God had a strategy in the ugly places because those were the fields in which he decided to cultivate us.

It is from the depths of dark and dirty places in our lives that we scream for God's attention and help while misunderstanding that, just like with a natural seed, it is the microbes in the soil of life that eat away at our efforts to protect ourselves from harm.

Crushing requires purification. Do you know anyone who would purify something they do not intend to use? Your crushing cannot be the end, because God would never purify you if He didn't intend to use you.

Even in the moments of your greatest anguish, you often find unexpected blessings alongside and commingled with your losses.

There is the greatest practical benefit in making a few failures early in life.

We should not expect to have all the blessings of life and none of its trials. It would make this world too delightful a dwelling place, and I fear we would never care to leave it.

The artist has been kind to me," she said softly, not looking at him. "The artist drew what he saw. What he sees even now," he said. A single tear slipped down her cheek. "I wish this were easier, Jake." "Nothing is easy, Aletta. At least nothing worth having.

We should not expect to have all of the blessings o life and none of its trials. It would make this world too delightful a dwelling place, and I fear we would never care to leave it. ... As it is...I have come to believe that it's only by taking some of those objects away from us to which our hearts so closely cling that He endeavors....in His kindness, to draw us from this world to one of greater happiness.

You can't take credit for what you do when your back is against the wall.

It's the sorrow you feel that allows you to crave love. Without the suffering, there would be no true pleasure. Without tears, no joy. Without deficiency, no longing. This is the secret of the human heart, Rom.

There is in every woman's heart a spark of heavenly fire which lies dormant in the broad daylight of prosperity, but which kindles up and beams and blazes in the dark hour of adversity.

Conflicts create the fire of affects and emotions; and like every fire it has two aspects: that of burning and that of giving light.