Started off a little light but then took off with some quite convicting truths to consider. This was a great reminder that just believing in God is not enough. We need to live out what we believe. Some of the chapters dealt with issues such as believing in God, but not trusting Him and continuing to worry; believing in God but not being part of His church; believing in God but trusting more in money than Him; believing in God but pursuing a life of happiness at any cost.

I took almost 3 pages worth of notes in my quotes notebook. :-)

"With God, all things are possible - even the thing that you think isn't."
"We change by his power, not by ours."
"Change won't just take all the strength you have; it will take more. You need God's power."
"You can't change in your own power. If you feel overwhelmed by something bigger than you, let the one who is bigger than all things be the power you need in your weakness."

"Worry is the result of trying to carry a burden that never belonged on our shoulders."
"...we're admitting we don't actually trust God. In our minds, our God is too small, and we must come to our own rescue."
"Can your worry change anything? No. Can God change anything? Absolutely he can."

"...we venture into extremely dangerous territory when we start to believe that God's ultimate plan for us is our happiness."
"...here-and-now happiness doesn't fit God's desire for our lives."
"When we believe our pursuit of happiness gives us license to sin, we become Christian Atheists. God never condones sin, no matter how happy it makes us, or seems to make us."
"God also doesn't want us to be happy when our happiness is based on the things in this world."
"Our actions confirm that a disturbing number of us truly believe this equation: better possessions + peaceful circumstances + thrilling experiences + the right relationships + the perfect appearance = happiness."
"Our culture has conditioned us to believe that the things we don't have are the things that will make us happy..."
"When we believe the things of this world will provide happiness, we're settling for a counterfeit."
"God hates it when we pass up on the real life and settle for the false promises of this world."
"The happiness of this world is based on fickle happenings, but the blessings of God transcend the things this world offers."
"It's only when we manage to quiet the Christian Atheist in us and seek God and his kingdom over the empty and hollow things of this world that we can experience true and lasting blessing."
"We are not happy with the things of this world because we're not made for this world!"
"We will never discover lasting happiness in the temporary things of this world because we weren't made to live a temporary life. That's why we should lower our expectations of this place. Earth is not heaven. It was never meant to be. That's why no amount of money, new house... or new anything will ever satisfy us, because we were not made for the things of this world."
"Real happiness is found only in the Lord, and when we find it we'll understand, perhaps for the first time, how blessed we really are."

"We want God's benefits without changing how we live. We want his best, without our sacrifices."
"We still love this world. We'll pursue happiness at any cost."
"...get what we can from God without giving much, if anything, back."
"Instead of truly living as followers of Christ, many lull themselves into a sense of false comfort. What if they're really 'cultural Christians,' false believers?"
"What would it take to make my life nothing to me, existing only to do what Christ wants me to?"
"Every day, we'll choose to live out our belief in God instead of believing in the world or ourselves."