Quotes of Encouragement Through Hard Times

Here are quite a few quotes from Streams in the Desert, a devotional book that has been ministering to me lately. I rediscovered this gem by reading Carmon's blog and decided to click on her link to it. It was exactly what I needed that day and I immediately went downstairs to our library and pulled my copy off of my shelf. I have found much strength in it's pasages since then and many other places too. God is good to meet us with what we need. It seems everywhere I turn, His voice is there.

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I must admit when I am reading blogs I often skip over or at least skim the quotes and unless you are going through hard times yourself, you probably will not want to read through this list. But if you are, you may find just the thing you need to get you going on the right track. I also record these things here as a testimony to my children. Someday they may read these words at a time in their lives when they most need them.

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There are so many good sections I want to copy here but I've already linked to the online text, and even though it is slightly different from my copy, I must be selective in my choices so this post doesn't get ridiculously long.

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"Bring them hither to me" (Matt. 14:18.).
Are you encompassed with needs at this very moment, and almost overwhelmed with difficulties, trials, and emergencies? These are all divinely provided vessels for the Holy Spirit to fill, and if you but rightly understood their meaning, they would become opportunities for receiving new blessings and deliverances which you can get in no other way.
Bring these vessels to God. Hold them steadily before Him in faith and prayer. Keep still, and stop your own restless working until He begins to work. Do nothing that He does not Himself command you to do. Give Him a chance to work, and He will surely do so; and the very trials that threatened to overcome you with discouragement and disaster, will become God's opportunity for the revelation of His grace and glory in your life, as you have never known Him before. "Bring them (all needs) to me." --A. B. Simpson

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"I will not let you go unless you bless me...Then he blessed him there (Genesis 32:26, 29)

Jacob won the victory and the blessing here not by wrestling but by clinging...

We too will not win the victory in prayer until we cease our struggling. We must give up our own will and throw our arms around our Father's neck in clinging faith."

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"No one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had ben redeemed from the earth. (Revelation 14:3)

In the darkest night He is composing your song. In the valley He is tuning your voice. In the storm clouds He is deepening your range. In the rain showers He is sweetening your melody. In the cold He is giving your notes expression. And as you pass at times from hope to fear, He is perfecting the message of your lyrics. Oh dear soul, do not despise your school of sorrow. It is bestowing on you a unique part in the heavenly song."

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"I implore you not to give in to despair. It is a dangerous temptation, because our Adversary has refined it to the point that it is quite subtle. Hopelessness constricts and withers the heart, rendering it unable to sense God's blessings and grace. It also causes you to exaggerate the adversities of life and makes your burdens seem too heavy for you to bear. Yet God's plans for you, and His ways of bringing about His plans, are infinitely wise. Madame Guyon

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"Everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. (1 John 5:4)

If a person allows it, he can find something at every turn of the road that will rob him of his victory and his peace of mind. Satan is far from retiring from his work of attempting to deceive and destroy God's children....If you will...firmly exhibit your faith at the precise moment, you can sometimes actually snatch victory from the very jaws of defeat. Faith can change any situation, no matter how dark of difficult. Lifting your heart to God in a moment of genuine faith in Him can quickly alter your circumstances. God is still on His throne, and He can turn defeat into victory in a split second, if we will only trust Him."