God's purpose in increasing our trials is to sensitize us to people we never would have been able to relate to otherwise.

Whether you send an e-mail, tell your spouse in person, write a letter, talk over the phone, or write a quick note, remember that what you say today has the capacity to transform the countenance and the character of the most important person in your life, your spouse.

Jesus went without comfort so that you might have it. He postponed joy so that you might share in it. He willingly chose isolation so that you might never be alone in your hurt and sorrow. He had no real fellowship so that fellowship might be yours, this moment. This alone is enough cause for great gratitude!

If you had never known physical pain in your life, how could you appreciate the nail scarred hands with which Jesus Christ will meet you?

I had to be healed of my desire to be healed.

Even at the cross, God permitted what he hated - the unjust and agonizing death of his own precious Son - in order to accomplish something he prized above his own Son's cruel death; that is, salvation for a world of sinners. So the world's worst murder becomes the world's only salvation.

God always seems bigger to those who need him most. And suffering is the tool he uses to help us need him more.