#suffering

One day we took the children to see a goldsmith refine gold after the ancient manner of the East. He was sitting beside his little charcoal fire. ("He shall sit as a refiner"; the gold- or silversmith never leaves his crucible once it is on the fire.) In the red glow lay a common curved roof tile; another tile covered it like a lid. This was the crucible. In it was the medicine made of salt, tamarind fruit and burnt brick dust, and imbedded in it was the gold. The medicine does its appointed work on the gold, "then the fire eats it," and the goldsmith lifts the gold out with a pair of tongs, lets it cool, rubs it between his fingers, and if not satisfied puts it back again in fresh medicine. This time he blows the fire hotter than it was before, and each time he puts the gold into the crucible, the heat of the fire is increased; "it could not bear it so hot at first, but it can bear it now; what would have destroyed it then helps it now." "How do you know when the gold is purified?" we asked him, and he answered, "When I can see my face in it [the liquid gold in the crucible] then it is pure. ↗

— Amy Carmichael

#fire #gold #heat #pain #pure

There are many who don't wish to sleep for fear of nightmares. Sadly, there are many who don't wish to wake for the same fear. ↗

— Richelle E. Goodrich

#fear #hardship #nightmares #richelle #richelle-goodrich

There are far too many silent sufferers.  Not because they don't yearn to reach out, but because they've tried and found no one who cares. ↗

— Richelle E. Goodrich

#despair #hopelessness #richelle #richelle-goodrich #suffering

Just because a person successfully steers a voyage through hell doesn't mean he ever wants to sail that route again. ↗

— Richelle E. Goodrich

#hell #overcoming-adversity #richelle #richelle-goodrich #suffering

For if God is a title of the highest power, He must be incorruptible, perfect, incapable of suffering, and subject to no other being; therefore they are not gods whom necessity compels to obey the one greatest God. ↗

— Lactantius

#compels #god #gods #greatest #highest

I don't look at myself as suffering. ↗

— A. J. Langer

#look #myself #suffering

I do not believe that sheer suffering teaches. If suffering alone taught, all the world would be wise, since everyone suffers. To suffering must be added mourning, understanding, patience, love, openness and the willingness to remain vulnerable. ↗

— Anne Morrow Lindbergh

#alone #believe #everyone #i #i do

If we could read the secret history of our enemies we should find in each man's life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility. ↗

— Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

#disarm #each #enough #find #history

My denial and irresponsible attitude about asthma put me at great risk and caused me so much needless suffering. My hope is that the kids I talk to learn to open up about their asthma, become educated about their condition, and seek help. ↗

— Jackie Joyner-Kersee

#asthma #attitude #become #caused #condition

You can hold yourself back from the sufferings of the world, that is something you are free to do and it accords with your nature, but perhaps this very holding back is the one suffering you could avoid. ↗

— Franz Kafka

#avoid #back #could #free #hold