Here are some quotes from “The Clouds Ye So Much Dread: Hard Times and the Kindness of God” by Hannah K. Grieser. I recommend you get the book and read with a friend.
“This I’ve found, is how God often works—not in a blinding flash but in a slow and subtle transformation that cannot be perceived by the naked eye, like watching a garden grow. Fear could be replaced with hope only when I was finally willing to see my life, with all its petty ambitions, as a seed. I could try to lock it up, worrying that it might get dirty, or wet, or—worse—buried. But to fear those things is to forget what a seed is for.” (14)
“the risks we take are never governed by impersonal chance. They are never automatic or meaningless. Which is to say, they are not, in the ultimate sense, risks at all; every outcome was fully planned before we were born.” (28)
“evading death is not the point of living.” (30)
“While we may have lost control of a particular scene [in our lives], our God hasn’t. He is writing our story, and He writes well. He writes well even during the suspenseful chapters. Especially during the suspenseful chapters. But knowing that He will set al these wrongs to right is the happy ending “spoiler” that encourages me to turn to the next page.” (68)
“Our lives are in God’s hands, but it’s not always easy to live as though we believe it. We distrust the Author and try to wrest the pen from His fingers and into our own. It’s tragically laughable.” (78)
“Discontentment, it turns out, isn’t a place you can leave behind; it’s a leech that travels with you. But there is only one thing to do with a leech: kill it. And replace it with gratitude.” (82)
“If there’s one thing that a period of testing can do for us, it’s to make us feel the weight of glory in all the things we had once brushed off so lightly.” (82)
“But when I’m tempted to start griping, the best—and perhaps the only way to keep from slowly transforming into a bipedal Eeyore is to start looking around franticly for reasons to be thankful, and then to name them back to God. Gratitude is the best cure for gripe.” (84)
“there does come a point when our concern for health becomes obsession with health—when prudence crosses the line into panic, and we lose sight of God’s promises and providence.” (106)
“Ultimately, our lives are not in our hands. And that truth, instead of scaring us, should allow us to loosen our kung-fu death grip on health, to step away from all those hot-off-the-presses articles about the latest cancer scare, and to quit worrying. Seriously. Quit. Worrying is bad for our health. Even the latest medical research concurs. And which of us by worrying can add a single day to his life (Luke 12:25)? Rather, “Fear the Lord and depart from evil. It will be health to your flesh and marrow t your bones” (Prov 3:7-8b).” (107).
“Wasted potential? No. Seeds planted. Nothing, including our “potential,” is ever wasted when it is entrusted to a God who takes even what is dead and raises it up in glory.” (129).
“a change in external circumstances alone can do little to clean up an envy infected soul. Whether I’m walking the red carpet or vacuuming the living room carpet, discontent will travel with me unless my measure of success is grounded in something deeper than fame or money or career or realized potential.” (130).
