Look upon your chastening as God’s chariots sent to carry your soul into the high places of spiritual achievement.
The greatest burden we have to carry in life is self. The most difficult thing we have to manage is self… In laying off your burdens, therefore, the first one you must get rid of is yourself. You must hand yourself…into the care and keeping of your God… He made you and therefore He understands you, and knows how to manage you, and you must trust Him to do it.
Sight is not faith, and hearing is not faith, neither is feeling faith; but believing when we neither see, hear, nor feel is faith; and everywhere the Bible tells us our salvation is to be by faith. Therefore we must believe before we feel, and often against our feelings, if we would honor God by our faith.
The standard of practical holy living has been so low among Christians that very often the person who tries to practice spiritual disciplines in everyday life is looked upon with disapproval by a large portion of the Church. And for the most part, the followers of Jesus Christ are satisfied with a life so conformed to the world, and so like it in almost every respect, that to a casual observer, there is no difference between the Christian and the pagan.
The Christian’s Secret of a Happy Life. Christianity Today, v. 32, n. 11.