“If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one, for God himself has given us right standing with himself. Who then will condemn us? No one–for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us. Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? . . .No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us”–Romans 8:33-37.

“Let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up”–Galatians 6:9.

“He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how”–Nietzsche.

“We are all fragile when we don’t know what our purpose is, when we haven’t thrown ourselves with abandon into a social role, when we haven’t committed ourselves to certain people, when we feel like a swimmer in an ocean with no edge. If you really want people to be tough, make them idealistic for some cause, make them tender for some other person, make them committed to some worldview that puts today’s temporary pain in the context of a larger hope”–David Brooks.

“That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying , our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever”–2 Corinthians 4:16-18.