I wasn't there yet, I wasn't finding joy and gladness in my barrenness, but I believed I would. I believed He would make my barren soul as beautiful as His perfect garden.

I craved to make my faith as real as possible, which meant being recklessly honest in His presence.

We cannot experience free joy and happiness without experiencing the depths of pain.

...the sweetness of grace and freedom comes hand in hand with the uncomfortable, bitter-rawness of honest emotions and grief.

I wanted to forgive my mom and my dad so badly for the deep hurt they caused, the fear their broken marriage invoked in me, but I also didn’t want to pretend anymore. Pretending is exhausting.

Jesus came emotional and raw, scandalously gracious. I want to be like Him.

In my gut-wrenching honesty and by acknowledging our big, big God, I found peace.

Fast forgiveness is a part of Christian culture I want to help change and transform. I ache for a journey of Jesus-like forgiveness. The kind demanding time and suffering in the process.

Wholeness is birthed through vulnerability and sensitivity, which is often conceived in brokenness. Jesus taught me this.

...when I decided to be fully honest about whatever my heart undergoes, I found immense peace among the chaos of uncertainties. In my honesty and by acknowledging our big, big God, I found peace.

I love them both as though I birthed them both, but also as though I adopted them both.

make the most of the day, by determining to spend it on two sorts of acquaintances only - those by whom something may be got, and those from whom something may be learned. - Colton

Where there is love, there is no war.

Be how you want to be received.

I definitely wanted this win today and I don't want anybody to talk about my nerves anymore.

You can say 'Thanks,' and you can say 'Thanks a Million' - but any number in between?

People think that mathematics is complicated. Mathematics is the simple bit, it’s the stuff we CAN understand. It’s cats that are complicated.

We can talk about corporations all day long but my goal is to help the middle class, somebody who makes too much to be on government assistance but still lives paycheck to paycheck.

The freedom to speak is meaningless without the corollary freedom to keep silent.

I rarely do autograph shows. Maybe two or three a year. Just to keep my price up. Also I've got too much other stuff to do. I have to teach Renaissance art.

There is extreme poverty in Appalachia, where I was, and increasingly poverty is not just an urban thing.