No Rainbow Without a Storm

Here are a few maxims others have written regarding suffering……

A man will never become great spiritually until he becomes
  great in suffering.      – Charles Spurgeon

God only forms His vessels in the fire.

We are beaten and bruised into being a blessing.

Capitalize on calamities.

Carve your trials on ice; your victories on marble.

All sunshine makes a desert.

Defeat isn’t bitter…..unless you swallow it.

Don’t advertise your trials: there’s no market for them.

It lightens the stroke to draw near to the One who handles the rod.

God had one Son without sin – but no sons without trials.
                                        – Augustine

Never confuse God’s discipline with punishment.

It’s not the cross in your life that’s a problem…..it’s the absence of the cross.
  It’s not the cross that weighs you down….it’s how you decide to carry it.

The strength of a vessel is only proven in the hurricane.
                                      – William Taylor

Trials are not designed to break us….but to bend us toward God.

As surely as God puts His children in the furnace,
    He will walk through the fire with them.

What you learn in the fire cannot be learned any other way.

The hotter God heats the furnace, the better the gold is refined.

A diamond cannot be polished without friction….nor a man without trials.

Trials are like the old Missouri mule: if you’re kickin’, you ain’t pullin.

Don’t look for a difficulty in every opportunity;
        look for an opportunity in every difficulty.

No one builds mussles swimming downstream.

Satanic attacks are similar to many sports games:
    the closer you get to the goal, the greater the opposition.

Those in the boat with Jesus during the storm learned more about Him
    than those who heard His teachings on the shore a few hours earlier.

Maxim of the Moment

If the shoe fits, you are not allowing for growth. - Vernon Law