As we head into the weekend, here are some wise words to consider:

1.  “We can always name a trial and a hard place. But when we look past our own pain, and help someone in theirs, we see we aren’t alone. We can step back and get a different perspective and sometimes that view leads to gratitude. Sometimes it leads us to healing.  And often it’s the answer we’ve been waiting on.” — Kristin Welch shares “The Question God Wants us to Ask” at (in)courage

2.  “I don’t always understand His ways, and I don’t know why so much of life is one step forward and two steps back. But I do know that asking the hard questions helps me unclench my fists and, instead allows me to approach God with open-hands. Holding my plans lightly not only helps me release my times to the Lord, but it also places me in a posture to receive from Him. Trust looks like hands raised and open, a sign of worship and surrender.”  Kimberley Coyle  shares “How to Trust Even When You Get Rejected Time and Time Again” at Circles of Faith

3.  “The wilderness is not a place of desolation and futility and hopelessness, but a place brimming with wild possibility.” — Michelle DeRusha shares how the wilderness is “a place full of promise and hope” in this very transparent post about personal disappointment.

4.  “Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it everyday.”
~ Henri Nouwen (quoted by Bonnie Gray in her post at (in)courage.)

5.  “Yesterday’s victories get shelved like so many grade school trophies. We can choose to see them as relics of the good old days or as a vow of assurance, his promise of loyalty and trust. In looking back we see a chronicled listing of answered prayer, a record of His works. Taking a look back offers a clear view – the difference between now and then, what life looked like before we let him in. A flashback helps us trust him with the whatever may lay ahead and encourages us to believe Him in the present. Taking a look back helps us rest.”  (Love this post from Lisha Epperson as part of her October 31-day series.)

I’m joining The Nester and friends for #write31days and sharing “Keep Trying” with like-minded sisters at The Weekend Brew.

To see all of the posts in this series, head on over here