Courage is grace under pressure.

Suffering is a great favor. Remember that everything soon comes to an end . . . and take courage. Think of how our gain is eternal.

I'm very brave generally,' he went on in a low voice: 'only today I happen to have a headache.' (Tweedledum)

Courage would be impossible in a world without pain.

I've always been impressed that we are here, surviving, because of the indomitable courage of quite small people against impossible odds.

Sorrow is a fruit. God does not allow it to grow on a branch that is too weak to bear it.

Imperfection is the prerequisite for grace. Light only gets in through the cracks.

Why the delay? Why does God let evil and pain so flagrantly exist, even thrive, on this planet?...He holds back for our sakes. Re-creation involves us; we are, in fact, at the center of his plan...the motive behind all human history, is to develop us, not God. Our very existence announces to the powers in the universe that restoration is under way. Every act of faith by every one of the people of God is like the tolling of a bell, and a faith like Job's reverberates throughout the universe.

It was not pastoral teaching, or small group fellowship, or worship services, or books of theology — rather, they mentioned suffering. "People said they grew more during seasons of loss, pain, and crisis than they did at any other time." We discover the hidden value of suffering only by suffering — not as part of God's original or ultimate plan for us, but as a redemptive transformation that takes place in the midst of trial.

The world thirsts for grace. When grace descends, the world falls silent before it.

The redemptive way goes through pain, not around it.

All suffering is suffering. As C. S. Lewis said, there is no such thing as "the sum of the world's suffering," an abstraction of the philosophers. There are simply individual people who hurt. And who wonder why God permits it.