Falling Free Quotes

“Afflicted with relentless humanity, we view the world with person-eyes, then project what we see onto the flawless creator of the universe, assuming he operates as we do. We trick ourselves into thinking God is just a holier version of us-- our brain, our worldview, none of the sinfulness. We forget that while we bear his image and harbor all his love, we can't comprehend the scope of eternal reality from our anthill vantage point. We say we trust God's will but feel so much better if we run ahead of him with our dustpan and broom, doing what we can to eliminate pain and minimize risk.”
― Shannan Martin, Falling Free: Rescued from the Life I Always Wanted

“Living small is not about having less, but being less-- less respected in the eyes of the world, less successful, less wealthy, less esteemed, less you. Less me. And more Jesus. Here, in this abundance of less, where more of us is stripped away, we'll uncover the person we were made to be, the one created in the image of a God who sank holy feet in to our human mess.”
― Shannan Martin, Falling Free: Rescued from the Life I Always Wanted

“Now, every day I am offered the gift of living in such a way that I get a taste of what it means to need him. Resting fully dependent in the palm of his hand, I realize the safety of staying small. I get to embrace the full shock value of the kingdom of God, and that is a real blessing. I get to be knocked around by the fallout of belonging to a life where I am wildly ill equipped to meet its demands. I am honored to experience an existence marked by dependence, where I submit to God's will for my life, even and especially when it defies my put-on, middle-class values.”
― Shannan Martin, Falling Free: Rescued from the Life I Always Wanted

“He offers the opportunity to experience a richness we’d never know if we remained locked in the prison of our false security and maximized agendas. Here, in our everyday, he invites us in to the abundant life.”
― Shannan Martin, Falling Free: Rescued from the Life I Always Wanted

“Under the gaze of Christ, Simon becomes Peter, and God’s church is built with men and women whose only hope is that we might be a bit less faithless tomorrow than we were today.”
― Shannan Martin, Falling Free: Rescued from the Life I Always Wanted

“I was never meant to save a soul, and no one was purposed as a project. We were meant to be comrades, mutually passing around whatever we have to offer.”
― Shannan Martin, Falling Free: Rescued from the Life I Always Wanted

“God wants me at the end of myself so he can build me back up in ways that reflect more goodness, more him. He wants my self-pity and ego to be sacrificed on the altar of Much Better Things.”
― Shannan Martin, Falling Free: Rescued from the Life I Always Wanted

“There’s a difference between being too scared to do hard things and doing hard things scared.”
― Shannan Martin, Falling Free: Rescued from the Life I Always Wanted

“Across the table sat my eight-year-old daughter. Adjacent to her sat a man she had never seen before, with Gothic lettering inscribed across his Adam’s apple and the f-word emblazoned down the length of his forearm. For the first time in my life, I questioned the hours we’d spent honing our kids’ early reading skills.”
― Shannan Martin, Falling Free: Rescued from the Life I Always Wanted

“The sixth chapter of Mark describes Jesus as “just a carpenter.” I suppose he could have come in a flashier way, and his refusal to do so is telling. Of course, this doesn’t mean we should question the intentions of everyone wearing a white collar or taking a stage. It simply means that we have been handed the gift of knowing for sure that our identity needn’t hinge on what the world values. God”
― Shannan Martin, Falling Free: Rescued from the Life I Always Wanted

“I’d always been taught that a lack of peace meant God was sending an “abort mission” smoke signal. It’s among the most beloved excuses in the church-culture canon. We toss it out, and no one can argue. “I don’t have peace about it.” Boom. End of discussion.”
― Shannan Martin, Falling Free: Rescued from the Life I Always Wanted