And I quote...

God takes away the world, that the heart may cleave more to Him in sincerity.
Thomas Watson

He that rides to be crowned, will not think much of a rainy day.
John Trapp

Chastisement is designed for our good, to promote our highest interests. Look beyond the rod to the Allwise hand that wields it!
Arthur W. Pink

Q. 1. What is the chief end of man?
A. Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.
Westminster Shorter Catechism

All the types, promises and prophecies were now fully accomplished in (Christ)…There is not a single jewel of promise, from that first emerald which fell on the threshold of Eden, to that last sapphire-stone of Malachi which was not set in the breastplate of the True High Priest.
Charles H. Spurgeon

'I have in my congregation,' said a venerable minister of the gospel, 'a worthy, aged woman, who has for many years been so deaf as not to distinguish the loudest sound, and yet she is always one of the first in the meeting. On asking the reason of her constant attendance (as it was impossible for her to hear my voice), she answered, "Though I cannot hear you, I come to God's house because I love it, and would be found in His ways; and He gives me many a sweet thought upon the text when it is pointed out to me: another reason is, because there I am in the best company, in the more immediate presence of God, and among His saints, the honourable of the earth. I am not satisfied with serving God in private; it is my duty and privilege to honour Him regularly in public." What a reproof this is to those who have their hearing, and yet always come to a place of worship late, or not at all!
K. Arvine

It is the Word that prunes the Christian, it is the truth that purges him, the Scripture made living and powerful by the Holy Spirit--effectually cleanses the Christian. Affliction is the handle of the knife-- affliction is the grindstone that sharpens the Word--affliction is the dresser that removes our soft garments and lays bear the diseased flesh, so that the surgeon's knife may get at it-- affliction merely makes us ready to feel the Word--but the true pruner is the Word, in the hand of the Great Vinedresser.
Charles H. Spurgeon