Reading - Quotes and Pondering

"The Silent Governess" - Julie Klassen

Over the past year, I have endeavored to read more.  I have made great use of my Nook and the Overdrive Media App that lets me read e-books from the Lincoln Public Libraries.  My goal is to read at least one biography every 4-6 weeks, to read one book to learn from every 4-6 weeks, and then read at least one other book a week.  Since I gave up cable TV in 2004, I have kept busy but not read that much so I decided to begin reading this past year to help distract and relax my busy thinking in the evening, I read for about 30 minutes or so.

I recently discovered a new author (to me):  Julie Klassen.  Her genre is Christian Fiction.  If you like Downton Abbey or Jane Austen, you may like her books.  I have enjoyed each one thus far.

She begins each chapter with a quote, subtle or not-so-subtle, that relates to the chapter.  The above photo of the quote for Chapter 32 in "The Silent Governess" spoke to me as I teach kindergarten Sunday School.

This week I was reading her book "The Tutor's Daughter" and came across several quotables.  Some things succinctly said or to ponder.

From a conversation on page 286, chapter 20:
"Do you not pray?"
"No"
"God is speaking to you every day.  You might return the favor."
"I don't hear Him."
"Do you listen?"
"I used to pray, until I found God was not listening, at least not to my prayers."
"He was listening.  But He doesn't always answer the way we would like Him to.  It's a fallen world.  Sometimes bad things just happen."
"Yes, they do."
"Your prayers or lack thereof are between you and God and are not for me to mettle with or judge."

From a conversation on pages 295-296, Chapter 21:
"What do you believe about God?"
"God?"
"Yes.  You know--our creator. 'Our Father who are in heaven...'?"
"Mar and Par told me about God.  We went to visit him at church."
"Ah.  Well...good.  And do you ever pray?"
"Mar says it is good to pray."
"Do you...believe God hears you?"
"I talk and that is all."
"You don't...feel God's presence?"
"I don't know what that means.  I don't feel...that."
"It is all right if you don't feel it.  Faith is far more than emotion.  More than feelings."
[standing at window together looking a branches of an oak tree bending in the wind]
"We cannot feel the wind from here.  So how do we know it is real?"
"We see it."
"You see the wind?  Where?"
"I see it blowing the branches."
"Right.  We can't feel it from here or see it directly.  But we know it's there because we see it's effects.  What it does.  Like you, I don't always feel God listening or speaking to me.  But I have seen Him answer my prayers and the prayers of others--though not always as I would like, nor as quickly as my impatience desires.  But I have seen the effects of prayer."

From page 378, Chapter 26:
"What mattered in reality was a person's character, what he did with the life and abilities God had given him, and his daily choice to act honorably despite the selfish tendencies and weakness shared by all humans.  What about her?  What should she do now, with the life God had given her?"