Forks, Sticks and Fires-motivation for the summer

While reading Shadow of the Almighty by Elisabeth Elliot I kept up my usual habit of taking an 8x11 piece of paper to take notes on, folding it in half and tucking it into the book as a marker. 30 pages into the book I realized this piece of paper would not suffice. There are too many good quotes in that book! His journals give the reader a glimpse into his life- the passion that fueled his mission work in Ecuador and the dedication that cost him his life. I decided to compile the quotes here and post them as I'm reading. This book has been a huge encouragement and challenge to me as it's easy to lose that gospel focus during the summer. I hope these quotes encourage and challenge you too!

"God, I pray thee, light these idle sticks of my life and may I burn up for thee. Consume my life, my God, for it is thine. I seek not a long life but a full one, like you, Lord Jesus."

To Elisabeth while they were getting to know each other, "There is within a hunger after God, given of God, filled by God. I can be happy when I am conscious that he is doing what He wills to do within. What makes me tremble is that I might allow something else (you, for example) to take the place my God should have."

"Most laws condemn the soul and pronounce sentence. The result of the law of my God is perfect. It condemns but forgives. It restores-more than abundantly-what it takes away."

"Father, make of me a crisis man. Bring those I contact to decision. Let me not be a milestone on a single road; make me a fork, that men must turn one way or another on facing Christ in me."

And of course the most famous quote-"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose."