“You are not reading of a Savior who was, but of a Savior who is. The Lord Jesus is moved by the same sympathy, is possessed of the same power, and is as quickly and as tenderly responsive to the appeal of the sorrowful and the necessities of the needy, as when the tabernacle of His humanity adorned and consecrated our earth, and when to its asylum thronged earth’s sons and daughters of suffering and of woe.

Oh, it is a truth as replete with comfort as with wonder, ‘Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever.’ Beloved, cling to this Unchanging One!

No ebb in the tide of your affection, nor trembling in the needle of your faith, can create the slightest variation in His love or faithfulness. Your waywardness has not chilled it, your fickleness has not affected it, your sinfulness has not forfeited it, because He is essentially, immutably, and eternally the same. ‘If we are unfaithful, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself.'”

– Octavius Winslow

“It is the Lord: let him do what seemeth him good”. (1 Sam. 3:18)

See God in everything, and God will calm and color all that thou dost see!” It may be that the circumstances of our sorrows will not be removed, their condition will remain unchanged; but if Christ, as Lord and Master of our life, is brought into our grief and gloom, “HE will compass us about with songs of deliverance.” To see HIM, and to be sure that His wisdom cannot err, His power cannot fail, His love can never change; to know that even His direst dealings with us are for our deepest spiritual gain, is to be able to say, in the midst of bereavement, sorrow, pain, and loss, “The Lord gave, and the Lord hath, taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”

Nothing else but seeing God in everything will make us loving and patient with those who annoy and trouble us. They will be to us then only instruments for accomplishing His tender and wise purposes toward us, and we shall even find ourselves at last inwardly thanking them for the blessings they bring us. Nothing else will completely put an end to all murmuring or rebelling thoughts.–H. W. Smith

“‘He hath done all things well.‘ Yes, from first to last, from our cradle to our grave, from the earliest pang of sin’s conviction to the latest thrill of sin’s forgiveness, from earth to heaven, this will be our testimony in all the way the Lord our God has led us in the wilderness. In providence and in grace, in every truth of His Word, in every lesson of His love, in every stroke of His rod, in every beam that has shone, and in every cloud that has shaded, in every element that has sweetened, and in every ingredient that has embittered, in all that has been mysterious, inscrutable, painful, and humiliating; in all that He gave, and in all that He took away, this testimony is His just due, and this our grateful acknowledgment through time and through eternity – ‘He hath done all things WELL.'” (Octavius Winslow)

Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous.–I PETER iii. 8.

A little thought will show you how vastly your own happiness depends on the way other people bear themselves toward you. The looks and tones at your breakfast-table, the conduct of your fellow-workers or employers, the faithful or unreliable men you deal with, what people say to you on the street, the way your cook and housemaid do their work, the letters you get, the friends or foes you meet,–these things make up very much of the pleasure or misery of your day. Turn the idea around, and remember that just so much are you adding to the pleasure or the misery of other people’s days. And this is the half of the matter which you can control. Whether any particular day shall bring to you more of happiness or of suffering is largely beyond your power to determine. Whether each day of your life shall give happiness or suffering rests with yourself. (By George S. Merriam)

“And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes–“–Revelation 21:4   “Human hands are poor at removing tears. If they succeed one time, other tears will come that they cannot wipe away. Only the hand that made the spirit can reach the deep sources of its sorrow or dry up the streams that issue from them. God’s handkerchief is embroidered with love and tender sympathy, and it is the pierced hand of Jesus that puts it to the eyes of the weeping ones. He will dry every tear; tears of misfortune and poverty, tears of bereaved affection, tears of doubt and discouragement, tears of pain, tears of neglect, tears of yearning for what cannot be ours now. Yes, each tear will be fully wiped away by Him who knows our every sorrow.”(Dr. Howard Ferrin)   Is that not a glorious thought! And it is true. That ought to encourage you as you are forced to face the struggles of life. Your present situation might seem impossible, unending, and unbearable, but it isn’t. Jesus knows, He cares, and He can help. His promise is true–tears will not last forever, “–weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.”(Psalm 30:5). Hang on and never give up hope!