The greatness of man cannot be seen in the hours of comfort and convenience, but rather in moments of conflict/adversity.

And when it rains on your parade, look up rather than down. Without the rain, there would be no rainbow.

You can't avoid pain, but you can choose to overcome it.

You can be defeated by life's unavoidable disappointments, or you can become stronger because of them.

Hardship can humble you, but it cannot break you unless you let it. Your instinct for survival will see you through if you're attuned to its frequency. Instinct will find a temporary stopgap without ever taking its sights off your larger goals. There's no greater way to hone your instincts than to overcome adversity.

A verse of Scripture I often use in the face of failure with my own sins is Proverbs 24:16: "For though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again, but the wicked are brought down by calamity." The person who is disciplining himself toward holiness falls many times, but he doesn't quit. After each failure he gets up and continues the struggle.

When life knocks you down, try to land on your back. Because if you can look up, you can get up. Let your reason get you back up.

In the words of Corrie ten Boom, "There is no pit too deep that God's grace isn't deeper still.

A flower blooming in the desert proves to the world that adversity, no matter how great, can be overcome.

A man only begins to be a man when he ceases to whine and revile, and commences to search for the hidden justice which regulates his life. And as he adapts his mind to that regulating factor, he ceases to accuse others as the cause of his condition, and builds himself up in strong and noble thoughts; ceases to kick against circumstances, but begins to use them as aids to his more rapid progress, and as a means of discovering the hidden powers and possibilities within himself.

Sometimes by losing a battle you find a new way to win the war.

It takes quite a spine to turn the other cheek. It takes phenomenal fortitude to love your enemy. It takes firm resolve to pray for those who persecute you. (with reference to Matthew 5)