TRIALS & TRIUMPHS

INCLUDES: Comfort, Death, Fight the Good Fight, Fighters, Handicaps, Healing, Resisting the Devil, Romans 8:28. RELATED INDEX TOPICS: Chastening, Courage, Faith & Trust, Fight, Persecution, Positiveness, Shtick, Yieldedness. 1. Sometime ago a great religious leader came to our state capital to speak at the YMCA. He had a terrific reputation as an evangelist, and to entertain him, his sponsors called on me and said, "Governor, would you have this man up for dinner before the evening meeting?" Of course I was delighted. The time came, and I rushed home from my office in high expectations to meet this dynamic speaker who had made such a wonderful record for his God. Right before me was a gnome-like creature not over five feet tall, who looked like something his mother would like to forget. My face registered my disappointment. My guest looked at me and said, "Governor, isn't it wonderful what God can use?" And so it was. 2. I thank Thee more that all our joy is touched with pain; That shadows fall on brightest hours, that thorns remain; So that Earth's bliss may be our guide, & not our chain. 3. I once learned a lesson from a dog we had. My father used to put a bit of meat or biscuit on the floor near the dog and say, "No!" and the dog knew he must not touch it. But he never looked at the meat. He seemed to feel that if he did so, the temptation to disobey would be too great, so he looked steadily at my father's face. There is a lesson for us all. Always look up to the Master's face. 4. A biologist tells how he watched an ant carrying a piece of straw which seemed a big burden for it. The ant came to a crack in the earth which was too wide for it to cross. It stood for a time as though pondering the situation, then put the straw across the crack and walked over upon it. Here is a lesson for all mankind! A man's burden can be made a bridge for his progress. 5. If you find a path with no obstacles--it is probably a path that doesn't lead anywhere. 6. The best way to forget your own problem is to help someone else solve his. 7. Are you contributing to the solution? Or are you a part of the problem?

8. The eagle is an interesting bird. She builds her nest in the tallest trees or on the loftiest mountain ledges. One who has watched her construct her nest relates that she first lays down thorns, jagged stones, and all manner of sharp objects, which seem utterly incredible materials for the purpose. Then she covers it thickly with wool, feathers, and fur of animals she has killed. The nesting place thus becomes soft and comfortable, a delightful home for the birds which the mother will hatch. But the little creatures are not destined to remain in this inviting cradle so laboriously prepared for them. The time will come when the mother will stir up the nest. With her sharp talons she will begin to point the sharp protrusions in their flesh. Up to this time the tiny creatures have had their food delivered and dropped into their mouths. After the nest has been stirred up, the eagles become so miserable and unhappy they are willing to get out, and go somewhere else. This is the mother's objective in picking out from the nest all the downy material with which it was originally lined and casting it to the wind. It is not cruelty on her part, but rather an effort to produce discontent with the old life of ease, and to whet their desire to move on to maturity. 9. A beekeeper told me a story of a hive--how, when the little bee is in the first stage, it is put into a hexagonal cell, and enough honey is stored there for its use until it reaches maturity. The honey is sealed with a capsule of wax, and when the tiny bee has fed itself on the honey and exhausted the supply, the time has come for it to emerge into the open. But, oh, the wrestle, the tussle, the straining to get through that wax! It is the strait gate for the bee, so strait that in the agony of exit the bee rubs off the membrane that hid its wings, and on the other side is able to fly! 10. A maker of violins searched all his life for wood that would serve for making violins with a certain beautiful and haunting resonance. At last he succeeded when he came into possession of wood gathered from the timberline, the last stand of the trees of the Rockies, 12,000 feet above sea level. Up there where the winds blow so fiercely and steadily that the bark to windward has no chance to grow, where the branches all point one way, and where a tree to live must stay on its knees all through its life, that is where the world's most resonant wood for violins is born and lives and dies. 11. When you flee temptation, be sure you don't leave a forwarding address. 12. Oh, a trouble's a ton, or a trouble's an ounce. Or a trouble is what you make it. And it isn't the fact that you're hurt that counts. But only how did you take it? --Edmund Vance Cooke 13. When our eyes are washed with tears, they can better see the invisible land where there shall be no more tears. 14. In a testimony meeting in the South, an old Christian got up and said that she was always blessed by the words "And it came to pass." "When I am upset by troubles, I go to the Bible, and I never get far before I read "It came to pass." And I say, "Bless the Lord it didn't come to stay--it came to pass!" 15. Times of great calamity and confusion have ever been productive of the greatest minds. The purest ore is produced from the hottest furnace, and the brightest thunderbolt comes from the darkest storm. 16. The vine clings to the oak during the fiercest of storms. Although the violence of nature may uproot the oak, twining tendrils still cling to it. If the vine is on the side of the tree opposite the wind, the great oak is its protection; if it is on the exposed side, the tempest only presses it closer to the trunk. In some of the storms of life, God intervenes and shelters us; while in others He allows us to be exposed, so that we will be pressed more closely to Him. 17. John Wesley had a terrible wife. She tormented him beyond measure. But he said that he attributed most of his success to his wife--that she kept him on his knees and because he was kept on his knees, he had the victory.

18. A team of Russian scientists have been conducting experiments aimed at discovering whether a life of ease shortens or lengthens life. A report on the outcome claims: "A series of experiments were staged on animal life spans. Some animals were provided with ideal conditions of life--quiet, fresh air, plenty of food, and no cares whatever. Sleep if you like, play if you want. The fur of the animals began to gloss. "Another group of animals was placed in conditions that involved cares and joy, setbacks and surprises of all kinds. "Researchers found the first to fall sick and break down were animals existing in seemingly ideal conditions. "Now the Soviet researchers are trying to establish whether the same holds good for human beings." 19. The test of tolerance comes when we are in a majority. The test of courage comes when we are in a minority. 20. Let's learn a lesson from tea. It shows its real worth when it gets into hot water. 21. Scars are the price of scepters. Grief has always been the lot of greatness. 22. The cocoon of the emperor moth is flask-shaped. In order for the perfect insect to appear it must force its way through the neck of the cocoon in hours of intense struggling. It is believed that the pressure to which the moth's body is subjected is a provision of nature for forcing the juices into the vessels of the wings. A person was witnessing this struggle once, and out of pity took the point of some scissors and snipped the confining threads to make the exit easier, but the moth's wings never developed, and it spent its brief span of life crawling instead of flying through the air on rainbow wings. Look not with false pity on God's children who suffer. As men we are inclined to be shortsighted. God would have us inspire their courage in the midst of it by remembering His love, and then looking for the glory to come out of it. 23. No physician ever weighed out medicine to his patient with half so much care and exactness as God weighs out to us every trial. Not one grain too much does He ever permit to be put in the scale. 24. Pressed out of measure and pressed to all length, Pressed so intensely it seems beyond strength; Pressed in the body and pressed in the soul, Pressed in the mind till the dark surges roll; Pressure by foes, and pressure by friends, Pressure on pressure, till life nearly ends, Pressed into loving the staff and the rod, Pressed into knowing no helper but God; Pressed into liberty where nothing clings, Pressed into faith for impossible things; Pressed into living a life in the Lord, Pressed into living a Christ-life outpoured! --Walter B. Knight 25. We are God's jewels. Often God exhibits His jewels on a dark background ... so they will shine more brightly. 26. Nothing shows more accurately what kind of a Christian we really are than the way in which we meet trials & difficulties. 27. Be confident of this--if God sends you on stony paths, He will provide you with strong shoes.-Or will toughen your feet!

28. There is an old Greek story of a soldier under Antigonus who had a disease that was extremely painful and likely at any time to destroy his life. In every campaign he was in the forefront of the hottest battle. His pain prompted him to fight in death to forget it, and his expectation of death at any time made him court death on the martial field. His general, Antigonus so admired the bravery of the man that he had him cured of his malady by a renowned physician. From that moment the valiant soldier was no longer seen at the front. He avoided danger instead of seeking it, and sought to protect his life instead of risking it on the field. His tribulation made him fight well; his health and comfort destroyed his usefulness as a soldier. Were you relieved of some burden, or healed of some disease, or set free from some worry, you might lose in moral and spiritual power and influence. 29. Dr. Lambie, medical missionary, formerly of Abyssinia, has forded many swift and bridgeless streams in Africa. The danger in crossing such a stream lies in being swept off one's feet and carried down the stream to greater depths or hurled to death against the hidden rocks. Dr. Lambie learned from the natives the best way to make such a hazardous crossing. The man about to cross finds a large stone, the heavier the better, lifts it to his shoulder, and carries it across the stream as "ballast." The extra weight of the stone keeps his feet solid on the bed of the stream and he can cross safely without being swept away. Dr. Lambie drew this application: While crossing the dangerous stream of life, the Enemy constantly seeks to overthrow us and rush us down to ruin. We need the ballast of burden-bearing, a load of affliction, to keep us from being swept off our feet. 30. Some morning you will pick up the paper & read that D. L. Moody is dead. When you do, don't believe it, for at that very moment I will be more alive than I am now. --Dwight L. Moody 31. The darkest hour has only sixty minutes. 32. Only with cutting & polishing is the beauty of the diamond produced. Only with trials & testing is the beauty of Jesus produced in the Christian. 33. A Frenchman incurred the displeasure of Napoleon and was put into a dungeon. He seemed to be forsaken by his friends and forgotten by everyone in the outside world. In loneliness and despair he took a stone and scratched on the wall of his cell, "Nobody cares." One day a green shoot came through the cracks in the stones on the floor of the dungeon and began to reach up toward the light in the tiny window at the top of the cell. The prisoner kept part of the water brought to him each day by the jailer and poured it on the blade of green. It grew until at last it became a plant with a beautiful blue flower. As the petals opened in full blossom, the solitary captive crossed out the words previously written on the wall and above them scratched, "God cares." 34. A German picture, called "Cloudland," hangs at the end of a long gallery; and at first sight looks like a huge, repulsive daub of confused color, without form or comeliness. As you walk toward it, it begins to take shape, and proves to be a mass of little cherub faces, like those in Raphael's "Madonna San Sisto." Close to the picture, you see only an innumerable company of little angels and cherubims. 35. Charles W. Morton, an Atlantic Monthly editor, once told of the Harvard freshman who came to Dean Briggs' office to explain his tardiness in handing in an assignment. "I'm sorry, sir, but I was not feeling very well," he offered. "Young man," Briggs said, "please bear in mind that by far the greater part of the world's work is carried on by people who are not feeling very well." 36. The easy roads are crowded, And the level roads are jammed; The pleasant little rivers With the drifting folks are crammed, But off yonder where it's rocky Where you get a better view,

You will find the ranks are thinning And the travelers are few. Where the going's smooth and pleasant You will always find the throng, For the many, more's the pity, Seem to like to drift along; But the steps that call for courage, And that task that's hard to do, In the end results in glory For the never-wavering few. 37. Spiritual growth soars when we have prayed up, made up, & paid up. 38. Sorrow touched by love grows bright, With more than rapture's ray; And darkness shows us worlds of light We never saw by day. 39. Adversity does not make us frail; it only shows us how frail we are. 40. Lord Caradon, the British envoy to the United Nations knows how to put Christianity to work in times of trouble. Speaking at a luncheon held by the American Bible Society in May, 1969, he recalled the time when he had served as governor of Cyprus in the midst of a very troubled political situation. Knowing of his devout father's concern, the young governor was not surprised when he received a cable from England containing the words: "2Corinthians Four:Eight, Nine." He knew the passage: "We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed." It was a message of encouragement and assurance. Back to the anxious father went this cable: "Romans Five:Three, Four." The reply cable was a testimony of faith and hope: "And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope." 41. The following prayer was prayed by an Ethiopian at Soddu, Walamo, Ethiopia: "Almighty God, from the depth of my heart I plead with Thee to send us trouble. When our king was exiled we were in much trouble with the foreign [Italian] rulers. We had to meet in secret and were in constant danger of our lives. That was the time when we worked in harmony with our fellow Christians. "Many a night after I had locked my door and gone to bed, tired from a day's long journey of preaching and teaching, there came a persistent knocking. Lord, how I wanted to sleep, and surely but they wouldn't want to be baptized at night and be hunted and chased and put in prison and beaten, but they said they had seen the Christian's joy and they too wanted that religion. Every night there were more and more. "We read Thy Word and talked about it and prayed through the nights. We shared our joy in the Lord. We worked side by side with only one desire, to preach and teach the Gospel. Then, Lord, our king came back. The foreign rulers were forced to leave our country ... "We have peace in our land. We baptize in the daytime. We are not beaten. We meet and pray, yes, but we are beginning to grow careless in our zeal for Thee. Jealousies creep in and spoil the harmony. Petty troubles take on in large meetings. We are selfish in our ambitions. Dear Lord, send us more trouble, I pray Thee, that we may forget ourselves and be so dependent on Thee that we have no time to become selfish and jealous of our fellow Christians. For Jesus' sake. Amen." 42. The hammer shatters glass, but forges steel. 43. The pessimist says of trouble: "It's enough to make a person lose his religion," while the optimist says: "It's enough to make a person use his religion." 44. But in the mud & scum of things, There always, always something sings.

--Ralph Waldo Emerson 45. The story of one of the great presidents of Harvard College, Charles William Eliot, is worth recalling. Born with a serious facial disfigurement, he discovered as a young man that nothing could be done about it, and he must go through life with his mark. It is related that when his mother brought to him that tragic truth, it was indeed "the dark hour of his soul." His mother told him, "My son, it is not possible for you to get rid of this handicap. We have consulted the best surgeons, and they say that nothing can be done. But it is possible for you, with God's help, to grow a mind and soul so big that people will forget to look at your face." 46. "Bisogna soffrire per essere grandi." That was the favorite expression of the great singer Enrico Caruso. The words mean, "To be great, it is necessary to suffer." After years of difficulty, Caruso achieved fame; but the man communicated more than beautiful music through his voice. A music critic observed, "His is a voice that loves you, but not only a voice, a sympathetic man." Tribulation does that for a person who accepts life's difficulties in the proper spirit. 47. Jesus, help me to be for Thee, Just like a big, strong cedar tree; When all the other trees are bare, The cedar stands so green and fair, The wind and storm, the ice and cold Make it more beauty to unfold, So I would stand in trial and test, Just trusting You to do what's best, Though others fail, Lord, keep Thou me! May I a cedar Christian be! 48. If you keep within your heart a green branch, I have heard there will come one day a singing bird. 49. What we call adversity, God calls opportunity. What we call tribulation, God calls growth. 50. Your outcome in life doesn't depend on your income, but on how you overcome. 51. Sometimes the best inspiration is born of desperation. 52. The diamond cannot be polished without friction, nor the man perfected without trials. 53. The brook would lose its song if you removed the rocks. 54. If men can be found faithful in hard places they can be trusted in high places. 55. Trial is the school of trust. 56. God sometimes puts us in the dark to prove to us that He is light. 57. Be thankful if you have a job a little harder than you like. A razor cannot be sharpened on a piece of velvet. 58. Some people never look up until they are flat on their back. 59. Problems are only opportunities in work clothes. 60. "When thou passeth through the waters" Deep the waves may be and cold, But Jehovah is our refuge

And His promise is our hold; For the Lord Himself hath said it, He, the Faithful God and true-"When thou comest to the waters Thou shalt not go down, but through. Seas of sorrows, seas of trial, Bitterest anguish, fiercest pain, Rolling surges of temptation Sweeping over heart and brain-They shall never overflow us For we know His Word is true; All His waves and all His billows He will lead us safely through. Threatening breakers of destruction, Doubt's insidious undertow, Shall not sink us, shall not drag us Out to ocean depths of woe; For His promise shall sustain us, Praise the Lord, whose Word is true! We shall not go down, or under, For He saith, "Thou passeth through." --Annie Johnson Flint 61. Great supplicants have sought the secret place of the Most High, not that they might escape the World, but that they might learn to conquer it. 62. To have suffered much is like knowing many languages: It gives the sufferer access to many more people. 63. When we think about people, trouble grows; When we think about God, trouble goes. 64. Among the parables that Chinese teachers use is the story of a woman who lost an only son. She was grief-stricken out of all reason. She made her sorrow a wailing wall. Finally she went to a wise old philosopher. He said to her, "I will give you back your son if you will bring me some mustard seed. However, the seed must come from a home where there has never been any sorrow." Eagerly she started her search, and went from house to house. In every case she learned that a loved one had been lost. "How selfish I have been in my grief," she said, "sorrow is common to all." 65. Don't despair. Even the sun has a sinking spell every night, but it rises again in the morning. 66. "See, Father," said a small boy who was walking with his father by the river, "they are knocking the props away from under the bridge. What are they doing that for? Won't the bridge fall?" "They are knocking them away," said the father, "that the timbers may rest more firmly upon the stone piers which are now finished." God often takes away our earthly things that we may rest more firmly on Him. 67. And many a rapturous minstrel Among the sons of light Will say of his sweetest music, "I learned it in the night." And many a rolling anthem, That fills the Father's Home Sobbed out its first rehearsal

In the shade of a darkened room. 68. God often digs wells of joy with the spade of sorrow! 69. We were going through a great furniture factory, when our guide, the superintendent, pointed out to us a superbly grained and figured sideboard in the natural wood. "I want you to observe the beauty of this oak," he said. "It is the finest selected timber of its kind, and the secret of the intricate and beautiful graining is just this: that the trees from which it was taken grew in a spot where they were exposed to almost constant conflict with storms." What a suggestive fact: The stormbeaten tree develops the closest and finest and most intricately woven fibers. When it is cut down and the saws lay bare its exquisitely figured grain, the cabinetmaker selects it as the material for his finest work. So with the human life beset by sorrows, tests and trials. If it stands the storm, how the wind of God strengthens and beautifies it! We need life's stress. 70. Life offers only two alternatives; crucifixion with Christ or self-destruction without Him. 71. The true way to mourn the dead is to take care of the living who belong to them. 72. He who would have no trouble in this world must not be born in it. 73. I like my back against the wall because that's when I start fighting! If you don't have your back against the wall, you better watch out because you might get a bullet in it.--Dad 74. If none were sick, and none were sad, What service could we render? I think if we were always glad We scarcely could be tender; Did our beloved never need Our patient ministration, Earth would grow cold and miss indeed Its greatest consolation. Did sorrow never grieve our heart, And every wish were granted, Patience would die, and hope depart; Life would be disenchanted. 75. We have read that during World War 1, when it was no longer possible to import those beautiful singing canaries from the Harz Mountains, Germany, a dealer in New York decided to start a system of training canaries to sing. He had bird songs put on records, and these proved of value. But one day he made a real discovery which meant success. He found that if he covered the cages with thick cloths, completely shutting out the light, the birds learned their song. The song of the Christian originates in the heart, and many a Christian has learned that God sometimes teaches His children to sing in darkness. Verily, "He giveth songs in the night." 76. The strongest trees grow not beneath the glass of a greenhouse, or in the protection of sheltered and shaded valleys. The stoutest timber stands on Norwegian rocks, where tempests rage, and long, hard winters reign. And is it not so with the Christian also? Exercise gives health, and strength is the reward of activity. The muscles are seen fully developed in the brawny arm that plies the ringing hammer. 77. Our Father, who seeks to perfect His saints in holiness, knows the value of the refiner's fire. An earnest Christian worker had been treated most unkindly, and was crying brokenheartedly when a neighbor came in, and, laying a hand on her shoulder said quietly, "Why, Mrs. _____ , you're wriggling." Lifting her head the other replied, "I don't think this is a time to be funny." "Oh, I am not that. But don't you know that God has permitted this trouble to touch you, because He sees something in your life that grieves Him, and He has put you in the furnace. When a goldsmith puts

gold into the crucible and the fire begins to work on the dross, it begins to wriggle and wriggle, and as the dross is burned out it gets quieter, until at last the surface is so calm that the refiner sees his own face reflected and puts out the fire." 78. So many people have told us, "If God will heal me, THEN I'll serve Him, THEN I'll believe." It means nothing else in the World but that you're putting self first, trying to make a deal with God! "If God will serve me first, then I'll serve Him. You work for me first, God, then I'll work for You!"--And He just doesn't work that way!--Dad 79. Never doubt in the dark what God has spoken in the light. 80. Is this the right road home, O Lord? The clouds are dark, and still; The stony path is sharp and hard, Each step brings some fresh hill! I thought the way would brighter grow, And the sun with warmth would glow, And joyous songs from free hearts flow; Is this the right road home? Yes, child, this very path I trod, The clouds were dark for Me; The stony path was hard to tread, Not sight, but faith can see. But at the end the sun shines bright Forever, where there is no night; And glad hearts rest from earth's fierce fight; IT IS THE RIGHT ROAD HOME. --Rosalind Goforth 81. A little boy made a boat. He went off in high glee to sail it on the water. But presently it got beyond his reach. In his distress he appealed to a big boy for help, asking him to get it back for him. Saying nothing, the big boy picked up stones, and seemingly threw them at the boat. The little boy thought he would never get his boat back, and that instead of helping him, the big boy was annoying him. But presently he noticed that instead of hitting the boat, each stone went BEYOND it, and made a little wave, which moved the boat a little nearer to the shore. Every throw of the stones was PLANNED, and at last the little boat was brought within reach. How happy the little boy was! Again he was in possession of his treasure! Sometimes things in our life seem disagreeable and without sense or plan. But let us WAIT awhile, and we shall see that each trial, each striking of a stone upon the quiet water of our life, has brought us NEARER to God! "Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, But trust Him for His grace; Behind a frowning providence, He hides a smiling face!" 82. The Lord let the Devil nearly destroy Job by killing his family & his finances, & almost even killing him, but he still didn't say "Uncle" to the Devil, not even to his wife who told him to curse God & die! He just kept on believing & obeying with boils from head to toe, sitting on a heap of ashes & wearily scraping away the puss & the scabs & the sores with a piece of broken pottery saying, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him!"--Can you?--I hope you don't have to get in such a mess as Job! But if you do, don't quit whatever you do!--Dad 83. "I stood once in the test room of a great steel mill. All around me were little partitions and compartments. Steel had been tested to the limit, and marked with figures that showed its breaking point.

Some pieces had been twisted until they broke, and the strength of torsion was marked on them. Some had been stretched to the breaking point, and their tensile strength indicated. Some had been compressed to the crushing point, and also marked. The master of the steel mill knew just what these pieces of steel would stand under the strain. He knew just what they would bear if placed in the great ship, building, or bridge. He KNEW because the TESTING ROOM revealed it. It is often so with God's children. God does not want us to be like vases of glass or porcelain. He does not want us to be hothouse plants, but storm-beaten oaks; not sand dunes, driven with every gust of wind, but granite rocks withstanding the fiercest storms. To make us such He MUST bring us into His testing room of suffering. Better the storm waters with Christ than the smooth waters without Him!" 84. It was due to the efforts of Samuel Plimsoll (1824-98), British reformer, that the Merchant Shipping Act of 1876 was passed, requiring all ships to bear a mark known as the Plimsoll mark and indicating the maximum load line. By this act the Board of Trade of England was empowered to detain any vessel deemed unsafe, and the amount of cargo was restricted, thus making the long and perilous ocean voyage of those days much safer. Because of his work, Plimsoll became known as the sailor's friend. The Plimsoll mark, with its gradations and figures, may be seen on the bow of ships near the water line as they lie at anchor in a harbor. In God's sight, each of us has a similar mark, though we may not be able to see it. The burdens and responsibilities He gives us may seem unbearable, but He knows our limit, His everlasting arms are underneath, and by His grace we can bear them without sinking. "God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make away to escape, that ye may be able to bear it" (1Cor.10:13b). 85. There can never be peace in the bosom of a believer. There is peace with God, but constant war with sin. 86. You will not get leave to steal quietly to Heaven in Christ's company without a conflict & a cross. 87. The first step on the way to victory is to recognise the enemy. 88. We must wrestle earnestly in prayer, like men contending with a deadly enemy for life. 89. When Michelangelo was ordered to decorate the walls of the Sistine Chapel, he refused. He had never done any work of that kind, and said he could not do it. But he was told his refusal would not be accepted. When he discovered that there was no alternative without unpleasant consequences, he mixed his colors and went to work. And thus came into being the world's finest painting. There are few who realize what possibilities are locked up within them until some necessity compels them to attempt something they have always considered impossible. 90. For every hill I've had to climb, For every stone that bruised my feet, For all the blood and sweat and grime, For blinding storms and burning heat My heart sings but a grateful song-These were the things that made me strong! For all the heartaches and the tears, For all the anguish and the pain, For gloomy days and fruitless years, And for the hopes that lived in vain, I do give thanks, for now I know These were the things that helped me grow! 'Tis not the softer things of life Which stimulate man's will to strive; But bleak adversity and strife Do most to keep man's will alive. O'er rose-strewn paths the weaklings creep,

But brave hearts dare to climb the steep. 91. The ancients used an interesting little instrument, called the tribulum, to beat grain to divide the chaff from the wheat. The word "tribulation" comes from this word. Tribulations truly separate the chaff from the wheat in human character. 92. A jewel is a bit of ordinary earth which has passed through some extraordinary experiences. 93. Life is not a cloudless journey, Storms and darkness oft oppress, But the Father's changeless mercy Comes to cheer the heart's distress; Heavy clouds may darkly hover, Hiding all faith's view above, But across the thickest darkness Shines the rainbow of His love. 94. The Lord seems to make the Entrance Exams hardest of all & they usually come all in one big batch so that everyone will know right away if you've got what it takes, so you won't waste any more of our time.--What's the use of paying for a big long education if you're going to flunk in the end? It's kind of like being born: It's quite a crisis experience that the mother & baby go through! If they can make that, they can usually make the rest pretty well. From then on you just go step by step & grade by grade & the difficulties become a little more spread out, like the growth of the baby.--Dad 95. God never would send the darkness If He knew you could stand the light, But you would not cling to the Guiding Hand, If the way were always bright; And you would not care to walk by faith, Could you always walk by sight. 'Tis true He has many an anguish For your sorrowful heart to bear, And many a cruel thorn-crown For your tired head to wear; He knows how few would reach heaven at all If pain did not guide them there. So He sends you the blinding darkness, And the furnace of sevenfold heat, 'Tis the only way, believe me, To keep you close to His feet; For 'tis always so easy to wander When our lives are glad and sweet. So nestle your hand in the Father's And sing, if you can, as you go, Your song will cheer someone behind you, Whose courage is sinking low; And -- well, if your lips do quiver, God will love you the better, so. 96.An elderly man asked a boy to go with him into the woods to cut down some hickory trees to make ax handles. They soon came to several young hickory trees. The boy said, "These trees would make good ax handles. Let's cut them down." The old man said, "These trees in the lowlands have been protected from the storms which rage

higher up. Let's go to the heights where the trees have been rocked back and forth by fierce winds. Those trees have been hardened by the tempest and they will make much stronger ax handles!" Those who have been exposed to temptations -- rocked to and fro by the tempter, Satan, but who have not yielded -- are made stronger. We can be "more than conquerors through him that loved us!" Job said, "When he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold." 97. One of God's children was passing through the dark waters of sorrow and suffering. "God has forgotten to be gracious to me. I don't understand His judgements," he said. The pastor came to see him. He found him in the back yard, pruning a grapevine of its superfluous twigs and branches. The man said, "Pastor, because of the heavy rains of late, this vine has become overgrown with worthless twigs and branches. It is necessary to remove them so the vine can bring better fruit to maturity." "Does this vine resist and oppose you?" asked the pastor. "Of course not," he said. "Then why should you complain about the chastening hand of God when He does for you what you have done to this vine?" asked the pastor. 98. The storm & the fire & the trials & the tribulations & the tests are all for what purpose? Yes, to test your strength as a tree or your purity as gold & to give you a chance to battle the Devil & see if you'll give up or if you'll keep on fighting & trust the Lord.--Dad 99. The hardiest trees are not reared in hothouses, but where they can battle with wind and tempest. 100. In medieval times, the goldsmiths had a unique method to determine when the refining fire had purged away all extraneous matter from the precious metal. They would stand patiently and peer intently into the seething, molten mass, meantime making the fire hotter and hotter. At last, a smile of satisfaction would lighten up the perspiring face of the goldsmith. He could see his face reflected in the molten mass of gold. Seeing his face mirrored there, he knew that the refining fire had wrought its purifying purpose. Of the heavenly Father, the Bible says: "And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver" (Mal.3:3a). Peter admonished: "Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you" (1Pet.4:12a). When God sees the image of His dear Son reflected in our lives, He knows that His purifying fires have wrought their intended purpose. 101. Jenny Lind, the famous Swedish nightingale, was considered one of the greatest popular singers of her day. Her music teacher said, "Jenny, you've got everything to make you the World's greatest singer, but one thing!" "What in the World is that?" she asked. "I practice all day long, & you say I have tremendous range, versatility, & talent! What haven't I got?" "To make you a truly great singer," he replied, "you have to have a broken heart!" So he thereupon proceeded to break it for her! She fell in love with him, & he jilted her. Then she began to sing from her heart!--The songs she sang became her own songs of loneliness & tears--not just a collection of words & music--but it was her own heartcry!--Dad 102. The bird whose pinion was once broken, by the grace of God will fly even higher than before, & the straying sheep whose leg had to be broken will have to remain in the Shepherd's bosom so long he will never stray again!--Dad 103. The meaning of trial is not only to test worthiness, but to increase it; as the oak is not only tested by the storms, but toughened by them. 104. At a period of Donatello's life he went to Pisa to execute some works there which were found so wonderful that the Pisans broke out into transports of delight, praising the artist to the skies. Oddly

enough, however, this excessive praise proved distasteful to the sculptor. He declared that he must go back to Florence for the whimsical reason, that where he was praised by everybody he would soon forget all he knew, grow lazy and self-satisfied, whereas at home in Florence he was notoriously abused and found fault with and thus forced always to produce his best, "the constant blame forcing him," as he put it, "to study and consequently do greater achievements." 105. A butter-fingered man who had been suffering from a long siege of unemployment at last found a job in a chinaware house. He had been at work only a few days when he smashed a large vase. He was summoned to the manager's office and told by that dignitary that he would have to have money deducted from his wages every week until the vase was paid for. "How much did it cost?" asked the culprit. "Three hundred dollars," said the manager. "Oh, that's wonderful," he said, "I'm so happy. At last I've got a steady job!" 106. You try putting paper money faith through the fire & see what happens! That so-called faith-so-called value, like paper money, is not worth a damned thing the minute it's put to the test! That's why the whole World's paper-thin financial System is collapsing right now!--Because it is based on pig paper money instead of God's good gold!--You just stick them both through the fire & see which one comes out the best! You'll find that real gold--no matter how hot the fire or how long the fire, how hot the test or how long it lasts--will still come out gold--even finer gold!--"Yea, than much fine gold!" Because the fire burns all the dross & the impurities away! But that paper pig stuff that claims to be valuable isn't worth the paper it is printed on when the real test comes. The minute it feels the slightest flame it goes up in smoke & you've got nothing left but a few ashes just to remind you of something that wasn't there in the first place!--Dad 107.He sat by a fire of seven-fold heat As He watched by the precious ore, And closer He bent with a searching gaze As He heated it more and more. He knew He had ore that could stand the test, And He wanted the finest gold To mould as a crown for the King to wear, Set with gems with a price untold. So He laid our gold in the burning fire, Tho' we fain would have said Him 'Nay.' And He watched the dross that we had not seen, And it melted and passed away. And the gold grew brighter and yet more bright, But our eyes were so dim with tears, We saw but the fire -- not the Master's hand, And questioned with anxious fears. Yet our gold shone out with a richer glow, As it mirrored a Form above, That bent o'er the fire, tho' unseen by us, With a look of ineffable love. Can we think that it pleases His loving heart To cause us a moment's pain? Ah no! but He saw through the present cross The bliss of eternal gain. So He waited there with a watchful eye, With a love that is strong and sure,

And His gold did not suffer a bit more heat, Than was needed to make it pure. 108. Life holds nothing within it which Christ has not conquered. 109. The Lord makes you stronger with each victory. It's sort of like inoculation: He gives you small doses so you won't catch the disease, so you will constantly gradually build up your resistance to it. Whereas, if you are never tested, never given a small dose, you will never be able to take the big dose. Like in the Middle Ages & Olden Times, because assassination by poison was so common, kings & important men used to take small doses of poison every day. They'd start off with a very tiny portion, just a few grains, & keep taking a little more each day, until they gradually built up a resistance, so that if somebody gave them a large dose it wouldn't be fatal! It's kind of like the Lord does with us: He gives us a little more each day to test us, to try us, to build up our strength & resistance. He inoculates us with a little more serum of sacrifice & trial & trouble & battle each day. --Dad 110. The leaves are fading and falling, The winds are rough and wild, The birds have ceased their calling But let me tell you, My child. Though day by day as it closes, Doth darker and colder grow, The roots of the bright red roses, Will keep alive in the snow. And when the winter is over, The boughs will get back new leaves, The quail come back to the clover, And the swallow back to the eaves; The robin will wear on his bosom, A vest that is bright and new, And the loveliest wayside blossom Will shine with the sun and dew. The leaves, today, are swishing, The brooks are all dry and dumb; But let me tell you, darling, The Spring will surely come. There must be rough, cold weather, And winds and rains so wild; Not all good things together Come to us here, My child. So when some dear joy loses It's beauteous summer glow, Think how the roots of the roses Are kept alive in the snow. --by Alice Carry 111. Upon the threshold of another year We stand again. We know not what of gladness and good cheer,

Of grief or pain May visit us while journeying to its close. In this we rest, God dealeth out in wisdom what He knows For us is best. --Thomas Wearing 112. What is my cloud, after all--shade of His hand outstretched caressingly. 113. Is it raining, little flower? Be glad of rain; Too much sun would wither thee; 'Twill shine again. The clouds are very black, 'tis true; But just behind them shines the blue. Art thou weary, tender heart? Be glad of pain: In sorrow sweetest virtues grow, As flowers in rain. God watches, and thou wilt have sun, When clouds their perfect work have done. --Lucy Larcom. 114. If all my years were summer, could I know What my Lord means by His "Made white as snow"? If all my days were sunny, could I say, "In His fair land He wipes all tears away"? If I were never weary, could I keep Close to my heart, "He gives His loved ones sleep"? Were no graves mine, might I not come to deem The life eternal but a baseless dream? My winter, and my tears, and weariness, Even my graves, may be His way to bless! I call them ills, yet that can surely be Nothing but love that shows my Lord to me! 115. Life is not one uniform leaden sky loaded with weeping clouds; the darkest horizon is rainbow-spanned; the bright spots outnumber the dark. Life is not all music in the minor--far less a clash of discord and dissonance. It is rather made up of blended harmonies. 116. I remember there was one very precious girl, just as sweet as could be, wonderful Christian, loved the Lord, always smiling, always cheerful, but her sister always pushed her to church in a wheelchair because she was a spastic & had little control over her contorted limbs or her writhing head or even her grotesque facial expressions! But she could smile! Her face would just light up with joy & smile talking about the Lord & talking to her friends! Everybody loved her & she loved everybody & she seemed to be very happy. But for some reason or other, the Lord never delivered her, at least not as long as I can remember, as long as I was a child in that church. And I just looked at her & wondered, & yet, I thought, she's so happy in spite of that affliction. She'd never known anything else! But she seemed to be happy & enjoying life. But here was a church that believed in healing, so it was pretty humbling for us to have this girl coming to every service in a wheelchair!--And it was pretty humbling for us to have this other girl falling

off the piano stool in epileptic fits! I mean it was pretty humbling, really embarrassing to say the least. So I wonder if the Lord didn't use it for that reason, to keep us humble? --Dad 117. Shut in? Ah, yes, that's so, As far as getting out may go, Shut in away from earthly cares, But not shut out from Him who cares. Shut in from many a futile quest, But Christ can be your daily Guest. He's not shut out by your four walls, But hears and answers all your calls. Shut in with God. Oh that should be Such a wonderful opportunity. Then after you have done your best, In God's hands safely leave the rest. 118. The little sharp vexations And the briars that catch and fret, Why not take all to the Helper Who has never failed us yet? Tell Him about the heartache, And tell Him the longings, too; Tell Him the baffled purpose When we scarce know what to do. Then, leaving all our weakness With the One divinely strong, Forget that we bore the burden, And carry away the song. --Margaret Sangster 119. He said not, "Thou shalt not be Tempested; Thou shalt not be Travailed; Thou shalt not be Afflicted:" But He said, "Thou shalt not be Overcome!" --Julian of Norwick 120. REST of the weary, Joy of the sad, Hope of the dreary, Light of the glad; Home of the stranger, Strength to the end, Refuge from danger, SAVIOUR and Friend! Pillow where, lying, Love rests its head, Peace of the dying, Life of the dead;

Path of the lowly, Prize at the end, Breath of the holy, SAVIOUR and Friend! When my feet stumble, I'll to Thee cry, Crown of the humble, Cross of the high; When my steps wander, Over me bend Truer and fonder, SAVIOUR and Friend! Ever confessing Thee, I will raise Unto Thee blessing, Glory, and praise: All my endeavour, World without end, Thine to be ever, SAVIOUR and Friend! 121. Zacchaeus had short legs, but he outran the crowd when Jesus passed through town. Short legs will get you there as fast as long legs if you know how to use them. 122. A dear old saint was asked what she would do if a fierce temptation overtook her. Her quick reply was, "I would lift up my hands to the Lord and say, 'Lord, your property is in danger. Take care of it quick!' Then I'd forget about it 'til I was tried again." 123. Trouble is something no one can escape, Everyone has it in some form or shape-Some people hide it way down deep inside, Some people bear it with gallant-like pride, Some people worry and complain of their lot, Some people covet what they haven't got, While others rebel and become bitter and old With hopes that are dead and hearts that are cold ... But the wise man accepts whatever God sends, Willing to yield like a storm-tossed tree bends, Knowing that God never makes a mistake, So whatever He sends they are willing to take-For trouble is part and parcel of life And no man can grow without trouble and strife, And the steep hills ahead and high mountain peaks Afford man at last the peace that he seeks-So blest are the people who learn to accept The trouble men try to escape and reject, For OUR ACCEPTANCE we're given great grace And courage and faith and the strength to face The daily troubles that come to us all So we may learn to stand "straight and tall"-For the grandeur of life is born of defeat For in overcoming we make life complete. 124. Were there no night, we could not read the stars,

The heavens would turn into a blinding glare; Freedom is best seen through prison bars, And rough seas make the haven passing fair; We cannot measure joys but by their loss; When blessings fade away, we see them then; Our richest clusters grow around the cross, And in the nighttime angels sing to men. 125. If I can endure for this minute Whatever is happening to me, No matter how heavy my heart is, Or how "dark" the moment may be-If I can remain calm and quiet With all my world crushing about me, Secure in the knowledge God loves me When everyone else seems to doubt me If I can but keep on believing What I know in my heart to be true, That "darkness will fade with the morning" And that this will pass away, too. Then nothing in life can defeat me For as long as this knowledge remains I can suffer whatever is happening For I know God will break "all the chains" That are binding me tight in "the darkness" And trying to fill me with fear-For there is no night without dawning And I know that "my morning" is near. 126. Must Jesus bear the cross alone, And all of us go free? No, there's a cross for everyone, And there's a cross for me. --Thomas Shepherd 127. We look before and after, And pine for what is not; Our sincerest laughter With some pain is fraught; Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought. Yet if we could scorn Hate and pride and fear; If we were things born Not to shed a tear, I know not how Thy joy we ever should come near. --Percy Bysshe Shelley 128. He sendeth sun, He sendeth shower, Alike they're needful for the flower; And smiles and tears alike are sent, To give the soul fit nourishment. As comes to me or cloud or sun, Father! Thy will, not mine, be done. Can loving children e'er reprove

The father whom they trust and love! Creator! I would ever be A loving, trusting child to Thee. As comes to me or cloud or sun, Father! Thy will, not mine, be done. --Sarah Flower Adams 128b. Life is a mixture Of sunshine and rain, Laughter and teardrops Pleasure and pain-Low tides and high tides, Mountains and plains. Triumphs, defeats And losses and gains-But ALWAYS in ALL WAYS God's guiding and leading And He alone knows The things we're most needing And when He sends sorrow Or some dreaded affliction, Be assured that it comes With God's kind benediction-And if we accept it As a GIFT OF HIS LOVE, We'll be showered with blessings From OUR FATHER ABOVE. 129. Life looking pretty dreary? Cheer up, because you see, In all the choicest patterns The dark threads have to be. They make the bright ones brighter, The rose and gold more clear, It's just our own perspective That makes the thing look queer. We work so near the pattern, It's difficult at best, To see how each day's weaving Is needed for the rest. And when sickness brings the gray threads, To your life scheme and mine, Let's just trust the Master Weaver, For He planned the whole design. 130. Things don't just happen to children of God They're part of a wonderful plan; The troubles, reverses, the sorrows, the rod Are strokes of the Great Sculptor's hand. When some dread accident strikes you a blow, And you worry and fret and demand, Why try so hard the mystery to know, It's not just an accident--it's planned. Have you been dropped from a place of power?

Do you wonder and reprimand? Don't rebel but look to Him in that hour; This didn't just happen--it's planned. Persecution, tribulation, come down like a storm Friends disappoint and withstand, At last all alone, bewildered, forlorn, You look and He smiles "This is planned". Do you wonder why God to affliction should call, And why you must suffer and moan? "No man should be moved by affliction," says Paul, "For you know it is part of the plan." Did some dear one sicken and finally die? Did your heart break with anguish and woe? Did you question your Lord and cry: "My God Why?" Don't question--He planned it just so. Things don't just happen to children of God, The blueprint was made by His hand; He designed all details to conform to His Son, So all things that happen are planned. No matter what happens to those call "His own," Events that are awful or grand; Every trial of your life he sends from His throne; Things don't just happen, they're planned. --Rom.8:28 131. Not to the strong is the battle, Not to the swift is the race, Yet to the true & the faithful Vict'ry is promised thru' grace. 132. When the storm's a rumblin' And our strength's a crumblin' And Oh! so sore we're tried, When the wind's a blowin' And our spirit's lowerin' O Lord, support us, on the leanin' side! When the loved one's taken And the heart's a'breakin' And sorrow's multiplied, When we're crushed and grievin' And our hope's a'leavin' O Lord, support us, on the leanin' side! When the thunder's roarin' And the torrent's pourin' And sweepin' in, the tide, When we're rowin', rowin' And our courage goin' O Lord, support us, on the leanin' side!

When we're weak and fallin' And we need recallin' Be Thou our Stay, our Guide; As we're heav'nward hienin' When a livin', dyin' O Lord, support us, on the leanin' side! --Edith L. Mapes 133. President Lincoln once wrote to General McClellan, when the latter was in command of the army. General McClellan, as is well known, conducted a waiting campaign, being so careful not to make any mistakes that he made very little headway. President Lincoln sent this brief but exceedingly pertinent letter: "My dear McClellan: If you don't want to use the army I should like to borrow it for a while. Yours respectfully, A. Lincoln." 134. During the heroic defence of the Bataan Peninsula, one of the commanding officers lined up a company of his men and asked for a volunteer for a mission of the utmost peril. Anyone willing to serve was instructed to step forward two paces from the line. He glanced for a second at a memorandum in his hand and, looking up, was shocked and disappointed to see the ranks unbroken. "What," he said unbelievingly, "not a single man!" "You do not understand, sir," said an aide at his elbow, "the whole line has stepped forward two paces." 135. Too many Christian soldiers fraternise with the Enemy. 136. Some Christians who should be wielding the Sword of the Spirit are still tugging at the nursery bottle. 137. They tell me I must bruise The rose's leaf, Ere I can keep & use Its fragrance brief. They tell me I must break The skylark's heart, Ere her cage song will make The silence start. They tell me love must bleed, And friendship weep, Ere in my deepest need I touch that deep. Must it be always so With precious things? Must they be bruised and go With beaten wings? Ah, yes! by crushing days, By caging nights, by scar Of thorn and stony ways,

These blessings are! 138. Fainting soldier of the Lord, Hear His sweet inspiring word"I have conquered all thy foes, I have suffered all thy woes; Struggling soldier, trust in Me, I have overcome for thee." "I have overcome, for thee; Thou shall overcome, thro' Me." Fear not, tho' thy foes be strong; Faint not, tho' the strife be long; Trust thy glorious Captain's power, Watch with Him one little hour; Hear Him calling, "Follow Me, I have overcome for thee." Soon the conflict will be done, Soon the battle will be won, Soon shall wave the victor's palm, Soon shall ring th' eternal psalm; Then our joyful song shall be-"I have overcome for thee." 139. Abide with me! fast falls the eventide; The darkness deepens: Lord, with me abide! When other helpers fail, and comforts flee, Help of the helpless, O abide with me! Swift to its close ebbs out life's little day; Earth's joys grow dim, its glories pass away; Change and decay in all around I see: O Thou who changest not, abide with me! I need Thy presence every passing hour: What but Thy grace can foil the tempter's power? Who like Thyself my guide and stay can be? Through cloud and sunshine, O abide with me! I fear no foe, with Thee at hand to bless: Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness: Where is death's sting? where, grave, thy victory? I triumph still, if Thou abide with me! Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes; Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies; Heaven's morning breaks, and earth's vain shadows flee In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me! --Henry Francis Lyte 140. He often tests us like He did Abraham by making us think He's going to take something away from us permanently, just to see if we'll still obey Him & still follow Him, still worship Him & love Him & serve Him. But I've found most of the time, that once He's threatened to take it away from you or looks like He's going to take it away or does take it away from you for a little while, it's just a test to see if you'll still love Him. Just like Job, whom God allowed the Devil to test. He first of all took away all his wealth, then He even took away his family, his children & wife & all that he loved, & finally his health. It was all a test, perpetrated by the Devil but allowed by the Lord in order to show that Job really loved Him in spite of it all.

And when Job passed the test & gave the final right answer: "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him" (Job 13:15), well, he got his diploma & the Lord gave him back everything & several times over what he'd had before!--Although He'd allowed the Devil to take it all away from him. But it was just a test to see if he would love the Lord still, in spite of all the sacrifice & suffering & denial & deprivation & all the rest.--Dad 141. The other day I was trying to figure out how to get some scum off the surface of a pot of water, & every time I tried to pour it off myself it just got worse stirred up with the rest! Finally, I got the brilliant idea of sticking the pot under the faucet & turning on more water so it would cause the water level to rise in the pot & the surface to overflow, & all that junk on the top just rolled off & went down the drain! That's what God does in the refining fires of His trials & testings! He puts you under the fire, & He brings you to a boil, so all the scum & dross comes to the top where everybody can see it! You don't have to tell them about it--they'll just watch you while you're going through it! They probably already knew it anyway! It just didn't show until God put you on the fire--but that brought it out! That's what the fire's for-to bring out the meanness in you--to show how bad & impure you really are--& then get rid of it--boil it off--let it go down the drain--get it off your chest! Get rid of it--but for God's sake, don't dump it on somebody else--it may really burn them & leave a scar that will take years to heal!--Dad 142. I found that God usually gives me the most severe test, allows the Enemy to tempt & test me the worst just as I'm considering or about to begin a new task for Him or a new project. You have the most difficult times & the most difficult trials & the most severe testings in the beginning because God wants to know if you're really going to go through with it, live or die, sink or swim, whether you really mean business, whether you're really going to trust Him or not & whether you have really got what it takes to see it through, because usually if you pass those first severe hard tests the Lord stamps your passport with His stamp & says, "OK, buddy, go to it, you're free to go on into the Promised Land that I have offered you if you're willing to forsake all & to follow & to die if need be to do the job I want you to do!"--Dad 143. "... That it may bring forth more fruit." (John 15:2) Two years ago I set out a rosebush in the corner of my garden. It was to bear yellow roses, and it was to bear them profusely. Yet, during those two years, it did not produce a blossom! I asked the florist from whom I bought the bush why it was so barren of flowers. I had cultivated it carefully, had watered it often, had made the soil around it as rich as possible; and it had grown well. "That's just the reason," said the florist. "That kind of rose needs the poorest soil in the garden. Sandy soil would be best and never a bit of fertilizer. Take away the rich soil and put gravelly earth in its place. Cut the bush back severely. Then it will bloom. I did--and the bush blossomed forth in the most gorgeous yellow known to nature. Then I moralized: that yellow rose is just like many lives. Hardships develop beauty in the soul: they thrive on troubles: trials bring out all the best in them; ease and comfort and applause only leave them barren. 144. There is starlight through the shadows for the feet that have to tread In the path of secret sorrow, with the hidden tears unshed. There's the glory of the sunset flaming red down in the west, When the storm is hushed to stillness and the waters sink to rest. There's a lamp that God has lighted where the shadowed pathways are, And it sheds a softened radiance like the shining of a star; There's a haven of sweet refuge from the deeply hidden pain, Where the heart that long has suffered sees God's rainbow through the rain. There's an angel in the shadows--oftentimes in human guise, Who, in silent understanding, sees the tears that blind our eyes; For the words may be unspoken, quiet waters running deep-When the sympathy of friendship is outpoured on those who weep. There's a twilight in the evening when the throb of pain is stilled,

And the heart, through human friendship, with the peace of God is filled; And the twilight touches softly all the valley we have trod, When a true friend's love sustains us, like an angel sent from God. (ICor.12:26; Heb.12:11) 145. Sometimes I'm sad, I know not why My heart is torn apart It seems the burdens of this world Have settled on my heart. And yet I know ... I know that God Who doeth all things right Will lead me thus to understand To walk by FAITH ... not SIGHT. And though I may not see the way He's planned for me to go ... The way seems dark to me just now. But oh, I'm sure He knows! Today He guides my feeble step Tomorrow's in His right ... He has asked me to never fear ... But walk by FAITH ... not SIGHT. Some day the mists will roll away, The sun will shine again. I'll see the beauty in the flowers, I'll hear the bird's refrain, And then I'll know my Father's hand Has led the way to light Because I placed my hand in His And walked by FAITH ... not SIGHT. --Ruth A. Morgan 146. Are you standing at 'Wits' End Corner,' Christian, with troubled brow? Are you thinking of what is before you And all you are bearing now? Does all the world seem against you, And you in battle alone? Remember--at Wits' End Corner Is just where God's power is shown. Are you standing at Wits' End Corner, Blinded with wearying pain, Feeling you cannot endure it, You cannot bear the strain, Bruised through the constant suffering, Dizzy and dazed and numb? Remember--to Wits' End Corner Is where Jesus loves to come. Are you standing at Wits' End Corner, Your work before you spread, All lying, begun, unfinished

And pressing on heart and head, Longing for strength to do it, Stretching out trembling hands? Remember--at Wits' End Corner The Burden Bearer stands. Are you standing at Wits' End Corner, Yearning for those you love, Longing and praying and watching, Pleading their cause above, Trying to lead them to Jesus, Wond'ring if you've been true? He whispers--at Wits' End Corner-'I'll win them as I won you.' Are you standing at Wit's End Corner? Then you're just in the very spot To learn the wondrous resources Of Him Who faileth not! No doubt to a brighter pathway Your footsteps will soon be moved, But only at Wit's End Corner Is the 'God Who is able' proved. (Ps.34:19; 107:27) 147. The broken heart is the only sound heart. 148. The Christian's chief occupational hazards are depression & discouragement. 149. He that despairs degrades the Deity. 150. God does not despair of you, therefore you ought not to despair of yourself. 151. Hopeless & lifeless go together. 152. It is impossible for that man to despair who remembers that his Helper is omnipotent. 153. A tender child of summers three, Seeking her little bed at night, Paused on the dark stair timidly, 'Oh Mother! take my hand,' said she, 'And then the dark will all be light.' We older children grope our way, From dark behind to dark before: And only when our hands we lay, Dear Lord, in Thine, the night is day, And there is darkness nevermore. Reach downward to the sunless days, Wherein our guides are blind as we, And faith is small and hope delays: Take Thou the hands of prayer we raise, And let us feel the light of Thee. --John Greenleaf Whittier (Eph.5:8)

154. Until I learned to trust I never learned to pray, And I did not fully learn to trust Till sorrow came my way. Until I felt my weakness, His strength I never knew; Nor dreamed till I was stricken That He could see me through. (Ps.34:6; 56:3,11; Isa.12:2;26:4) 155. His ways are ways of pleasantness, And all His paths are peace. His words are words of graciousness And love which ne'er shall cease. His works are works of holiness And victory over sin. His wounds are wounds of tenderness: He only wounds to win. --F.H. Oakeley (Ps.18:30; Pro.3:17) 156. A little bird am I Shut in from fields of air; Yet in my cage I sit and sing To Him Who placed me there; Well pleased His prisoner to be Because, my God, it pleaseth Thee. Naught have I else to do, I sing the whole day long; And He Whom most I love to please Doth listen to my song. He caught and bound my wandering wing, But still He loves to hear me sing. Thou hast an ear to hear, A heart to love and bless; And, though my notes were e'er so rude, Thou wouldst not hear the less; Because Thou knowest, as they fall, That same sweet love inspired them all. My cage confines me round; Abroad I cannot fly; But though my wing is closely bound, My heart's at liberty. My prison walls cannot control The flight, the freedom of the soul. O, it is good to soar These bolts and bars above To Him Whose purpose I adore, Whose Providence I love, And in Thy mighty will to find The joy, the freedom, of the mind. --Madam de la Mothe Guyon (Ps.69:33; Acts 16:25; 2Tim.2:8,9).

157. When problems get Christians praying they do more good than harm. 158. There are no difficulties with God. Difficulties wholly exist in our own unbelieving minds. 159. There are no disappointments to those whose wills are buried in the will of God. 160. Our faith is really & truly tested only when we are brought into very severe conflicts, & when even Hell itself seems opened to swallow us up. 161. Without a glimpse of darkened skies Our hearts would never realise The beauty of the day. Without the silver of the shower No loveliness of leaf or flower Would blossom on our way. And so in life we value more The joys unrealised before With every hurt we bear. It takes the daily cares we face To prove our Saviour's tender grace And realise His care. (Isa.43:1,2; 2Cor:12.9) 162. Aliens may escape the rod, Nursed in earthly, vain delight; But a trueborn child of God Must not, would not if he might. (Heb.12:6-7) 163. We are passing through the Valley, And the road is sometimes steep, And the mountains all around us Often make the shadows deep. 'Tis the narrow Vale of Baca, 'Tis the valley full of shade; But we're only passing through it, So we need not be afraid. Far away the land of Beulah Wrapped in sunlight may be seen, And this little bit of valley Is now all that lies between. Just beyond it is the sunshine, Just beyond it is our home, When we reach it, 'twill not matter By what valley we have come. One there is Who trod the Valley, And He suffered much from thirst. He was weary, worn and footsore As He trod the way the first. But His footsteps made the pathway Which we now may safely tread, And it makes the road more easy When we know He's just ahead.

Just before He left the Valley And emerged into the light, All His friends He gathered round Him E'er He vanished out of sight. Words of comfort then were spoken To the travellers in the vale. Not one promise that He made them Has been ever known to fail. --W. D. Morrow (Ps.23:4; 84:6; Isa.43:1,2; John 16:33) 164. Trust God even when the pieces don't seem to fit. 165. There may be a time when God will not be found, but no time wherein He must not be trusted. 166. Faith, like a muscle, grows by stretching. 167. Faith tries God & God tries the faith He gives. 168. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pains; it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world. 169. If you fall, don't give up, GET up! 170. Content makes poor men rich; discontent makes rich men poor. 171. Always remember to forget The things that made you sad, But never forget to remember The things that made you glad. 172. We are told that Billy Bray, the Cornish miner, was noted far and near for his piety. One year his potato crop was almost a failure. As he was digging the potatoes, Satan said, "There, Billy, isn't that poor pay for serving your Father the way you have all this year? Just see those small potatoes!" "Ah, Satan," said Billy, "at it again talking against my Father? Bless His Name! Why, when I served you I did not have any potatoes at all. I thank my dear Father for small potatoes." Those who thank God for the little things soon find their blessings multiplying. 173. A lady was summering in Switzerland. One day she started out for a stroll. Presently, as she climbed the mountain-side, she came to a shepherd's fold. She walked to the door and looked in. There sat the shepherd. Around him lay his flock. Near at hand, on a pile of straw, lay a single sheep. It seemed to be in suffering. Scanning it closely, the lady saw that it's leg was broken. At once her sympathy went out to the suffering sheep. She looked up inquiringly to the shepherd. "How did it happen?" she said. To her amazement, the shepherd answered: "Madam, I broke that sheep's leg." A look of pain swept over the visitor's face. Seeing it, the shepherd went on: "Madam, of all the sheep in my flock, this one was the most wayward. It never would obey my voice. It never would follow in the pathway in which I was leading the flock. It wandered to the verge of many a perilous cliff and dizzy abyss. And not only was it disobedient itself, but it was ever leading the other sheep of my flock astray. I had before had experience with sheep of this kind. So I broke it's leg. The first day I went to it with food, it tried to bite me. I let it lie alone for a couple of days. Then, I went back to it. And now, it not only took the food, but licked my hand, and showed every sign of submission and even affection. And now let me tell you something. When this sheep is well, as it soon will be, it will be the model sheep of my flock. No sheep will hear my voice so quickly. None will follow so closely at my side." 174. Sometimes Christ sees that we need the SICKNESS for the good of our souls more than the

HEALING for the ease of our bodies. 175. Godly sorrow is better than Worldly joy. 176. Night brings out stars as sorrow shows us truths. 177. The soul would have no rainbow had the eyes no tears. 178. The finest flowers are often found growing in the soil of sorrow. 179. One Son God hath without sin, but none without sorrow. 180. God would sooner we had holy pain than unholy pleasure. 181. It is said that in Africa there is a fruit called the "taste berry," because it changes a person's taste so that everything eaten tastes sweet and pleasant. Sour fruit, even if eaten several hours after the "taste berry," becomes sweet and delicious. Gratitude is the "taste berry" of Christianity, and when our hearts are filled with gratitude, nothing that God sends us seems unpleasant to us. Sorrowing heart, sweeten your grief with gratitude. Burdened soul, lighten your burden by singing God's praises. Disappointed one, dispel your loneliness by making others grateful. Sick one, grow strong in soul, thanking God that He loves you enough to chasten you. Keep the "taste berry" of gratitude in you hearts, and it will do for you what the "taste berry" of Africa does for the African. 182. "God knows the way of the righteous, Even though it be dark and drear; He knows when we're tired and weary, Our burdens too heavy to bear; We ask, as the shadows lengthen, 'Lord, lift Thou this burden of care!' And often His voice replieth: 'My child, I placed it for you there! With grace that is all-sufficient, That you might grow stronger in Me, So trust, weary child, your Father, He knoweth & careth for thee!'" 183. Arthur Brisbane once pictured a crowd of grieving caterpillars carrying the corpse of a cocoon to its final resting place. The poor, distressed caterpillars, clad in black raiment, were weeping, and all the while the beautiful butterfly fluttered happily above the muck and the mire of earth, forever freed from its earthly shell. Needless to say, Brisbane had the average orthodox funeral in mind and sought to convey the idea that when our loved ones pass, it is foolish to remember only the cocoon and concentrate our attention on the remains, while forgetting the bright butterfly. 184. Pain & suffering are not necessarily signs of God's anger; they may be exactly the opposite. 185. The face of Jesus must be very near our own when the thorns from His crown of suffering are pressing our brow & hurting us. 186. We can sometimes see more through a tear than through a telescope. 187. Suffering times are a Christian's harvest times. 188. Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars. 189. Canst thou take the barren soil

And with all thy pains and toil Make lilies grow? Thou canst not. O helpless man, Have faith in God--He can. Canst thou paint the clouds at eve? And all the sunset colors weave Into the sky? Thou canst not. O powerless man Have faith in God--He can. Canst thou still thy troubled heart And make all cares and doubts depart From out thy soul? Thou canst not. O faithless man, Have faith in God-He can. 190. Handel lost his health. His right side was paralyzed. His money was gone. His creditors threatened to imprison him. Handel was so disheartened by his tragic experiences that he almost lost faith and despaired. He came through the ordeal, however, and composed his greatest work, "The Hallelujah Chorus," which is the climactic part of his great Messiah. John wrote, "This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith." 191. In a cellar in Cologne, Germany after World War II were found these words on the wall: I BELIEVE ... I believe in the sun, even when it is not shining; I believe in love, even when I feel it not; I believe in God, Even when He is silent. 192. Bismark said of immortality: "I do not doubt it, even for a moment. This life is too sad, too incomplete, to satisfy our highest aspirations and desires. It is meant to be a struggle to ennoble us. Can the struggle be in vain? I think not. Final perfection, I believe in, a perfection which God has in store for us." 193. A little girl whose baby brother had just died asked her mother where baby had gone. "To be with Jesus," replied the mother. A few days later, talking to a friend, the mother said, "I am so grieved to have lost my baby." The little girl heard her, and, remembering what her mother had told her, looked up into her and asked, "Mother, is a thing lost when you know where it is?" "No, of course not." "Well, then, how can baby be lost when he has gone to be with Jesus?" Her mother never forgot this. It was the truth. 194. There is as much difference between the sufferings of the saints & those of the ungodly as there is between the cords with which an executioner pinions a condemned malefactor & the bandages wherewith a tender surgeon binds his patient. 195. Suffering times are teaching times. 196. Sufferings are but as little chips of the cross. 197. God whispers to us in health & prosperity, but, being hard of hearing, we often fail to hear God's voice in both. Whereupon God turns up the amplifier by means of suffering. Then His voice booms. 198. A lady, when her husband was absent, lost both her children to cholera. She laid them out with a mother's tenderness, spread a sheet over them, and waited at the door for her husband's return. "A person lent me some jewels," she told her husband on his return, "and he now wants to have

them back. What shall I do?" "Return them, by all means," said the husband. Then she led the way, and silently uncovered the forms of their children. 199. SAFELY HOME I am home in Heaven, dear ones; Oh, so happy & so bright. There is perfect joy & beauty In this everlasting light. All the pain & grief is over, Every restless tossing passed; I am now at peace forever, Safely home in Heaven at last. Did you wonder I so calmly Trod the valley of the shade? Oh!--But Jesus' Love illumined Every dark & fearful glade. And He came Himself to meet me In that way so hard to tread, And with Jesus' arm to lean on, Could I have one doubt or dread? Then you must not grieve so sorely For I love you dearly still: Try to look beyond Earth's shadows, Pray to trust our Father's will, There is work still waiting for you, So you must not idly stand; Do it now, while life remaineth-You shall rest in Jesus' land. When that work is all completed, He will gently call you home; Oh, the rapture of that meeting, Oh, the joy to see you come! 200. SAFELY, safely gathered in, No more sorrow, no more sin, No more childish griefs or fears, No more sadness, no more tears; For the life, so young and fair, Now hath passed from earthly care; God Himself the soul will keep, Giving His beloved sleep. Safely, safely gathered in, Free from sorrow, free from sin, Passed beyond all grief and pain, Death for thee is truest gain: For our loss we must not weep, Nor our loved one long to keep From the home of rest and peace,

Where all sin and sorrow cease. Safely, safely gathered in, No more sorrow, no more sin; God has saved from weary strife, In its dawn, this young fresh life, Which awaits us now above, Resting in the SAVIOUR'S love. Jesus, grant that we may meet There, adoring at Thy Feet. Amen. --Henrietta O. Dobree 201. The real problem is not why some pious, humble, believing people suffer, but why some do not. 202. There is nothing the body suffers that the soul may not profit by. 203. Good men are often great sufferers. 204. Saints should fear every sin, but no sufferings. 205. I would ... suggest that some form of suffering is virtually indispensable to holiness. 206. God's wounds cure; sin's kisses kill. 207. TENDER Shepherd, Thou hast stilled Now Thy little lamb's brief weeping; Ah, how peaceful, pure, and mild, In Thy loving Arms 'tis sleeping; And no sigh of anguish sore Heaves that little bosom more. In a world of pain and care, LORD, thou wouldst no longer leave it; To Thy meadows bright and fair Lovingly Thou dost receive it; Clothed in robes of spotless white Now it dwells with Thee in light. Ah, Lord Jesus, grant that we There may live where it is living, And the blissful pastures see That its Heavenly food are giving; Lost awhile our treasured love, Gained for ever, safe above. Amen. --Rev. J.W. Meinhold 208. THEY SOFTLY WALK They are not gone who pass Beyond the clasp of hand, Out from the strong embrace. They are but come so close We need not grope with hands, Nor look to see, nor try To catch the sound of feet. They have put off their shoes

Softly to walk by day Within our thoughts, to tread At night our dream-led paths Of sleep. They are not lost who find The sunset gate, the goal Of all their faithful years. Not lost are they who reach The summit of their climb, The peak above the clouds And storms. They are not lost Who find the light of sun And stars and God. They are not dead who live In hearts they leave behind. In those whom they have blessed They live a life again, And shall live through the years Eternal life, and grow Each day more beautiful As time declares their good, Forgets the rest, and proves Their immortality. --Hugh Robert Orr 209. The Bible has a great deal to say about suffering & most of it is encouraging. 210. Calvary is God's great proof that suffering in the Will of God always leads to glory. 211. Thou art beaten that thou mayest be better. 212. We often learn more under the rod that strikes us, than under the staff that comforts us. 213. In prosperity, our friends know us; in adversity we know our friends. 214. BEREAVED Let me come in where you sit weeping, --aye, Let me, who have not any child to die, Weep with you for the little one whose love I have known nothing of. The little arms that slowly, slowly loosed Their pressure round your neck; the hands you used To kiss.--Such arms--such hands I never knew. May I not weep with you? Fain would I be of service--say some thing, Between the tears, that would be comforting,-But ah! so sadder than yourselves am I, Who have no child to die. --James Whitcomb Riley 215. Madame de la Mothe Guyon, that notable prisoner for Christ's sake in the Chateau de Chillon, sang:

Nor exile I nor prison fear; Love makes my courage great; I find a Saviour everywhere, His grace in every state. Nor castle walls, nor dungeon deep, Exclude His quickening beams; There I can sit and sing and weep, And dwell on heavenly themes. There, sorrow for His sake is found A joy beyond compare; There no presumptuous thoughts abound, Nor pride can enter there. A Saviour doubles all my joys And sweetens all my pains; His strength in my defence employs, Consoles me and sustains. (Eph.6.20; Rev.1.9). 216. God sometimes snuffs out our brightest candle that we may look up to His eternal stars. 217. Affliction is the medicine of the mind. 218. Only in the hot furnace of affliction do we as Christians let go of the dross to which, in our foolishness, we ardently cling. 219. I never knew the meaning of God's Word until I came into affliction. Martin Luther. 220. The Lord hath His way in the storm. (Nah.1:3) 221. Art thou weary, tender heart? Be glad of pain! In sorrow sweetest things will grow, As flowers in rain. God watches; thou wilt have the sun, When clouds their perfect work have done. --Adelaide Procter 222. Sometimes you went away For just a little while, And I could scarcely wait To see again your smile. I listened for your step, My hand was on the door, And what a joy it was To have you back once more. One day you said "Goodbye", And went to see the King, His beauty to behold And precious sheaves to bring; In eagerness I wait Though now I feel my lack, I'm looking hour by hour To see you both come back.

--Edith L. Mapes 223. "My burden is too heavy, Lord," I tremblingly said. "I can no further carry it!" And tears I shed. Then came a sudden cry for help From one sore pressed; I ran to seek him, gladly gave Him of my best. Then thought I of my heavy burdenBut, lo! 'twas gone! The gloom and doubt had vanished quite And Love's light shone. 224. Trouble is the structural steel that goes into character-building. 225. By afflictions God is spoiling us of what otherwise might have spoiled us--when He makes the World too hot for us to hold, we let it go. 226. Grace grows best in the winter. 227. In shunning a trial we are seeking to avoid a blessing. 228. SEED CORN INTO GRAIN We are too ignorant of death. We will not learn How it is wages paid to those who earn How it is the gift for which on earth we yearn,-To be set free from bondage to the flesh; How it is turning seed corn into grain, How it is winning heaven's eternal gain, How it means freedom evermore from pain, How it untangles every mortal mesh. We are so selfish about death. We count our grief Far more than we console their relief, When the great Reaper gathers in the sheaf No more to know the season's constant change; And we forget that it means only life,-Life with all joy, peace, rest and glory rife, The victory won, and ended all the strife, And heaven no longer far away and strange. 229. THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE O little friend, I wait on you with praise, Seeking to celebrate your early days Of bugle, drum and gallant rocking-horse Without complaint of tears, without remorse. For why should man regret the silver dawn, Now that the sun has set and from the lawn Slow mist arises as of quiet tears Shed for the swift futility of years.

At first when you were gone I turned my face From life and sat upon a lonely place Apart from men, bewailed but nursed my sorrow And, loving yesterday, I loathed tomorrow. Then suddenly you said, "O foolish one, Awake, there are no dead--I am your son!" And then above my sorrow and my strife I found the Resurrection and the Life. --Robert Norwood. 230. SHED NOT TOO MANY TEARS Shed not too many tears when I shall leave; Be brave enough to smile. It will not shorten, howsoe'er you grieve, Your loneliness the while. I would not have you sorrowful and sad, But joyfully recall The glorious companionship we've had, And thank God for it all. Don't let your face grow tear-streaked, pale and wan: Have heart for mirth and song-Rejoice, though for a little while I've gone, That I was here so long. For if I thought your faith would fail you so, And leave you so distressed, That sobbing to my body's grave you'd go, My spirit could not rest. 231. There are some of your graces which would never be discovered if it were not for your trials. 232. Jesus was transfigured on the hilltop, but He transforms us in the valley. 233. TURN AGAIN TO LIFE If I should die and leave you here a while, Be not like others, sore undone, who keep Long vigil by the silent dust and weep. For my sake turn again to life and smile, Nerving thy heart and trembling hand to do That which will comfort other souls than thine; Complete these dear unfinished tasks of mine, And I, perchance, may therein comfort you. --Mary Lee Hall 234. NO FUNERAL GLOOM No funeral gloom, my dears, when I am gone, Corpse-gazings, tears, black raiment, graveyard grimness. Think of me as withdrawn into another room, Yours still, you mine. Remember all the best of our past moments and forget the rest,

And so to where I wait come gently on. --Ellen Terry 235. ON THE DEATH OF AN AGED FRIEND You are not dead--Life has but set you free! Your years of life were like a lovely song, The last sweet poignant notes of which, held long, Passed into silence while we listened, we Who loved you listened still expectantly! And we about you whom you moved among Would feel that grief for you were surely wrong-You have but passed beyond where we can see. For us who knew you, dread of age is past! You took life bravely to the very last; It never lost for you its lovely look; You kept your interest in its thrilling book; To you Death came no conqueror; when it came-You merely smiled to hear the Saviour call your name! --Roselle Mercier Montgomery 236. We are safer in the storm God sends us than in a calm when we are befriended by the world. 237. The whale that swallowed Jonah was the means of bringing him safely to land. 238. TRUST IN GOD Courage, brother! Do not stumble, Though thy path is dark as night; There's a star to guide the humble, Trust in God and do the right. Let the road be long and dreary, And its ending out of sight; Foot it bravely--strong or weary, Trust in God and do the right. Some will hate thee, some will love thee, Some will flatter, some will slight; Turn from man and look above thee, Trust in God and do the right. 239. HE IS RISEN He is not dead, Your son, your dear beloved son, Your golden one, With his blond touseled head, The shining and excited words he said! Ah no! Be comforted. For him the world will never Grow flat and tired and dull; He is a part of all swift things forever, All joyous things that run Or fly,

Familiar to the wind and cloud and sky, Forever beautiful! --Joseph Auslander 240. SELFISHNESS Death takes our loved ones-We are bowed in grief. For whom? Are we not selfish? A mourner weeps for himself, The dead know nought of sorrow. --Margaret E. Bruner 241. "Give her, I pray, all good: Bid all the buds of pleasure grow To perfect flowers of happiness Where'er her feet may go: Bid Truth's bright shield and Love's strong arm Protect her from all earthly harm. "Lest there should be some other thing, Better than all the rest, That I have failed to ask," I said, "Give Thou the very best Of every gift that Thou dost deem Better that aught I hope or dream." "Better than I can ask or dream!" This was my prayer, and now That she is lying still and pale, With God's peace upon her brow, I wonder, sobbing, sore dismayed, If this be that for which I prayed. 242. Among my list of blessings infinite stands this the foremost--that my heart has bled. 243. A saint is often under a cross, never under a curse. 244. There never yet was an unscarred saint. 245. The Christian life is a bed of roses--thorns & all. 246. From the dust of the weary highway, From the smart of sorrow's rod, Into the royal Presence, They are bidden as guests of God. The veil from their eyes is taken. Sweet mysteries th