Sarah Butterfield > Sarah's Quotes

“To pray in the midst of the mundane is simply and strongly to assert that this dull and tiring day is holy and its simple labors are the stuff of God's saving presence for me now.”
― Joan Chittister

“What if self-sufficiency was always a bankrupt lie, and suffering simply demonstrates its poverty? What if suffering isn’t ruining our selves but re-creating them? Suffering is an invitation to live and tell the story truer and more satisfying than pain-free ease. It is an invitation to know and be known by the God who entered the human story intent on transforming death into life. The presence of prolonged suffering begs us to remember our true story and its suffering Lord.”
― K.J. Ramsey, This Too Shall Last: Finding Grace When Suffering Lingers

“When we turn the Bible into an adjective and stick it in front of another loaded work (like manhood, womanhood, politics, economics, marriage, and even equality), we tend to ignore or downplay the parts of the Bible that don't fit our tastes. In an attempt to simplify, we try to force the Bible's cacophony of voices into a single tone, to turn a complicated and at times troubling holy text into a list of bullet points we can put in a manifesto or creed. More often than not, we end up more committed to what we want the Bible to say than what it actually says.”
― Rachel Held Evans, A Year of Biblical Womanhood

“If we minimize our gifts, hush our voice, and stay small in a misguided attempt to fit a weak and culturally conditioned standard of femininity, we cannot give our brothers the partner they require in God’s mission for the world.”
― Sarah Bessey, Jesus Feminist: An Invitation to Revisit the Bible's View of Women

“Daughter, you are never too young or too old to speak life, to encourage others, to hear from God, and to shepherd others. Whether you are widowed, married, single, divorced—the kingdom needs your voice, your experiences, your testimony. We need your words, your warnings, your hope.”
― Amy Seiffert, Your Name Is Daughter: What the Unsung Women of the Bible Teach Us about Our Worth

“So often in our earliest iterations of faith, we might categorize God as angry in the Old Testament and gracious in the New Testament. We can often drift toward binary terms, black and white, good or bad, angry or kind. But the more time we spend in God’s presence and understand His Word, a fuller, more robust picture emerges, and from faith to faith we go.”
― Amy Seiffert, Your Name Is Daughter: What the Unsung Women of the Bible Teach Us about Our Worth

“The Samaritan woman was the first person Jesus revealed Himself to on His mission. She has the longest recorded dialogue with Jesus of anyone. She was the first missionary before the resurrection. And Mary was the first missionary after the resurrection. Both women. Intentionally sought out by God. Specifically set aside to go and tell.”
― Amy Seiffert, Your Name Is Daughter: What the Unsung Women of the Bible Teach Us about Our Worth