The Christian views trials as a pathway to maturity.

Love says: I’ve seen the ugly parts of you, and I’m staying.

"Being a good steward" and "placing your hope in" is not the same thing.

Because a God who is ultimately most focused on his own glory will be about the business of restoring us, who are all broken images of him. His glory demands it. So we should be thankful for a self-sufficient God whose self-regard is glorious.

Could it not be, that God loves me too deeply, by having people challenge me so that I know I'm not perfect.

I preach hard against that idea and plead with people to make war against sin. I tell them it's not going to be easy. Some people are meant to wrestle with their sin a long time before God brings them to freedom, but let's wrestle. Let's fight. Let's do something besides just complain.

While we lament the apparent injustice of pain and suffering, how often do we forget that every good thing in a fallen world is wholly a gift of God's mercy and grace.