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| Link | Quote | Stars | Tags | Author |
| db2ec61 | God desires his people to be abounding in love and good works. To be people of integrity and honor. People who reflect his character. But we are human--sinful people capable of evil deeds. | Karen Witemeyer | ||
| 6fcd36a | Certainty of purpose pumping with every heartbeat. That rare sense of satisfaction that came only when one responded to the call to the direct call of the Lord. | Karen Witemeyer | ||
| 9f734c8 | Do I really have to face him again, Travis? The man will be insufferable after besting me as he did." Travis grinned and grabbed up the empty basket. "You can handle him. I've got faith in you." He held his hand out to her after she finished pinning a second petticoat to the line. She glanced uncertainly at his offering, then slipped her palm into his. On impulse, he tugged her arm, causing her to stumble into him. "We're Archers, Meri," he.. | Karen Witemeyer | ||
| 32b0960 | He gently covered her hand with his, wishing he could feel her soft skin through the rough leather of his work gloves. He dragged her fingers down from his mouth and cradled them against his chest. His gaze never left her face. Her breath caught in her throat, but she didn't look away. Fingers splayed, her palm pressed against the thin cotton of his shirt, directly over his heart. In that moment, he knew she belonged to him. | Karen Witemeyer | ||
| 2d452bc | No wonder none of this makes sense, God. Only you can see what the future holds. Therefore, only you can guide me in the direction that is best. Please make the way clear. Help me make the right decision. | Karen Witemeyer | ||
| b88ed71 | Was that love? If so, he couldn't fathom why poets waxed on about it being such a blissful state. As far as he could tell, it was about as blissful as riding an unbroke horse, a bone-rattling endeavor where one held on for dear life, unable to recognize if he was making progress until either the horse quit buckin' or the ground smacked him in the face. | horse love progress | Karen Witemeyer | |
| 543f921 | Just because they'd lost didn't mean the battle hadn't been worth waging. | lost worth | Karen Witemeyer | |
| 276eb47 | in the community were concerned about her designs. | Sarah Miller | ||
| 0ee1ba3 | God loves us, Izzy, and wants to give us good gifts, but those gifts aren't always what we expect. Sometimes instead of making a person well, he comforts us and gives us the courage to go on. Sometimes he sends new people into our lives to help us--like when he sent Papa Gideon to take care of you. And sometimes he gives us a new joy that we would not have known otherwise. | Karen Witemeyer | ||
| 4096eb4 | God's way might not always be clear, but it could always be trusted. | Karen Witemeyer | ||
| 3dc4ec0 | No matter how many precautions we take, none of us are truly in control. Only God can claim that kind of authority. All we can do is use the good sense he provides and trust him to guide us." Meredith stroked his arm from shoulder to wrist, then lightly clasped his hand. "If you want to protect me, Travis, prayer is just as powerful a weapon as that gun you carry." Travis blinked, stunned by the simplicity of that statement." | Karen Witemeyer | ||
| a51070d | Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. | Karen Witemeyer | ||
| 31b8e65 | I've chosen fear over fear over faith more times then I can count. And every time I did, I ended up with regrets. When I chose faith, I didn't always get the outcome I wanted, but I never regretted my choice because I felt God beside me, holding my hand and lending me strength. | Karen Witemeyer | ||
| 82370ff | Love made a man vulnerable in a world that required armor and a shield to survive. | Karen Witemeyer | ||
| f04f3e8 | Perhaps he felt a touch of gratitude too for the fact that they had each other, for better or worse. They might be facing the worse right now, but the fact that they could lean on each other in the midst of it moved it into the better category. | faithfulness inspirational love marriage relationship togetherness | Karen Witemeyer | |
| a9ac7b7 | Tremors hit, quaking her hard enough for him to feel them. He wrapped his arms around her and bent his face close to hers. He might not understand what was going on in her head, but a mighty squall was battering her hull, and if he couldn't figure out how to shelter her from it, he aimed to be her anchor until it passed. | friendship hugs love marriage-life marriage-of-convenience protective-hero support | Karen Witemeyer | |
| 425ecfb | I had a long talk with my husband last night,' Abigail explained, 'and he made me realize that I have to choose which voices to believe. I can believe the ones that tell me I'm not good enough or brave enough or pretty enough and let them skew my perception of events, or I can push aside that clamor and seek out the voice that tells me I am fearfully and wonderfully made. | encouragement husband-and-wife-relationship insecurity love marriage-life marriage-life-problem-solution marriage-of-convenience supportive-relationship | Karen Witemeyer | |
| 4e78ed0 | I've chosen fear over faith more times than I can count,' she admitted. 'And every time I did, I ended up with regrets. | christian-quotes encouragement faith faith-in-god faith-quotes fear inspirational living-by-faith regrets-of-yesterday | Karen Witemeyer | |
| ed23e73 | We don't speak that name in this house." "That's the problem, " Abby held her head high, and pride nearly burst through the seams of Zach's chest. "We've closed ourselves off form that horrible day for too long. It's festered inside us both, killing our friendship and turning us into people we never intended to become. Losing Ben was a horrible tragedy, one that haunts me to this day. But we have to let it go, Sophia. We have to let God hea.. | Karen Witemeyer | ||
| 7d1bc29 | Does this mean I'll hear you sing at prayer meeting tonight?" "Yes, ma'am. Though I gotta warn you, the bucket I carry my tunes in is pretty rusty. Probably has a few holes in it too." "Then you'll fit right in with the rest of us. there's a reason God told his people to make a joyful noise, you know. Musical prowess is not a requirement, just an engaged heart." | Karen Witemeyer | ||
| 1dc82d2 | If I am the cornerstone, whatever you build will stand firm. | Karen Witemeyer | ||
| 7f49282 | MAY 1895 HARPER'S STATION, TEXAS Claire Nevin | Karen Witemeyer | ||
| e57a58e | Dear God, I don't want my fear to be a barrier to the blessings you are trying to bestow. Cast out my fear, and help me to trust your perfect love. But also grant me a full measure of wisdom. Do not let me be led astray by my own desires. If it is not your will that I pursue a relationship with Levi, I pray that you will stop me. Make your message so clear that I cannot argue it away. Protect me, Lord, and show me the way I should go. | faith-quotes godly-woman historical inspirational prayer relationships religion wisdom | Karen Witemeyer | |
| d3e4d65 | We Irish were alone, of all countries, in this way of choosing our leaders. Everywhere else in the world 'tis a firstborn son who's heir to the title--in England, your primogeniture--and no questions asked. But tanaistry was how the Irish chiefs were made, and it had always served us well. Aside | Robin Maxwell | ||
| 9bd37ac | I whispered to my mother that if I were forced to marry the snot-nosed little thug, I'd do as Brigid of Kildare had done when pressed to marry--thrust her finger into her eye, pullin' it from the socket till it dangled from her cheek. Marriage, I thought. Me, a married woman. Impossible! And wife of a chieftain at that, for the truth was, my intended was tanaist of the O'Flaherty clan. This meant that--as tradition dictated--when the curren.. | Robin Maxwell | ||
| cadb73d | The summers were a sight better, for we moved--the lot of us--outdoors to my father's booleys. These were makeshift structures, long and narrow, and thatched with rushes, built new each year and set in the midst of our upland pastures amongst our herds. Aye, we lived with our animals, somethin' the English could never fathom. But it was a marvelous thing, livin' so close to the land with the very beasts that were so great a source of our we.. | Robin Maxwell | ||
| ee53e37 | Most congenial, the booleying life, though never as exciting as the sea. Sure | Robin Maxwell | ||
| ce8cc87 | There were more serious days, when the Brehon judges would come round on their circuit of Connaught to hear the civil suits, and cases of crimes committed in my father's territories. 'Twas our ancient Gaelic law that they practiced--the very one that the English and the Christian Church so abhorred and wished to destroy. They could never understand the leniency with which we punished our thieves and murderers. The English like to flog a man.. | Robin Maxwell | ||
| bfb2d26 | What's more"--O'Neill's eyes brimmed with tears--"they've a cause, Grace." She placed her hand over his. "I know that, Hugh. 'Tis an 'Irish cause,' and we've never known that here before. There's not another man in Ireland--in all the world--who could have rallied them, you know that's true. A single country fighting a single enemy. I never thought I'd live to see the day. Not even Red Hugh could have done it." | Robin Maxwell | ||
| 09fb7e1 | O'Neill could feel rising off them devotion and love for him, and he knew they would lay down their lives for their high chieftain and for the new cause, only now taking shape in their heads. The cause. Unthinkable just a year before--freedom from occupation. Freedom from oppression. Indeed, their heinous oppressors were approaching--English soldiers who had slaughtered their brothers, their wives, their mothers. Their children. Soldiers wh.. | Robin Maxwell | ||
| 8f87b2d | Now the harpist and bard had taken their places under the roof of the three-sided booley house, and guests were wandering from the table to hear them play and sing. | Robin Maxwell | ||
| 5157335 | And the Church's views on marriage were nothin' short of ridiculous. It had to be celebrated in public, and the marriage was permanent, for mercy's sake. We preferred to do things more clandestinelike, for marriage, after all, is a personal affair. And after a year, if the man was not up to his wife's standards, she could boot him out the door. Say, "I divorce you!" and he was gone, just like that. Canon law did agree with native law in one.. | Robin Maxwell | ||
| dc3e6c9 | When they'd crested the final hill, the huge gathering of clans spread out below, she'd turned to him. "This is what we call a 'booley'--summer grazing for our cattle." "But there's a house," he said, perplexed. "Well, of course there is--a booley house. Where else would the people sleep--amongst the herd?" Essex smiled, chastised. "You'll just have to leave off your silly conception of the 'wild Irish.' Believe it or not, we are civilized,.. | Robin Maxwell | ||
| 6b02b5c | O'Neill and his army marched south from Ulster to meet the enemy while his ally Red Hugh O'Donnell marched in from the west. But once the Irish armies were in place, O'Neill and O'Donnell began arguing as to which of them should begin the attack. This delay proved fatal as the agreed upon hour of rendezvous with the Spaniards passed, and the window of opportunity for an Irish victory slammed shut. The Battle of Kinsale lasted three months, .. | Robin Maxwell | ||
| 83cade3 | I remember a fierce debate that my father and Gilleduff had one afternoon sittin' over the roast at the long booley table. They were talkin' of King Henry the Eighth's "Surrender and Regrant" program, a topic of unrivaled possibility for disagreement--a rare bounty for two men who'd give their right arms for a good argument. "Most of the other chieftains in Connaught have succumbed already," said Gilleduff, and Henry calls himself 'King of .. | Robin Maxwell | ||
| a45f741 | Tyrone, after wandering with his family through France, the Netherlands, and Germany, finally took up residence in Italy, subsidized by the Pope. Every night, deep in his cups, he would brag that come Hell or high water he would die in Ireland. In 1616 the great rebel O'Neill passed away, a frustrated exile, in Venice. T | Robin Maxwell | ||
| 785d250 | So why submit? I know this as sure as I'm sittin' here across the roast from you. They're tryin' to bury our law and eradicate our language. And once they take your name, they'll take your freedom too." "No one's goin' anywhere with my freedom. And don't worry yourself, Owen. If I do accept myself a fine English title, I promise I won't insist that you call me by it." "That's very kind of you, you feckin' idiot." Gilleduff laughed and punch.. | Robin Maxwell | ||
| 643b854 | TIBBOT NE LONG BURKE, hard-pressed to choose sides in the Irish rebellion, finally made his decision at the battle of Kinsale. On his own volition he mustered a force of three hundred men and marched south. Under Lord Mountjoy, Tibbot led his men so single-mindedly and courageously that he was lauded by the Crown. Having proven his loyalty beyond any doubt, he returned home to a life of leisure with Maeve and his six children. Miles--for ma.. | Robin Maxwell | ||
| 4228d00 | ELIZABETH I, the queen who many believed waited in vain for Essex to beg a reprieve from his death sentence, suffered agonies after his passing. Despite the victory at Kinsale and achieving her goal of defeating the Irish rebels, she never regained her seemingly inexhaustible zest for life. As the end neared, the queen, despite her obvious weakness, refused to be put to bed and instead stood upright in one place for fourteen hours, sucking .. | Robin Maxwell | ||
| 9305914 | The last days of GRACE O'MALLEY'S life are a mystery. There are records of her ships--if not personally captained by her--still patrolling the western Irish coast in mid 1601. She seems to have lived at Rockfleet Castle near the end, and probably died at the age of seventy-three, in 1603--the same year as Elizabeth's death. Some of her stark, brooding castles and ruined abbeys on the shores and islands of Clew Bay today stand testament to h.. | Robin Maxwell | ||
| a99ce7f | During the writing of this book, I found myself questioning why the sixteenth-century history of the Irish-English conflict--"the Mother of All the Irish Rebellions"--has been utterly ignored or forgotten. This episode was by far the largest of Elizabeth's wars and the last significant effort of her reign. It was also the most costly in English lives lost, both common and noble. By some estimates, the rebellion resulted in half the populati.. | Robin Maxwell | ||
| c9195a9 | It is important to understand this period of Irish rebellion, not least because of the light it throws on events in Ireland ever since. England persists in occupying and claiming dominion over Irish soil, and the Catholics of Ulster continue to resist. It may seem that the policies of Henry VIII and his daughter Elizabeth are quaint echoes of the past, but the spirit of courage and defiance that animated rebels such as Hugh O'Neill and Grac.. | Robin Maxwell | ||
| e5194c2 | Bagenal stood gaping as shot whizzed by his head. It was his brother-in-law, the traitor Tyrone. And the man had spotted him as well. Fury rose in Henry Bagenal and he strode out into the field to meet the bloody Irish devil. He and Tyrone would fight hand to hand, to the death, he swore to himself. He would have his revenge for Mabel, beautiful child, lost to this wretched land. THE BALL FROM the musket of the proud Ulster marksman found.. | Robin Maxwell | ||
| 09376ca | Grace rose from her chair and Elizabeth too came to her feet. "I thought your arse would be sore by now," said Grace. "It is a bit." "You have to be careful when you ask the Irish to tell you a story." | Robin Maxwell |