Ruth Chou Simons > Quotes

“The biggest decision you and I face today may not be what we will do next, but whom we will trust. It's not warm feelings and wishful thinking we're told to put our trust in. We're to trust in the God who led His people into the desert so they might know the end of their power and the fullness of HIS provision.”
― Ruth Chou Simons, GraceLaced: Discovering Timeless Truths Through Seasons of the Heart

“The good life isn’t the absence of heartache; it’s the presence of God, by grace, in the midst of it. Our hope in the midst of hardship is that Jesus doesn’t just work things out for our good—he is our good.”
― Ruth Chou Simons, When Strivings Cease: Replacing the Gospel of Self-Improvement with the Gospel of Life-Transforming Grace

“Jesus' character--as our refuge, as trustworthy, as sufficient, as ever present, as wise, as merciful, as in control, and as sovereign Lord--breaks through the harsh cold of the season as He steps in to carry our burdens, reminding us that true rest comes when we rest in Him.”
― Ruth Chou Simons, GraceLaced: Discovering Timeless Truths Through Seasons of the Heart

“I restate what we see again and again in Scripture? The good life isn’t the absence of heartache; it’s the presence of God, by grace, in the midst of it. Our hope in the midst of hardship is that Jesus doesn’t just work things out for our good—he is our good.”
― Ruth Chou Simons, When Strivings Cease: Replacing the Gospel of Self-Improvement with the Gospel of Life-Transforming Grace

“I want you to know that finding God's grace laced through the seasons of your heart....

begins with RESTING in who HE is
builds by REHEARSING the truth He says about you
blossoms as we RESPOND in faith to those truths and
is sustained by REMEMBERING His provision”
― Ruth Chou Simons, GraceLaced: Discovering Timeless Truths Through Seasons of the Heart

“The holiness of God found us lacking. The mercy of God sent Jesus to bear the punishment we deserved. The righteousness of God declared us forgiven. The goodness of God reshapes us into His likeness. The love of God overcomes evil so that we might share in all that is Christ's.”
― Ruth Chou Simons, When Strivings Cease: Replacing the Gospel of Self-Improvement with the Gospel of Life-Transforming Grace

“how we seek to fix ourselves reveals what we really believe we need. This plays out even in the books we read and who we listen to for counsel.”
― Ruth Chou Simons, When Strivings Cease: Replacing the Gospel of Self-Improvement with the Gospel of Life-Transforming Grace

“Could it be that we are so worn and desperate for ways to better ourselves because we’ve missed the power, inherent in the grace of God, that eradicates self-improvement altogether? Is it possible that we keep trying to answer the wrong question— "Am I enough?" —when we’re really wanting to know: "Is God Enough?”
― Ruth Chou Simons, When Strivings Cease: Replacing the Gospel of Self-Improvement with the Gospel of Life-Transforming Grace

“We say we trust that Jesus is enough, but we spend our lives trying to prove we are instead.”
― Ruth Chou Simons, When Strivings Cease: Replacing the Gospel of Self-Improvement with the Gospel of Life-Transforming Grace

“Jesus offered deliverance through dependence on him. The Pharisees taught deliverance through dependence on perfection and performance. Friend, performance over presence, God's presence, always leaves us fearfully reliant on our perfect execution, rather than Christ's perfect deliverance.”
― Ruth Chou Simons, When Strivings Cease: Replacing the Gospel of Self-Improvement with the Gospel of Life-Transforming Grace

“At the end of our days, when we cross over into glory, we'll have questions that won't seem to matter anymore, and earthly sorrow will pass away. But we won't bring along our resumes, and that stunning career accomplishment will look dingy against the white-hot glory of God's holiness. The number of boxes you checked off next to your Bible reading plan won't be your badge; the seal of the Holy Spirit on a surrendered heart will tell of your arrival. And in the presence of our Holy God, what will keep us from incinerating on the spot will be our safekeeping in the cleft of the Rock-- the covering of grace through the blood of Christ-- that shelters us now and holds us fast into eternity.”
― Ruth Chou Simons, When Strivings Cease: Replacing the Gospel of Self-Improvement with the Gospel of Life-Transforming Grace

“To that end, we are ALL worshippers. "Human beings by their very nature are worshipers. Worship is not something we do; it defines who we are. You cannot divide human beings into those who worship and those who don't. Everybody worships; it's just a matter of what, or whom, we serve." (Paul David Tripp). Our jobs, relationship, reputations, and treasure- these are just a few things that compete for our worship. We were made for one worship and one satisfaction, but our taste buds are skewed until our appetites are formed in and for Him. The question isn't whether we will use our everyday moments to worship because we will- in the midst of ordinary places, people, sights, sounds, joys, and pains. How we direct our eyes, minds, hearts, and hands in the everyday will determine whom we ultimately worship, and what we ultimately become. We were made to behold Him and be transformed in Him. The art of everyday worship is the journey from canvas to masterpiece. We all have an invitation to be transformed, one everyday moment at a time.”
― Ruth Chou Simons, Beholding and Becoming: The Art of Everyday Worship

“walked through times and seasons that felt like exile, God was always writing a story in my life that was more than I could imagine.”
― Ruth Chou Simons, When Strivings Cease: Replacing the Gospel of Self-Improvement with the Gospel of Life-Transforming Grace

“It's a grace that enables the hope that sustains us in times of uncertainty, pain, and when our lives don't look the way we hoped or expected. God's grace isn't an afterthought for a believer walking through unexpected circumstances; it's the anchor.”
― Ruth Chou Simons, When Strivings Cease: Replacing the Gospel of Self-Improvement with the Gospel of Life-Transforming Grace

“Just because God does not remove the thorn doesn't mean He's not using it for our good and His glory.”
― Ruth Chou Simons, GraceLaced: Discovering Timeless Truths Through Seasons of the Heart

“What gospel are you preaching to yourself in the corners of your mind where the Enemy has sought to pronounce guilt and condemnation? You need to preach the whole gospel if you are to combat a thorough Enemy of lies.”
― Ruth Chou Simons, When Strivings Cease: Replacing the Gospel of Self-Improvement with the Gospel of Life-Transforming Grace

“Keep thinking on God's love,
keep meditating on His word,
keep putting away striving,
and wait upon the Lord.
His love fuels our perseverance.”
― Ruth Chou Simons, Garden of Truth

“Can I restate what we see again and again in scripture: the good life isn't the absence of heartache, it's the presence of God by grace in the midst of it. Our hope is that Jesus doesn't just work things out for our good, He IS our good.”
― Ruth Chou Simons, When Strivings Cease: Replacing the Gospel of Self-Improvement with the Gospel of Life-Transforming Grace

“We want deliverance without the desert. But God deliberately designs deserts to draw us to himself. [...] It can feel like the desert itself is the source of the pain, but, in reality, the desert often serves to reveal a heart issue: what we think we can't be happy without. In other words, sometimes the desert reveals the comforts, idols, and treasures we lean on for sustenance. [...] The hope we have in the desert is the assurance that God will never leave us, never forsake us, and never send us to a place he isn't going with us.”
― Ruth Chou Simons, Now and Not Yet: Pressing in When You’re Waiting, Wanting, and Restless for More

“Both the messy and broken, the pious and pretty, were equally incapable of loving the Lord with all their hearts, minds, souls, and strength. The most foundational command to love God above all else was broken in the garden; how could we possibly fix ourselves and make ourselves fit for God's approval if we aren't even able to love God wholly as we were made to do?”
― Ruth Chou Simons, When Strivings Cease: Replacing the Gospel of Self-Improvement with the Gospel of Life-Transforming Grace

“The good life isn't the absence of heartache; it's the presence of God, by grace, in the midst of it. Our hope in the midst of hardship is that Jesus doesn't just work things out for our good - he is our good.”
― Ruth Chou Simons, When Strivings Cease: Replacing the Gospel of Self-Improvement with the Gospel of Life-Transforming Grace

“If none of your real-life friends understand the context of what you're posting online and none of your online friends know you in real life, you're too isolated. Worse, you're setting yourself up for disaster.
-Social Sanity in an Insta World”
― Ruth Chou Simons

“When you trust that work is being done, you stop believing that your unwanted seasons are wasted seasons.”
― Ruth Chou Simons, Now and Not Yet: Pressing in When You’re Waiting, Wanting, and Restless for More

“Now we are getting to the heart of how the Gospel differs from the moral grid. As one writer put it, 'The main thing between you and God is not your sins, but your damnable good works.' Ouch. And herein lies the whole reason why we must cease striving through good works: they do not save. If there is a gospel of self-improvement, it is a damning one. It is a gospel that is not good news at all. It will wall you if, shrivel you up, and destroy your sensitivity to God's pursuit. This is why it must be utterly destroyed and replaced with the true gospel of life-transforming grace.”
― Ruth Chou Simons, When Strivings Cease: Replacing the Gospel of Self-Improvement with the Gospel of Life-Transforming Grace

“God doesn’t demand obedience and good fruit apart from relationship. He desires our obedience as a result of relationship with him.”
― Ruth Chou Simons, When Strivings Cease: Replacing the Gospel of Self-Improvement with the Gospel of Life-Transforming Grace

“Walk among the lilies,
and you will carry the fragrance of lilies.
Walk in Christ, and you will release the
aroma of Him who saves. Stay so close
that the fragrance of His grace may
linger wherever you go.”
― Ruth Chou Simons, Garden of Truth

“we can either wander aimlessly back into the whispers of inadequacy and shouts of condemnation or stand firm on the grace that both saves and defends us against the Enemy’s lies.”
― Ruth Chou Simons, When Strivings Cease: Replacing the Gospel of Self-Improvement with the Gospel of Life-Transforming Grace

“If someone offers you a prescription for what ails you, but the prescription leaves your condition unchanged, it usually means that something is not quite right about either the prescription or the diagnosis. If what we really need in order to stop feeling so worn out and pressed to perform at a certain standard is a better strategy, then why are the prescriptions not working?”
― Ruth Chou Simons, When Strivings Cease: Replacing the Gospel of Self-Improvement with the Gospel of Life-Transforming Grace

“Losing yourself doesn't sound like burdensome striving, but that's the lie the Enemy wants you to believe. That IS the false gospel of this generation: that we can save ourselves through ourselves. That with enough practice, enough resources, and enough work, a perfectly executed version of your life is accessible. This generation is declaring, "Be your own boss and make yourself happy. Save yourself!"... It baffles me that our culture is obsessed with the contradictions of this ideology and equates them with freedom.”
― Ruth Chou Simons, When Strivings Cease: Replacing the Gospel of Self-Improvement with the Gospel of Life-Transforming Grace

“It’s okay not to like the right now you’ve been given. You don’t have to like it to lean into it. Your right now really matters. I’ve learned again and again, in season after season, that God is purposeful about what happens between today and tomorrow, between right now and someday. And I truly believe your current season is not wasted.”
― Ruth Chou Simons, Now and Not Yet: Pressing in When You’re Waiting, Wanting, and Restless for More