Quotes about Struggle

We carry around in our heads these pictures of what our lives are supposed to look like, painted by the brush of out intentions. It's the great, deep secret of humanity that in the end none of our lives look the way we thought they would. As much as we wish to believe otherwise, most of life is a reaction to circumstances.

Before the truth sets you free, it tends to make you miserable.

The heroic deeds of those great worthies do not comfort the church so much as their falls and bruises do.

Discouragements, then, must come from ourselves and Satan, who laboureth to fasten on us a loathing of duty.

Sometimes a Christian has such confused thoughts that he can say nothing but, as a child, cries, `O Father', not able to express what he needs, like Moses at the Red Sea. These stirrings of spirit touch the heart of God and melt him into compassion towards us, when they come from the Spirit of adoption, and from a striving to be better.

Discouragements, then, must come from ourselves and from Satan, who labors to fasten on us a loathing of duty.

Luther said that every Christian is "simul justus et peccator, comprehensor et viator"—"simultaneously righteous and sinful, a man who has reached the goal and one who reaches out toward it.

Even the best of Christians are troubled by the question, "Why does an almighty God send, or at least allow, suffering?" When you are nagged by thoughts like this, say to yourself, "I am still in elementary school. When I graduate from the university of Christian life, I will understand His ways better and doubts will cease.

Did I believe in God? Now the test had come. I was alone. There was no salary to earn, no golden opinions to consider. God offered me only suffering—would I continue to love Him?

your own. You have probably tried to change many times and have failed to maintain the changes.

But faith develops in the valleys. When our dreams shatter and we feel helpless, that's when we have to believe in God's power and presence.

The peace we are offered is not a peace that is free from tragedy, illness, bankruptcy, divorce, depression, or heartache. It is peace rooted in the trust that the life Jesus gives us is deeper, wider, stronger, and more enduring than whatever our current circumstances are, because all we see is not all there is and the last word about us and our struggle has not yet been spoken.