I don’t like underlining in books because when I read them again, all I see are the highlighted words and miss anything else that’s there. But I’ve made an exception for the books about the Yada Yada Prayer Group.
The conventional meaning of YADA YADA is “boring or empty talk.” But in Hebrew, Yada Yada is more than that.
“Yada: to perceive, understand, acquire knowledge, know, discern.”
“To be known, make oneself known, to be familiar.”
“To distinguish (yada) between right and wrong.”
“Yadah: to speak out, to confess; to praise; to sing; to give thanks.”
“to acknowledge . . . the nature and work of God.” (from book 1, page 129)
That is where the group in these books got its purpose. And that is when I began to highlight the things that spoke – no, shouted – to me.
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“… focus on what we could thank God for in the midst of trauma …”
“… thanked God for whatever He brought my way that day.”
… But you need to get out of the way. Stop protecting yourself. Let Me be gracious.”
“Satan can’t do his dirty work in an atmosphere of praise to God.”
“Guess it’s up to us to pray, and up to God to sort it out.”
“We want to go where You’re going.”
“Light just gotta show up and darkness gotta go.”
“Love is a spiritual weapon. Praise chases away fear. Light is stronger than darkness. Pray for our enemies.”
“I’d never realized before how often joy and sorrow walked hand in hand.”
“God is God all by Himself!”
“I’d been focusing on the problems, when I needed to be focusing on the promises.”
“And there we were, pouring out our hearts in thanksgiving – thanksgiving! – that God was bigger than all the trouble in our lives.”
“A house blessing acknowledges that even our everyday life is sacramental, and our homes a holy space.”
“Give us the strength and wisdom to stop our bad habits, to take care of this holy temple where Your Spirit lives. We also ask healing for diseases in our spirit – resentment, anger, bitterness, pride – which are the cancers of the soul.”
“… there’s a certain freedom in not having to be right all the time.”
“Well, then,” said Ma, “we just gotta pray, pray to the One who can fix the things that have no fix.“
Good selections
Thanks.