suffering

Peace, be still

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“Our minds are apt by their troubles to be cast into disorder, to be tossed up and down, and disquieted…And indeed, the mind on all such occasions is its own greatest troubler. It is likely to let loose its passions of fear and sorrow, which then multiply into innumerable perplexing thoughts, until it is carried utterly out of its own power. But in this state a due contemplation of the glory of Christ will restore and compose the mind–bring it into a sedate, quiet frame, where faith will be able to say to the winds of our soul, ‘Peace, be still,’ and they shall obey.”

John Owen
The Works of John Owen, Vol.1

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Joy in Our Sorrows

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“Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope…” (Rom.5:2-4). “Christians, do not envy the world’s happiness and success. You have advantages they do not. You have joy in your sorrows; in the midst of sorrows, you may have joy.” Christians have something that unbelievers do not: joy in suffering. In the midst of suffering, we can be joyful because (1) we know Christ and can draw nearer to him and become like him now; and (2) we have the promise that our suffering will soon end in unmatched, limitless joy. No unbeliever will ever know such joy.
Richard Alleine

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