Lynn Austin Quotes & Sayings

Ain't I been trying to tell you that you can't be holding grudges against people? Didn't you hear me say that? What do you think Jesus is gonna say if we come walking up to those pearly gates carrying a whole sackful of grievances and grudges on our backs? Jesus is gonna ask, What's that you toting on your back? Do you want to be opening that sack and showing Him all those ugly thing? He's dressed all in white and shining like the sun, and you're coming in with a load a hate in your your arms? Umm hmm. I can't imagine doing that. — Lynn Austin

Prayer isn't just about asking for things. It's taking time to hear what God is saying, too, just like any good conversation. Once we finally stop talking and demanding and begging for things, it's easier to hear what God is trying to say to us. — Lynn Austin

Then rely on your judgment and forget all this." Zechariah scooped up the scroll with a sweep of his hand. "But don't try to do both. It won't work. Either your faith in God is absolute, or it's worthless. There's no way to compromise. — Lynn Austin

Can't never go by your feelings. Got to go by the word of the Lord. — Lynn Austin

Besides re-arming myself with joy, I need to know the holes in my defenses, the places where I'm vulnerable and where the enemy has successfully attacked me before. — Lynn Austin

God performed miracles for our ancestors, Jude. We both know the stories of how He parted the sea and brought water from a rock and gave us manna to eat in the desert. He made a covenant with us, promising to always be our God - and He'll keep that promise. He will!" She was trying to convince herself as well as Jude. "I know things look bad right now, but we just need a little time to find a way out. Our armies have been outnumbered before, but God always came through for us and saved us." "Not — Lynn Austin

Depression, I've learned, is sometimes caused by anger that we keep locked up inside. — Lynn Austin

Don't ask God what He's doing. That's the wrong thing to ask. Ask Him what you should be doing. — Lynn Austin

Massa Jesus take care of it in His own time, His own way. — Lynn Austin

I pick up my knitting and wind the yarn around my fingers so I can finish the row. The needles whisper softly as they slide against each other, as if telling secrets. — Lynn Austin

You have beautiful hair ... and she reached out to touch it, her bejeweled fingers gently caressing my head. A tear slipped down my cheek. I knew how the lepers felt when Jesus touched them and made them whole again. — Lynn Austin

Shebna scraped the tablet clean and began drawing circles in the soft clay. "Suppose you had six figs and you ate two. How many would
"
"Four." Hezekiah answered before Shebna finished, and the tutor's thick black eyebrows rose in surprise.
"And suppose I had five figs. How many would we
"
"Nine."
"Have you done this before?"
Hezekiah thought the question was ridiculous. "I've eaten figs lots of times. — Lynn Austin

Yahweh doesn't owe us an explanation for what He does. He's sovereign over all: 'Can you fathom the mysteries of God? Can you probe the limits of the Almighty? They are higher than the heavens - what can you do? They are deeper than the depths of the grave - what can you know?... If he comes along and confines you in prison... who can oppose him?' So you see? I don't need to know why anymore. — Lynn Austin

God also puts His people in the middle of things for the same reason that He put the tree of temptation in the middle of the garden
so that our choice to follow Him would be a conscious, daily one. Every time we publicly choose to live for Christ, He is glorified. — Lynn Austin

I would sooner become a spinster than spend a lifetime with a boring, unimaginative man. — Lynn Austin

When you only believe in things you can see with your eyes and touch with your hands, it is idolatry. — Lynn Austin

Is it better not to fall in love at all, or to love someone for a little while, even if you have to say good-bye? — Lynn Austin

And he realized that this was their attitude toward Yahweh, too. They either hurried through life, ignoring Him, or they regarded Yahwey and His commandments with contempt. — Lynn Austin

I've seen spring come to the orchard every year as far back as I can remember and I've never grown tired of it. Oh, the wonder of it! The outrageous beauty! God didn't have to give us cherry blossoms you know. He didn't have to make apple trees and peach trees burst into flower and fragrance. But God just loves to splurge. He gives us all this magnificence and then, if that isn't enough, He provides fruit from such extravagance. — Lynn Austin

living in a stinking — Lynn Austin

While I don't have to leave home to find God's oasis, I do have to search for it, pursuing God in prayer and trusting Him to take care of me when all other hope is gone. He promised that "If ... you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul" (Deuteronomy 4:29). — Lynn Austin

Happiness is something that comes from our own hearts, not from other people. — Lynn Austin

I need to stay continually watchful, prepared with the whole armor of God if I want to combat the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil. — Lynn Austin

Combat worry, such as keeping a prayer journal and rereading it when I'm under attack. — Lynn Austin

You can never out-give God. Don't ever forget that. — Lynn Austin

All these troubles you've been having aren't a punishment from God. He wants to use them to draw you closer to himself. — Lynn Austin

I do not know how long 'twill be, nor what the future holds for me, but this I know, if Jesus leads me, I shall get home someday ... — Lynn Austin

Until Gettysburg," she continued, "I was working for the wrong reasons. At first it was to prove myself worthy in someone's eyes. Later it was out of guilt, trying to find atonement in God's eyes. But atonement is free, never earned. And I've learned that the only person I need to please with my life is God. — Lynn Austin

When we feel unworthy in His presence it's because we glimpse His holiness. — Lynn Austin

His questions will make his faith stronger in the end. — Lynn Austin

The only way to revive Temple worship is through repentance. The men of Judah must give up their idolatry and turn their hearts back to God. — Lynn Austin

Sometimes when people work for God, they get the idea that He should make their life all smooth and easy because they're doing His work ... It ain't so. Jesus said life is gonna be hard. Period. He said if you're gonna follow Him, then you're gonna carry a cross, just like He did. this world of ours is under a curse, honey. We need to expect things to be bad. But even if we lose everything, we still have Jesus. — Lynn Austin

The site looks unpromising from a distance, blending in with the surrounding sepia-toned hills, but I'm learning that looks can be deceiving. — Lynn Austin

Love for God is never instant. It has to grow and mature just like any other kind of love. The struggle is always with our will. — Lynn Austin

Sometimes when He seems the farthest away from us, He's really the closest. — Lynn Austin

We are a stoic, reserved bunch who hide our emotions well - except when reading a terribly sad or poignant story, of course. I have been known to sob aloud at a tragic ending. — Lynn Austin

Don't be fooled by strength you can see," he said at last. "Yahweh often hides His power in the simple things, the weak things, and so His strength seems foolish in man's eyes. — Lynn Austin

Seem like it be a mighty hard thing to change someone's mind," he said. "Most folks won't change their mind unless they have a change of heart first." "Well, then ... how do I change their heart?" "You can't, Missy Caroline," he said gently. "Only Massa Jesus can change folks' hearts. — Lynn Austin

Love is like candy floss. you crave it and it looks very promising, but if you try to satisfy your hunger with it, there is nothing. Only a sweet aftertaste - if you're lucky. — Lynn Austin

We should be dissatisfied with the stale, routine way we've been worshiping and seek His presence. We should build the temple and build a relationship with Him that's genuine and real. — Lynn Austin

Hmm. Relationships between fathers and sons can be notoriously difficult, especially for two men who are as different as you and your father are."
"Yes, and he's also the king
that makes our relationship impossible. — Lynn Austin

He had lived to please himself instead of God all those years, giving little more than lip service to His holy laws. And now when Zechariah cried out to God, his numberless sins swallowed up his prayers before they reached heaven. His guilt filled the yawning gulf between him and God. — Lynn Austin

We want to make our own plans and then pray, 'My will be done, if you please Massa Jesus, in earth, as it is in my plans.' You got to put your life in Jesus' hands. Trust that in the end, whatever happens, He still in control. — Lynn Austin

It's easy to have faith when we get everything we want from God, everything we pray for. But when we don't, we have to decide if we want His will or our own. We can't manipulate God by a display of faith or by our actions. Only idols can be manipulated. God is sovereign, and He will do what He do what He wills, for His purpose. And those purposes are often hidden — Lynn Austin

Ah, but that would require a spending time with God--more than an hour or two on Sunday, I suspect--getting to know Him, communing with Him, praising Him. — Lynn Austin

Every time you compromise, something inside your spirit dies a little, — Lynn Austin

Today Mrs. Beasley began by clearing her throat. Again, this isn't a worrisome sign. Librarians are not overly talkative so our throats can get froggy from lack of use. — Lynn Austin

Worry doesn't change a single thing. Just live. — Lynn Austin

That depends on how Washington reacts. Every state joined the Union voluntarily; they should have the right to leave it again if the Federal government no longer represents their best interests. — Lynn Austin

Bitterness is one of the deadliest emotions we ever feel. You can't look forward when you're bitter, only backward - thinking about what you've lost, stuck in the past, despairing because it's gone. In the end, it devours all hope. — Lynn Austin

She loved him, and her heart was breaking. If she had known how much it hurt to love someone, she never would have given away her heart. But it wasn't a question of giving as much as falling. — Lynn Austin

Yes, of course Yahweh could defeat all of Judah's enemies." "Then why didn't He, Grandpa?" Zechariah's face looked sad as he shook his head. "Because our nation no longer believes in Him ... and so no one bothered to ask Him to. — Lynn Austin

No matter what came next, Daniel rested safely in the grip of his Sovereign God. — Lynn Austin

But the truth is, I can't sip from an hour-long church service on Sunday morning or dash off a hasty prayer or gulp down a daily Bible verse and expect them to sustain me any more than I can expect a glass of water to last for a week. — Lynn Austin

Smooth seas don't produce skillful sailors.' It's the rought waters that train us to e His disciples. He uses the turbulent times I our lives to prepare us for His purposes-if we'll let Him. — Lynn Austin

Often, it'a not one great, dramatic thing that God asks us to do but hundreds of little everyday things. If we want to be used by Him, if we're ready to be used and aren't all tangled up with your own plans and projects, then He'll show us the work He has for us. — Lynn Austin

Even when bad things happen, He can use them for good. — Lynn Austin

Once I understand that my enemy is never going to lay down arms and sign a peace treaty with, I would be wise to remain on full alert at all times. — Lynn Austin

Jerusalem's wall is real, but it's also symbolic," he said. "In a way, we destroyed the wall ourselves by relying on idols instead of on God. We destroyed it by desecrating His Sabbaths. By ignoring the laws He gave us, laws that teach us how to live. These ruins are a picture of what we did to our relationship with the Almighty One - we demolished it. Now it's time to rebuild what our sins have destroyed. — Lynn Austin

Faith don't come in a bushel basket, Missy. It come one step at a time. Decide to trust Him for one little thing today, and before you know it, you find out He's so trustworthy you be putting your whole life in His hands. — Lynn Austin

Because we're not free when there are no boundaries-we're in great danger. — Lynn Austin

Love is the spice of life!" Aunt Lydia picked up her glass and took a long drink before setting it down again. "Did it end in heartache, dear?" "Well, yes ... but it was the good kind of heart ache, Aunt Lydia. The kind where you'll always think fondly of each other, even though you know your love could never be." My aunt squealed with delight. "Ooh, I just love stories that end that way! Those happy, sappy endings in romance novels aren't realistic at all. But if you can gaze up at the stars at night and think fondly of your lost love, then it's worth falling in love and losing him." "You're absolutely right. — Lynn Austin

No terrain is too bleak, no distance too far that it will stop God from rescuing His own. — Lynn Austin

Everyone had forgotten her. But that's the way Penny was
so quiet and unimportant that you could look right at her and never see her. Esther had no idea why Penny always showed up at Grandma's house on Sunday afternoons when they came to visit. She was just one of those nosy neighbors with no life of her own, who watched other people's lives as if watching a movie. — Lynn Austin

The war has changed you, too, Caroline. Your faith is stronger, your compassion deeper, your love more intense than ever before. It's as if all the qualities I saw in you and fell in love with have been refined and purified. — Lynn Austin

Alliances with other nations lead to bondage," Zechariah explained. "Joseph started out as Pharaoh's trusted advisor in Egypt, but later generations ended up as slaves. And wasn't it Ahaz's so-called alliance with Assyria that led to our present slavery? — Lynn Austin

You can't serve God by acting contrary to His nature — Lynn Austin

We serve a promise-keeping God, a God of miracles. My vigorous attempts to save myself, like Herod's, will never succeed. But what is impossible for man, is always possible with God. When it seems as though all is lost and God asks, "Can these bones live?" let my answer be, "Sovereign Lord, you know. — Lynn Austin

Only a coward would send his children to their deaths in order to save his own life. — Lynn Austin

It's too easy to believe in our own importance when we're surrounded by our own creations all day. — Lynn Austin

You pray. And you allow the Lord to be your strength. Remember the Lord doesn't give you strength. He is your strength. — Lynn Austin

Love isn't always a feeling. Sometimes it's a decision. — Lynn Austin

Joy explodes throughout the book of Psalms like fireworks, and is the most potent anti-missile defense system there is. — Lynn Austin

If you truly understood the holiness of God, you would have a proper attitude about yourself. — Lynn Austin

Scriptures were just words on a page and my prayers failed to lift ... — Lynn Austin

Hashem may not answer our prayers the way we want him to," he said, clearing his throat. "He did not deliver Joseph from prison right away. But Hashem was there with Joseph, even in hype silence — Lynn Austin

Understand. I understand. She was only dimly aware that it wasn't Hezekiah holding her, but his — Lynn Austin

God had told the survivors of Sodom and Gomorrah not to look back after they'd been rescued from death and destruction, and if Jo's family continued to gaze into the past, they were going to become stuck in place like pillars of salt, too. — Lynn Austin

Belief in Yahweh doesn't come with your mind. It comes with your heart. When you only believe in things you can see with your eyes and touch with your hands, it is idolatry ...
To have faith in Yahweh is to know that there is a realm of the spirit beyond the comprehension of our minds ... Trusting in Molech ... or trusting in your own wisdom and intellect - there's no difference in God's eyes. It's all idolatry. — Lynn Austin

I listened to God and to my husband, not the the enemy's whispers, not to other people's opinions. — Lynn Austin

As long as we have breath we can hope, can't we? — Lynn Austin

That's absurd," I said with a little laugh. "Nobody can read too much. That's like saying someone breathes too much. — Lynn Austin

Just a minute, Esther. Slow down and listen to me. How can Hashem answer such a prayer in the middle of a war? We are the ones who started this war, not Him. People are not puppets that Hashem controls, making us do whatever He wants. Nor can He be manipulated to do whatever we ask of Him. Human beings chose to start this war, and that means we are responsible for putting the people we love in danger, not Him. But Hashem can bring good from this, even if we cannot see it. — Lynn Austin

The only way to grow in faith is to put your faith to the test. You must place yourself in His hands and let Him prove himself faithful. Unless you make up your mind to trust Him, you'll never know that Yahweh is faithful. — Lynn Austin

No, Hezekiah ... no.. I don't deserve forgiveness. He lifted his head to look at her. None of us do. But God doesn't treat us as our sins deserve. He took her hands in his. I should have shown you that. I should have shown you my God instead of making you serve a God you didn't know. I only showed you his rules and laws. But God doesn't want us to worship Him out of fear. He is our Father, and He wants us to learn to love Him with all our heart and all our soul and all our strength. I should have helped you know Him. — Lynn Austin

Behind Caroline was her schoolroom full of bright, eager students. God had given them to her as a gift, to show her that the sacrifices she'd made did have meaning. His purposes for her life would be partly fulfilled in them, and in those children's futures. — Lynn Austin

Love will require mutual trust, opening your hearts and lives to each other. It takes work to build a true relationship. The same is true of Yahweh. — Lynn Austin

The land promised to Abraham and his descendants is once again theirs. God always keeps His promises. Even in times of cataclysmic upheaval and change, God's love and faithfulness are unchanging. — Lynn Austin

I do not believe in witches, but if I did, I'd swear you are one. — Lynn Austin

Bitterness is like a weed. Remember how hard it always was to pull out thistles once they root? Remember how deep those roots grow, and how if you just snapped off the end of it, the plant would grow right back? You have to dig down deep inside. Let God search your heart. Let Him show you what's there and help you root out all that bitterness. Then you can pray for forgiveness. — Lynn Austin

Guard your heart, son," Eli said in a hushed voice. "That's what God looks at - your heart. Most folks look at the outside things, like the color of your skin. But God looks at your heart. — Lynn Austin

The journey has been a parody of my life recently: rushing, waiting, wandering, feeling lost and losing sleep, wondering if I'm getting anywhere. — Lynn Austin

Like most rural girls, I had graduated from the Volkschule — Lynn Austin

Thirst is a symptom of need, the body's way of telling me to take action. If I don't listen, I end up dehydrated and all sorts of bad things can happen, including loss of consciousness and death. Spiritual dryness is also a symptom: Something is wrong! Take action! I'm drying up! I need God. My soul's longing for God is as never-ending as my physical need for water. And spiritual dehydration leads to spiritual death. — Lynn Austin

The Declaration of Sentiments, written in 1833, reads that our principles 'forbid the doing of evil that good may come, and lead us to reject - and to entreat the oppressed to reject - the use of all carnal weapons for deliverance from bondage; relying solely upon those which are spiritual, and mighty through God — Lynn Austin

Librarians are serious people, seldomgiven to idle jocularity. The reason for this, I believe, is because we are overwhelmed by the enormous number of good books waiting to be read, leaving little time for frivolity. My personal list of must-read books presents a daunting challenge; I can't even imagine the pressure our head librarian must be under. — Lynn Austin

It was easy to rise up in faith and heroism when we faced a clear-cut enemy. Its much harder to resist the enemy of gradualism and assimilation, much harder to maintain a passion for God when we are bogged down in the daily routine of life — Lynn Austin

If He strips us of all our own resources, we just might learn to lean on Him. And to start praying again. — Lynn Austin

I will thank Him for all that He has given me, not curse Him for all that I've lost. — Lynn Austin

Our trials are supposed to turn us toward God, but we whine and complain and wish someone would turn down the fire so we could have our old life back the way it was. — Lynn Austin