• Making sure that each of us ends up with the people we are meant to be with is important to the Lord, so He takes His time making sure that the circumstances are right.”

• Devon Franklin: “When we chase the high of instant gratification, we make choices that for many reasons are irresponsible and based on poor reasoning . . . or no reasoning at all. It takes time and self-control to take in information, let people reveal they’re the true character, be consistent and disciplined, and give conflicts time to work themselves out. Delaying gratification means working at becoming more self-aware and humble enough to admit that our first impulses aren’t always smart ones. Let” until you know and love yourself, it’s hard to find anyone else to love you the way you deserve. The practice of waiting—choosing to wait for sex and denying instant gratification so that you can see clearly, make better decisions, and position yourself for blessings—is the key to finding not just happiness but spirit-deep fulfillment. We live in a culture addicted to the quick hookup, the miracle cure, and the overnight sensation. The wait is the remedy for that addiction.”

• “Change is always difficult, which is why people so often retreat into the familiar even when the familiar is awful and depressing. That’s why we get back together with our exes even if things ended the last time in screaming and broken glass. It’s why we go out with the same friends even when we know they bring out the worst in us. We crave familiarity,”

• “What matters is not where you are today, but what kind of person God is shaping you to become in preparation for the time when he brings his vision for your life to fruition. Keep your eyes straight ahead and focus on becoming the best possible professional and Christian. Let God take care of the future.”

• “Home is about the person more than the place. Our marriage is our home, and it fills us back up when the world drains us.”

• “We wanted God’s very best for our lives, collectively and individually, and we wanted it in whatever way He intended. This required patience.”

• “Unconditional love means accepting someone for who they are now, not who you hope they will be one day. People”

• “The distance between you and success isn’t necessarily a yard—it’s an inch. But to get that final inch is excruciating. You have to stay committed.”

• “The truth is, you and I are in control of only two things: how we prepare for what might happen and how we respond to what just happened. The moment when things actually do happen belongs to God.”

• “The self-esteem of western women is founded on physical being (body mass index, youth, beauty). This creates a tricky emphasis on image, but the internalized locus of self-worth saves lives. Western men are very different. In externalizing the source of their self-esteem, they surrender all emotional independence. (Conquest requires two parties, after all.) A man cannot feel like a man without a partner, corporation, team. Manhood is a game played on the terrain of opposites. It thus follows that male sense of self disintegrates when the Other is absent.”

• “Waiting helps you think clearly. Sex clouds judgment and gives rise to self-delusion. One of the big reasons our relationship is so strong today is that when we were dating, we couldn’t fall back on sex when talking got tough. When you’re seeking God and you’re focused on whatever you’re supposed to be doing, you see yourself and the other person clearly. Our intimacy was about conversation, connection, friendship, and falling in love with each other without it having to be about sex.”

• Devon Franklin: “Waiting for honors God’s timing and methods. The way God brings you a person can be as important as the person. It’s important to have clarity of thought so you can see” how God does what He does.”

• Devon Franklin: “A physical-spiritual concussion, like a jolt of electricity to the heart. It was like something from a rom-com script so cliché-ridden that it gets sent to the turnaround (the film industry term for a project that a film studio decides not to develop further).”

• Devon Franklin: “Career should be a spiritual pursuit, not just a physical or financial one. Your career should be where your dreams, aspirations, talents, and hopes for the present and future play out.”

• Devon Franklin: “Do an assessment of your discipline and look for areas where you are not as disciplined as you need to be, and then make adjustments immediately. What if your prayers for career advancement have already been answered but they have not manifested because you aren’t displaying the discipline required to handle the opportunity?”

• Devon Franklin: “Wait is one of the most powerful tools you’ll ever have for getting what you really want out of life because it creates the path for you to become the best version of yourself. When this happens, getting what you want most out of life—the love of your life, a wonderful family, a prosperous career, and”

• Devon Franklin: “a meaningful life’s purpose—becomes truly possible. You grow into someone of greater wisdom, discernment, self-awareness, compassion, and empathy, and it’s incredible how everything falls into place. It’s as though God was always just around the corner, waiting to bless you when you found your way onto the right path.”

• Devon Franklin: “True self-worth comes from believing that the fact of your birth is all the validation you need. Positive reinforcement doesn’t validate you; it’s just a sign” “of the validation you already possess. When you understand this, it then gives you a context for the praise you receive. You will be able to resist internalizing praise to the point that not receiving it affects your self-worth.”

• Devon Franklin:“Programmed to be stubbornly self-reliant, men rebel against the notion that waiting will allow God to bring them what they want. Either that, or they don’t feel worthy of what God’s got in mind, so they go out and make their own “life.” Career, possessions, and sex will not bring peace. Love, purpose, connection, joy—those are things only God can bring us, and for him to do that, we’ve got to slow down long enough to see what’s in our path. Men crave motion; waiting requires being still and listening. If men can find a” “way to quell that restlessness and weakness of faith long enough to stop and pay attention, they’ll see God work wonders in their lives.”

Franklin Church