William P. Young Quotes

Just because I work incredible good out of unspeakable tragedies doesn't mean I orchestrate the tragedies. Don't ever assume that my using something means I caused it or that I need it to accomplish my purposes. That will only lead you to false notions about me. Grace doesn't depend on suffering to exist, but where there is suffering you will find grace in many facets and colors.

If God is not sending earthquakes, destroying economies and inflicting pain upon human beings, what is God doing? God works through people, calling them to help their neighbors in need. God comforts His people, walking with them even 'through the valley of the shadow of death.'

You've got to be willing to forgive and say, 'God, get something good out of something bad.' And if you'll make that choice... God will do it.

I don't like to say I'm not a believer because I still feel like a believer in a lot of things, primarily hope and grace and the power of human connection.

Sometimes I think Jesus can't wait until we preachers finish our boring sermons. He can't wait to heal people.

We're all going to experience death and failure and setbacks and disappointments and cancer and, you know, it's a really difficult world. And for me, God has always - in my relationship with Christ - He's given me hope and peace.

I've been through difficult times where it just seems like hope is nowhere to be found, but those are some of the greater moments where we run to Christ a little faster and hang on a little tighter.

Jesus moved in a very poor world. People were seeking their own solutions. Many were helped - not that Jesus was helping - they were helped. And Jesus says again and again: "It is your faith that has healed you." When you have faith, compassion can pour into you. When you have faith, you are open to compassion.

Genuine transcendence doesn't just look away from human suffering and say, "I am at peace, so I'm at the mountaintop." Genuine transcendence looks human suffering in the eye and attains peace because of a faith in things unseen.

All my work, my life, everything I do is about survival, not just bare, awful, plodding survival, but survival with grace and faith. While one may encounter many defeats, one must not be defeated.

The shallow end of hope is usually the deep end of grace.

In the harsh face of life faith can read a bracing gospel.

Mighty prayer has often been produced by mighty trial.

There is no need to be dismayed if love sometimes follows torturous ways. Grace has the power to make straight the paths of human love.

Whatever the capacity for human suffering, the church has a greater capacity for healing and wholeness.

The challenge for those of us who care about our faith and about a hurting world is to tell stories which will carry the words of grace and hope in their bones and sinews and not wear them like fancy dress.

God's grace is painted on the canvas of despair.

Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it.

Forgiveness is like faith. You have to keep reviving it.

Bear the Cross cheerfully and it will bear you.

Truly, it is in darkness that one finds the light, so when we are in sorrow, then this light is nearest of all to us.

I write about the power of trying, because I want to be okay with failing. I write about generosity because I battle selfishness. I write about joy because I know sorrow. I write about faith because I almost lost mine, and I know what it is to be broken and in need of redemption. I write about gratitude because I am thankful - for all of it.

I speak to people who have been through so much more.

The amount of things I have been through and the remarkable ways in which the body has reacted is just phenomenal. No wonder I became religious, because you don't know why something's happening to you and you don't know how you bounced back.