Gypsy, I read this in a Christian book recently and thought it would fit perfectly on this thread (btw, if you aren't a Christian, skip it...or read it and convert, score me some air miles to heaven!)Anyway, it's by David Wilkerson in "Have You Felt Like Giving Up Lately?"
"Dear friend, don't think of your trial as judgment from God. Don't go about condemning yourself, as though you have brought down upon yourself some dreaded penalty for failure. Stop thinking, "God is making me pay for my sin." Why can't you see that what you are going through is a result of His love? Are you being chastened? Do you feel as if you are being dragged down? Are you in pain? Are you suffering? Good! That is evidence of His love toward you. Submit! Take up your cross! Be prepared to go down even more. Get ready to reach your crisis. Get ready to reach the end of yourself. Be prepared to give up. Be prepared to hit bottom! Please understand you are in Christ's own school of discipleship. Rejoice that you are going to become weak in order to experience His overpowering strength in you. He laid His cross down; why won't you? For Him, a Simon appeared. For us, a Saviour appears. We get up and go on. It's still our cross, but now it's on His shoulders"
