Quotes that inspire – selected by our staff

In these challenging times, looking after our mental health has never been so important.

If you’ve managed to watch our Principal’s recent broadcast, sharing a message of enouragement, you will have heard him reiterate the fact that “we are still your Newbold”. We stand true to that.

And with this in mind, a selection of staff would like to share quotes with you: our students, our staff, and our local and wider community, that motivate and inspire.

Dr John Baildam, Principal, shares one of his favourite inspirational quotes.

Words by C.S. Lewis

“If we are all going to be destroyed by an atomic bomb, let that bomb when it comes find us doing sensible and human things—praying, working, teaching, reading, listening to music, bathing the children, playing tennis, chatting to our friends over a pint and a game of darts—not huddled together like frightened sheep and thinking about bombs. They may break our bodies (a microbe can do that) but they need not dominate our minds.” — “On Living in an Atomic Age” (1948) in Present Concerns: Journalistic Essays

Alastair Agbaje, Chaplain, shares the following, fitting devotional “Whose thoughts are fixed on you!” – Isaiah 26:3 NLT

The secret to ‘perfect peace’ lies in this Scripture: ‘You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!’ It’s not your circumstances, but how you think about them that robs you of peace. Focusing on your circumstances just causes more anxiety, because circumstances constantly change and often spin out of your control. However, God never changes, and nothing ever spins out of His control.

Peace and worry are mutually exclusive. Worry throttles your confidence, chokes your perspective, and suffocates your spirit. It robs you of the peace that comes from knowing the God who can handle anything, and through whom all things are possible. The reason we worry so much is because we engage in exactly the opposite behaviour to that which brings peace.

Worry is like a ‘no-confidence’ vote in God. You may not intend it that way, but every time you give in to worry, in essence, you’re saying: ‘I don’t believe God can or will handle this for me. I’m not sure I can trust Him in this matter, so I’ll just have to carry this burden and take care of the problem myself.’ God is either the object of your trust or just a part-time helper you call on when you can’t handle things on your own. It’s reminiscent of the elephant and the mouse that walked over a bridge. When they got to the other side, the mouse said, ‘Man, we really shook that bridge!’

When you begin to see God as playing the major role and you the minor one, you’ll begin to find the peace which has eluded you for so long.

Bisser Stoykov, Head of Marketing, Recruitment and Retention offers a quote taken from “The Irresistible Revolution” by Shane Claiborne, published in 2006:

“Most good things have already been said far too many times and just need to be lived.”

Lyn Sacareau, Associate Residential Life Manager and Events Manager, shares a passage from Isaiah 41:13, that personally inspires her during this uncertain time:

For I, the Lord your God, will hold your right hand. Saying to you, ‘Fear not, I will help you.’

Elizabeta Gagic, Research Assistant, Ellen G White Research Centre, offers this gentle reminder from Ellen White:

“We have nothing to fear for the future, except as we shall forget the way the Lord has led us, and his teaching in our past history.”

Clive Malcom, English Teacher also takes inspiration from Ellen White, with the below taken from Testimonies to the Church, Vol.3:

“Dangers and perils surround us; and we are only safe when we feel our weakness and cling with the grasp of faith to our mighty Deliverer.”