RELATIONSHIPS: A Mess Worth Making

This book was written by Tim Lane and Paul Tripp. It is definitely worth buying, and reading.
I will share my favorite quotes with you here:

• The fatal flaw of human wisdom is that it promises that you can change your relationships without needing to change yourself.


• If you want to enjoy any progress or blessing in your relationships, it will require you to admit your sin humbly and commit yourself to the work they require.


• The health and maturity of a relationship are not measured by an absence of problems, but by the way the inevitable problems are handled.


• What happens in the messiness of relationships is that our hearts are reveal, our weaknesses are exposed, and we start coming to the end of ourselves. only when this happens do we reach out for the help God alone can provide.


• Our relationships must be shaped not by what we want, but by what God intends.


• The Bible reminds us that even when we are sinned against, ultimately, before God our biggest problem is still our own hearts' propensity to sin. Even when our hearts have been horribly damaged by the sins of another, we are to guard our hearts so that we are not sucked into sin's destructiveness.


• Our mistake is to think of grace as deliverance from problems; in reality, it is the ability to persevere in the midst of those problems.


• God chooses to surround us with people who are different from us because he knows it will promote his purpose.


• the highest joys of relationship grow in the soil of the deepest struggles. Struggles are not obstacles, but instruments in God's hands. Every struggle is an opportunity to experience God's grace yourself and give it to the other person.

Well, those are my favorite quotes from the chapters 1-5. That is enough for now. If you and I meditate on just these quotes and consider them as it relates to us, it will be beneficial. Perhaps I will include more quotes at a later time. Enjoy your messy relationships!