- I used to ask people, "What do you do?" I don't do that as much anymore. I've discovered it's a sore spot for a lot of people. "I'm just sort of working," they'll say. I think a lot of us have temporary jobs as we search for the career we really want. (pg. 59)
- If your career path doesn't seem to match your heart's longing, it may be you have a skill that doesn't match your passion. You were good at something, so it seemed obvious that. Is what you should do. Or maybe it was a choice between career and family-- and you always put others above yourself. You have no regrets, but you do have unfulfilled dreams. (pg. 60)
- Life is not a stationary experience. (pg. 60)
- When it comes to the future, our lives are more discovered than determined. (pg. 61)
- For most of us, walking with God is a mysterious journey of faith and discovery. I wish that the moment we entered a relationship with Jesus, God would send us a memo that spelled out everything. (pg.61)
- Life is not a color-within-the-lines project; life is a work of art. You have to keep mixing the colors, creating new blends, and seeing things in fresh new ways. You must be willing to get paint all over you. Life is about growth. Growth demands change. Change requires humility. Sometimes you need to bring change. Sometimes you need to be changed. (pg. 61-62)
- The Scriptures tell us that God "is the same yesterday, today, and forever" (Heb. 13:8); yet he was willing to become a human for our sake. You can't model your life after Jesus and be unwilling to adapt. (pg.62)
- Many of us need reinvented lives. We are living a rerun, and we need fresh stories, maybe some new characters to enter our story. (pg.63)
- The stories of Daniel and Esther remind us that we do not get to choose the context from where we begin our story, where our lives begin. (pg. 66)
- Your circumstances do not determine your opportunities. Or if they do, it may well be quite the opposite than you expect. The more challenging your circumstances, the greater your opportunity to see God raise you to new levels of living. (pg.66)
- Some of us live in a context of comfort, and it has become easy for us to settle for safe rather than to disturb the status quo. (pg. 67)
- ...it's easy to blame everyone else for your condition. (pg. 67)
- Anyone who says that every follower of Jesus Christ is going to have health and wealth is terribly mistaken (or brain-dead). (pg. 67)
- Your circumstances do not equal your opportunity, because your opportunity is shaped not simply by your external factors but by the internal factors of who you choose to be and become. (pg. 68)
- Unless you learn how to adapt to your environment, to your circumstances, and to your challenges, you will continue to use them as an excuse, claiming they are obstacles that stop you from living the life of your dreams. (pg. 68)
- It was in the context of unimaginable difficulty that they (Daniel and Esther) were formed into extraordinary individuals. (pg. 69)
- Those who were motivated to learn and allowed themselves to continue to grow rose to the top. (pg. 69)
- There are times when the greatest act of courage and the best evidence of character is the willingness to change. (pg. 69)
- All of us must choose to reinvent ourselves to face whatever is waiting in front of us. Part of learning to reinvent yourself is learning how to be teachable, resourceful, and flexible. (pg. 70)
- They (Daniel and Esther) we learners who did not allow their adverse circumstances to limit their potential. They left no room for excuses. They assessed their circumstances, adapted to their environment, and rose to the challenge. Though they were at a deficit, they emerged as the elite. (pg. 71)
- Everyone who follows the course to which God has called then will have their mettle tested and will become moldable metal. (pg. 71)
- To adapt is not to surrender but to become unstoppable. It is the difference between being a boulder or a river. Many of us see virtue as being immovable. Yet in times of crisis, it is our willingness to be adaptable that distinguishes us. Conviction is a popular excuse for rigidity, but faith should actually make us more pliable, not less. (pg. 72)
- What we find in all these individuals through whom God has written biblical history is that faith gives you the confidence to adapt to your circumstance while never compromising your convictions. You either adapt when you face circumstances you cannot control, or you allow them to become the boundaries of your life. (pg. 72)
- You can't control the context from which your life story is being written, but you can control the content. Life is filled with unforeseen boulders, and you must become the river. The higher the water, the less the boulders can slow its progress. (pg. 72)
- Adaptability requires teachability. The ability to change comes from one core characteristic, and that is simply humility. Humility keeps us flexible. (pg. 72)
- If you are a sincere follower of Christ, then you are mandated by God to be a voracious, intentional learner. (pg. 73)
- You must always strive toward excellence in whatever you pursue. (pg.73)
- Rise to the top and see what God can do with our life. This doesn't always mean you will be the best in the world at what you do, but you are supposed to be the world's best you. (pg. 73)
- You have to have an open mind and an open heart to recognize that in every discipline and every field, there is something you can learn that will help you become a better person and advance God's purpose for your life. (pg. 75)
- They (Daniel and Esther) did not underestimate the gifts and talents and capacity God had placed within their very being. Daniel and Esther were flexible. Another good word-flexible means to bend without breaking. As a follower of Jesus Christ, you need to learn how to be flexible. You need to learn how to bend without breaking. (pg. 75-76)
- Part of the dilemma of believing in God is that you can actually begin to act like your are God. You're always right, never wrong. The way you do everything is the way everyone should do it. Many of us end up being convinced that when anybody does something different than we do it, says something differently than we do, when anyone approaches life in any way different than we do, then that person is absolutely in the wrong. And we are convinced that our perspective and God's perspective are exactly the same thing. (pg. 76)
- We become dogmatic as a result of fear, not faith. Faith keeps you flexible and postured for change. Faith ignites courage, not conformity. Fear seeks to control; faith seeks to create. (pg. 76)
- Some things are your core; everything else can change. (pg. 76)
- Improvisation is not the result of shooting from the hip but knowing where you're aiming. Spontaneity is rapid action in response to unforeseen circumstances informed by previously determined values. (pg. 77)
- If you don't know what your nonnegotiables are, you won't negotiate anything. You're afraid to let go of anything because later you might discover that was a nonnegotiable. When you don't know what's really important, you treat everything the same. (pg. 78)
- Daniel and Esther knew there was a difference between what it means to adopt and what it means to adapt. One is to surrender to overwhelming circumstances; the other is to rise above them. (pg. 78)
- Most developmental psychologists agree that what differentiates leaders is not so much their philosophy of leadership, their personality, or even their style of management; rather, it's their internal action logic, how they interpret their surroundings or react when their power or safety has been challenged. (pg. 82-83)
- For too long we have focused exclusively on being good rather than doing good. (pg. 83)
- You cannot help others change unless you are willing to change. (pg. 84)
- You must be willing to change, and the greater your ability to change, the greater your ability to bring change. (pg. 84)
- While our dreams may be different, and each of us has a unique path to walk, this I know is true for you if Jesus Christ guides your life-your life can never be simply about you. (pg. 85)
- For Paul, Jesus didn't come only to save him, but so that he could join with Jesus in saving others. (pg. 85)
- Once his (Paul's) life was fueled by religious arrogance and self-righteousness and now his life was reduced to one motive--love. (pg. 86)
- To adapt is not always an easy thing. Sometimes it takes all your strength and energy to do so. Often it will take great courage. It is simply easier to stay the same; to refuse to change and insist that the world adapt to you. (pg. 86)
- When you live a life of love, you are not bound to who you are but to who you will become. Love transforms. It leaves nothing it touches as it was before its caress. The only thing you need to change is love. (pg. 87)
