Lynn,

I share this quote with you as I use it to make sense of my own life sometimes. It's the only way I'm able to reconcile the things that have caused my heart to bleed.

Trials, temptations, disappointments -- all these are helps instead of hindrances, if one uses them rightly. They not only test the fibre of a character, but strengthen it. Every conquered temptation represents a new fund of moral energy. Every trial endured and weathered in the right spirit makes a soul nobler and stronger than it was before.
- James Buckham