Maya Angelou's Faith Made Her A Courageous 'Child Of God'

Maya Angelou's Most Moving Quotes On Faith, Prayer And God
FILE - In this Nov. 21, 2008 file photo, author Maya Angelou delivers a tribute to South African Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu at the State Department in Washington. Angelou is celebrating her 82nd birthday with friends, including singers Martina McBride, Naomi Judd, Gladys Knight and Common and producer/director Lee Daniels. The celebration is more than a month late _ Angelou's birthday was April 4. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)
FILE - In this Nov. 21, 2008 file photo, author Maya Angelou delivers a tribute to South African Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu at the State Department in Washington. Angelou is celebrating her 82nd birthday with friends, including singers Martina McBride, Naomi Judd, Gladys Knight and Common and producer/director Lee Daniels. The celebration is more than a month late _ Angelou's birthday was April 4. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)

Maya Angelou spent her life as an unstoppable force for art, justice, and love. Her writing touched on themes of struggle and sadness, and often drew on her faith as a source of strength to find beauty and perseverance in hard times.

As we remember the indomitable Maya, we think of the blessings she gave us with her words, and the ways she called us to live better lives. Here is a collection of her wisdom regarding prayer, faith, and God:

We Are All God's Creation
AP / Goodreads
"While I know myself as a creation of God, I am also obligated to realize and remember that everyone else and everything else are also God's creation."
Find God Within Yourself
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"Listen to yourself and in that quietude you might hear the voice of God."
Thank You
WikiMedia / Goodreads
“I want to thank you, Lord, for life and all that's in it. Thank you for the day and for the hour, and the minute. ”
It Humbles Me
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"It's true. I can do anything and do it well because God loves me. It still humbles me."
Where God Is
AP / Twitter
"There is no place where God is not."
Seeking God
Getty Images / Goodreads
“A woman's heart should be so hidden in God that a man has to seek Him just to find her.”
Love Lets Me Thrive
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“Love is that condition in the human spirit so profound that it allows me to survive, and better than that, to thrive with passion, compassion, and style.”
Giving Liberates The Soul
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“I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver.”
A Courageous Child Of God
Getty Images / NOLA.com
"I believed that there was a God because I was told it by my grandmother and later by other adults. But when I found that I knew not only that there was God but that I was a child of God, when I understood that, when I comprehended that, more than that, when I internalized that, ingested that, I became courageous."
Something Greater Than Me
Getty Images / NOLA.com
"It's a wonderful thing to know that there is something to know there is something greater than I am, and that is God itself."
On Gratitude And Faith
“Let gratitude be the pillow upon which you kneel to say your nightly prayer. And let faith be the bridge you build to overcome evil and welcome good.”
Nothing I Can't Do
"When I was asked to do something good, I often say yes, I'll try, yes, I'll do my best. And part of that is believing, if God loves me, if God made everything from leaves to seals and oak trees, then what is it I can't do?"
Led By The Spirit
Getty Images / Twitter
"The Holy Spirit upon my left leads my feet without ceasing into the camp of the righteous and into the tents of the free."
On Poverty
WikiMedia / Goodreads
“People whose history and future were threatened each day by extinction considered that it was only by divine intervention that they were able to live at all. I find it interesting that the meanest life, the poorest existence, is attributed to God's will, but as human beings become more affluent, as their living standard and style begin to ascend the material scale, God descends the scale of responsibility at a commensurate speed.”
Finding A Church
Getty Images / LA Times
"Yes. I have always tried to find myself a church. I have studied everything. I spent some time with Zen Buddhism and Judaism and I spent some time with Islam. I am a religious person. It is my spirit, but I found that I really want to be a Christian. That is what my spirit seems to be built on.I just know that I find the teachings of Christ so accessible. I really believe that Christ made a sacrifice and for those reasons I want to be a Christian. But what kind, I don't know. I don't know what time of day I am at."

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