One of the most wonderful things about knowing God is that there’s always so much more to know, so much more to discover. Just when we least expect it, He intrudes into our neat and tidy notions about who He is and how He works.

Yes, I pray that my pain might be removed, that it might cease; but more so, I pray for the strength to bear it, the grace to benefit from it, and the devotion to offer it up to God as a sacrifice of praise.

Only God is capable of telling us what our rights and needs are. You have to surrender that right to Him.

God uses suffering to purge sin from our lives, strengthen our commitment to Him, force us to depend on grace, bind us together with other believers, produce discernment, foster sensitivity, discipline our minds, spend our time wisely, stretch our hope, cause us to know Christ better, make us long for truth, lead us to repentance of sin, teach us to give thanks in time of sorrow, increase faith, and strengthen character.

Faith isn't the ability to believe long and far into the misty future. It's simply taking God at His Word and taking the next step.

Thankfully, God brought wise Christian friends alongside to help me discover life-transforming precepts in his Word.

Even in my despair, I knew in a vague way that the Bible held hope for me in its pages. I just didn't know where to begin.