Loneliness itself is material for sacrifice. The very longings themselves can be offered to Him who understands perfectly. The transformation into something He can use for the good of others takes place only when the offering is put into his hands. Loneliness is a required course for leadership.
– Elisabeth Elliot –
With what misgivings we turn over our lives to God, imagining somehow that we are about to lose everything that matters. Our hesitancy is like that of a tiny shell on the seashore, afraid to give up the teaspoon of water it holds lest there not be enough in the ocean to fill it again. Lose your life, said Jesus, and you will find it. Give up, and I will give you all. Can the shell imagine the depth and plenitude of the ocean? Can you and I fathom the riches, the fullness, of God’s Love?
– Elisabeth Elliot –
from The Path of Loneliness
A faith that doesn’t impact your daily life — your home, your marriage, your family, your work, etc — is no faith at all.
– Elisabeth Elliot –
The world looks for happiness through self-assertion. The Christian knows that joy is found in self-abandonment. “If a man will let himself be lost for My sake,” Jesus said, “he will find his true self.”
– Elisabeth Elliot –
After the Crucifixion came the Resurrection. After the Resurrection the Ascension. Because Jesus wore a crown of thorns, He now wears a crown of glory. Because He came poor, He now sits enthroned. Because He made Himself of no reputation, He now has a name which is above every name. Because He was willing to become a slave, He is now Master of everything. Because He was obedient to death, He is Lord of Life and holds the keys of hell and death. Because He made Himself of no reputation, every knee will someday bow before Him. Every renunciation led to glory.
– Elisabeth Elliot –
from The Path of Loneliness
Turn your loneliness into solitude, and your solitude into prayer.
– Elisabeth Elliot –
from The Path of Loneliness
The only crown Jesus ever wore on earth was a crown of thorns.
– Elisabeth Elliot –
from The Path of Loneliness
This is the very place meant by God to turn your eyes to Him.
– Elisabeth Elliot –
Faith is a decision. It is not a deduction from the facts around us. We would not look at the world of today and logically conclude that God loves us. It doesn’t always look as though He does. Faith is not an instinct. It certainly is not a feeling—feelings don’t help much when you’re in the lion’s den or hanging on a wooden Cross. Faith is not inferred from the happy things always work. It is an act of the will, a choice based on the unbreakable Word of a God who cannot lie, and who showed us what love and obedience and sacrifice mean, in the person of Jesus Christ.
– Elisabeth Elliot –
from Secure in the Everlasting Arms, p94
