The joy of God has gone through the poverty of the manger and the distress of the cross; therefore it is invincible and irrefutable.

The idea that we could have avoided many of life's difficulties if we had taken things more cautiously is too foolish to be entertained for a moment. As I look back on your past I am so convinced that what has happened hitherto has been right, that I feel that what is happening now is right too. To renounce a full life and its real joys in order to avoid pain is neither Christian nor human.

Don't forget, for every drop of rain a flower grows!

In order to get to the rainbow you must be able to deal with the rain.

The way I see it, you've gotta put up with the rain to get a rainbow.

The way I see it, if you want a rainbow you have to put up with the rain.

I look back on all that now, and I realize this helped to build my character. It helped me build my own strength. So even the bad times were good. There were good times as well as bad times. But that's how memories are made, and that's why I'm sitting here today.

The way I see it, if you want a rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain.

Satan is a liar. He wants to steal our joy and replace it with hopelessness. When we're up against a struggle and we think we can't keep going, we can change that by praising God. Our chains will fall from us. Meese encouraged me by reminding me of the real reason we have for fully living this life. It's to give everything we have to God--even the heartbreaks and pain. God is our reason to live.

Most of the time when people have that if-you-can-do-it attitude, I nod, acknowledge what they're saying, and add, "I'm just doing the best I can." And really, that's all I did during the worst days. Sometimes "the best I can" was nothing but to endure. Even when I struggled with depression, it was still the best I could do.

Life is a lot more fun if you treat its challenges in creative ways.

Sometimes we need the salt of tears to remind us how to savor the sweetness of life.