Wednesday 15 October 2008

SUFFERING

'Isn't it true that suffering reveals us? While prosperity allows us to hide, hardships peel off masks we didn't even know we were wearing. During the better times, we can be happy, unafraid, confident and optimistic, but the lean years reveal the best and worst in us. Put a dozen relatively like-minded people into the same crisis and you will see a dozen different responses. Some are heroes, others are cowards. Some are leaders, others are followers. Some are optimists, others despair. Some shake their fists at God, others quietly submit. You don't really know who you are until you have gone through suffering. We can measure our spiritual growth by the way we behave under pressure.'
Edward T. Welch, Depression: A Stubborn Darkness, p.134.