Quotes on Suffering & Joy
"Sorrow enlarges the capacity of the heart for joy." Richard Mahew
"When you die, you graduate. I don't worry about death. Sickness teaches there is joy in everything. Take joy in your sickness because a lot of times God is telling you: 'You may not know it, but you're more blessed than you realized.’” Tony Snow, former Press Secretary for George W. Bush.. Snow died of colon cancer at the age of 53 in July 2008
"Joy and patience are far above our strength.... We must persevere in prayer that he may not permit our hearts to faint.... Prayer and perseverance are necessary in our daily conflicts. The best remedy to the weariness is diligence in prayer. " John Calvin
"No one will calmly and quietly submit to bear the cross except those who have learned to seek their happiness beyond this world." John Calvin
"It is a cause for joy when God sets persecution before us but also bids us to rejoice: 1 Peter 4:12-14 - 12 Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. 14I f you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. " John Calvin
"We can experience joy in adverse circumstances by holding God's benefits in such esteem that the recognition of them and meditation upon them shall overcome all sorrow." John Calvin
"Rejoicing refers to moderation of spirit when the mind keeps itself in calmness under adversity and does not give indulgence to grief. Constant praying is the way of 'rejoicing perpetually', for by this means we ask from God alleviation in connection with all our distresses." John Calvin
"Joy and thanksgiving expressed in prayer and praise according to the Word of God are the heart of the Church's worship." John Calvin
"Joy is a quiet gladness of heart as one contemplates the goodness of God's saving grace in Christ Jesus." John Calvin
"Christians rejoice even while they truly sorrow - - because their rejoicing is in the hope of heaven....While joy overcomes sorrow, it does not put an end to it." John Calvin
Joy in the bible is the means by which we are sustained in suffering - - - - - - - and joy is that for which suffering is preparing us..... John Piper
"It takes moral courage to grieve; it requires religious courage to rejoice.” Kierkegaard
"We do not choose suffering simply because we are told to, but because the one who tells us to describes it as the path to everlasting joy." John Piper
"The difference between shallow happiness and a deep sustaining joy is sorrow. Happiness lives where sorrow is not. When sorrow arrives, happiness dies. It can't stand pain. Joy, on the other hand, rises from sorrow and therefore can withstand all grief. Joy, by the grace of God, is the transfiguration of suffering into endurance, and of endurance into character, and of character into hope--and the hope that has become our joy does not (as happiness must for those who depend upon it) disappoint us." Walter Wangrin, Reliving the Passion (Thanks Leisa Ress)
"I miss my wife in numberless ways and shall miss her yet more and more, but as a child of God and as a servant of the Lord Jesus I bow. I'm satisfied with the will of my heavenly father. I seek by perfect submission to his holy will to glorify Him and kiss continually the hand that has thus afflicted me." George Mueller
"God is attracted to weakness." (see Psalm 51:17) Kimber Kaufmann
"We ought to celebrate the positive glorious gifts of God, but the worth of God shines in a powerful way to the world when in the midst of suffering we still don't curse God but say "the Lord gave and the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord." John Piper
"Everywhere a greater joy is preceeded by a greater suffering." Augustine
"Ecclesiastes holds that it is better to go to a House of Mourning than a House of Rejoicing, for in a House of Mourning one is able to learn so much more." Pesach Krauss in his book Why Me?
"Many of us do not realize that pain and joy run together. When we cut ourselves off from pain, we unwittingnly cut ourselves off from joy as well." Clyde Reed, Celebrate the Temporary.
"Joy is that deep settled confidence that God is in control of every area of my life." Paul Sailhamer.
"I believe that pain and suffering can either be a prison or a prism." Tim Hansel, You Gotta Keep Dancin'.
"Until we understand that our grief outweighs a thousand joys, we will never understand what Christianity is all about." Herman Melville, Redburn.
"The things we try to avoid and fight against - tribulation, suffering and persecution - are the very things that produce abundant joy in us. Huge waves that would frighten the ordinary swimmer produce a tremendous thrill for the surfer who has ridden them. "We are more than conquerors through Him" IN all these things - not in spite of them, but in the midst of them. A sain doesn't know the joy of the Lord in spite of tribulation, but because of it. Paul said "I am exceedingly joyful in all our tribulation". Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest (Rom 8:37, 2 Cor 7:4)
"Those who dive in the sea of affliction bring up rare pearls." Charles Spurgeon
"The discontented person thinks that everything that he does for God is too much and everything God does for him is too little." Kimber Kauffman
"I walked a mile with pleasure, she chatted all the way. It left me none the wiser, for all she had to say. I walked a mile with sorrow and ne're a word said she, but oh the things I learned from her, when sorrow walked with me." Unknown
"Our heavemly father never takes anything from his children unless He means to give them something better." George Mueller
"Never fear shadows. They simply mean there's a light shining somewhere nearby." Ruth E. Renkel
"Joy is a much sought after quality of life....Joy comes with giving away - losing, not gaining." Evelyn Christenson
"This is the secret of joy. We shall no longer strive for our own way; but commit ourselves, easily and simply, to God's way, acquiesce in His will, and in so doing find our peace." Evelyn Underhill
"There never was night that had no morn." Dinah Mulock Craik (Psalm 30:5 - Weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.)
"Suffering is a short pain and a long joy." Henry Suso
"Earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot heal." Thomas Moore
"Strength is born in the deep silence of long suffering hearts; not amid joy." Felicia Hemans
"How happy a person is depends upon the depth of his gratitude." John Miller
"Affliction is a treasure, and scarce any man hath enough of it." John Donne
"We are healed of a suffering only by experiencing it in full." Marcel Proust
"As soon as a baby enters the world, the baby is immediately introduced to pain. It is somewhat symbolic that life begins with a cry." RC Sproul
"We could never learn to be brave and patient, if there were only joy in the world." Helen Keller
"The problem of evil is raised more often by spectators of life than the actual combatants. You will hardly ever find that the great sufferers are the great skeptics." James Stewart
"The true Christian reaction to suffering and sorrow is not the attitude of self-pity, fatalism or resentment; it is the spirit which takes life's difficulties as a God given opportunity, and regards its troubles as a sacred trust, and wears the thorns as a crown." James Stewart
"Godly people... nobly endure hard things. They know that their existence is meaningful and that they are destined for unlimited pleasure at the deepest level in heaven. Because they keenly feel that nothing now quite meets the standards of their longing souls, the quiet but deeply throbbing ache within them drives them not to compalint, but to anticipation and further yieldedness." Larry Crabb
"Because of my sufferings, I will appreciate (in heaven) the scars of Christ and also the scars of other believers. (In heaven) I will see men and women that in the world were cut in pieces, burnt in flames, tortured and persecuted, eaten by beasts, and drowned in the seas - - all for the love they had for the Lord. What a privelege it will be to stand in their ranks! But what a shame it would be if, in conversing with them, we could only shrug our shoulders and prattle Me? Suffer?...... Perhaps we would bite our complaining tongues more often if we stopped to picture this scene in heaven. The examples of other suffering saints are meant to inspire us upward on our heavenly journey home." Joni Eareckson Tada
"Once you see your affliction as a preparation to meet God, you won't be quick to call it suffering again. Even though I have rough moments in my wheelchair, for the most part I consider my paralysis a gift. Just as Jesus exchanged the meaning of the Cross from a symbol of torture to one of hope and salvation, He gives me the grace to do the same with my chair. If a cross can become a blessing, so can a wheelchair. The wheelchair, in a sense, is behind me now. The despair is over. There are now other crosses to bear, other "wheelchairs" in my life to be exchanged into gifts." Joni Eareckson Tada
"How much more pleasant this world would be if we magnified our blessings the way we magnify our disappointments." Unknown
"Christianity is not a religion of comfort - - - at least not at first." CS Lewis, Mere Christianity
Joy comes from seeing the complete fulfillment of the specific purpose for which I was created and born again, not from successfully doing something of my own choosing. The joy our Lord experienced cam from doing what his Father sent Him to do. And He says to us, "As the Father has sent me, so I also send you."(Jn 20:21). Have you received a ministry from the Lord? If so, you must be faithful to it - - to consider your life valuable only for the purpose of fulfilling that ministry. Knowing that you have done what Jesus has sent you to do, think how satisfying it will be to hear him say to you, "Well done, good and faithful servant." (Mt 25:21). We each have to find a niche in life, and spiritually we find it when we receive a ministry from the Lord. To do this we must have close fellowship with Jesus and must know Him as more than our personal savior. And we must be willing to experience the full impact of Acts 9:16 - "I will show you how many things he must suffer for my name's sake." Oswald Chambers
"The joy of the Lord is your strength." (Neh 8:10). Where do saints get their joy? If we did not know some Christians well, we might think from just observing them that they have no burdens at all to bear. But we must lift the veil from our eyes. The fact that the peace, light and joy of God is in the is proof that a burden is there as well. The burden that God placeson us squeezes the grapes in our lives and produces wine, but most of us only see the wine and not the burden. No power on earth or in hellcan conquer the spirit of God living within the living spirit; it creates an inner invinvibility. If your life is only producing a whine and not a wine, then ruthlessly kick it out. It is definately a crime for a Christian to be weak in God's strength." Oswald Chambers
"It is the very joy of this earthly life to think that it will come to an end." Charles Spurgeon
"It is an unfortunate thing for the Christian to be melancholy. If there is any man in the world that has a right to have a bright, clear face and a flashing eye, it is the man whose sins are forgiven him, who is saved with God's salvation." Charles Spurgeon
"Your sorrow itself shall be turned into joy. Not the sorrow to be taken away, and joy to be put in it's place, but the very sorrow which now grieves you shall be turned into joy. God not only takes away the bitterness and gives sweetness in it's place, but turns the bitterness into sweetness itself." Charles Spurgeon (on John 16:33)
"Sorrow for sin should be the keenest sorrow; joy in the Lord should be the loftiest joy.:” Charles Spurgeon (on Phillipians 4:4)
"Thankfulness is the secret of joy." Unknown
