Shannon L. Alder Quotes

If you don't know what you value in life, then you won't be able to make any meaningful decisions you can live with in the future.

A lie has no power, until you believe it.

When you know what you want you will be excited about it and give every ounce of effort to making it come true. No excuse or fear will get in your way because peace is found in focus.

I have always found the hardest mind to change is one that is religious.

Many of the most powerful things in life are not tangible. All it takes is for you to close your eyes to see.

When you understand what love is you will understand that mercy and forgiveness feels better than any form of revenge.

Love is stronger than fear.

I will never give up on what I love. I will never back down. I will never let go of anything that is important to me. I will hold my course steady and my God will help me see it through. This is my promise, my anthem and my path. This is my future and I own it.

The mind knows the truth when your heart denies what it feels. When you don't feel safe to let people in it is because you're not ready to deal with the pain of honesty.

Often what people don't say or leave out, tells the real story.

It takes a hell of a lot of courage to walk into your own story, but to be the hero of your own life you have to rescue yourself.

Often the truth is in front of your face, but your eyes and heart are so full of lies that you can't see it.

The best plot twists are the ones you didn't expect.

When you get it, give it away and you will always keep it forever.~(knowledge)

All great beginnings start in the dark, when the moon greets you to a new day at midnight.

I don't understand why some people would even try to categorize you. After watching "Duck Dynasty", who would have thunk?

The devil lives in the shadow of subtle things
those things people keep hidden from others. They reside in the lies they tell themselves, in order to justify their pain or fear. It is the slight, the dig, the silence and the unspoken truth that we minimize to a passive aggressive status, as if it were a lesser evil. Integrity is not subtle. It speaks loudly, so everyone can hear and be healed. It is something you will never have to search for because it is seen and felt.

Every storm is a classroom and every person a lesson or teacher.

The problem with our culture is we cling to so many different truths. Yet, the truths that we cling to also depend on our point of view. Maybe, the journey to a truth that can be free of hatred, bias and injustice requires a journey of the soul to see all view points.

Life will either shrink or expand based on your decision to have courage.

Never keep your brain so full that people's opinions take up every pew in your mind, and truth has to be "born again" before it is believed.

Never be ashamed of who you are. True shame always belongs to the person that enjoys being ashamed of who you are.

Betrayal is an ironic thing. He or she betrays you then you betray yourself. You think you're showing strength with your anger, but in reality you're showing how much you still care.

When a man plays with your heart it is for one of two reasons: He knows he can or he is undecided.

In the end, what will you fight for
what got there first, what got there last or what has been there all along?

With humor and humility you can withstand anything.

You knew...and that is why it hurts so bad.

Hope has a way of casting shadows on the truth.

The changes we make in life often happen when we have a degree of certainty. However, the pain of our past failures and the fears of our peers often fuel our uncertainty. This inability to predict the future is why people find themselves stuck and unable to move forward. They don't want to feel the emotions of failure. They prefer to talk themselves into settling for an "okay" life, rather than the life they really want. However, failure is a matter of perspective! Is it not failure when you don't take a chance on the one thing you need? There is no happiness in regret, staying safe or settling for anything less than what you can have through action.

The victory is not to change the mind of the critic; it is to evaluate what you can learn and discard, yet still walk away with peace in your heart.

Commitment is the foundation of focus.

Sometimes our wants or needs have nothing to do with being ungrateful and everything to do with making a mistake.

Empowered Women 101: Real women don't tell the world or elude to it on Pinterest, Facebook or any other social media platform that they are in an awful relationship. It is disrespectful to the person you say you love. Plus, it is self abusive to yourself. Ask yourself these questions: What if everyone you knew read it? Would your significant other be upset or humiliated? Why are you posting it (pity, anxiety, fear, desperateness, inmaturity)? And why do you want people to know?

See it for what it is and own it, rather than rethink it so you don't have to deal with the trauma of the abuse. This is the only way to move on--through acceptance.

The people meant to be in your life will look inside, not just stare at the pretty bow on the box.

Your expectations of other people should never be greater than what you expect of God. Why is it that you can patiently wait for him to make your life better, but you won't consider he is patiently waiting for you to be better?

All we have is "One Life", so go for IT!

Most inspirational writers were born as driftwood and will say they have been beaten against every shoreline during their life. We understand storms. We understand drowning. We understand being devalued. We understand being stranded alone on a beach. God made us this way so we would know where every lighthouse can be found and tell others how to find them. We were never meant to stand on the beach with you because every rescue we do rescues ourselves. We always go back to the sea because that is where driftwood belongs
forever searching for answers to our endless questions and sharing what we learned ... (2012, Writer's Conference)

Spirituality has a language of it's own and some people haven't learned to speak it.

Spiritual pain is when you can't stand another moment not knowing the real truth, and when you finally do know you can't let go.

Fear is the glue that keeps you stuck. Faith is the solvent that sets you free.

True regret is knowing you missed your only opportunity to be simply a good friend to someone that was exactly like you.

Empowered Women 101: A confident and faithful woman that loves herself and knows what she is capable of creating will attract the right man that will want to be part of that plan. God won't bring her a man that she has to mold into what she wants him to be. A relationship is about two people helping one another grow, not just one.

Quitters always believe the lies they tell themselves because delusion is easier to live with than the reality that they settled for an easier path.

Never settle on a life you don't want when God is trying to give you a better life.

Two people with mental issues in a relationship does not work. It's like sitting in a boat and neither one has an oar to row the other to shore. You can meet your mirror image in life, but that doesn't mean you should marry him.

The way to happiness is by truth. Seek to be true in all things and you will have a foundation to build your future.

Gratitude can't grow love higher than regret.

When criticism doesn't make sense, it is usually coming from a different place.

You will never get what you want if you believe that you are not worthy of having it. God doesn't create us to be defeated.

There are so many things we can have in this world, but only 10 percent of it changes the condition of someone's heart.

Timing is only lack of enough emotions.

God doesn't call us to mediocrity. He calls us to a greater standard that doesn't teach us to tear people down to reach him, but to lift others up. Be the type of person that when people walk away from you, they know who you represent!

Music is the emotions that words can not express.

When your mind wants to bolt, but your heart hangs on, it is because you don't know with absolute certainty what the truth is. When you waste so much time on something that you want to believe is true, you begin to overthink things. Eventually, something obvious becomes twisted into something absurd, which keeps us from believing a simpler answer. Over time, you believe your own lies and fantasies to shield yourself from hurt, when following what is logical would have been the quickest way to healing. It is through your own self-imposed delusions that you lose your perspective. The world then becomes different to you when in fact you are different. Why? Because your own ego gets in the way. Everyone wants to feel special. Everyone wants to have faith in others. Everyone wants to believe in fairytales, happy endings and have all bad interactions with others explained. It is easier to sit in denial with your delusions and pray God will intervene, not realizing he has. He gave you commonsense and intuition, but you didn't like how it made you feel. This is what true mental illness really is: Following your gut instinct through hell because you want to prove you are right, either to yourself or others. You sacrifice choosing to do right, in order to avoid pain. However, you don't realize that you have been in pain for a really long time and believed this was how happiness felt.

Life always begins with one step outside of your comfort zone.

When you forgive those that hurt you, they no longer have control over your future happiness. Their anger keeps them a prisoner to your past, while you enjoy the present.

The problem with people that ignore people they dislike is they can't ignore them. Anger carries a person in your mind forever, whether you choose to speak to them or not. Therefore, don't mistake prosperity or accomplishments as resolution. You can't escape what you will not deal with. The day you can stand in the room with someone and not be affected is the day you truly moved on.

Christ's version of kindness:
I know you are hurt. I contributed to that. Maybe, I should have said more. Done more. Listened. I am sorry for my part in the situation. I am sorry if I caused you any pain or confused you with my actions or words. How can I help you move on? I want you to have peace in your life. Let's end this by communicating.
The world's perverted version of kindness:
You caused your own pain. You get what you get. Get over it and move on. Maybe, one day you will figure out what happiness really means. By the way, I am not responsible for giving it to you. Nor, do I have to put up with people that don't bring me joy or who I can't trust. I am only responsible for myself. I will pray for you because I am a good Christian.

Sometimes, you have to go through a bunch of life lessons before God unites you with the person you were meant to be with.

Always have the guts to tell people the things they must hear. Because your words, no matter how difficult to say, might be the gift to their freedom. Maybe, your unfounded fears were never theirs. Because truth is how people move on.

You will know the person who was meant to be in your life by how they make you feel spiritually. If they live in such a way that inspires you to become better then you have found someone you can evolve with vs. raise.

Sometimes, it will never make sense until you find the right path that makes sense to you and no one else.

Don't ever get to the point where you can't be taught because life is a classroom and everyone owns a pen.

Sometimes the simplest solution out of conflict is becoming someone's friend, instead of saying goodbye forever.

I've never been bothered with my conduct. I've only been bothered by people that don't get it correct when they gossip about me.

That is who I was yesterday. Today I walk with God.

You are only earning the life you get when your inaction allows people to decide for you.

A woman or man of value doesn't love you because of what he or she wants you to be or do for them. He or she loves you because your combined souls understand one another, complements each other, and make sense above any other person in this world. You each share a part of their soul's mirror and see each other's light reflected in it clearly. You can easily speak from the heart and feel safe doing so. Both of you have been traveling a parallel road your entire life. Without each other's presence, you feel like an old friend or family member was lost. It bothers you, not because you have given it too much meaning, but because God did. This is the type of person you don't have to fight for because you can't get rid of them and your heart doesn't want them to leave anyways.

Every broken heart has screamed at one time or another, "I want to know why!

Pour God's love out of you in pitcher fulls, not thimbles.

Sometimes you only get one chance to rewrite the qualities of the character you played in a person's life story. Always take it. Never let the world read the wrong version of you.

Always give your resume of good deeds when you run into someone that you wronged many years ago. They simply need to know today's version of you, before they judge you on yesterday's news.

Courage can't exist without action. Anything else is a lion without his roar.

Before you can live a part of you has to die. You have to let go of what could have been, how you should have acted and what you wish you would have said differently. You have to accept that you can't change the past experiences, opinions of others at that moment in time or outcomes from their choices or yours. When you finally recognize that truth then you will understand the true meaning of forgiveness of yourself and others. From this point you will finally be free.

You are loved deeper than any ocean. Let your mind swim through it's depth because I will never let you drown.

Hey You
You are beautiful.
You are talented.
You are blessed.
You are gifted.
You are smart.
You are funny.
You are fun.
You are loving.
You are lovable.
You are unique.
You are special.
But most of all, you are strong and will get through this because there are others that have gone through something similar. Look for them. Because they are looking for you!

It is not the number of prayers that will give you happiness, but the number you answer for another person.

People who made their dreams come true didn't simply go after it. They changed the person they were, in order to fit the type of person that would live that type of dream.

Empowered Women 101: Happiness is something that you establish before a relationship. It is not the relationship that establishes it first.

The only battles we face in love are the battle to know our worth and the battle to know when our boundaries need to be protected.

Judgement of others and ourselves always comes from a place of fear. It is fear that keeps us from living authentically all that we say we value.

If you have never met a woman that would never give up, then you have never met a woman that has seen miracles.

Extraordinary change can happen in your life, but it will take extraordinary people, extraordinary courage and extraordinary faith to believe that this won't be a repeat of your past.

You had me at hello, goodbye and everything in between.

The life mission God gave you was only appointed to you. If you are faithful, God will send someone into your life to support it. If your are blessed, he will send someone who shares your passion. If you are chosen, he will unlock every door that stands in your way.

When a person is punished for their honesty they begin to learn to lie.

Commonsense will never come from following your heart; wisdom is only stored in the mind.

The empty spaces of your soul are the ones you search for, pray for and want so desperately to be filled. They are also the spaces that will never be filled, until you are ready to do something you have never done.

It is growing up different. It is extreme hypersensitivity. It is a bottomless pit of feeling you're failing, but three days later, you feel you can do anything, only to end the week where you began. It is not learning from your mistakes. It is distrusting people because you have been hurt enough. It is moments of knowing your pain is self inflicted, followed by blaming the world. It is wanting to listen, but you just can't anymore because your life has been to full of people that have judged you. It is fighting to be right; so for once in your life someone will respect and hear you for a change. It is a tiring life of endless games with people, in order to seek stimulus. It is a hyper focus, so intense about what bothers you, that you can't pay attention to anything else, for very long. It is a never-ending routine of forgetting things. It is a boredom and lack of contentment that keeps you running into the arms of anyone that has enough patience to stick around. It wears you out. It wears everyone out. It makes you question God's plan. You misinterpret everything, and you allow your creative mind to fill the gaps with the same old chains that bind you. It narrows your vision of who you let into your life. It is speaking and acting without thinking. It is disconnecting from the ones you love because your mind has taken you back to what you can't let go of. It is risk taking, thrill seeking and moodiness that never ends. You hang your hope on "signs" and abandon reason for re

God's justice is always perfect.

When you stop living your life based on what others think of you real life begins. At that moment, you will finally see the door of self acceptance opened.

If you are reading this then you have wasted another day of your life day dreaming, rather than planning the life God intended you to live.

God has a plan and guess what? The plan is to stop waiting for him to do everything for you. The person you want in your life is not a sign. Not a clue. Not a wish. Not a prayer. Not a tarot card or a matter of timing. It is work. It is devotion, and like any dream if you want it then God will open doors for you to obtain it. You just have to stop setting the bar so low that everything below is a sign from God and everything above is asking too much.

Sometimes you can be touched by God, but not healed. Often when this happens, he is using your pain for a greater purpose.

You can't expect the impossible to happen if you don't meet the impossible half way.

Don't look for the ninety percent of the darkness in a person's soul. Look for the ten percent of light they have left, then lend them yours because light was meant to be shared.

Don't pursue anything that doesn't fill your soul with joy because you can always go to Disneyland.

Impossible has always been a dare.

You won't understand where home is until you realize it is the only place your mind takes you back to when every journey ends badly.