*dives into thread*

So, here are a few Bible verses that I find especially encouraging/inspiring:

She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come.

This is the passage talking about the woman of the house, and I like the line especially for a few reasons--As you may know I'm kind of in love with fashion, and the idea of being able to cloth myself with "strength and dingnity" is pretty awesome. And laughing at the days to come is kinda cool, too.

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

I think this one is pretty self-explanitory.

The one quote from anything, ever, that I really try to "live by" is the one currently in my signature-- "Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius, and it's better to be absolutly ridiculous then absolutely boring."-- by Marilyn Monroe. I guess I just really don't like to be "like everyone else", and I like to be different, and the last line of the quote always reminds me to try to take more risks--whether it's with something I'm wearing (usually ), or whatever, that even if I mess up and look stupid, at least I'm not just one of a crowd that all looks the same. And the first two bits I like because it helps me remember not to get too hung up on being perfect, and that just because I'm kind of weird doesn't mean I'm not smart in my own way.

And then, in what I sort of see as being the opposite of that quote (which it probably isn't, but I like to think it is), is this one by Coco Chanel-- "Every woman should be two things--classy and fabulous." She was probably referring to clothing, but I like to think of it as more then just that, like a lifestyle.

Then, I have a few favorite quotes from the CoN:

"I have come home at last! This is my real country! I belong here. This is the land I have been looking for all my life, though I never knew it till now. The reason why we loved the old Narnia is that it sometimes looked a little like this. Bree-hee-hee! Come further up, come further in!"

I LOVE this one, and the longer bit about the New Narnia being like looking in a mirror and how everything looks more interesting in the reflection, but I didn't want to put all that in . I like the idea that we're all searching for something, a "Narnia" or whatever, but we don't even know it half the time...

"But courage, child: we are all between the paws of the true Aslan."

Again, pretty self-explainitory.

I'm not really sure if this is just a "Favorite quote" or a "quote to live by"...it's from the book From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Koingsburg...I really like that book because even the first time I read it, I was like "Claudia Kincaid is ME". She really reminds me of myself. And this one quote by her in the book really stuck out to me:

"I didn't say differently, I said different. I, Claudia Kincaid, want to be different when I go back. Like being a heroine is being different."

This reminded me of how much I like to be "different", and how people in books always seem to be more interesting then in RL, and how you want to be just like them...or something. Idk, it made me think that we have to imagine WE are the heroine/hero, instead of just wishing we could be one...I guess it makes me try to be "different"..."like being a heroine is being different."

Whew, that's a longish post. Hope that makes somewhat sense I know most of those weren't "inspired writings", really, but hopefully they still count.

I got to live out Acts 17 this week. The passage is when Paul is in Athens and he address the crowd about the alter to the "Unknown God". I was the host to professional pool player, Steve Lillis, founder of Gospel Trick Shots, for two shows this past Thursday on the UTEP campus. Just ten minutes before the first show in the Student Union Building, I pointed out an art gallery just across from the venue. The gallery was filled with sculptures dedicated to the "Gods of Future Religions". We felt like we were walking in Paul's footsteps in a culture that is seeking after God in all the wrong places. And during the show, he addressed that issue and the response was overwhelming. God is so good.

Christ is risen from the dead trampled over death by death come awake come awake and come arise from the grave ...
o death where is your sting and o hell where is your victory o church come into the light the bride groom awaits like a theif in the night!

part of the awesome songs Christ is Risen by Matt Maher

One verse that I long to define my life, but always seem so far from, yet is my prayer is John 3 "He must increase, but I must decrease". Our lives are not to be lived for ourselves—with us as the focus—but rather unto Christ, who loved us and gave Himself for us. That is why we are here.

Tirian, LB wrote:"But courage, child: we are all between the paws of the true Aslan."

*points to her sig* Yes, Val, love that LB quote, but don't get me started on favourite Narnia passages that have become near and dear to me over the years ..... well, okay, I can't resist posting a few from my Top Ten.

From the very last page of TLB, and yes, I know I wrote much of this out in fk's first fun thread, but it's simply compelling me to do it again:

" Lucy said, 'We're so afraid of being sent away, Aslan. And you have sent us back into our own world so often.'
'No fear of that,' said Aslan. 'Have you not guessed?'
Their hearts leaped and a wild hope rose within them.
'There was a real railway accident,' said Aslan softly. 'Your father and mother and all of you are—as you used to call i tin the Shadowlands—dead. The term is over: the holidays have begun. The dream is ended: this is the morning.'
And as He spoke He no longer looked to them like a lion; but the things that began to happen after that were so great and beautiful that I cannot write them. And for us this is the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before."

And from The Magician's Nephew:

" 'I asked, are you ready [to undo the wrong Digory had done to Narnia]?' said the Lion.
'Yes,' said Digory. He had had for a second some wild idea of saying 'I'll try to help you if you'll promise to help my Mother,' but he realized in time that the Lion was not at all the sort of person one could try to make bargains with. But when he has said 'Yes,' he thought of his Mother, and he thought of the great hopes he had had, and how they were all dying away, and a lump came in his throat and tears in his eyes, and he blurted out:
'But please, please—won't you—can't you give me something that will cure Mother?' Up till then he had been looking at the Lion's great feet and the huge claws on them; now, in his despair, he looked up at its face. What he saw surprised him as much as anything in his whole life. For the tawny face waas bent down near his own and (wonder of wonders) great shining tears stood in the Lion's eyes. They were such big, bright tears compared with Digory's own that for a moment he felt as if the Lion must really be sorrier about his Mother than he was himself.
'My son, my son,' said Aslan. 'I know. Grief is great.' " .......

From The Horse and His Boy:

" 'I was the lion.' And as Shasta gaped with open mouth and said nothing, the Voice continued. 'I was the lion who forced you to join with Aravis. I was the cat who comforted you among the houses of the dead. I was the lion who drove the jackals from you while you slept. I was the lion who gave the Horses the new strength of fear for the last mile so that you should reach King Lune in time. And I was the lion you do not rememger who pushed the boat in which you lay, a child near death, so that it came to shore where a man sat, wakeful at midnight, to receive you.' ...
'Who are you?' asked Shasta.
'Myself,' said the Voice, very deep and low so that the earth shook: and again 'Myself,' loud and clear and gay: and then the third time 'Myself,' whispered so softly you could hardly hear it, and yet it seemed to come from all round you as if the leaves rustled with it. ...
But after one glance at the Lion's face [Shasta] slipped out of the saddle and fell at its feet. He couldn't say anything but then he didn't want to say anything, and he knew he needn't say anything.
The High King above all kings stooped toward him. Its mane, and some strange and solemn perfume that hung about the mane, was all round him. It touched his forehead with its tongue. He lifted his face and their eyes met."

And one more, 'though I could go on awhile yet ... from The Silver Chair. Puddleglum's mind has become starkly clear as a result of the pain from putting out the Witch's sickly sweet fire with his bare foot:

' "One word, Ma'am,' [Puddleglum] said, coming back from the fire; limping, because of the pain. 'One word. All you've been saying is quite right, I shouldn't wonder. I'm a chap who always liked to know the worst and then put the best face I can on it. So I won't deny any of what you said. But there's one thing more to be said, even so. Supposed we have only dreamed, or made up, all those things—trees and grass and sun and moon and stars and Aslan himself. Suppose we have. Then all I can say is that, in that case, the made-up things seem a good deal more important than the real ones. Suppose this black pit of a kingdom of yours is the only world. Well, it strikes me as a pretty poort one. And that's a funny thing, when you come to think of it. We're just babies making up a game, if you're right. But four babies playing a game can make a play-world which licks your real world hollow. That's why I'm going to stand by the play-world. I'm on Aslan's side even if there isn't any Aslan to lead it. I'm going to live as like a Narnian as I can even if there isn't any Narnia.' "

*pauses in wonder* Wow! I felt like standing up tall whilst I was typing that, it's so powerful!

Yes, these took me awhile to type out, but it was definitely worth it. Just thinking over each word, phrase, sentence, then full meaning once more, was akin to having a life-changing devotional poured into one's heart. And these don't get worn and boring with age and time—very much the opposite—they become even more significant and precious with every read.

Before I finish, I must comment on Lady Galadriel's post. I love Samwise's song in the Tower. Thanks for posting that. In his darkest moment, he sings, feebly at first, then his voice gaining strength as it rises to hope. Beautiful!

And a large ditto to your quote from TLB! *grabs a sweater for the goosebumps that have come over her after reading that again* No words can really express the beauty of Lewis' writing offtimes.

And here I must close, otherwise I'd go on indefinitely...
(EDITED a wee bit)

this is one of my favorite songs of all time:

"Awake And Alive" by Skillet

I'm at war with the world
and they try to pull
me into the dark.
I struggle to find my faith
as I'm slipping from your arms.
It's getting harder to stay awake, and my strength
is fading fast.
You breathe into me at last.

I'm awake, I'm alive,
now I know what I believe inside.
Now it's my time.
I'll do what I want 'cause this is my life.
Right here, right now,
I'll stand my ground and never back down.
I know what I believe inside.
I'm awake and I'm alive.

I'm at war with the world
'cause I ain't never gonna sell my soul.
I've already made up my mind,
no matter what I can't be bought or sold.
When my faith is getting weak, and I feel
like giving in,
You breathe into me again.

Waking up, waking up!

In the dark I can feel you in my sleep.
In your arms I feel you breathe into me.
Forever hold this heart that I will give to you, forever I will live for you.

Something I remember living by during some difficult times, several years ago:

Jeremiah 29:11

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future."

A few Bible verses from one of my favourite books, Ephesians, that "pierce me like a two-edged sword" are ones I need to take to heart and put into practice more: Ephesians 4:29 and Ephesians 5:2-4. I wish I could automatically recall these each time before I open my mouth.

So many good passages here!

A few more of my own. (Major spoilers for anyone who has not read all the books.)

From The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, right after Aslan's resurrection:

"It means," said Aslan, "that though the Witch knew the Deep Magic, there is a magic deeper still which she did not know. Her knowledge goes back only to the dawn of time. But if she could have looked a little further back, into the stillness and the darkness before Time dawned, she would have read there a different incantation. She would have known that when a willing victim who had committed no treachery was killed in a traitor's stead, the Table would crack and Death itself would start working backward."

Earlier in the book, the children are talking with Mr. and Mrs. Beaver:

"Aslan?" said Mr. Beaver. "Why, don't you know? He's the King. He's the Lord of the whole wood, but not often here, you understand. Never in my time or my father's time. But the word has reached us that he has come back. He is in Narnia at this moment. He'll settle the White Queen all right. It is he, not you, that will save Mr. Tumnus."

From The Magician's Nephew, chapter 14.

"Well done," said Aslan in a voice that made the earth shake. Then Digory knew that all the Narnians had heard those words and that the story of them would be handed down from father to son in that new world for hundreds of years and perhaps forever. But he was in no danger of feeling conceited for he didn't think about it at all now that he was face to face with Aslan. This time he found he could look straight into the Lion's eyes. He had forgotten his troubles and felt absolutely content.

(imagine couple has a line through it. I don't know how to get it to strike out)

It's [ s ] [ / s ] only no spaces.
Tada

Thanks! I hoped someone would tell me how to do it.

There have been so many good quotes. I was very impressed to find that several people mentioned Proverbs as one of their favorite books of the Bible. I thought I was weird for liking it so much.

From PC

Lucy went first, biting her lip and trying not to say all of the things she thought of saying to Susan. But she forgot them when she fixed her eyes on Aslan

I think of this quote when I'm annoyed at someone (especially when it's my sister) to remind me what is really important. Unfortunately, I haven't mastered the idea enough that I forget what I want to say.

This next one doesn't exactly fit this tread since it is more of an example than a writing but I think it is close enough.
When I was in confirmation, my pastor used the example of shooting arrows at a target to explain that it didn't matter if we were better than someone else we still fell short. He drew a target on the chalk board and then drew an arrow for some one who was considered "bad." It didn't make it anywhere near the target. Then he drew one for some one who would be better than the first one. The arrow got closer to the target but still didn't hit the target. The point was that without Jesus no one would hit the target and it really didn't matter who was closer.

Whenever I start thinking of myself as being "better" than others, I remind myself that my arrow is still short of the target.
I hope that arrow part makes sense.