Carol and her husband helplessly watched their sixteen-year-old daughter who had attended church and week-end witnessing missions change from a happy teen, to a sullen, uncooperative, school-skipping rebel on drugs. She became cold and hard, rejecting all they stood for. When they came near, she physically avoided their touch.

When a revival came to the Congo, Helen Roseveare, a medical doctor, held herself a little aloof. After all, she was the missionary and she was supposed to have it all together. She had served God in Africa for four years, but she had not come to the place where she was able to let God have total, complete control of every area of her life.

Could God be saying “I want to fill your life with spiritual blessing by speaking to you as you read My Word, but you will not give Me time to do anything for you. It takes time to hear Me.”

A grateful heart is the biggest barrier to depression,” wrote Selwyn Hughes, a Welsh minister.

Some time ago, a friend made a few remarks on the phone about some people. She really had not intended to be critical. Yet after we hung up I realized that I felt negative toward them, and I was going to have to go speak to this group. It’s not worth the effort, I was tempted to think, as negative thoughts rolled in.

When Wanda Alger and her husband, pastors inWinchester, Virginia, learned about “soaking prayer,” they decided to incorporate it into the life of their church.* They discovered that God would share His active presence with those who spent time worshiping Him with no agenda other than taking time to simply linger in His presence with an atmosphere of quiet worship music.

After my daughter Arla read Peggy Joyce Ruth’s book on Psalm 91, she became convinced that praying that psalm for protection was something she should do. She didn’t do it daily, but when she did, she saw answers to prayer. For instance, one morning she felt impressed to pray for her son Peter the verses about angels guarding him in all his ways. That morning, the pickup he was riding in went through a window but no one was injured. She decided she’d better not stop praying Psalm 91.

Lenita was a missionary in Papua New Guinea who had the very generous habit of giving away gifts that were sent to her from friends in the States. It seemed the more she gave, the more she received. She chuckled when she told us that one of the nationals informed her, “You’re going to have to stop giving away so much. You’re getting too many packages.”