Often the same thing that makes one person bitter makes another better.
The same sun melts ice and hardens clay.
Disappointments are His appointments–so put Him between you and your circumstances.
God will take care of what you go through; you take care of how you go through it.
There are two ways we can meet difficulty: either we can alter the difficulty or we can alter ourselves to meet it.
Most people don’t mind obstacles as long as they don’t get in their way.
When God allows extraordinary trials, He gives extraordinary comfort.
As the diamond cannot be polished without friction, so the Christian cannot be perfected without trial.
To realize the worth of the anchor we need to feel the storm.
Don’t be afraid of opposition–a kite rises best against the wind.
Trust God during your trials–He’s had thousands of years of experience.
The sweetest songs often come from broken hearts.
Affliction can prepare ordinary Christians for extraordinary service.
Often life’s greatest barriers become life’s greatest blessings.
The things Satan throws in our path to defeat us can be stepping stones to victory.
Great trials often precede great triumphs.
God’s chastening is never cruel, but it is corrective.
God may not shield us from all life’s storms, but He shelters us in life’s storms.
Don’t fight your problems and setbacks–use them.
The blow must dreaded often falls to break from off our limbs a chain.
Nothing shows more accurately what we are than the way we meet trials and difficulties.
Those who bless God in their trials will be blest by God through their trials.
If it were not for the hot water, the teakettle would not sing.
If the Lord is our Shepherd, He has the right to shear us at any time, and we have no right to bleat.
With every pain that rends the heart, remember Christ had a part.
We should not be weary of the cross who are sure of the crown.
A song in the night is worth two in the day.
In the clouds of affliction, the eye of faith can always find God’s rainbow.
God sends trials, not to impair us, but to improve us.
Law sentences a living man to death; grace brings a dead man to life.
Many people want to go to the promised land without going through the wilderness.
Nothing will ever be attempted if all possible objections must be first removed.
The brook would lose its song if you took away the rocks.
He who has no clouds sees no rainbows.
If life is a grind, use it to sharpen your wits.
It is only the trees that are loaded with fruit that people throw stones at.
The eagle that soars in the upper air does not weary about crossing the river.
God’s love for us is not a love that exempts us from trials, but rather a love that sees us through our trials.
He who excuses himself accuses himself.
When you stop the denials, they will stop the accusations.
God’s people are not without trial nor without their God amid the trial.
Prosecution is sometimes persecution in the guise of virtue.
Christians are like tea–their full strength is not drawn out until they get into hot water.
In the storm, God wants to equip us for service.
What we can do for Christ is the test of service. What we suffer for Him is the test of our love.
Sorrow is fruit: God does not make it grow on limbs too weak to bear it.
Difficulties afford a platform upon which the Lord can display His power.
God sends the storms to prove He is the only real shelter.
If we didn’t have rocks in the pathway, our feet would become flabby.
It is better to suffer wrongly than to do wrong.
The fruitful life results from showers as well as sunshine.
When God puts His children in the furnace, He goes with them.
A smooth sea never made a successful sailor.
Blessed are the irritations of life that bring the irrigation of God.
In the night of despair men discover the light of new hope.
We can only truly appreciate the miracle of sunrise if we have waited in the darkness.
The blue of heaven is larger than the clouds.
It is better to be pruned to grow than to be cut to burn.
There is no sunshine without some shadow.
Circumstances are just raw material out of which God makes character and strength and virtue.
Say not that this or that came to thwart you–it came only to test you.
God will not allow any problem to come to you that cannot become a learning, a turning, or earning experience.
God is more concerned about your response to a problem than He is about removing it.
Those who deny themselves for Christ will enjoy themselves in Christ.
In this country there is much complaint with little suffering; in some countries there is much suffering with little complaint.
A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected without the abrasive of trials.
Think less of the power of things over you and more of the power of Christ in you.
If you find a path with no obstacle, it probably does not lead anywhere.
God gets His best soldiers from the highlands of affliction.
Christians lay up heavenly awards when they triumph over earthly trials.
Every irritation is an invitation to an elevation.
Clouds in our lives are sent many times to bring showers of blessing.
Sometimes the Lord calms the storm; sometimes He lets the storm rage and calms the believer.
If you take your problems to the Lord, that is natural; if you give your problems to the Lord, that is spiritual.
All sunshine and no rain makes a desert.
The man who believes in sleeping on his problems is simply adding insomnia to his other worries.
God causes many a tight place to open into the right place.
The thickest cloud brings the heaviest shower of blessing.
In every life there must be a grave, and self buried therein.
God often digs the wells of joy with the spade of sorrow.
It’s harder to suffer in silence because that takes all the pleasure out of suffering.
He who have never tasted what is bitter does not know what is sweet.
All pleasures are worthless without health.
God brings people into deep water not to drown them but to cleanse them.
Trials are not bad–there’s a special place reserved for those without trials–it’s called a cemetery.