「我們或是受患難，是為了你們受安慰，得拯救；...這安慰叫你們能忍受我們所受的同樣苦難。我們為你們所存的盼望是確定的，知道你們既是同受苦難，也必照樣同受安慰。」－哥林多後書1:6-7
他們好像總能應時地為你帶來得當的話語，為你提供適切的建議。
然而，你可曾知道，在他們敷裹人傷、拭人淚眼的身後，累積了一個又一個的代價。
若你翻閱他們從前的歷史，你會發現他們遭受的苦難遠超過萬人。他們曾目睹懸著生命燈火的銀線鬆開滑落；他們曾見過盛滿喜樂的金碗破裂摔傷；他們曾坐望潮水退落衰殘，也曾經歷日午化為落日。
他們所經過的一切，都日積月累地造就他們，為了成為今日世人的護士、醫生，與祭司。
異國的盒子模樣粗陋，裡頭卻盛裝珍稀香料，讓空氣佈滿著東方迷醉的氛圍。
苦難的外衣也讓人無法消受，裡頭卻隱含著教誨、督責與無限的機會，不僅使人尊貴，更使人得造就，得以成為世人的幫助者。
因此，不需焦躁不安、咬牙苦忍，更別苦苦等著患難離去；你當照著神的心意，讓患難為你，以及你所服事的世代效力。
－選
"If I am in distress, it is in the interests of your comfort, which is effective as it nerves you to endure the same sufferings as I suffered myself. Hence my hope for you is well-founded, since I know that as you share the sufferings you share the comfort also" (2 Cor. 1:6, 7).Are there not some in your circle to whom you naturally betake yourself in times of trial and sorrow? They always seem to speak the right word, to give the very counsel you are longing for; you do not realize, however, the cost which they had to pay ere they became so skillful in binding up the gaping wounds and drying tears. But if you were to investigate their past history you would find that they have suffered more than most. They have watched the slow untwisting of some silver cord on which the lamp of life hung. They have seen the golden bowl of joy dashed to their feet, and its contents spilt. They have stood by ebbing tides, and drooping gourds, and noon sunsets; but all this has been necessary to make them the nurses, the physicians, the priests of men. The boxes that come from foreign climes are clumsy enough; but they contain spices which scent the air with the fragrance of the Orient. So suffering is rough and hard to bear; but it hides beneath it discipline, education, possibilities, which not only leave us nobler, but perfect us to help others. Do not fret, or set your teeth, or wait doggedly for the suffering to pass; but get out of it all you can, both for yourself and for your service to your generation, according to the will of God. --Selected
