Hebrews 12:11

How happy are tested Christians, afterwards. No calm is deeper than that which follows a storm. Who has not rejoiced in clear shining after rain? Victorious banquets are for well-trained soldiers. After killing the lion, we eat the honey; after climbing the Hill Difficulty, we sit down in the arbor to rest; after traversing the Valley of Humiliation, after fighting with Apollyon, the shining one appears, with the healing branch from the tree of life.

Our sorrows, like the passing keels of vessels on the sea, leave a silver line of holy light behind them afterwards. It is peace, sweet, deep peace, which follows the horrible turmoil that once reigned in our tormented, guilty souls. See, then, the happy state of a Christian! He has his best things last, and he therefore, in this world, receives his worst things first.

But even his worst things are afterward good things, harsh plowings yielding joyful harvests. Even now he grows rich by his losses, he rises by his falls, he lives by dying, and becomes full by being emptied; if, then, his grievous afflictions yield him so much peaceable fruit in this life, what will be the full vintage of joy afterwards in heaven?

If his dark nights are as bright as the world’s days, what will his days be? If even his starlight is more splendid than the sun, what must his sunlight be? If he can sing in a dungeon, how sweetly will he sing in heaven! If he can praise the Lord in the fires, how will he extol him before the eternal throne!

If evil is good to him now, what will the overflowing goodness of God be to him then? Oh, blessed afterward! Who would not be a Christian? Who would not bear the present cross for the crown that comes afterwards? But in this lies work for patience, for the rest is not for today, nor the triumph for the present, but afterward. Wait, O soul, and let patience have her perfect work.