We can choose to gather to our hearts the thorns of disappointment, failure, loneliness, and dismay due to our present situation, or we can gather the flowers of God's grace, unbounding love, abiding presence, and unmatched joy.

Listen. To live is to be marked. To live is to change, to acquire the words of a story, and that is the only celebration we mortals really know. In perfect stillness, frankly, I've only found sorrow.

We have to have adversity in order for us to really reap the benefits and really just have an appreciation of how hard it is to win in the NBA.

The more I am in a position to be tried in faith with reference to my body, my family, my service for the Lord, my business, etc., the more shall I have opportunity of seeing God's help and deliverance; and every fresh instance, in which He helps and delivers me, will tend towards the increase of my faith.

Once you are born with a handicap, even if the handicap is resolved - as it was in my case - you are left with the benefit of having had it. By contrast, my mother - who had nothing bad happen to her - was a very disabled person. She was an appalling human being who squandered every blessing that God had given her.

I believe that no matter what you believe, you're going to go through hard times.

I'm a big believer in having to go through hard times to get to where you want to be. Nothing comes easy. You have to work.

Circumstances do not make the man, they reveal him.

Positive things come out of even the most difficult times.

The speed of change today is faster than the human psyche seems able to handle, and it's increasingly difficult to reconcile the rhythms of our personal lives with the rapidity of a twenty-four-hour news cycle.

Part of what you learn about life is that a wrecking ball can come out of nowhere, and it isn't just going to take out your left toe. It can hit you right in the middle and take you down.

Sometimes My blessings come to you in mysterious ways: through pain and trouble. At such times you can know My goodness only through your trust in Me. Understanding will fail you, but trust will keep you close to Me.