Denise Hildreth Jones QUOTES

1 " Some things just couldn't be protectd from storms. Some things simply needed to be broken off...Once old thing were broken off, amazingly beautiful thing could grow in their place. "

― Denise Hildreth Jones

2 " We're meant to stay connected to our hearts, you see. Feeling our feelings, present in the moments we're given. But we don't do that. And that's when we get in trouble. ...

We mature and take responsibility for ourselves and others, and that's a good thing. But we're never meant to lose that alive quality, to get cut off from our true hearts. Growing up isn't the same thing as shutting down. ...

We can fight it. We have to fight it. Because when our hearts shut down, we become mere shells of who we once were. We don't laugh—not honestly, not from the heart. We don't dream. We don't feel our feelings or use our gifts. We end up trying to just survive instead of live. It's like we've handed our hearts over to the enemy of our souls and said, 'Here you can have it. I'm giving up. "

― Denise Hildreth Jones , Secrets Over Sweet Tea

3 " I have only known you about five months. But you know every piece of my life, all the ugly details. Now I'm asking you to trust me with yours—not because I want to know your stuff, but because I want to know you. What made you this amazing woman that you are, this woman that I've grown to admire and love. I want to know her story. "

― Denise Hildreth Jones , Secrets Over Sweet Tea

4 " Yep, that girl was as dead as you could get inside. But Scarlett Jo wasn't worried. Not really. Because sometimes a person has to die in order to really live. "

― Denise Hildreth Jones , Secrets Over Sweet Tea

5 " Inside your soul is the ability to survive even the toughest storms, and that paradise can always be found--even in the middle of a hurricane--if you are willing to look. "

― Denise Hildreth Jones

6 " When people meet you, I guarantee they're not thinking, There goes a divorced woman. They may see a tired woman, a hurt woman. But divorce isn't a banner or a badge you carry. It's not who you are; it's just a piece of your story. And it's not where the story ends... This is not your defining. It is your refining. "

― Denise Hildreth Jones , Secrets Over Sweet Tea

7 " I have never passed a bookstore without going inside; it's sacrilegious "

― Denise Hildreth Jones , Savannah from Savannah

8 " ... she isn't mine ... . She is ultimately God's, and I'm simply a steward of her heart for a season. "

― Denise Hildreth Jones , Secrets Over Sweet Tea

9 " Sunday in the south means Church. Sunday in this house, even if we lived in California, would still mean church. "

― Denise Hildreth Jones , Savannah from Savannah

10 " That's part of Jesus' point, that we all have sin in us. But he was also saying that sin begins and ends with the heart. Actually, that idea runs throughout the entire Bible. As a man 'thinks in his heart, so is he.' 'Out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.' In other words, what is in us is going to come out of us. And 'above all else, guard your heart.' Do you hear that, Zach? Out of everything we do, protecting our hearts is the most important thing.
We've got to guard them especially from anything that could come in and set up a lie about our God. Anything. I mean, even doing my work - and I'm a pastor - could convince me that God needs me in some way. That would be the perfect way for the enemy to set me up to wear myself out and shut myself down. And it would all start with a lie. The devil will try to convince us of anything - he's the father of lies, remember. And that is why we have to guard our hearts so carefully. "

― Denise Hildreth Jones , Secrets Over Sweet Tea