There's nothing like suffering to reveal how small and needy you are. Pain has the remarkable capacity to reveal the weakness of the things you're leaning on to make life worth living.

Whatever we may mean by 'Christian growth,' it is ultimately this: less faith in me, more faith in God.

God's grace meets us in messy places because messy places are all that there are.

The truth is that when it comes to suffering, if we do not go to our graves in confusion, we will not go to our graves trusting. Explanations are a substitute for trust.

...this culture of mandatory happiness actually promotes dishonesty and more suffering.

When it comes to understanding and appreciating grace, our biggest problem is our so-called goodness...not our self-perceived badness.

Grief, of course, is not something that operates according to a specific time frame, and it seems cold to suggest otherwise. Yet when we do not grasp that God is present in pain, we eventually insist on victory or, worse, blame the sufferer for not "getting over it" fast enough. This is more than a failure to extend compassion; it's an exercise in cruelty.