God Never Blinks: 50 Lessons for Life's Little Detours

It doesn't matter what has happened to you, it matters what you do with what has happened to you. Life is like a poker game. You don't get to choose the cards you are dealt, but it's entirely up to you how to play the hand.

My life used to be like that game of freeze tag we played as kids. Once tagged, you had to freeze in the situation you are in. Whenever something happened, I'd freeze like a statue, too afraid of moving the wrong way, too afraid of making the wrong decision. The problem is, if you stand still too long, that's your decision. When in doubt, do the next right thing.

You never see further than your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.

Wouldn't it be great if health-care plans included a list of Buddhist monks among the network providers?

Get busy living the life of your dreams instead of looking for the man or woman of your dreams.

When God is going to do something wonderful, He or She always starts with a hardship; when God is going to do something amazing, He or She starts with an impossibility.

Choice, not chance, determines your destiny.

you can be happy or you can be miserable. It takes the same amount of effort.

the place God chose for you is the intersection where your greatest joy and the world’s greatest need meet.

Lighten up. You’re too intense. Don’t take yourself so seriously.

Look, at the end of it all, God us going to ask just one question: Did you love? Eh? That's all that matters. Did you love.

Each morning I would start from scratch: forget all about yesterday, and not even think about tomorrow. I'd try to just live in today.

We are all afraid of making the mistake that will ruin our lives. There's probably no such thing. Even if we made every mistake we feared would ruin us, our lives wouldn't be ruined. They would be changed.

There's something special about letting your kids see you cry. It doesn't mean you're weak. It means you are human.

It takes a strong person to cry. It takes a stronger person to let others see those tears.

I was born with the idea that I had to be perfect in all things because deep down I felt like one big fat nothing at everything. All my life, my brain has sent out false warning signals. It constantly tells me that if I'm not perfect, I have failed. My brain is color-blind. It sees the world in black or white, yes or no, right or wrong, all or nothing .The gray matter between my ears can't discern that there are shades of gray coloring everything in life, that the world isn't a class you take pass-fail.

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy. O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Every

Like every wounded woman, I wanted someone who would never hurt me, never let me down, never reject or abandon me. It was an impossible order.

The world isn't ending. You are just experiencing turbulence. The plane is safe. The pilot is good. You're in the right seat of life. You just hit a patch of bumpy air. Wait. It will pass.

Rewiring your thoughts won't get rid of the holes in your life, but it can prevent you from falling in them.

Is this reaction about the present moment? Or is it about the past? I can't change the past. But by changing my response to its leftovers, I can change the present.

He'd be the first to say God never gives us more than we were designed to carry. Some of us were designed for more, some for less. No matter what, even if we are asked to carry a portion of sky, it is beyond bearable. It is a gift.

I don't always understand how God works, but I still pray. It's like that old saying, I don't understand how electricity works, either, but I don't let that keep me in the dark. I don't have to understand God to believe in God. What gives me hope are those words some anonymous soul wrote: "I believe in the sun, even when it is not shining. I believe in love, even when I feel it not. I believe in God even when He is silent.

Cry alone and you'll keep crying those same tears over and over. Cry with someone and those tears have the power to heal you once and for all.

We need to stop hiding our tears and actually share them. It takes a strong person to cry. It takes a stronger person to let others see those tears. We need to be tough enough to be tender, no matter who is watching.

Someone once told me the difference between a rut and a grave is this: a rut has a little more room to move around. When I find myself in a rut, I know I better get out fast before it becomes a grave.

One of my favourite verse in the Christian Bible is the shortest one of all: "Jesus wept." He showed His humanity. He shed messy, unmanly tears. He didn't do it in private. He did it in front of His friends and followers. In front of a crowd. We need to stop hiding our tears and actually share them. It takes a strong person to cry. It takes a stronger person to let others see those tears. We need to be tough enough to be tender, no matter who is watching.

To do that means you will get messy, because life is messy. Yes, life is a gift, every day of it, but it isn't tied with a bow.

Think fear, you attract anxiety. Think abundance, you attract wealth. Think love, you attract compassion.

You don't ask, you don't get. So ask. Sometimes the answer will be yes, sometimes it will be no. If you don't ask, the answer is always no. You already gave it to yourself.