The only way love punishes in by suffering.

He has chosen not to heal me, but to hold me. The more intense the pain, the closer His embrace.

Deny your weakness, and you will never realize God's strength in you.

The weaker I am, the harder I must lean on God's grace; the harder I lean on him, the stronger I discover him to be, and the bolder my testimony to his grace.

Find a place where there's joy, and the joy will burn out the pain.

As terrifying and painful as reality can be, it's also the only place where you can find true happiness.

For me, growing up as a human being on the planet Earth in the twenty-first century was a real kick in the teeth.

The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places. But those that will not break it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially. If you are none of these you can be sure that it will kill you too but there will be no special hurry.

I believe that I know and share the many sorrows and sad circumstances that a human being can experience, but I do not cling to them, I do not prolong such moments of agony. They pass through me, like life itself, as a broad, eternal stream, they become part of that stream, and life continues. And as a result all my strength is preserved, does not become tagged onto futile sorrow or rebelliousness.

And so we gain hope—not from the darkness of our suffering, not from pat answers in books, but from the God who sees our suffering and shares our pain.

Evil is always temporary. "The worst does not last." Nothing counter to God's justice has any eternity to it.

Traveling in the way of faith and climbing the ascent to Christ may be difficult, but it is not worrisome. The weather may be adverse, but it is never fatal. We may slip and stumble and fall, but the rope will hold us.