Anne Graham Lotz

“Abraham is such a fascinating figure. Three world religions - Judaism, Christianity, and Islam - all claim him as a patriarch. He was raised in a religious home. And yet he rejected religion in order to pursue a personal relationship with God.”

“Death is a door. When we close our eyes in this life, we will open our eyes to Jesus.”

“I felt that one of the things God impressed on me was that I needed to start a nonprofit corporation, so that any money that came my way, whether it was an honorarium, a book sale or a gift, would go into a nonprofit ministry.”

“I want to take my focus off myself and focus on God. It's like setting your spiritual compass so no matter which way you turn during the day, whatever comes up, then my thoughts go back to Him and whatever He said that morning.”

“I get up earlier than my husband and I intentionally spend time in prayer and Bible reading just to focus myself for the day, because the days get crazy.”

“In the Bible, ordination - I don't see that in the Scripture. In the Bible, it's whether you're filled with the Holy Spirit, whether you're anointed by God, whether you're called by God, whether you're obedient to Him. I want to be those things, but I don't see any purpose for me in being ordained.”

“My life's goal is not to write books; my life's goal is to know God better today. The neat thing about a goal like that is you can achieve it. Faith is constant; it's a relationship.”

“Abraham wasn't perfect. He failed, made mistakes. But, he would go back, get right with God, and then just keep moving forward. He didn't quit when things got hard. He just kept on going. And everywhere he went, God was there. God was with him.”

“Some people who suffer run away from God, and I know the tendency, but instead I just run to Him.”

“It has been religious people, often within the organized church, who have been the most critical of and even hostile to my relationship with God.”

“Sometimes when you're suffering really intensely, you can't pray for yourself.”

“I've had Christians treat me in a way that is so wrong and so vicious, I realized there's a difference between God's people and God.”

“Sometimes when I open my Bible to read, a verse leaps off the page and I know God is speaking to me. Sometimes I read and nothing seems to be illuminated. Sometimes I pray and have the keen sense that He is listening to every word and will answer me. Sometimes when I pray, I have no awareness that He's anywhere around. Sometimes when I go to church or draw aside for some quiet reflection, I have the overwhelming sense that Jesus is right beside me. At other times in the exact same settings, I have no conscious awareness of His presence at all. And I know by each experience — as I read my Bible and pray and work and worship — that He is teaching me to live by FAITH, not by my feelings.”

“I read God's word when I am not suffering. And then I don't have to all of a sudden establish this habit when I am hurting.”

“I don't want to be entertained. I don't want visuals or musicals. I don't want a vacation. I don't want to quit. I don't want sympathy. The cry of my heart is 'Just Give Me Jesus.'”

“The blessing of my mother is that she is so interested, she is so bright, she never complains - the joy of the Lord just bubbles out of her. Anybody who's in her presence is blessed to be there.”

“When the storms of life come, if they come to me personally, to my family or to the world, I want to be strong enough to stand and be a strength to somebody else, be shelter for somebody else.”

“I'll tell you what, I love my daddy. And he's so special. He's meant so much to me, so it's not a thorn in my side to be known as Billy Graham's daughter. It's a privilege.”

“I think some people who say they're not Christians can behave in a more godly fashion than people who call themselves Christians.”

“Are you facing a superheated furnace? What God wants is for you to look full in the face of Jesus. Get your focus off whatever it is that appears to be unanswered and focus on the Son.”