter? When believers really trust anything, they cease to worry about the thing they have trusted. — Hannah Whitall Smith

God loves us, and the will of love is always blessing for its loved ones. — Hannah Whitall Smith

Self-absorption is always a temptation to young people, and if their religion is of a sort to add to this self-absorption, I feel that it is a serious mistake. If I had my way, the whole subject of feelings and emotions in the religious life would be absolutely ignored. Feelings there will be, doubtless, but they must not be in the least depended on, nor in any sense taken as the test or gauge of one's religion. They ought to be left out of the calculation entirely. You may feel good or you may feel bad, but neither the good feeling nor the bad feeling affects the real thing. — Hannah Whitall Smith

This way of seeing our Father in everything makes life one long thanksgiving and gives a rest of heart, and, more than that, a gayety of spirit, that is unspeakable. — Hannah Whitall Smith

Nothing else is needed to quiet all your fears, but just this, that GOD IS. — Hannah Whitall Smith

Let me advise thee not to talk of thyself as being old. There is something in Mind Cure, after all, and if thee continually talks of thyself as being old, thee may perhaps bring on some of the infirmities of age. At least I would not risk it if I were thee. — Hannah Whitall Smith

Somehow even tragedies seem less tragical, when you are the actors in them, than they look to outsiders — Hannah Whitall Smith

My part," was the prompt reply, "was to run away, and the Lord's part was to run after me until He caught me. — Hannah Whitall Smith

Most Christians are like a man who was toiling along the road, bending under a heavy burden, when a wagon overtook him. The driver kindly offered to help him on his journey. He joyfully accepted the offer but, when he was seated, continued to bend beneath his burden, which he still kept on his shoulders. "Why do you not lay down your burden?" asked the kind-hearted driver. "Oh!" replied the man, "I feel that it is almost too much to ask you to carry me, and I could not think of letting you carry my burden too." And so Christian who have given themselves into the care and keeping of the Lord Jesus still continue to bend beneath the weight of their burdens and often go weary and heavy-laden throughout the whole length of their journey. — Hannah Whitall Smith

Are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds, that we may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God. A real work is to be wrought in us and upon us. Besetting sins are to be conquered; evil habits are to be overcome; wrong dispositions and feelings are to be rooted out, and holy tempers and emotions are to be begotten. A — Hannah Whitall Smith

Comfort & peace never come from anything we know about ourselves, but only & always from what we know about Him. — Hannah Whitall Smith

Write your own fairytale. . . — Hannah Whitall Smith

He who cares for the sparrows and numbers the hairs of our head, cannot possibly fail us. — Hannah Whitall Smith

What is needed for happy effectual service is simply to put your work into the Lord's hand, and leave it there. Do not take it to Him in prayer, saying, "Lord, guide me, Lord, give me wisdom, Lord, arrange for me," and then arise from your knees, and take the burden all back, and try to guide and arrange for yourself. Leave it with the Lord, and remember that what you trust to Him you must not worry over nor feel anxious about. Trust and worry cannot go together. — Hannah Whitall Smith

It is hard for me to believe that any husband and wife are really happy together. And to have thee say you are is an unspeakable comfort. — Hannah Whitall Smith

An idea is a curious thing. It will not work unless you do. — Hannah Whitall Smith

What you need to do, is to put your will over completely into the hands of your Lord, surrendering to Him the entire control of it. Say, "Yes, Lord, YES!" to everything, and trust Him to work in you to will, as to bring your whole wishes and affections into conformity with His own sweet, and lovable, and most lovely will. It is wonderful what miracles God works in wills that are utterly surrendered to Him. He turns hard things into easy, and bitter things into sweet. It is not that He puts easy things in the place of the hard, but He actually changes the hard thing into an easy one. — Hannah Whitall Smith

The soul that gives thanks can find comfort in everything; the soul that complains can find comfort in nothing. — Hannah Whitall Smith

Perfect obedience would be perfect happiness, if only we had perfect confidence in the power we were obeying. — Hannah Whitall Smith

If the Lord sets you to guard a lonely post in perfect stillness from all active work, you ought to be just as content as to be in the midst of the active warfare. It is no virtue to love the Master's work better than the Master's will. — Hannah Whitall Smith

To be a mother is the greatest vocation in the world. No being has a position of such great power and influence. She holds in her hands the destiny of nations, for to her is necessarily committed the making of the nation's citizens. — Hannah Whitall Smith

Holding onto what was isn't healthy for what is. — Hannah Whitall Smith

If we will only surrender ourselves utterly to the Lord, and will trust Him perfectly, we shall find our souls "mounting up with wings as eagles" to the "heavenly places" in Christ Jesus, where earthly annoyances or sorrows have no power to disturb us. — Hannah Whitall Smith

It is wonderful what miracles God works in wills that are utterly surrendered to Him. — Hannah Whitall Smith

If becoming a grandmother was only a matter of choice, I should advise every one of you straight away to become one. There is no fun for old people like it! — Hannah Whitall Smith

Follow the crowd and you will never be followed by a crowd. — Hannah Whitall Smith

We were made to be human beings here, and when people try to be anything else, they generally get into some sort of scrapes. — Hannah Whitall Smith

Look upon your chastening as God's chariots sent to carry your soul into the high places of spiritual achievement. — Hannah Whitall Smith

Be not afraid of rowing slowly. Be afraid of standing still. — Hannah Whitall Smith

Our lives are full of supposes. Suppose this should happen, or suppose that should happen; what could we do; how could we bear it? But, if we are living in the high tower of the dwelling place of God, all these supposes will drop out of our lives. We shall be quiet from the fear of evil, for no threatenings of evil can penetrate into the high tower of God. — Hannah Whitall Smith

Sight is not faith, and hearing is not faith, neither is feeling faith; but believing when we neither see, hear, nor feel is faith; and everywhere the Bible tells us our salvation is to be by faith. Therefore we must believe before we feel, and often against our feelings, if we would honor faith. — Hannah Whitall Smith

You find no difficulty in trusting the Lord with the management of the universe and all the outward creation, and can your case be any more complex or difficult than these, that you need to be anxious or troubled about His management of it? — Hannah Whitall Smith

Anything allowed in the heart which is contrary to the will of God, let it seem ever so insignificant, or be ever so deeply hidden, will cause us to fall before our enemies. Any root of bitterness cherished towards another, any self-seeking, any harsh judgments indulged in, any slackness in obeying the voice of the Lord, any doubtful habits or surroundings, any one of these things will effectually cripple and paralyze our spiritual life. I believe our blessed Guide, the indwelling Holy Spirit, is always secretly discovering these things to us by continual little twinges and pangs of conscience, so that we are left without excuse. — Hannah Whitall Smith

You must hand yourself and all your inward experiences, your temptations, your temperament, your frames and feelings, all over into the care of your God, and leave them there. He made you and therefore He understands you, and knows how to manage you, and you must trust Him to do it. — Hannah Whitall Smith

A feeling of real need is always a good enough reason to pray. — Hannah Whitall Smith

Foundations to be reliable must always be unshakable. — Hannah Whitall Smith

Thanks be unto God which always causeth us to triumph in Christ! — Hannah Whitall Smith

Has the kingdom of God been overadvertised, or is it only that it has been underbelieved; has the Lord Jesus Christ been overestimated, or has He only been undertrusted? — Hannah Whitall Smith

Many Christians still at bottom look upon God as one of the most selfish, self-absorbed Beings in the universe, far more selfish than they could think it right to be themselves, -intent only upon His own honor and glory, looking out continually that His own rights are never trampled on; and so absorbed in thoughts of Himself and of His own righteousness, as to have no love or pity to spare for the poor sinners who have offended Him. — Hannah Whitall Smith

God is enough! All religion is enfolded for me now in these three words. — Hannah Whitall Smith

Better and sweeter than health, or friends, or money, or fame, or ease, or prosperity, is the adorable will of our God. — Hannah Whitall Smith

Christ came into the world to save sinners, not good people, and your unworthiness is your greatest claim for His salvation. — Hannah Whitall Smith

If we want to be comforted, we must make up our minds to believe every single solitary word of comfort God has ever spoken. — Hannah Whitall Smith

I do not find that I feel myself to be any different as an English subject than as an American. I have not the vote in either place, so I am not a citizen of either, and have no call to be patriotic. In fact, I do not see how women can ever feel like anything but aliens in whatever country they may live, for they have no part or lot in any, except the part and lot of being taxed and legislated for by men. — Hannah Whitall Smith

It is a law of the spiritual life that every act of trust makes the next act less difficult. Trusting becomes like breathing, the natural unconciousness of the redeemed soul. — Hannah Whitall Smith

Nothing can separate you from God's love, absolutely nothing. God is enough for time, God is enough for eternity. God is enough! — Hannah Whitall Smith

When all else is gone, God is left, and nothing changes Him. — Hannah Whitall Smith

To be one of God's lilies means an interior abandonment of the rarest kind. It means that we are to be infinitely passive, and yet infinitely active also; passive as regards self and its workings, active as regards attention and response to God. It is very hard to explain this so as to be understood But it means that we must lay down all the activity of the creature, as such, and must let only the activities of God work in us, and through us, and by us. Self must step aside, to let God work. — Hannah Whitall Smith

My soul was always so full of aspirations, that a God was a necessity to me. I was like a bird with an instinct of migration upon me, and a country to migrate to was as essential as it is to the bird — Hannah Whitall Smith

God's care for us is more watchful and more tender than the care of any human father could possibly be. — Hannah Whitall Smith

The mother eagle teachers her little ones to fly by making their nest so uncomfortable that they are forced to leave it and commit themselves to the unknown world of air outside. An just so does our God to us. — Hannah Whitall Smith

That cross inmate of your household, who has hitherto made life a burden to you, and who has been the Juggernaut car to crush your soul into the dust, may henceforth be a glorious chariot to carry you to the heights of heavenly patience and long-suffering. — Hannah Whitall Smith

God's slavation is not a purchase to be made, nor wages to be earned, nor a summit to be climbed, nor a task to be accomplished; but it is simply and only a gift to be accepted, and can only be accepted by faith. — Hannah Whitall Smith

There is no happiness in the world equal to the happiness of being good. — Hannah Whitall Smith

We must take our troubles to the Lord, but we must do more than that, we must leave them there. — Hannah Whitall Smith

Keep your mind on the things you want and off the things you don't want. — Hannah Whitall Smith

The teaching here is simply this, that anything allowed in the heart which is contrary to the will of God, let it seem ever so insignificant, or be ever so deeply hidden, will cause us to fall before our enemies. — Hannah Whitall Smith

Where the soul is full of peace and joy, outward surrounding and circumstances are of comparatively little account. — Hannah Whitall Smith