'If God had told me some time ago that He was about to make me as happy as I could be in this world, and then had told me that He should begin by crippling me in the arm or limb, and removing me from all my usual sources of enjoyment, I should have thought it a very strange mode of accomplishing His purpose. And yet, how is his wisdom made manifest even in this! For if you should see a man shut up in a closed room, idolising a set of lamps and rejoicing in their light, and you wished to make him truly happy, you would begin by blowing out all his lamps, and then open the shutters to let in the light of heaven.'
Samuel Rutherford in Joni Eareckson Tada, 'Suffering Hurries the Heart toward Heaven' in Nancy Guthrie (Ed.), O Love That Will Not Let Me Go, p.121.
