Shannon L. Alder

"You will know it is love when the need can't be met by yourself or God."

"Nobody knows what God's plan is for your life, but a whole lot of people will guess for you if you let them."

"The biggest lie women tell themselves about men: When I get what I want, I will be happy."

"Madness is loving the unsolvable puzzle of your soul and replacing the lost pieces with my own."

"I don’t understand hospital chaplains that try to rob my patients of their anger. Sometimes anger is a key motivator that gets people to take action. Anger can push a cancer patient to jump out of his hospital bed, walk down to the nurses station and scream, “I am getting the hell out of here!”. There is a misconception that God is simply sweet and passive. Actually, God can be quite cunning, manipulative and relentless with his children. What we consider as negative traits are actually helpful in molding us. He will use a negative emotion if needed to push people to do things that will change them for the better. He will allow people or situations to derail us if there is a chance that those interactions will push us forward. Personally, I don’t want a God that is going to send some church member to my deathbed with a plate of cookies and tell me to have faith. Actually, I rather have a God that screams, “Get the hell off your ass, stop feeling sorry for yourself. Walk down the hall with that Physical Therapist so you can get on with your life!" A little anger in a person can push them to do amazing things."

"A relationship run by rules, instead of love is a relationship that is on the road to failure."

"You know you have found your life mission when you say, “I dare you to try and take this away from me."

"Being popular doesn’t always win spiritual change. Christ didn’t pour out the coins of the moneychangers and overturn their tables with any degree of manners when he cleansed the temple. His harshness drew a point—to make people realize how much better they could become."

"When you have the courage to follow your talents into the dark unknown places they lead, often God will send angels to light your way."

"The problem with this generation is they are so quick to define who they are in the process of searching. It is their need for immediate acceptance that keeps them from exploring further."

"I don’t even pretend to believe I know everything; I just believe in arguments God told me I had a pretty good chance of winning, while I was traveling through hell."

"How you react doesn’t tell a person about your character, as much as it does your fear or God's fire. Which is it?"

"Pressure has the power to create a diamond, but it has to be the "right" pressure."

"The only way you will ever be free is when you decide you have had enough of living up to the standards other people force upon you through shame. Never wear their chains of judgment when they can’t break free of their own."

"Never be ashamed of who you are. True shame always belongs to the person that enjoys being ashamed of who you are."

"Heroes are not made. They are born out of circumstances and rise to the occasion when their spirit can no longer coexist with the hypocrisy of injustice to others."

"Never allow yourself to become a choice in any relationship. The moment you do is when you have reduced your loved one's affections to a daily biological question: Should I take a dump here or wait till I get home?"

"Some will wear masks their entire life because they care about what other people think, while others remove the mask to be who they truly are. The difference between the two is not the ability to trust others, but to trust in God."

"Don't beg for approval or expect respect. Respect comes from within and your choice to allow people to take it from you, by how you teach them to treat you."

"Empowered Women 101: A confident woman knows that forgiving is important, but sticking around for constant abuse isn't being confident; it is called being a doormat."