Bad times have a scientific value. These are occasions a good learner would not miss.

Every calamity is a spur and a valuable hint.

We are like travelers using the cinders of a volcano to roast their eggs.

If your faith is based on lack of affliction, it's on the brink of extinction and is only a frightening diagnosis or a shattering phone call away from collapse. Token faith will not survive suffering. Nor should it.

What if one day we discover that God has wasted nothing in our life on Earth? What if we see that every agony was part of giving birth to an eternal joy?

any faith that leaves us unprepared for suffering is a false faith that deserves to be abandoned. Genuine

So do not fear the struggle; rather, embrace it. Embrace it in the knowledge that the Grand Weaver will take all of your struggles, questions, disappointments, and fears and use them to build your faith and increasingly make you into a man or woman who looks like Jesus Christ.

What suffering teaches us is that three blessings flow from its tutelage: (1) the blessing of an amplified testimony, (2) the blessing of a fulfilled identity, and (3) the blessing of unshakable faith and strength that never drains away.

Patience is a fruit of the spirit that grows only under trial. It is useless to pray for patience. Well, actually I encourage you to pray for patience, but I'll tell you what you'll get TRIALS!

Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way. We feel as though we are worthless. But no matter what has happened or what will happen, we will never lose our value in God's eyes.

I don't think of all the misery, but of the beauty that still remains. Anne Frank

Being positive in a positive situation is easy. Anyone can do that. But when we are positive in a negative situation, it shows a genuine trust in God and a spiritual maturity that pleases and glorifies God.