David Wise

“They are still the experience provided by my brain. It has been important for me over the years to not understand a mental illness as a character flaw or a lack of faith when it is simply an Affliction, a kind of Suffering among other kinds of Suffering. I simply have a brain that provides horrors to be seen and felt. I have a brain that provides great anguish and distress without any warning and without my volition. A mental illness, of course, is affected by and related to many other things in life, but it is most simply just that: an experience provided by the brain. I love Jesus and am still very much mentally ill. My love for Jesus has not fixed that. And Jesus’ love for me has not fixed it either. I love Jesus very, very much. And I’ve still been made to see and feel horrors.”
― John Andrew Bryant, A Quiet Mind to Suffer With: Mental Illness, Trauma, and the Death of Christ

“The idea was that when faced with abundance one should consume abundantly -an idea that has survived to become the basis of our present economy. It is neither natural nor civilized, and even from a "practical" point of view it is to the last degree brutalizing and stupid.”
― Wendell Berry, The Art of the Commonplace: The Agrarian Essays

“When the sufferings of Christ are contemplated in the light of this simple fact, it will be seen that back of the death of Christ is, on the part of God, first of all the infinite wisdom, vision and power to appreciate. He comprehended man’s sin, his eternal ruin, and necessary banishment from His presence. And second, He loved the world of men enough to act mightily in their behalf. That He loved them is the reason of His effort for them. That He appreciated their terrible need was the warrant for the particular thing He did. The measure of His appreciation and love is unbounded; for “He bore our sins in his own body on the tree,” which reveals the reality of our sins as viewed by an infinite God. He became the propitiation for the sins of the whole world.”
― Lewis Sperry Chafer, True Evangelism: Winning Souls by Prayer

“If we believe the great God of the universe really loves us, it should make us emotionally unshakable in the face of criticism, suffering, and death.”
― Timothy J. Keller, Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God