50 Reminders Bob Goff Has For Any Stage Of Your Life, Good Or Bad
To say he has a way with words would be an understatement.
Many would consider being an author of two New York Times bestsellers, "Love Does" and "Everybody Always," the founder of a thriving non-profit, and a motivational speaker huge life accomplishments, but for Bob Goff, this barely scrapes the surface.
If you want to be impressed, try a U.S. Consul for the Republic of Uganda, pilot, navigator of life, neighborhood parade host of 24 years, lover of Sweet Maria, backyard and boat owner for a proposal, master pranker, Tom Sawyer Island regular, and college professor. If you know, you know. If you don't, go read Love Does and Everybody Always. DM me on Instagram, you can borrow my copies. (@erikamglover). I'm serious.
Bob Goff knows how to move your heart. He tells the story of life and love and shows us how to be the best neighbor to total strangers. He shows us that life has a whole lot of living to be done and he makes sure that we know that love isn't just said, love does. And we are meant to love for everybody, always.
Here are 50 of his best reminders, for whatever stage of life you navigating through.
Gentle Reminders from God
1. God isn't in the business of punishing us with reminders; instead, He pursues us with love. He doesn't grimace at our failures; He delights in our attempts.
2. "I Am." When you've got all the power, you don't need all the words.
3. God delights in answering our impossible prayers.
4. Heaven leaned over the rails in anticipation; Love was about to get a new name.
Becoming Love
6. Give away love acceptance like you're made of the stuff.
7. We'll become in our lives what we do with our love.
8. That's what love does. It pursues blindly, unflinchingly, and without end. When you go after something you love, you'll do anything it takes to get it, even if it costs everything.
9. Loving people the way Jesus did is great theology.
10. Every selfless act of love is a declaration of faith.
11. Most people need love and acceptance a lot more than they need advice.
12. Make love your plan."
Being Joyful
13. Be the kind of light that makes people squint so hard they can't even see you anymore.
14, Quit waiting for permission; go live your life.
15. The canvas doesn't tell the Artist what to paint.
16. Figure out what fuels your joy, then do lots of that.
Finding Motivation
17. Don't let other people decide who you are.
18. Don't let not knowing how it will end keep you from starting.
19. Each of us gets to decide every day whether to lean in or step back - to say yes, ignore it, or tell God why He has the wrong person.
20. Don't just do what you're able to do; figure out what you were made to do, then do lots of that.
21. God's betting that we'll have the guts to be who He made us to be, rather than acting like someone He doesn't know.
22. It's easy to get distracted watching what everyone else is doing. Tend to your own fire.
Being a Neighbor
23. Next to grace, I bet God thinks having us need each other was one of His best ideas.
24. God didn't give us neighbors to be our projects; he surrounded us with them to be our teachers. Love your neighbor.
25. Arguments won't change people. Only Jesus has the power to change people, and it will be harder for them to see Jesus if their view of Him is blocked by our opinions.
26. What often keeps us from loving our neighbors is fear of what will happen if we do. Frankly, what scares me more is thinking about what will happen if we don't.
27. God intended us to travel through life as a community. Think bus, not unicycle.
Looking for Hope in a place of Pain + Despair
28. The world is full of difficulties, but it's even more full of hope.
29. Sometimes God lets us lose hope for a moment so we'll retrace our steps and find Him all over again.
30. God uses the hardest parts of our lives to prepare us for the best parts.
31. Fear only has as much power as we give it; hope works the same way.
32. God doesn't break things so He can fix them; He fixes broken things so He can use them.
33. Jesus never promised to eliminate all of the chaos from our lives; He said He'd bring meaning to it.
Finding Humility
34. Humble people dazzle heaven.
35. We won't be like Jesus if it's more important to us to be like each other.
36. God makes confetti out of our titles and accomplishments to celebrate the poor and the humble.
37. It's easy to confuse a lot of activity with a purposeful life.
38. God never compares what He creates.
39. God invites us to be part of His plans, not approve them.
Feeling Lost
40. God often waits until we're out of ideas before He lets us know His plans. He competes for our hearts, not our attention.
41. Uncertainty chases us out into the open where God's always waiting.
42. If you think your mess-up is bigger than God's grace, that's your second mistake.
43. Fear calls out our doubts; God calls out our names.
44. Be patient. Sometimes when it looks to us like Jesus is asleep in the back of the boat, He's actually fixing the rudder.
45. Small streams don't choose to be mighty rivers. We keep moving in a direction and God decides what He'll make out of us.
46. Much of what God's doing in the world, He's doing in people's hearts. Be patient. It'll make sense later.
47. We don't need to criticize the work God is doing in other people's lives just because it's different than what He's doing in ours.
48. Be patient when it gets weird. The angels explained things to Joseph after he talked to Mary, not before.
49. Figure out what you'd give your life for and you'll know what to give your time to.
50. Don't let what you're afraid of keep you from what you were made for.
