Endurance and Encouragement

"Jesus Himself was a man of sorrow, and acquainted with grief for our sakes. He drank the whole cup of unmixed wrath for us! Shall we then refuse to taste a sip of the cup of affliction at His appointment; especially when His wisdom and His love prepare it for us--and He proportions every circumstance to our strength; when He puts it into our hands, not in anger--but in tender mercy--to do us good, to bring us near to Himself; and when He sweetens every bitter sip with those comforts which none but He can give?" ~ John Newton