Janette Oke Quotes

Saul of Tarsus. The young man's face was aflame with the same fiery vengeance that filled Ezra's heart. The elders dropped their cloaks of office by Saul's feet and moved forward as the crowd unfolded. That was how it seemed to Ezra. They were a human fist, cloaked not in their robes but in rage, and they flexed their fingers in preparation of doing away with the man who dared offend the Sanhedrin. ~ Janette Oke

She had a hard time to keep from running. ~ Janette Oke

The compass needle tells the truth, Beth, even in a storm. And then one must adjust the rest of one's circumstances in accordance - even though sometimes it feels amiss. It reminds me that the Bible is like that too. It tells us the truth, and then we must adjust our thinking, our actions, to match. ~ Janette Oke

To let go of even life, if need be, and accept his calling. ~ Janette Oke

How we leave the world is more important than how we enter it. ~ Janette Oke

I want to thank you for that. Personally. Whether you knew it at that time or not, you had a great deal to do with shaping the life and character of the man I have come to love ~ Janette Oke

God is like that, Virginia concluded. He's always on duty. Moving from one need to another. Always there- for everyone. He'll get us through this. He has a way. ~ Janette Oke

In the book of Isaiah, one of our holy texts written by a prophet of old, there are these words: 'Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord almighty will accomplish this. ~ Janette Oke

Impatience can cause wise people to do foolish things. ~ Janette Oke

We'll wire ahead and have your trunks sent back - because I'm not letting you go after them. Trunks or no trunks, you're staying here - where you belong." I had no objections. ~ Janette Oke

began to move through the group of women. At first she tried to imitate Stephen. Walking. Talking. Praying. Placing hands on those who longed for human acceptance. And then, something happened. It was no longer all about Stephen. It was not even about Stephen's ministry. It was God's Holy Spirit ministering through her hands, her feet, her lips. It was God who had brought her here on this day. To see the need. To realize that in his name she could bring them blessing. To do what he wished her to do for these discarded ones of society. People that he loved, had died for. People he had come to save. ~ Janette Oke

Sometimes, the darkest part of the morning is just before dawn ~ Janette Oke

When they were done, the stones lay heaped upon the still form. The crowd dispersed like crows flying from empty bones. The elders picked up their robes and walked away. The mob was now silent. No one met the gaze of his neighbor. They drifted away, until only Ezra stood at one side, Saul on the other. ~ Janette Oke

Stephen remained untouched. Instead, the illumination surrounding him strengthened further, as though all light in the chamber was drawn to this one man. Stephen lifted his face toward the chamber's ceiling and cried, "Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!" These words unleashed both the Council and the mob. The chamber was filled with shrill cries demanding he be condemned to death. ~ Janette Oke

We light the candle and ask the Lord Jehovah to illuminate the week ahead. We sprinkle spices into the flame and remind ourselves that the Sabbath should remain a sweet scent in our lives, flavoring the days to come. ~ Janette Oke

This is life in a fallen world, where wars come and go, where nations rage and people cry in torment. We must be strong, not in ourselves, but in Him. And trust that His love and His wisdom and His light will see us through. ~ Janette Oke

People who live in fear tend to do a powerful lot of nothing. ~ Janette Oke

When God allows something to be taken from you, He replaces it with something better. ~ Janette Oke

It may sound simplistic, but is meant wholeheartedly. We are so privileged to have the Scriptures ~ Janette Oke

Getting things accomplished isn't nearly as important as taking time for love. ~ Janette Oke

I was going to need help. I knew of only one true source readily available to me. I stopped for a few moments of prayer. ~ Janette Oke

The experience was both vivid and wrenching. The convicting reflections on all his impure thoughts and desires could not have been clearer. It felt as though some inner awareness had now been awakened. With each word Stephen prayed, the experience only grew stronger. On the other side, each of those desires and yearnings was being lifted up for inspection - not only his, he realized. Something else was inside him, something new. . . . He could only identify it as God. Not merely the Judean God. My God. God was helping him sift and sort - those selfish and evil desires pushed to one side, the hunger for truth and holy living gathered on the other. ~ Janette Oke

Who knows what exciting things might be just over the next hill. ~ Janette Oke

Without that forgiveness, that peace, no heart is ever happy. There is always an inner struggle. Pain. Only when God has been invited in-to manage one's life, to direct one's thinking, to be in control-can one ever get away from all the conflicts inside. We have to stop struggling against His will before we can find real joy. ~ Janette Oke

Mary and I have spent quite a bit of time with the Master. I saw him teach, I saw him heal, I saw him dine with his disciples, I saw him leave, and I saw him return. And this is what I think: I believe every moment of his entire life has been spent setting an example. Every breath, every act, every word, carries message upon message upon message. His every instant was meant to bring eternity into the moment and hope to this fallen world. The death of my brother, our time of broken mourning, our loss of hope . . . ~ Janette Oke

Arguments over Scriptures held the same power and importance as the way they dressed, the rituals they followed for prayer and for eating. All of this was intended to divide. To separate them from the rest. Either a person was part of their exclusive group or he was an outcast. Others might call themselves Judeans. They might consider themselves the Chosen, the followers of the One True God. But if politics or habits or interpretation of the Holy Book did not follow that of the Pharisees, they were doomed. ~ Janette Oke

God knows best. We can trust Him with our lives as well as our eternal souls. He does not take something from us without filling that spot with something just as good
and because it's from Him, even much better ~ Janette Oke

Some tea?" "I wouldn't say no, sir." When ~ Janette Oke

Ezra felt his heart cry out, as though it were branded by the stone he now held. Then he roared against the tide of regret and anguish that suddenly filled him, a piercing grief for he knew not what. Ezra cast the first stone. Stephen was struck hard. But he straightened, lifted his eyes and his voice to heaven, and cried, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." The stones rained down upon him even as his face was lifted to the heavens, shining with that same light as in the Council chamber. The last words Ezra heard him speak were, "Lord, do not charge them with this sin. ~ Janette Oke

Contrary to common belief, Christian fiction did not begin with Catherine Marshall, Janette Oke, or Frank Peretti. ~ Randy Alcorn

You are not asking me. I am asking you. Our lives are in God's hands now. Perhaps he has plans, a mission for us to fulfill. Instead of a soldier of Rome, you might now be a messenger of God. But if not, then I still choose to be your wife, for whatever time he allows us to have. ~ Janette Oke

Many of the girls wear simple dresses to church. We do not make a point of 'dressing up,' nor do we study one another to see what is being worn. Nor does God. It's our hearts He views as we enter the doors to His church. Not our clothing. ~ Janette Oke

Number 12, always remember that I love you -both of you."
"Oh, Willie, ya silly goose! ~ Janette Oke

I wiped the drips from my face and shook my hands free of the coldness and told Wynn how good it tasted. Wynn drank, too, as a reminder to himself that he had been right. No other water on earth tastes quite like that of a mountain stream. ~ Janette Oke

When men don't have God, they need substitutes. To my way of thinking, whiskey is a poor substitute - but many men depend upon it. But what I am angry about is that they didn't obey my orders. ~ Janette Oke

I love him. Have loved him through each of his growing stages. But I do not want him to stay the same. I want him to grow. To mature. To become everything God has in mind for him. To be a man. Accept responsibility. Be a leader ... And he will. I have every confidence he will. He's on the right track-your brother. Following the leading of his Lord. I want him to change, but I never want him to leave behind the solid base he has already established for who he is deep inside. But I also want him to build and develop and carefully nurture that inner self. And as that happens, there will be changes. ~ Janette Oke

Don't be fooled. Charlie remembers things exactly the way he wants to remember them. I suppose we all do ... And then we spend the rest of our lives basing the way we think about our families on what we THOUGHT happened
instead of what really did. ~ Janette Oke

How did it all come about - this miracle of love? She didn't know. It had come upon her unawares... softly. ~ Janette Oke

The Hellenized Judeans are not happy with the distribution process. They don't feel their own widows and orphans are being properly and fairly cared for. ~ Janette Oke

Sometimes I cannot understand the things men do. The way they gnash and tear at one another - it's worse than wolves or foxes. ~ Janette Oke

If she remember right, people who had a God didn't seem to hold to drinking' an' beating' their women. With a little luck maybe she wouldn't have to put up with that anyway. ~ Janette Oke

I pushed it aside. I didn't want to get love feelin's all mixed in with my bitter ones. The one might somehow destroy the other. ~ Janette Oke

My name be Clark Davis", he hurried on,"an it peers to me thet you an' me be in need of one another". ~ Janette Oke

Why did civilization make things seem so much more difficult? ~ Janette Oke

Buried under the biggest burden is a good place to find an even bigger blessing. ~ Janette Oke

Stephen and the others at the table broke the bread in the baskets before them, and one of the others then prayed about a broken vessel, a perfect sacrifice. Words Linux knew he should have understood, because Stephen had spent their last two sessions explaining what would happen during the communion service. How they followed a pattern that had been set in place at their last meal with the Messiah during the Passover feast, the night before he had been taken from them. Linux knew all these things, yet he was unprepared for what was happening. Not there at the front table, as next the wine was poured and blessed and shared. No, what was happening inside him. ~ Janette Oke

Treasure the moments, her heart whispered. If you don't learn to treasure the moments, you'll never be able to treasure the memories. ~ Janette Oke

A quiet morning with a loving God puts the events of the upcoming day into proper perspective. ~ Janette Oke

Dear Lord, you know our need and how much we depend upon your help. We're not going to give you orders about what to do, God. We are just going to thank you for being there when we need you. In the name of Jesus, your Son. Amen. ~ Janette Oke

Memories are so fragile, you know. Sometimes I feel they are best left undisturbed. ~ Janette Oke

Despite their poverty, their tragic pasts, their own sorrows, they stood before her in strength and spoke with a wisdom that defied their circumstances. ~ Janette Oke

Sir!" Alban came to rigid attention as his feet smacked the floor and saluted. "Centurion Alban reporting to the garrison commander, sir!" "I ~ Janette Oke

When you read you can have every adventure. In the pages of a book you can be anyone you ever dreamed of being ... They can never tell you you're too young to slay the dragon
because it all happens right here, where it's safe. ~ Janette Oke

Part of learning to count my blessings is accepting that many of them I would not have chosen if ~ Janette Oke

Little is much, If love abides ~ Janette Oke

Written, preserved, and passed on to us. What an indescribable blessing it is for us ~ Janette Oke

The Sadducees are Hellenized Judeans and dominate the Council. The Pharisees are a minority on the Council, and consider the Sadducees to be their, well - " "Their enemy. ~ Janette Oke

Memories were not always pleasant, she decided. Memories could bring pain, too. She ~ Janette Oke

The cake had been done by a lady friend of Mary's. It was simpler than it would have been had she been given more time; but I was finding more and more beauty in simplicity. ~ Janette Oke

do not know the answer. So I have returned to the things I do know. We are children of God. God is holy. He is merciful. But he is also just. He does not delight in punishing his own. So this . . . this indiscretion was serious in the eyes of God. More serious than we as his creatures might have made it to be. Had God ignored it, would one lie have grown into two? Multiplied many times over? What would the end have been? Total disregard for who God is? Would we, as his people, eventually lose all proper holy fear? ~ Janette Oke

Linux had paid little attention to the games themselves. The sport of blood had never held him. Linux had a warrior's scorn for gladiators and the maiming of man or beast as entertainment. But for Jacob, a young Judean lad with no concept of Roman games, it clearly had been a terrible shock. The boy's occasional shudder indicated the level of his distress. ~ Janette Oke

Live life to the foolish coz life is to short to be wasted ~ Janette Oke

I shoulda taken ya into town, Missie. Gave ya a chance to see the outside world again, to visit an' chat. I missed yer need, Missie, an'-an' ya never complain-jest let me go on, makin' dumb mistakes right an' left. A sorry-looking bunch of cowpokes, a work-crazy husband an' a baby who can't say more than 'goo' ain't much fer company. Yet ya never, never say a thing 'bout it. I love you, too, Missie-so very much. ~ Janette Oke

And I have discovered that God had it all planned, even before I had caught on to it. ~ Janette Oke

Look!" I cried. "A moose - two mooses." Wynn smiled and nodded his head as he followed my pointing finger. He turned to me and said simply, "I must correct you, Elizabeth, so you won't be laughed at. - Moose is both singular and plural. ~ Janette Oke

I loved seeing your world. It truly was fascinating. But as the days and weeks went by, I was so homesick for the rivers, the forests, I could hardly wait to come home. ~ Janette Oke

A person doesn't demonstrate independence by rebelling. You do it by shouldering responsibilities, making wise, thoughtful decisions. ~ Janette Oke

Blessings sometimes show up in unrecognizable disguises. ~ Janette Oke

As I looked at them, I found my mind rushing ahead to the wedding planned for the first part of September, and I wondered what flowers would be available. That was another decision that had to be made. Oh, my! Was there no end to them? It seemed that ever since Wynn had asked me to become his wife, I had been making one decision after the other - some big and some not-so-big. As my thoughts turned to Wynn, I smiled to myself. How fortunate I was to be engaged to marry such a man. He was everything a girl could ever desire - his height, his bearing, his smile, his quiet self-assurance, his caring. And he loved me! I would have gone on and on daydreaming but Kathleen interrupted me. ~ Janette Oke

He must be suffering, too. She had noted the weary sag of his shoulders, the quivering lips, the tear- filled eyes. Somehow she had never thought of him as hurting- of being capable of understanding how she felt. ~ Janette Oke

So he has touched you, and yet there is much you do not yet understand. How are you to fathom all that is happening? What shall be the direction from inside for what you think? How you shall live? Where you will go? The answer, my new brother, is found within the sacred texts. Together we will begin to study them, you and I. You will learn to speak with God directly. And you will discover how to listen to him speak with you. ~ Janette Oke

When tragedy happens a real family pulls together, mine ripped apart. ~ Janette Oke

Understanding comes from within, from knowing and trusting in the Lord. ~ Janette Oke

Some dreams are meant to be handed over to God. To be remolded and redirected in keeping with his will. Sometimes our plans do not fit with the plans of God. Linux helped ... ~ Janette Oke

Stephen raised his hands and shouted, "You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you!" Ezra saw lances of genuine pain stab each of the men seated at the Council table. He felt again the power of his own guilt and regret and distress. Stephen finished with, "You now have become the betrayers and murderers, you who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it! ~ Janette Oke

Whenever something comes into our life that hurts us, we do the decidin' - do I let this work for my good, as God intended, or do I let bitterness grow like a bothersome canker sore in my soul? ~ Janette Oke

I beg you to stop your arguing and listen. The prophets speak of this time, when the Chosen One of God will cleave us apart, separating the believers from those who will be cast into the outer darkness. Have you ever in all your days seen a time when the division has been clearer? Have you ever known a time when miracles rained down from an empty sky, when the prophets' words were so clearly being fulfilled? ~ Janette Oke

I'm not saying that suffering is our fault. I believe we suffer because sin has taken hold of the world. And with sin comes selfishness and heartlessness and wickedness. But I also think there will be a day of reckoning, Nick, when God lays out all we've done and judges our actions. That's not as popular to talk about anymore, I suppose. We all like to hear about a God who loves and forgives rewards. But He isn't holy and just if He doesn't deal with all those wrongs. I would never want to stand before God without having done everything in my power to extend His mercy to the people around me whenever I could. ~ Janette Oke

Our God, the almighty Lord of heaven and earth," he began in a clear, authoritative voice, "bless these two here before you with your grace. Grace to keep one another in sickness and in health. Grace to learn together to serve as you would have them serve. Grace to give them strength for daily toil and duty. Grace to keep them in the hour of temptation or weakness. Grace that will enable them to give and love and labor. Make them fruitful. Bless them with your presence. Wrap them in your peace. And multiply their love - for you, for others, for one another. In the name of our blessed Lord and Savior, Jesus of Nazareth. Amen. ~ Janette Oke

He called out to his father. Since that moment, night after night I hear the man's cry echoing in my soul. He speaks like no man I have ever heard before. He invites one of the thieves to join him that very night in the heavens. He asks his father to forgive us. He asks his father why he is forsaken. And then he says three final words: It is finished. And he leaves. ~ Janette Oke

Reckon I'd be lyin' iffen I didn't own up to feelin' a little sore here an' there," Willie said with a grin. "An' thet's all thet yer gonna git me to confess. Full-grown able-bodied man shouldn't be admittin' to even thet. Folks will be thinkin' thet I never worked a day in my life. ~ Janette Oke

There seemed to be so many things that I needed, but I held myself in check and purchased only essentials - with the exception of one extravagance. I had determined that I would drink my tea like a lady, even in a log house; so I purchased a teapot and two cups and saucers of fine china. I felt somehow Mama's mind would be much more at ease about me if she knew that I was having my tea in the proper fashion. After all, civilization could not be too far away from Pine Springs if I had such amenities! ~ Janette Oke

the only sign of where Stephen had been murdered was a dark stain among the rocks. He could see the followers carefully, sorrowfully, moving his body toward an open burial cave. Linux remained apart from those grieving by the cave's opening. His eyes were dry, yet his heart felt wrenched by tears only he could sense. Or perhaps not, for a pair of men approached, one of them the rugged apostle called Peter. "A tragic day, and a glorious day," the man said softly. ~ Janette Oke

But If it is to be, or not, That's all in God's hands. ~ Janette Oke

The Essene movement has certainly gathered momentum over the past ten years. It is said there are somewhere around fifty communities spread throughout Judea. Some number a few dozen members, others as many as a thousand. One of the largest lies east of the Mount of Olives, another on the Dead Sea's western shore. Some are celibate and restricted to men, others populated by entire clans. They are united in their loathing of the Sanhedrin and the Temple priesthood, which they consider corrupt. But they've been a peaceful lot, electing to remove themselves entirely from the general population, waiting for the Messiah to come and rescue their nation. ~ Janette Oke

there was no question but what he had just experienced came from beyond him - a sign of his transformation, and certainly the wonder of it all. Love so pure, so intense, burned away all he had been. No longer was he the second son, the princeling who would never make his rightful claim, the man of thwarted ambitions, the lonely officer trapped in a post and a land that hated him and all that he stood for. None of this mattered. Not in the face of this love. ~ Janette Oke

Strange, Ezra thought, he felt no satisfaction. Only disturbance. The glow on the young man's face as he breathed his last haunted him. Almost as though, instead of inflicting intended pain, they had done him a kindness. Strange. Strange and most unsettling. The young man in his black robes walked over and stood staring down at what could be seen of the body. Ezra hoped the man would not voice regret, for the black wings of remorse hovered just beyond his own scarred vision. But the young man only muttered, "And so it begins. ~ Janette Oke

You're like Jesus," Susie said, more positively now that she had said the words out loud. "He doesn't like it when people be bad either. An' He doesn't like to send them away - out of heaven. But it would spoil heaven for everybody else if He let bad people in there." Wynn said nothing, but his eyes looked misty as he reached out to tousle the little black head on his way to the bedroom for his slippers. ~ Janette Oke

God had promised He would never leave me nor forsake me. That held true on a city street, in a rural teacherage, or in a remote part of the North. ~ Janette Oke

If we are to fight evil in our world - as we are called to do - we cannot harbor deceitfulness in our hearts. May God give us the courage and the strength and the wisdom to live as he wants us to live. He is a holy God. And he is also a God of love. He desires only our good. He will show us what we each must learn from this experience today. ~ Janette Oke

How else can we become reconciled, except one individual at a time? This Jesus you seek did not come to address nations. He washed the wounds of lepers. He dined with sinners. He healed all who came to him. One person at a time. ~ Janette Oke

Only God knows the plan he has for you. We must continue to pray for his will to be done. He has promised to answer, and he keeps his promises. So answer he will - in his own time and way. Whatever your future holds, this I know. He will not desert you. Your duty, my dear, is to seek his will and to walk in his way. ~ Janette Oke

Do I tell you how to braid your hair? Don't tell me how to plow a field. ~ Janette Oke

You of all have the most to forgive." "Ah, and if so," he responded, "I have the most blessing to receive after I've done so. ~ Janette Oke

She thanked God that life was not always winter, that spring always came at last to chase away the cold and heaviness, and to release one to warmth and movement again. ~ Janette Oke

I don't understand all about God, but there's one thing that I'm as sure of as the fact that I live and breathe. He loves us. He loves us completely, and always keeps our good in mind. ~ Janette Oke

I think that is why - why God allows hard things in life. To prepare us. To knock off rough edges - pride, bias, envy, selfishness - so that when we get to heaven we will be more in tune - more able to enjoy the beautiful things we'll find there. Maybe that's what the rewards will be. A deeper appreciation of what we are given - what we are a part of. ~ Janette Oke

But I think there is an even bigger reason why God hates sin so much." William's eyes were wide as they studied his father's face. "It's because sin cost Him the life of His Son, Jesus. God decreed that those who sin roust die. Man sinned - but God still loved him. God didn't want man to die for his sin, so God provided a substitute. If man accepted the fact that another had died in his place, and was truly sorry for his sin, then he wouldn't have to die. ~ Janette Oke

Which was why the Sadducees in particular were so infuriated with this sect, Ezra realized. The Sadducees were convinced the afterlife did not exist at all. Man lived, man died. The candle was snuffed out. Finished. A very Greek philosophy, it was one that found favor only with the highly educated, the rich, the well traveled. The average Judean despised the Sadducees for this and for how they had allied themselves with the Romans. ~ Janette Oke

We may surprised at whom God sends to answer our prayers. ~ Janette Oke