Some really great quotes...

Extraordinary afflictions are not always the punishment of extraordinary sins but are sometimes the trials resulting from God's extraordinary gifts.  God uses many sharp-cutting instruments, and polishes His jewels with files that are rough.  And those saints He especially loves, and desires to make shine the most brilliantly, will often feel His tools upon them.  ~R. Leighton

I willingly bear witness to the fact that I owe more to my Lord's fire, hammer, and file than to anything else in His workshop.  Sometimes I wonder if I have ever learned anything except at the end of God's rod.  When my classroom is darkest, I see best.  ~Charles H. Spurgeon