Category Archives: tribulation and trouble

The darker the night the brighter the stars shine.

Posted on August 12, 2018 by vincentsmithauthor

There’s a sheet of paper I keep that someone once gave to me when I was going through a very tough time. I can’t remember who it was but I do remember them scribbling these words for me; “God’s promises … Continue reading →

Posted in Grief, Promise, Trials and testings, tribulation and trouble, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

It takes a great spirit to come through hardship

Posted on February 22, 2018 by vincentsmithauthor

Four centuries ago Martin Rinkert became the minister of his hometown parish in Eilenburg, Germany. A year later the Thirty Years War broke out and Eilenburg was caught in the middle. In the midst of it a massive plague swept … Continue reading →

Posted in Faith, Life, Life's journey, Life's lessons, Trials and testings, tribulation and trouble, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

I doesn’t matter

Posted on November 30, 2017 by vincentsmithauthor

Some years ago the Readers Digest reported the case of Angie and David whose house burned down. Angie’s first act was to hunt through the blackened ruins searching for any photo albums that had survived. She managed to find some … Continue reading →

Posted in Life's lessons, love, Materialism, Meaning in life, Trials and testings, tribulation and trouble, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Trouble is inevitable, but misery is optional

Posted on February 19, 2017 by vincentsmithauthor

Abraham Lincoln is credited with the saying that ‘most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.’ Now, that may be an oversimplification, especially when we think of refugees fleeing from unimaginable horrors, or people … Continue reading →

Posted in Endurance, Faith, Faithfulness, God with us, God's faithfulness, God's love, Trials and testings, tribulation and trouble | Leave a comment

Disappointed? Often! Discouraged? Sometimes! Defeated? Never!

Posted on April 29, 2016 by vincentsmithauthor

Scott Peck’s famous book, The Road Less Traveled, opens with the words:’Life is difficult.’ He says we’ll never get on top of life until we accept this fundamental truth, but when we do accept it, the fact that life is … Continue reading →

Posted in Spiritual growth, Spiritual Insight, Strength, Trials and testings, tribulation and trouble, Tried, Troubles, Victory, Winners | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

What seems to be tragic may actually become an occasion for joy

Posted on March 29, 2016 by vincentsmithauthor

Joe Wagner once attended an auction where a little girl’s champion lamb went up for sale. As the bids came in, the little girl, standing beside the lamb, began to cry. The higher the bids rose, the more she cried. … Continue reading →

Posted in Joy, Trials and testings, tribulation and trouble, Troubles | Leave a comment

Handling pressure

Posted on June 6, 2015 by vincentsmithauthor

In the depths of the ocean there are two ways of handling the enormous water pressure that would crush a normal submarine. One is that of the bathysphere whose hull is made of steel plate several inches thick. It keeps … Continue reading →

Posted in inner peace, Spiritual blessing, Spiritual comfort, Spiritual Insight, Storms of life, Strength, Stress filled life, Tested, Trials and testings, tribulation and trouble | Leave a comment

Happiness is not the same as fun

Posted on May 19, 2015 by vincentsmithauthor

Dr Vera Ranki, founder of the Examined Life Institute, said that the first lesson towards achieving happiness is to realize that happiness is not the same as fun. In our desperate pursuit of happiness we often forget that when we … Continue reading →

Posted in Happiness, Trials and testings, tribulation and trouble, True greatness | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

All sunlight makes a desert

Posted on March 20, 2015 by vincentsmithauthor

There’s an old Arab proverb that says: ‘All sunlight makes a desert.’ Most of us love the sunshine and find more than a day of rain and overcast skies quite depressing. But when the rain doesn’t come, the sunshine becomes … Continue reading →

Posted in Endurance, Faith, Life, Life's journey, Living Life, Tested, Trials and testings, tribulation and trouble | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

When the worst that can happen becomes the best

Posted on March 12, 2015 by vincentsmithauthor

When police in Germany went to arrest Maria Brunner for a stack of unpaid parking fines, all run up unbeknown to her by her unemployed husband using her car, they were surprised that she actually thanked them and waved to … Continue reading →

Posted in Escape, Hope, Peace, Peaceful Sleep, Relief, Rest, Trials and testings, tribulation and trouble | Tagged | Leave a comment