Until we can come face-to-face with the deepest, darkest fact of life without damaging our view of God's character, we do not yet know Him.

The burden God places squeezes the grapes and out comes the wine; most of us see the wine only.

First Peter 4:12 says, "Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you . . . ." Rise to the occasion—do what the trial demands of you. It does not matter how much it hurts as long as it gives God the opportunity to manifest the life of Jesus in your body.

Just rejoice with godly excitement that His voice has been heard. You may often have to watch Jesus Christ wreck a life before He saves it (see Matthew 10:34).

We are not made for the mountains, for sunrises, or for the other beautiful attractions in life - those are simply intended to be moments of inspiration. We are made for the valley and the ordinary things of life and that is where we have to prove our stamina and strength.

When your circumstances fail but your character succeeds, you become a model of hope for others.

God is more interested in the success of our character than the success of our circumstances.

We forget that God's primary goal ia not changing our situations or relationships so that we can be happy, but changing us through our situations and relationships so that we will be holy.

Yes, your life is messy and hard, but that's not a failure of the plan; it is the plan. It's God working to complete what he's begun in you.

God decided to leave you in this fallen world to live, love, and work, because he intended to use the difficulties you face to do something in you that couldn't be done any other way.

God has chosen to let you live in this fallen world because he plans to employ the difficulties of it to continue and complete his work in you.

My Savior has been with me, for me, and in me, and he works to take very bad things and produce through them very, very good things.