"Glory follows Suffering, and Life follows Death."

This week has been one of the toughest and confusing weeks I've had here in London. Full of frustrations, stresses, confusion, disappointments - my emotions running so high - and yet still in a flash, some amazing moments I will forever cherish. I've felt my flesh side fighting against what I know is best for me and for the moment, and felt so conflicted between my emotions and my logic. And ahhhhhhh, I can't really describe it all to you.

But what I can describe to you is what I've been reminded of this afternoon as I've spent some time with the Lord focusing on what I know He has told me is TRUE.

"But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed I count all things as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake, I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ and be found in Him - not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, a righteousness from God that depends on faith. That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and may share in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, that by any means possible, I may attain resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already attained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me His own. Brothers I do not consider that I have made it my own. but one thing I do - forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead - I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." Phil 3:7-14

"You can't have a testimony without a test." - John Osteen

"Never doubt in the darkness what Jesus reveals in the light."

"Be encouraged - for where there is a shadow, there's a light."

"The task ahead of me is never as great as the power behind me."

"If God brings you to it, He will bring you through it."

"Sometimes the Lord calms the storm, sometimes He lets the storm rage and calms His child."

"Remember the shortest bridge between despair and hope is often a good 'Thank You Jesus'."

"We turn to God for help when our foundations are shaking only to learn that it is God who is shaking them." - Charles West.

Quotes from Why by Anne Graham Lotz:

"Joy also in this - that your suffering, your losses and your persecutions shall make you a platform from which the more vigorously and with greater power you shall witness to Christ Jesus." - Charles Spurgeon

"The greatest place to be is in the center of God's will. Because when we are in God's will, He takes full responsibility for us. And although bad things may happen, we have the assurance that they are for our good and His glory."

"If God were small enough for us to understand, He would not be big enough to save us."

"Glory follows suffering and life follows death."

"Are you interpreting His love by your circumstances instead of your circumstances by His love?

"To our heart-wrenched cries of 'why?' God's ultimate answer is JESUS as He is glorified and magnified in our lives through our suffering."