This month, I enjoyed reading a book by Nabeel Qureshi, a former Muslim who chronicled his journey from Islam to Christianity in Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus. I may have shed some tears as he shared about the pain of disappointing his family because of his conversion. He passed away in September after battling stage 4 stomach cancer. I found his vlogs on YouTube, and I was impressed with his desire to know God and trust Him through the difficulties of life. His book helped me to gain a clearer understanding of how and why Muslims believe what they do. An excellent read!

I also finished Corrie Ten Boom’s The Hiding Place. I’ve generally known her life story for some time. I probably read a children’s version of the book when I was younger. But, wow. Seeing how the Nazi invasion and her time in German concentration camps completely changed her way of living – I was blown away. Her faith in God kept her grounded during the incredible difficulties she faced. My advice? Drop everything and go read this book now. The way her awe-inspiring story is written will draw you in from the very beginning.

If you like quotes, you can read some below that I particularly enjoyed this month. Or you can check them out for yourself in context by grabbing the titles above!

—————————————

There is nothing like the one true God! If I had known just how boundless is the love of God, just how transformative His grace and mercy, just how liberating His exemplary life and death, I would have run to Him years sooner with all my might. ¹

… Effective evangelism requires relationships. There are very few exceptions.¹

A rift was beginning to form between my heart and my head. What I wanted to believe was fighting a battle with the evidence for the New Testament. I was torn.¹

But they [my Muslim parents] were so adamant, so devoted to God, so genuine. Could they really be wrong?¹

Would it be worth it to pick up my cross and be crucified next to Jesus? If He is not God, then, no. Lose everything I love to worship a false God? A million times over, no! But if He is God, then, yes. Being forever bonded to my Lord by suffering alongside Him? A million times over, yes! Now, more than ever, the stakes were clear, and I needed to know who He was. Everything hinged on His identity.¹

“Why, God?” At that moment, the most agonizing of my life, something happened that was beyond my theology and imagination. As if God picked up a megaphone and spoke through my conscience, I heard these words resonate through my very being: “Because it’s not about you.”¹

… they kept coming, the people who considered themselves Father’s friends. Young and old,  poor and rich, scholarly gentleman and illiterate servant girls – only to Father did it seem they were all alike. That was Father’s secret: not that he overlooked the differences in people; that he didn’t know they were there.²

Today I know that such memories are the key not to the past, but to the future. I know that the experiences of our lives, when we let God use them, become the mysterious and perfect preparation for the work He will give us to do.²

Father sat down on the edge of the narrow bed. “Corrie,” he began gently, “when you and I go to Amsterdam–when do I give you your ticket?” I sniffed a few times, considering this. “Why, just before we get on the train.” “Exactly. And our wise Father in heaven knows when we’re going to need things, too. Don’t run out ahead of Him, Corrie. When the time comes that some of us will have to die, you will look into your heart and find the strength you need–just in time.”²

“Happiness isn’t something that depends on our surroundings, Corrie. It’s something we make inside ourselves.” – Mama²

“Do you know what hurts so very much? It’s love. Love is the strongest force in the world, and when it is blocked, that means pain. There are two things we can do when this happens. We can kill the love so it stops hurting…. Or, Corrie, we can ask God to open up another route for that love to travel.” – Father²

Mama’s love had always been the kind that acted itself out with soup and sewing basket. But now that these things were taken away, the love seemed as whole as before. She sat in her chair at the window and loved us. She loved the people she saw in the street–and beyond: her love took in the city, the land of Holland, the world. And so I learned that love is larger than the walls that shut it in.²

“There are no ‘ifs’ in God’s world. And no places that are safer than other places. The center of His will is our only safety–Oh Corrie, let us pray that we may always know it!” -Betsie²

“… books do not age as you and I do. They will speak still when we are gone, to generations we will never see. Yes, the books must survive.” – Harry de Vries²

“The truth, sir,” I said, swallowing, “is that God’s viewpoint is sometimes different from ours–so different that we could not even guess it unless He had given us a Book which tells us such things.”²

“Corrie, if people can be taught to hate, they can be taught to love! We must find the way, you and I, no matter how long it takes…” I slowly took in the fact that she was talking about our guards… I saw a gray uniform and a visored hat; Betsie saw a wounded human being.²

Have I really permission to commit all my little affairs to a God of infinite wisdom, believing that he will take charge of them and direct them according to the promptings of boundless love and absolute omniscience?³

… the Lord may begin his work in different ways. For I have not the least doubt that on that evening he began a work of grace in me, though I obtained joy without any deep sorrow of heart, and with scarcely any knowledge.³

… for with all my weakness I had a great desire to live wholly for God.³

How differently does the Lord judge from man! ³

My chief help is prayer… For neither eloquence nor depth of thought makes the truly great preacher, but such a life of prayer and meditation and spirituality as may render him a vessel meet for the Master’s use…³

We leaned on the arm of the Lord Jesus. It is now twenty-five years since we set out in this way, and we do not in the least regret the step we then took.³

I would offer here a word of warning to believers. Often the work of the Lord itself may be a temptation to keep us from that communion with him which is so essential to the benefit of our own souls.³

… we are never losers from acting according to the mind of the Lord. For had I had my regular salary, humanly speaking, I should not have had nearly as much…. I have not served a hard master, and that is what I delight to show.³

Ignorance of God is the great enemy of mankind, and the testimonies of the saints, experimental and grateful, overcome this deadly foe.⁴

---

¹ Nabeel Qureshi, Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus
² Corrie ten Boom, The Hiding Place
³ George Müller, The Autobiography of George Müller
⁴ Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Psalm 67:2