Inspirational Quotes by Mrs. Charles E. Cowman

“April 4 Elisha prayed, “O Lord, open his eyes so he may see.” (2 Kings 6:17) This is the prayer we need to pray for ourselves and one another: “Lord, open our eyes so we may see.” We are surrounded, just as the prophet Elisha was, by God’s “horses and chariots of fire” (2 Kings 6:17), waiting to transport us to places of glorious victory. Once our eyes are opened by God, we will see all the events of our lives, whether great or small, joyful or sad, as a “chariot” for our souls. Everything that comes to us becomes a chariot the moment we treat it as such. On the other hand, even the smallest trial may become an object crushing everything in its path into misery and despair if we allow it. The difference then becomes a choice we make. It all depends not on the events themselves but on how we view them. If we simply lie down, allowing them to roll over and crush us, they become an uncontrollable car of destruction. Yet if we climb into them, as riding in a car of victory, they become the chariots of God to triumphantly take us onward and upward. Hannah Whitall Smith There is not much the Lord can do with a crushed soul. That is why the Adversary attempts to push God’s people toward despair and hopelessness over their condition or the condition of the church. It has often been said that a discouraged army enters a battle with the certainty of defeat. I recently heard a missionary say she had returned home sick and disheartened because her spirit had lost its courage, which led to the consequence of an unhealthy body. We need to better understand these attacks of the Enemy on our spirit and how to resist them. If he can dislodge us from our proper position, he then seeks to “wear out the saints of the most High” (Dan. 7:25 KJV) through a prolonged siege, until we finally, out of sheer weakness, surrender all hope of victory.”

“Remember that we have no more faith at any time than we have in the hour of trial. All that will not bear to be tested is mere carnal confidence. Fair-weather faith is no faith. C. H. SPURGEON”

“When is the time to trust? Is it when all is calm, When waves the victor’s palm, And life is one glad psalm Of joy and praise? Nay! but the time to trust Is when the waves beat high, When storm clouds fill the sky, And prayer is one long cry, O help and save! When is the time to trust? Is it when friends are true? Is it when comforts woo, And in all we say and do We meet but praise? Nay! but the time to trust Is when we stand alone, And summer birds have flown, And every prop is gone, All else but God. What is the time to trust? Is it some future day, When you have tried your way, And learned to trust and pray By”

“God makes you “see troubles.” Sometimes, as part of your education being carried out, you must “go down to the depths of the earth” (Ps. 63:9), travel subterranean passages, and lie buried among the dead. But not for even one moment is the bond of fellowship and oneness between God and you strained to the point of breaking. And ultimately, from the depths, He “will restore [your] life again.”

“bitter woe? Nay! but the time to trust Is in this moment’s need, Poor, broken, bruised reed! Poor, troubled soul, make speed To trust thy God. What is the time to trust? Is it when hopes beat high, When sunshine gilds the sky, And joy and ecstasy Fill all the heart? Nay! but the time to trust Is when our joy is fled, When sorrow bows the head, And all is cold and dead, All else but God.”

“There’s a stream of trouble across my path; It is dark and deep and wide. Bitter the hour the future hath When I cross its swelling tide. But I smile and sing and say: “I will hope and trust alway; I’ll bear the sorrow that comes tomorrow, But I’ll borrow none today.” Tomorrow’s bridge is a dangerous thing; I dare not cross it now. I can see its timbers sway and swing, And its arches reel and bow. O heart, you must hope alway; You must sing and trust and say: “I’ll bear the sorrow that comes tomorrow, But I’ll borrow none today.” The eagle that soars at great altitudes does not worry about how it will cross a river. selected”

“And it’s not the thing you do, dear, It’s the thing you leave undone, Which gives you the bitter heartache, At the setting of the sun. ADELAIDE PROCTOR”

“That sorrow and privation, the yoke borne in the youth, the soul’s enforced restraint, are all conducive to an iron tenacity and strength of purpose, and endurance or fortitude, which are the indispensable foundation and framework of a noble character.”

“Never doubt God! Never say that He has forsaken or forgotten you or think that He is unsympathetic. He “will restore [your] life again.” No matter how many twists and turns the road may have, there is always one smooth, straight portion. Even the longest day has a sunset, and the winter snow may stay quite some time, but it will finally melt.”

“The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save” (Zeph. 3:17). This was the verse that initially brought the truth of divine healing to my mind and my worn-out body more than twenty years ago. It is now a door more wide open than ever and is the gate through which the living Christ enters moment by moment into my redeemed body. He enters to fill, energize, and vitalize me with the presence and power of His own personality, transforming my entire being into “a new heaven and a new earth” (Rev. 21:1).”

“Comfort your heart with the fact that the Savior has Himself experienced all the trials He asks you to endure; He would not ask you to pass through them unless He was sure that the paths were not too difficult or strenuous for you”

“Today you see only your loss, but then you will see how God used it to break the evil chains that had begun to restrain you.”

“When a Roman soldier was told by his guide that if he insisted on taking a certain journey, it would probably be fatal, he answered, “It is necessary for me to go—it is not necessary for me to live.” That was true depth of conviction, and only when we are likewise convicted will our lives amount to something. But a shallow life lives on its impulses, impressions, intuitions, instincts, and largely on its circumstances. Those with profound character, however, look beyond all these and move steadily ahead, seeing the future, where sorrow, seeming defeat, and failure will be reversed. They sail right through storm clouds into the bright sunshine, which always awaits them on the other side.”

“A visitor at a school for the deaf was writing questions on the board for the children. Soon he wrote this sentence: “Why has God made me able to hear and speak, and made you deaf?” The shocking sentence hit the children like a cruel slap on the face. They sat paralyzed, pondering the dreadful word “Why?” And then a little girl arose. With her lip trembling and her eyes swimming with tears, she walked straight to the board. Picking up the chalk, she wrote with a steady hand these precious words: “Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure” (Matt. 11:26). What a reply! It reaches up and claims an eternal truth upon which the most mature believer, and even the youngest child of God, may securely rest—the truth that God is your Father.”

“Joy sometimes needs pain to give it birth.”

“Dear believer, after experiencing the terrible valley of suffering, did you depart with the spoils? When you were struck with an injury and you thought you had lost everything, did you trust in God to the point that you came out richer than you were before? Being “more than [a] conqueror” means taking the spoils from the enemy and appropriating them for yourself. What your enemy had planned to use for your defeat, you can confiscate for your own use.”

“I cannot do it alone; The waves surge fast and high, And the fogs close all around, The light goes out in the sky; But I know that we two Will win in the end, Jesus and I. Cowardly, wayward, and weak, I change with the changing sky; Today so eager and bright, Tomorrow too weak to try; But He never gives in, So we two will win, Jesus and I. I could not guide it myself, My boat on life’s wild sea; There’s One who sits by my side, Who pulls and steers with me. And I know that we two Will safe enter port, Jesus and I.”

“Climb to the treasure house of blessing on the ladder made of divine promises. By a promise as by a key open the door to the riches of God’s grace and favor.”

“the greatest triumph of faith is to be still and know that He is God.”

“Oh, how everything gives way when affliction first comes upon us! The clinging stems of our hopes are quickly snapped, and our heart lies overwhelmed and prostrate, like a vine the windstorm has torn from its trellis. But once the initial shock is over and we are able to look up and say, “It is the Lord” (John 21:7), faith begins to lift our shattered hopes once more and securely binds them to the feet of God. And the final result is confidence, safety, and peace. selected”