(#6) The Two Towers - Book Two of "The Lord of the Rings", by J.R.R. Tolkien

(#5) New Rules of Personal Finance, by Dave Kansas

(#4) The Source of My Strength, by Charles F. Stanley

Started:  2/2/2016
Finished:  2/7/2016

This was a wonderful book written by Dr. Stanley in 1994.  Great thoughts that I don't want to forget:

"As I looked back, the stories my grandfather told me gave me the guiding principles of my life:
- Obey God and leave all the consequences to Him.  Trust Him to make a way.
- God will move heaven and earth to reveal his will to you if you really want to know it and do it.
- God will provide all your needs.
- God will protect you."

"There will be times, of course, when God may give us such complete and eternal victory over one area of sin or temptation in our lives -- or over one enemy that has tormented us -- that we never have to face that area of temptation or that type of torment again.  That particular weakness will have been dealt with forever."

Regarding hiring staff:  "I also came to realize that I make much wiser decisions about staff when I refuse to trust solely my judgement.  I never hire a staff member now without consensus from other members of the staff."

"Entrust your mistakes to God.  He can fix them far better than we can."

"When you have a churning feeling deep inside you -- a restlessness in your soul -- that can be one of the most exciting times of your life.  God is at work in you; he's about to move into a deeper, more fulfilling experience in your walk with Him."

"Ask the Lord to prepare you for what He has in store for you.  Read God's Word with renewed vigor, always on the alert for verses that God may cause to leap off the page as you read them."

"Start expecting God to show you what He is leading you to do.  Wait in eager anticipation for God to reveal your next move."

"It's important that you recognize that this type of expectancy is far different from feelings of inner compulsion or obsession."

"God:  'Here's your choice.  You can do what I tell you and find out what I'll do with you, or you can spend the rest of your life wondering what I would have done if you had obeyed Me.' "

"If you experience a deep restlessness in your spirit -- and you know that you are right with God -- you, too, can trust God to be at work leading you into His next lesson, His next place of service.  His next opportunity for you.  ...You can trust Him to bring the right people and circumstances to pass."

Regarding goal-setting:
- "A woman came up to me one Sunday after the church service and said, 'Do you believe that a person can live by faith and still set goals?'  Stanley:  "the goals must be God's goals for your life."
- "We may need to set personal goals for acquiring more discipline in our lives."

"Here are several questions that I ask myself as I set goals:  1. Will it get me where I want to go -- which is a deeper and more intimate relationship with God, or to the accomplishment of something God has told me to do?  2.  Will it help make somebody else successful?  3.  Do I have to violate a spiritual principle to get there?  4.  Will it fulfill God's purpose for my life?"

"The Lord doesn't catapult us unto greatness; He grows us into spiritual maturity.  He stretches us slowly so that we don't break.  He expands our vision slowly so that we can take in all of the details of what He desires to accomplish."

"One way that God speaks to me is through repetition.  An idea will come to me as a very strong impression.  That impression will come again and again until it becomes a concern.  The concern will not leave but will turn into a conviction.  The conviction becomes deeper and deeper until I can no longer escape it or forget it."

"At times God may send a wise counselor to you that you aren't expecting."

"When I got my eyes off the Lord and onto my persecutors, I found myself feeling anger, bitterness, and resentment toward them and toward life in general.  When I saw my abusers as part of a greater lesson that God was teaching me and a greater work that He was doing in my life -- and that God was doing only what was going to result in my eternal good -- I felt peace."

"The Christian life is to be lived day by day.  If you have your mind continually engaged in thinking about your long-range goals or ways in which you can achieve, earn, or have something way out yonder, you'll miss many of today's blessings."