“Zijn vader zette een witte plastic zak van de snackbar op tafel en daarna moesten we bidden. Ik vouwde mijn handen en deed mijn ogen dicht, maar ik bad niet. Met patat had God niets te maken.”
“The sad news is, those born into poverty usually remain in poverty. The good news is, these people are among the first to turn to God. The pain of life has made them seek for something better. When they find it, they are no longer poor.”
“And shall I pray Thee change Thy will, my Father, Until it be according unto mine? But, no, Lord, no, that never shall be, rather I pray Thee blend my human will with Thine. I pray Thee hush the hurrying, eager longing, I pray Thee soothe the pangs of keen desire— See in my quiet places, wishes thronging— Forbid them, Lord, purge, though it be with fire.”
“If you want to protect me, prayer is just as powerful a weapon as that gun you carry.”
“Praying and sinning will never live together in the same heart. Prayer will consume sin, or sin will choke prayer.”
“The heart overflows with gladness, and leaps and dances for the joy it has found in God. In this experience the Holy Spirit is active, and has taught us in the flash of a moment the deep secret of joy. You will have as much joy and laughter in life as you have faith in God.”
“If I am right, Thy grace impart Still in the right to stay; If I am wrong, O, teach my heart To find that better way!”
“Prayer is like water - something you can t imagine has the strength or power to do any good, and yet give it time and it can change the lay of the land.”
“Please God, please suh, don t let him love nobody else but me. Maybe Ah m is uh fool, Lawd, lak dey say, but Lawd, Ah been so lonesome, and Ah been waitin , Jesus. Ah done waited uh long time.”
“If I ask God to punish my enemy with vengeful prayers, then He is fair to allow the enemy to do the same for me.”
“Dear God, thank you for warm summer nights and candlelight and good food. But thank you most of all for friends. We appreciate the complicated and wonderful gifts you give us in each other. And we appreciate the task you put down before us, of loving each other the best we can, even as you love us. We pray in Christ s name, Amen.”
“Oh Lord, won t you buy me a Mercedes Benz?”
“Prayer can solve more problems, alleviate more suffering, prevent more transgression, and bring about greater peace and contentment in the human soul than can be obtained in any other way.”
“Praying demands that you take to the road again and again, leaving your house and looking forward to a new land for yourself and your [fellow human]. This is why praying demands poverty, that is, the readiness to live a life in which you have nothing to lose so that you always begin afresh.”
“Pray the largest prayers. You cannot think a prayer so large that God, in answering it, will not wish you had made it larger. Pray not for crutches but for wings.”
“We do not want to be beginners [at prayer]. but let us be convinced of the fact that we will never be anything but beginners, all our life!”
“I don t mean to be ungrateful but if someone s out there answering prayers, mine s not at the top of the list”