How intricate were the stitches with which God was weaving the tapestry of her life. And how often did the blessings therein exact a price more dear, and further reaching, than she would ever comprehend this side of eternity.

He's so good to give us the bitter moments of life that, in his mercy, keep us dependent on him, that remind us that this earth is not a believer's home, that so much "better" awaits us in every way. And he gives us the sweet moments to encourage us in our sanctification journey, to give us a taste of the eternal, of his goodness. He gives us both because he knows what we need better than we know ourselves. And his timing is always perfect. And aren't we grateful?

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.

The world's bumper sticker reads: Life sucks, and then you die. Perhaps Christian bumper stickers should read: Life sucks, but then you find hope and you can't wait to die.

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.

An alcoholic father, poverty, my own juvenile diabetes, the limited English my parents spoke - although my mother has become completely bilingual since. All these things intrude on what most people think of as happiness.

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

Somebody who has been in a very bad wreck is going to be very conscientious about not speeding through a yellow light... You just learn so many good lessons when you go through a failed marriage.

Whether life grinds a man down or polishes him depends on what he's made of.

No man, without trials and temptations, can attain a true understanding of the Holy Scriptures.

Whenever God means to make a man great, he always breaks him in pieces first.