Love is the strongest force in the world, and when it is blocked that means pain. "There are two things we can do when this happens. We can kill the love so that it stops hurting. But then of course part of us dies, too. Or, Corrie, we can ask God to open up another route for that love to travel...

There is no pit so deep that God's love is not deeper still." "Only heaven will reveal the top side of God's tapestry." And, probably the most poignant and powerful of all, simply "Jesus is Victor.

But I am in prison, dear lady from Haarlem, a prison stronger than this one.

It was a fact. We knew it, we experienced it minute by minute—poor, hated, hungry. We are more than conquerors. Not "we shall be." We are! Life in Ravensbruck took place on two separate levels, mutually impossible. One, the observable, external life, grew every day more horrible. The other, the life we lived with God, grew daily better, truth upon truth, glory upon glory.

My pastor used to say you're either coming out of a tough season, in the middle of a tough season, or heading into a tough season.

The way we respond to challenges determines the stories we'll tell one day. Your decision to trust God in life's storms may be one of the best ongoing choices you ever make.

When you start to avoid what hurts you, what happens? Over time, your spiritual side grows stronger. And your selfish side starts to die.

I'm asking God to bless you with something that unsettles you, disturbs you, and upsets you.

God didn't make us to be warriors so that we'd be perfect; he made us to be warriors so that we'd fight our fears, learn from our mistakes, and live to fight another day.

My career has never really been a vertical kind of thing. I mean, it's always been a bit difficult for me.

You know how it is. The storms come and it's water and wind as far as the eye can see for a bit. But winds calm and the waters drain. We find our feet again, and the ground under us sprouts a new crop of seed. That is always the way of it. I don't suppose this storm will be any different.

Hard times are purposeful, meant to refine and redirect us. They're not arbitrary or random, and they're definitely not cruel.