We have to do with God, to whom no one can look without the need of being good waking up in his heart; to think about God is to begin to be good.
George MacDonaldCome, then, affliction, if my Father wills, and be my frowning friend. A friend that frowns is better than a smiling enemy.
George MacDonaldDo you think you love your children better than He who made them? Is not your love what it is because He put it into your heart first? Have you not often been cross with them? Sometimes unjust to them? Whence came the returning love that rose from unknown depths in your being, and swept away the anger and the injustice? You did not create that love. Probably you were not good enough to send for it by prayer. But it came. God sent it. He makes you love your children.
George MacDonaldWhat God may hereafter require of you, you must not give yourself the least trouble about. Everything He gives you to do, you must do as well as ever you can, and that is the best possible preparation for what He may want you to do next. If people would but do what they have to do, they would always find themselves ready for what came next.
George MacDonald