“Because we believe in
God, and in His Holy Spirit, we believe that difficulties will be greatly
sanctified to us, and that they are only paced before us as stepping-stones to
grander results. We believe in defeats, my brethren; we believe in going back
with the banner trailed in the mire, persuaded that this may be the surest way
to lasting triumph. We believe in waiting, weeping, and agonizing; we believe
in a non-success which prepares us for doing greater and higher work, for which
we should not have been fitted unless anguish had sharpened our soul. We
believe in our infirmities, and even glory in them; we thank God that we are
not so eloquent as we could wish to be, and have not all the abilities we might
desire, because now we know that ‘the excellency of the power’ shall ‘be of
God, and not of us.’ Faith enables us so to rejoice in the Lord that our
infirmities become platforms for the display of His grace.”
- Charles Spurgeon, 19th-century Reformed Baptist pastor, nicknamed "The Prince of Preachers"