Quotes by Lisa Wingate

The hardest thing about the road not taken is that you never know where it might have led.

Somewhere, deep within me, beyond the passion, beyond the beauty of the night, that little spark of Daily magic ignited in me again, began burning in a place that had gone dark and untended, that had yearned to be bright and warm. I felt it now, something old, something new, something complete. Perhaps it had been in there in me all along, the belief that there is a plan and a purpose, that God whispers into every life, some things that are beyond the scope of the mind, and can only be felt with the heart and the spirit. Those dreams, the dreams that are dreamed *for* us, not by us, are the truest of all.

Your children are the greatest gift God will give to you, and their souls the heaviest responsibility He will place in your hands. Take time with them, teach them to have faith in God. Be a person in whom they can have faith. When you are old, nothing else youve done will have mattered as much.

Everything you want waits on the other side of fear.

The past must be let go before the future can be grasped.

I think of an old sermon my grandfather quoted from time to time— something about not looking back when you’re plowing a field, but instead finding a mark in the distance and focusing on that. Otherwise, the rows won’t come out straight.

Sooner or later, the future always circles back to the past.

What does a lighthouse do? I ask myself. It never moves. It cannot hike up its rocky skirt and dash into the ocean to rescue the foundering ship. It cannot calm the waters or clear the shoals. It can only cast light into the darkness. It can only point the way. Yet, through one lighthouse, you guide many ships. Show this old lighthouse the way.

One of the secrets to life, Epiphany, is to find your gifts and focus on those. Leave your liabilities in the dust of the road not taken. The world is an imperfect place. Everyone struggles. Successful people see trials as growth experiences, rather than stumbling blocks. You have everything you need for success. Youre a beautiful young woman, and youre strong, and you have a clever mind. If you let anyone convince you otherwise, you steal from yourself.

The trouble with drowning in the mess of your own life is that youre not in any shape to save anyone else. You cant be a lighthouse when youre underwater yourself.

...The most important thing, I think. You cant run from your past. You have to take it for what it is and realize that its part of you.

Generally, crises were Moms domain. Dads job was to listen, nod, act curmudgeonly, and offer to pay for things.

My heart filled with Nicks smile, with the look of sheer adoration he gave me as he lugged the bucket. In the space of an instant, I felt it again—the crumbling of an old part of me, the growth of something new. The changing of my heart into a mothers heart. It happened at the strangest times, in the most unexpected ways. Nick looked at me, and the love I felt for him was almost painful in its intensity. Id never known I had it in me, the capacity to love this way. ... But when Nick looked at me, my mind tumbled through nights and mornings, seasons and years in the future. ... I saw a future like none Id ever imagined. I wanted it, every minute of it.

How can God allow such abominations to flourish unchecked in this world?The answer came in a question, Ruby.God, in reply, asked, How can you?

Even when we are lost, God has not lost us.

I wrote about the rush of love, the changing of a woman into a mother—a process that happened without conscious thought, as if the heart knew what the mind and body took time to learn. Love is the one thing that matters. That makes everything else matter. That makes everything worthwhile.

Every decision you make in life has benefits and consequences. Sometimes you just have to go on faith, and even that comes at a price. It means you have to give up the idea that you’re the one in charge of the universe.

A person must have principles, Epiphany. Thats the one thing no one can take from you. The only way you can lose your principles is to give them up. Remember that.

Help them to show the world that our greatness is not in things we do for ourselves, but in things we do for others.

That’s the only thing you can do with a mess. Start cleaning it up, a little at a time.