People had to manage terrible truths.

Believe this: the mistakes are part of the story

Whole phases of her children's lives, these passions that had seemed to be their purest marrow, had faded away one after another. And character persisted.

In other words, what matters most is how we respond to what we experience in life.

Three central values in life—the experiential, or that which happens to us; the creative, or that which we bring into existence; and the attitudinal, or our response in difficult circumstances.

The single most significant factor, he realized, was a sense of future vision—the impelling conviction of those who were to survive that they had a mission to perform, some important work left to do.1 Survivors of POW camps in Vietnam and elsewhere have reported similar experiences: a compelling, future-oriented vision is the primary force that kept many of them alive.

Oh, my Lord! How true it is that whoever works for you is paid in troubles! And what a precious price to those who love you if we understand its value.

Love is never a fulfillment. Life is never a thing of continuous bliss. There is no paradise. Fight and laugh and feel bitter and feel bliss: and fight again. Fight, fight. That is life.

God cares most not about making us comfortable, but about teaching us to hate our transgressions and to grow up spiritually to love him.

You who suffer because you love, love still more. To die of love, is to live by it.

The pain that comes from deep love makes your love more fruitful. It is like a plow that breaks the ground to allow the seed to take root.

Lessons often come dressed up as detours and roadblocks