"God, who foresaw your tribulation, has specially armed you to go through it, not without pain but without stain." ~C.S. Lewis
"We are always in the forge, or on the anvil; by trials God is shaping us for higher things." ~Beecher Ward
"Whomever the Lord has adopted and deemed worthy of His fellowship ought to prepare themselves for a hard, toilsome, and unquiet life, crammed with very many and various kinds of evil." ~John Calvin
"God would not rub so hard if it were not to fetch out the dirt that is ingrained in our natures. God loves purity so well He had rather see a hole than a spot in His child's garments." ~William Gurnell
"They gave our Master a crown of thorns. Why do we hope for a crown of roses?" ~Martin Luther
"Grace grows best in winter." ~Samuel Rutherford
"The godly have some good in them, therefore the devil afflicts them; and some evil in them, therefore God afflicts them." ~Thomas Watson
"Jesus promised the desciples three things---that they would be completely fearless, absurdly happy and in constant trouble." ~G.K, Chesterton
"No character is ultimately tested until it has suffered." ~Fosdick Emerson
"God sweetens outward pain with inward peace." ~Thomas Watson
"We fail to see the place of suffering in the broader scheme of things. We fail to see that suffering is an inevitable dimension of life. Because we have lost perspective, we fail to see that unless one is willing to accept suffering properly, he or she is really refusing to continue in the quest for maturity. To refuse suffering is to refuse personal growth." ~Henri J.M. Nouwen
"We all know people who have been made much meaner and more irritable and more intolerable to live with by suffering: it is not right to say that all suffering perfects. It only perfects one type of person.... The one who accepts the call of God in Christ Jesus." ~Oswald Chambers
"The readiest way to escape from our sufferings is, to be willing they should endure as long as God pleases." ~John Wesley
"God had one Son on earth without sin, but never one without suffering." ~Augustine
"Jesus didn't save you so you could cruise to heaven in a luxury liner. He wants you to be useful in His kingdom! The moment you got saved, He enrolled you in His school the school of suffering and affliction." ~David Wilkerson
"The breaking of the alabaster box and the anointing of the Lord filled the house with the odor, with the sweetest odor. Everyone could smell it. Whenever you meet someone who has really suffered; been limited, gone through things for the Lord, willing to be imprisoned by the Lord, just being satisfied with Him and nothing else, immediately you scent the fragrance. There is a savour of the Lord. Something has been crushed, something has been broken, and there is a resulting odor of sweetness." ~Watchman Nee
"God is doing a greater work in us, and that can only come as we learn to trust him no matter how dark the days and sleepless the nights. And it is only as we have been through the darkness with him that what we know with our heads slides down into our hearts, and our hearts no longer demand answers. Then Why? becomes unimportant when we believe that God can and will redeem the pain for our good and his glory...When I put the sovereignty of god beside his unfailing love, my heart can rest." ~Verdell Davis
"The best prayers have often more groans than words." ~John Bunyan
"If the first mark of a true and living church is love, the second is suffering. The one is naturally consequent on the other. A willingness to suffer proves the genuineness of love." ~John Stott
"When the devil and the world combine to persecute a Christly soul, they put him on the throne of power." G. Campbell Morgan
"Only if we trust God to turn past calamities into future comfort can we look with gratitude for all things." ~John Piper
"My dear brother, let God make of you what He will, He will end all with consolation, and shall make glory out of your suffering." ~Samuel Rutherford
"Where are the marks of the cross in your life? Are there any points of identification with your Lord? Alas, too many Christians wear medals but carry no scars." Vance Havner
"Paul's sufferings complete Christ's afflictions not by adding anything to their worth, but by extending them to the people they were meant to save." ~John Piper
