Deep, contended joy comes from a place of complete security and confidence [in God] - even in the midst of trial.

I cannot but think that he who finds a certain proportion of pain and evil inseparably woven up in the life of the very worms, will bear his own share with more courage and submission.

you leave the cage, the transition into the jungle will definitely be challenging. You take a few steps forward and a few back. You stumble and fall and get back on your feet. Such is the way we learn to lean forward and keep stumbling toward success.

Instincts under pressure crush the carbon of conformity and create diamonds. Each new season of life offers to train us for the next season if we pay attention and adapt.

both success and struggle are different kinds of trauma.

It's the nights that I cried myself to sleep and my tears crawled across the bridge of my nose that God most often used to develop me into the person I am today.

When the Master gives us the vision of what he's going to do in our lives, He shows us the mountain peaks while He hides the valleys. If you saw the climb you would have to endure to get to the mountaintop, you would abandon the entire trip.

Instincts under pressure crush the carbon of conformity and create diamonds.

We may not like to admit it, but what if our crushing is necessary in order for our potential to be fulfilled?

The finished product you see on the peaks is the end result of the resurrection in the valley.

But you see, it is the wilderness that weeds out the saints from the "aint's.

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