I recently had the opportunity to review a book that releases this week, and I wanted to share a few of my favorite quotes. Running on Empty speaks specifically to women in ministry, so I know it will speak to many of my blog readers. Soak in the tidbits or check out the book in it’s entirety. Even those who aren’t in ministry will gain something from the quotes. After all, you can always learn a little something from everything!

Ministry confronts us with our insufficiency over and over.

The changes God works in us to ready us for ministry may not be what others expect, but Jesus never calls us to fulfill the stereotypes and expectations others have for us.

If we rarely question our abilities, it is tempting to rely on them to accomplish our goals instead of relying on the Spirit to work through us.

As we suffer the effects of laying down our lives for others, we need the comfort that only comes from Christ

There is no room in us for Christ if we are full of our success. Likewise, there is no room in us for Christ if we are full of our failures. If we want to experience Christ’s presence today, we must let go of all our works, good and bad. As believers, we have a moment-by-moment choice to decide whose work will define us.

Our expectations cloud our vision.

Just as the disciples filled Christ’s words with their own meanings and missed what was happening right in front of them, our prejudices and expectations influence our prayers and Scripture study so that we can miss the powerful gospel at work all around us as we, too, fill Christ’s words with our own meanings and expectations.

If we deny or “rename” our sin as something we can manage, we will once again be stuck carrying it around with us.

Serving people means that we are invested in them; we have intertwined our lives with theirs. Thus, we are vulnerable.

Using Facebook or blogs to vent our frustrations is selfish and foolish and will come back to haunt us.

We can do ministry without giving ourselves to others. We can hide behind activities and keep ourselves safe, but a busy life full of doing is not spiritual ministry. Christ has more for us.

We fall into the temptation of judging the way the world judges. We look at our impact. We think about our sphere of influence. We look at our abilities and analyze our resources. We measure our sacrifices.

Both pride and discouragement separate us from Christ.

When we can rejoice in who God has made us to be and where he has placed us, our focus shifts from who is working in the hardest place, doing the hardest job with the most enviable gifts to all being deeply valued. There are no superwomen in the kingdom of God. Even is some of us can jump pretty high.

To communicate the gospel clearly in the places we live, we must recognize how our home cultures have influenced our opinions and worldview. Otherwise, we will inadvertently mix our cultural preferences and prejudices with the teachings of Christ.

Many times we want to be followers of Christ without actually having to follow him.

In ministry it is easy to organize our lives  around activities and people without addressing the internal loyalties we must renounce to follow Jesus.

When we criticize and complain about God’s actions, we are judging him.

Difficult people reveal the true quality of our love.