Genesis 12:2 (NRSVUE)

I will make of you a great nation,

and I will bless you, and make your name great,

so that you will be a blessing.

The blessing I receive becomes the blessing I give.

John O’Donohue

“May the gifts you have been given

find their way into the world.

May your life be a channel of grace,

a quiet river of blessing

that nourishes what is withering

and awakens what is waiting to bloom.”

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Isaiah 41:10 (NRSVUE)

Do not fear, for I am with you;

do not be afraid, for I am your God.

I will strengthen you, I will help you;

I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

God holds me when I cannot hold myself.

Frederick Buechner

“Faith is not a clenched fist

but an open hand.

It is not holding on for dear life

but letting yourself be held.

For underneath our lives,

so fragile and fierce,

are the everlasting arms—

stronger than fear,

softer than grace,

wider than we can imagine.”

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Psalm 32:10 (NRSVUE)

Many are the torments of the wicked,

but steadfast love surrounds

those who trust in the Lord.

I am surrounded by mercy.

Julian of Norwich

“God is nearer to us than our own soul,

for we are endlessly held

in His vast and tender mercy.

And though we fall,

His arms surround us still—

not to punish,

but to lift,

to heal,

to bring us home.”

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Jeremiah 17:7–8 (NRSVUE)

Blessed are those who trust in the Lord,

whose trust is the Lord.

They shall be like a tree planted by water,

sending out its roots by the stream.

It shall not fear when heat comes,

and its leaves shall stay green;

in the year of drought it is not anxious,

and it does not cease to bear fruit.

God strengthens me where no one sees.

Christian Wiman

“Faith is not a fortress

but a seed in the soil—

small, hidden,

slow to rise.

Yet beneath the surface

the roots thicken,

the dark earth warms,

and strength is formed

long before it blooms.”

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Psalm 119:105 (NRSVUE)

Your word is a lamp to my feet

and a light to my path.

God guides me one step at a time.

Eugene Peterson

“God’s direction is not a spotlight

that floods the horizon with certainty.

It is a lamp—

small enough to carry,

bright enough for the step in front of you.

Faith grows not by seeing everything,

but by trusting the One

who walks the road with you.”

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Psalm 51:10 (NRSVUE)

Create in me a clean heart, O God,

and put a new and right spirit within me.

God renews me from the inside out.

Howard Thurman

“There is in every person

a quiet center,

a place of renewal

where God whispers life again.

Return to that center often—

for it is from the depths

that true transformation rises.”

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Isaiah 43:1 (NRSVUE)

But now thus says the Lord…

“I have called you by name,

you are mine.”

I am the one God loves.

Brennan Manning

“Define yourself radically

as one beloved by God.

This is the true self

every other voice tries to silence.

Your identity is not rooted

in what you achieve,

but in the One

who calls you beloved—

and never stops saying it.”

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1 Corinthians 6:19 (NRSVUE)

Do you not know that your body is a temple

of the Holy Spirit within you,

which you have from God…?

God dwells in this body.

Hildegard of Bingen

“Your body is a sacred vessel,

alive with the breath of God.

Do not despise the earth you are made of—

for it is here

that the Holy One chooses to dwell.

The soul is not trapped in the body;

it sings through it.”

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