Christine Caine Quotes

Sometimes when you're in a dark place you think you've been buried, but you've actually been planted.

God is able to take the mess of our past and turn it into a message. He takes the trials and tests and turns them into a testimony.

Nothing about my birth - or yours - was random or accidental. I was born for this time - and so were you. We were each chosen for a particular, cosmically important task that can be done by no one else.

[Loosen] up your life enough to be ready for interruptions. Don't structure your days so rigidly that you lock out God from working with you in the middle of them.

I also came to understand that our authenticity (or lack thereof) is made evident by the fruit that our life is bearing.

When there is a fight between your heart and your head, experience has taught me that the best thing you can do is pick up your Bible and remind yourself of what God says.

Often the very things that you think have disqualified you are the ones that qualify you to do what God has called you to do.

You need to return to the truth of God's Word that will last forever, not meditate on circumstance that will fade and change. It is this truth that enables us to go into the future undaunted.

God deliberately chooses imperfect vessels — those who have been wounded, those with physical or emotional limitations. Then he prepares them to serve and sends them out with their weakness still in evidence, so that his strength can be made perfect in that weakness.

Even when I cannot see him, I can hear the beautiful gallop of God's heartbeat for humanity.

The long series of disappointments you accumulate in a lifetime can stop you from moving forward into all the goodness God has planned for you – and that means they’ll be stopping not only you, but also all those God has destined you to reach along your life journey.

Anything meant in this world for evil, God can use for good. God is able to take the mess of our past and turn it into a message. He takes our trials and tests and turns them into a testimony.

The truth you store up in silence comes back to you in the storm, and it lifts you away as on a life raft from the fears and disappointments that would otherwise pull you under. When you abide in his word, he abides in you.

Christian life isn’t a one-person race. It’s a relay. You are not alone; you’re part of a team assembled by our unstoppable God to achieve his eternal purposes.

Your freedom will be determined by whether you allow what I think and say about you to matter more than what anyone else thinks or says,

It is one thing to be awakened to injustice and quite another to be willing to be inconvenienced and interrupted to do something about it.

Sometimes when you're in a dark place you think you've been buried but actually you've been planted.

Settling for what is comfortable is one of the biggest enemies to our enlargement... In every season of life...we need to be committed to enlarging our personal capacity (even when it's not comfortable). We need to refuse to be satisfied with our latest accomplishments, as what we've accomplished is no longer our potential because it has been realized.

If you commit yourself to living according to His Word your potential will be unlocked, and in time, what may look small now will grow into something significant.

How easy it is to let the depth of the ditch or the severity of the brokenness stop a good work before we even stoop down to do it.

It was my moment of wondering what, in my life, had been my golden pin like Schindler's, the thing so precious to me that it never occurred to me to use it to ransom the life of someone else.

Even though I only just found out that I was adopted, God has always known, and he has always loved me. And since that has never changed, therefore nothing has essentially changed. I may not be who I thought I was, but I still am who he says I am. I am more. I am loved. I am his.

We also need to be willing to make room in our lives for the impending birth of our dreams. This might mean emptying our life of clutter such as wasted time, energy, resources, or draining relationships. These things can jeopardize our dreams by distracting us at a time when we should be more focused than ever.

God has plucked you out of eternity, positioned you in time, and given you gifts and talents to serve him in this generation. Your race is now. This is your time in history.

I don't need to be on guard to defend myself.

What a crafty enemy we have. Can you see it? The enemy knows that if he can cause us to hide ourselves—who God made us to be—that it also causes us to lose sight of our identity in God as his image-bearers. Then, because our view of ourselves has been diminished, we shrink from stepping into the destiny God created for us. That’s a very effective strategy.

...our ability to achieve our dreams and fulfill our destiny is directly influenced by our thinking. How we think determines our responses, our ability to relate to others, our level of commitment, our priorities, and the dreams we will pursue.

Christine Caine: “Courageous people step into the unknown, unexplored, unchartered, uncomfortable, unpredictable, untapped, uncertain, unrevealed and undisclosed.

I lifted my Bible in one hand and with my other scooped up all the papers on my adoption. Both hands held paper that contained words printed in black and white ink. Both contained facts. Yet only one held the truth. I had to choose which of these documents I would entrust with my life.

The LORD your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing. ZEPHANIAH 3:17

When you believe God is who he says he is, when you hang onto him and his Word in faith, his truth sets you free. The truth you store up in silence comes back to you in the storm, and it lifts you away as on a life raft from the fears and disappointments that would otherwise pull you down.

My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways…. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8–9)

When someone is trapped in a burning building, you don't try to work out what caused the fire and then decide whether the people inside get your sympathy. When people are in danger of burning up, you rush to save them. Especially if you remember how much it hurts to be burned.

God takes highly unlikely people, takes them into highly unlikely places, gives them a highly unlikely strategy,and gives them a highly unlikely outcome.

No matter what circumstances we might face in life, it is possible for us to overcome in the midst of them by taking hold of God’s thoughts.

we never own the work of God. We are simply stewards of it.

Obedience is less painful than regret.

God wants to date us! ...where do you take God for a date? (Having made the world, finding somewhere new is difficult.)

The oppressed do not see too much difference between those who would keep them down and those who do nothing to help. There is no in-between.

Whoever saves one life saves the world entire.

It’s been said that we are shaped by our thoughts. If this is true, can you imagine where one healthy thought can lead each day?

Why didn't you come sooner? I offered them no excuses that day, but I did know that there were reasons. Reasons that, when we hear God's call, when we feel that gentle (or not so gentle) urging of God's Spirit for us to make a bold step, take a risk, serve others, save a life, commit - we so often hold back. It's because we don't feel empowered. We don't feel qualified. We think we lack the courage, the strength, the wisdom, the money, the experience, the education, the organization, the backing. We feel like Moses... Not me, God. I'm afraid. Weak. Poor. Stupid. Unqualified. Daunted.... It has never been my desire to be daunted, to be afraid, to be unable to respond to God's call.

I want women to know God can use everything the enemy meant for evil in their lives for good. He can take their stories of shame and redeem them-- first for their own freedom and then to help others. I want women to know that they are not less than, weaker, second, or not enough. They are created in God's image-- greatly valued, loved, chose, wanted and adored by the Creator of the universe.

When shame has been pumping through a heart, over time the heart itself grows toxic. When we are wounded, we leak toxic waste, and that waste poisons us and the people around us—even when we are completely unaware of it—just like I did with Joanna. The reality is: • Hurt people hurt people. • Broken people break people. • Shattered people shatter people. • Damaged people damage people. • Wounded people wound people. • Bound people bind people.

The apostle Paul writes to the Ephesians, “Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. Be very careful, then, how you live — not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:14–16).

If God created us to do good works of eternal significance, he would not create us ill-prepared for those tasks.

Each of us is God's workmanship, not the workmanship of anyone else.

You and I face a huge question: Do we trust God to do in his own timing what only he can do?

Fulfilling our destiny and realizing our potential all begins in our mind. That's why the devil tries to bombard our thinking.

Just as life will upend you, so will love.

A key to becoming shame-free is choosing to change your perspective, because when you do, you can begin to change your posture.

Many start the race with high energy and vibrant passion, but when they do not move ahead as quickly as they think they should, they lose their zeal and commitment.

Shame is the fear of being unworthy, and it adversely affects our relationship with God, ourselves, and others. It greatly hinders our ability to receive God’s unconditional love—and share it with others.

God's image is only fully reflected in both man and woman. When we denigrate a woman, we are in fact diminishing part of the image of God. When we exclude women, we exclude part of God. When we put women down, we tarnish the image of God.

until our faith is tested through challenges, obstacles, trials, and storms, it cannot be stretched to new lengths, deepened to new depths, nor grown to new heights. Faith must be tried to its limits before it can grow beyond those limits.

Even as the underpinnings of my world had shifted radically, they were resettling in a more secure place. Even as things seemed to be falling apart, the truth of God's love was holding me together. And that truth was: I knew he loved me, unquestionably, unconditionally, whether I was adopted or not. The truth was: His love is relentless, unyielding, passionate, unfailing, perfect.

instruction of Paul to the Philippians to “be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6–7 NKJV).

Do you know the first thing Jesus did with that meager offering? He looked up to heaven and gave thanks to God for the little he was given by the boy. I wonder what it was like for that boy to see his meager meal held up to the heavens by the hands of a grateful Jesus. Jesus, of course, knew it wasn’t going to remain little, that it was about to be multiplied into great abundance. But let’s not miss this moment. The Son of God, holding our offering up to Almighty God and blessing it with his thanks! Remember Kalli, unable to imagine what she could possibly do to help but volunteering anyway? We need to be like her. We don’t need to know how God is going to use our meager offering. We only need to know that he wants to use it. Always remember that God celebrates our gifts to him and blesses them. Next, Jesus broke the bread and the fish. When he blessed it, there were five and two. But when he broke it, we lose count. The more Jesus broke the bread and fish, the more there was to feed and nourish. The disciples started distributing the food, and soon what was broken was feeding thousands. The miracle is in the breaking. It is in the breaking that God multiplies not enough into more than enough. Are there broken places in your life so painful that you fear the breaking will destroy you? Do you come from a broken home? Did you have a broken marriage? Did you have a broken past? Have you experienced brokenness in your body? Have your finances been broken? You may think your brokenness has disqualified you from being able to run in the divine relay, but as with my own life and Kalli’s, when we give God our brokenness, it qualifies us to be used by God to carry a baton of hope, restoration, and grace to others on the sidelines who are broken.

Make sure that you don’t get so absorbed and exhausted in taking care of all your day-by-day obligations that you lose track of the time and doze off, oblivious to God. The night is about over, dawn is about to break. Be up and awake to what God is doing! God is putting the finishing touches on the salvation work he began when we first believed. We can’t afford to waste a minute, must not squander these precious daylight hours in frivolity and indulgence, in sleeping around and dissipation, in bickering and grabbing everything in sight. Get out of bed and get dressed! Don’t loiter and linger, waiting until the very last minute. Dress yourselves in Christ, and be up and about! ROMANS 13:11 – 14 MSG

God’s light is tender, not harsh. As you trust him with your pain, he will gently shine his healing light on all your wounds. He is for you, not against you—and will never shame you or humiliate you (Romans 8:31). That kind of treatment is not in his nature. He is good, merciful, and kind. He didn’t cause your pain, but he’s ready to help you through it.

Shame eats away at the core of who we are.

children of Israel took when they left Egypt (Exodus 13–15). Released by the Egyptian

...when it comes to the issue of life and death I have no authority. Only God can give life and only He has the right to take it away.

I choose to remind myself that you have not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. I

Vision will get you inspired, discipline will take you there.

Remember that the valley of death through which you are walking truly is a shadow, and that shadow does not define you or your life.

Remember that the valley of death through which you are walking truly is a shadow, and that shadow does not define you or your life. Jesus does.

fame can be a bad thing when you let the light spotlight that's shining on you shine brighter than the spotlight coming from within you

That’s why the old saying goes that failing to forgive is like ingesting poison and expecting the other person to die.

If our trust in God is limited to our understanding, then we have actually made a god of our understanding and ceased worshipping the true One.

God wants us having the right conversations with the right people so we land in the right place. Especially when our questions cause us to question God.

When winds of storms come — and we know they will — we will ride the storms on his wings. When the challenges, trials, and obstacles come, he will catapult us to the next level of faith.

Know your lane. Stay in your lane. Love your lane. Jesus called you to your lane. Jesus equipped you for your lane. Jesus empowers you in your lane. Jesus is with you in your lane. You have grace for your race.

Fear is just a feeling that will pass. It is not reality. Christ at work in you and through you is reality. When you learn to see areas of fear as places where trust is about to grow, fear gives way to courage.

One packed lunch. A meager amount of food. It was all the boy had, but he offered it all. If the boy had kept his little lunch, it would have remained little. If you keep your little, it will remain little as well. But if you step into the exchange zone ready to offer what little you have to be used by God in moving the baton forward, your little will be multiplied as you run. When the boy gave his little to Jesus, Jesus blessed it, and it became much in his hands. It is never about how little we have. It is about what our little has the potential to become in the hands of a miracle-working God. Don’t focus on what you don’t have, what you can’t do, what isn’t enough. Just offer your “not enough” to God, and he will multiply it into more than enough.

The miracle is in the breaking. It is in the breaking that God multiplies not enough into more than enough. Are there broken places in your life so painful that you fear the breaking will destroy you? Do you come from a broken home? Did you have a broken marriage? Did you have a broken past? Have you experienced brokenness in your body? Have your finances been broken? You may think your brokenness has disqualified you from being able to run in the divine relay, but as with my own life and Kalli’s, when we give God our brokenness, it qualifies us to be used by God to carry a baton of hope, restoration, and grace to others on the sidelines who are broken. What should have disqualified Kalli from the race was the very thing that qualified her for it. Put your broken pieces into God’s hands and watch him use them to work his wonders.

...a bad diet will eventually kill our dreams. It's essential that we constantly evaluate the nutritional value of what we are feeding ourselves. It may come down to how many hours of television we're viewing, the quality of the programs we're watching, what music we're listening to, the material we're reading, the conversations we're having, the movies we're seeing, the Web sites we're visiting, the video games we're playing, or the people with whom we're associating. As harmless as these may sometimes seem, excessive consumption of things that induce negative thinking, bad habits, and wrong behavior will thwart our potential. A good litmus test is to ask yourself if you're giving more airtime to the media, educators, politicians, economists, pop stars, friends, or tradition than you are to God's Word. To see our dreams actualized, God's Word and His will must take precedence over everything else.

When you believe God is who he says he is, when you hang onto him and his Word in faith, his truth sets you free.6 The truth you store up in silence comes back to you in the storm, and it lifts you away as on a life raft from the fears and disappointments that would otherwise pull you under. When you abide in his Word, he abides in you.

Each of these individuals had at one time believed it was impossible for them to make a difference in a global problem. But they’ve discovered that together, with each of them carrying their own unique batons, they are unstoppable in carrying out God’s plan. That sounds far too complex to be real, doesn’t it? It sounds impossible. Fantastic! Impossible is God’s starting point.

...if we're to experience change in our very nature, we need to enter the cocoon of the Word of God. When you sit in your lounge room or your favorite chair reading the Bible, think caterpillar. It's like you're spinning your own spiritual cocoon. It's in the confines of the cocoon that the unseen work is done in the caterpillar...This is exactly what happens to us when we abide in the Word of God. It's here He can do His greatest work in us. As we commit to this process we too will experience internal transformation that in time will cause external change.

What do you see?” my professor asked as he projected a picture of a small black dot in the middle of a very big white screen. I was sitting in Psychology 101 during my years at Sydney University. We all responded immediately: “A black dot.” I was excited, thinking, If all of the questions are as easy as this one, this course is going to be easy! The prof looked out over the class and paused for several seconds before he asked again, “What do you see?” Thinking he must not have heard us properly the first time, we repeated even more loudly: “A black dot!” Again he paused . . . and then asked the same question a third time. Now he had my attention. And when still, on the third try, none of us provided the correct answer, he explained — and gave me a lesson I will never forget. “You were all so focused on the little black dot in the center of the screen that none of you noticed the dominant image on the screen: the large white space covering the screen top to bottom, left to right.” I couldn’t believe I had missed it. Suddenly it was obvious. There was far more white space than black dot. Whatever I chose to focus on had my attention. There is always much more white space than there is space covered by little black dots — we simply need to recognize and focus on it. In class, that idea seemed like an easy notion — easier than it has proven to be in life. Because the harsh reality is that the black dots of our lives — the trials, challenges, disappointments, obstacles, and hurdles we face as we run — will naturally draw and consume our attention. Our enemy would love to get us to focus on those black dots and convince us they define and shape our lives and determine our destiny. But in the divine relay, we are to fix our eyes on Jesus. He is the “white space” of God’s power at work in the universe, and the trials we face are but a tiny speck, a black dot, in comparison. As we learn to focus on the vastness of God’s eternal, amazing work on this planet, those black dots will cease to blemish our lives.

If the light that is on you is brighter than the light that is in you, the light that is on you will destroy you.

Psalm 37:23 promises us that the steps of a righteous woman are ordered and established by the Lord. What a promise!

I’ve learned that just because something has died, God’s promises, plans, and purposes for my life have not. In fact, they are still very much alive. I know there are times when life upends us and we have to accept what we don’t want to accept, but I have found that if we can separate the circumstances we’re facing from God’s overall purpose for our lives, then we can have the hope we need to keep moving forward.

A harder assignment, though, is to purge our minds from past events. If we spend time replaying every scene when we failed or when someone hurt us, abused us, or disappointed us, then we will struggle to move forward.

Everything in our world that can be shaken will be shaken. From a global scale to our personal lives. And yet, the Bible assures us it doesn’t matter what happens politically, morally, socially, or economically in the world around us if we have Christ in us—if we have the kingdom of God within us—because with Christ and in Christ, we can have unshakeable faith.

God’s image is only fully reflected in both man and woman. When we denigrate a woman, we are in fact diminishing part of the image of God. When we exclude women, we exclude part of God. When we put women down, we tarnish the image of God. Psalm

Godly relationships will help grow, replenish, and refuel us so we can continually move closer to our dreams... It's critical that we constantly evaluate whom we're in relationships with to ensure they're taking us toward our dreams and not holding us back from our destinies.

Reciprocated the handshake with a full tooth grin, the man’s mouth twitches upwards on the right, dimpling his cheek. He replies. “My name is Cain, Cain Pierre.

Too often we frame things as though we are waiting for God, but what if God is waiting for us?

You don’t have time to linger over the past because you are too busy running into the future. When God determines that it is time to hand off a baton, it is only because we have taken it as far as we can and he has something else for us to do. After all, we need to let go of one baton in order to take hold of another.

Jesus, show me the gaps between what I say I believe and how I live—and help me close those gaps. I want to effectively show Your amazing gospel truth.

Of course we are small, but God is huge. Of course we have limitations, but God is limitless. Of course we are weak, but God is strong. Of course we are finite, but God is infinite. Of course we are imperfect, but God is perfect. Of course we fail, but God never fails. Of course we can choose to stop, but God is unstoppable.

Let’s commit to focusing on Jesus—the One who calms the storms. Then we won’t be overwhelmed by our circumstances, problems, challenges, or feelings. We won’t fear any waves of opposition. Instead, faith will rise up and make us unshakeable!

Whatever you’re facing, God invites you to “fix [your] eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen” (2 Corinthians 4:18). There is an eternal, unseen purpose beyond this crisis.

During hard times and dark times, remember that God is doing good that you are yet to see. It is coming to a wondrous resolution, in His time.

And He is in control of yours. If you’ve been rocked by an emotional earthquake, look to Him; His love will hold you together too.

Your gift of love, God, sustains me when my world turns upside down, and I am grateful. I love You, Lord.

Stay committed to continually pressing against those things that would pull you away from Jesus and toward those things that help you run unhindered.

Lord Jesus, please give me the energy, strength, perseverance, and stamina I need to keep pressing on in my relationship with You. I’m in this race until the end!