“I don't mean that God made this happen to teach us something. Or to teach me something. How monstrously selfish would that be? I just mean that if we go through this thing and it changes us so much, you have to hope that it changes us for the better, right? If goodness can't come from bad things, it makes bad things unbearable.”

“The good things that happen to us were meant to happen, and the bad things that happen are lessons meant to teach us to be better.”

“Who doesn't need hope in their lives: hope that something can change, that someone cares, that not only bad things happen unexpectedly but good things can happen to us too?”

“What does it mean if we're afraid? Does it mean something bad is going to happen to us? No, it doesn't mean something bad is going to happen. It just means that we have the chance to be brave!”

“I mean that the reason God seems to act in ways that make no sense to us is that our perceptions are wrong. Our expectations are subtly twisted. We long for things that harm us and run from the things that grow and heal us. We think good is bad and bad is good. God acts rightly, but to us, it seems confusing. Or sometimes plain wrong.”

“I really believe that things happen for reasons. While we're going through it, we don't know why, but somewhere down the road we'll understand. Each experience in life teaches us something; it helps us grow and be a better person.”