We cannot put too great emphasis upon the duty of giving happiness and cheer to others. But it is no less a duty that we should be happy and cheerful ourselves. All our efforts to lighten another's load will be limited unless they spring from a source of joy within.

His great salvation is inseparably linked with a rejoicing spirit. True, it can stoop to sorrow; it will enter the saddest home and the darkest midnight, but it cannot dwell with gloom. It must banish sorrow as well as sin, and live in the light of joy.

Isaac.... avoided his master, who sat like a beggar in his own yard, scraping oozing sores.... All that was good was gone. How could Master Job keep trusting God now? Maybe he and Anna should leave before everything was destroyed.

"Do you know what a conscience is?... A conscience is something inside you that tells you if you have done something bad. It reminds us of things we have done that we should not have done." Misha understood. Yes, his conscience was talking to him.

Have you ever heard of the path of Long Patience? It is not an easy road to follow.... But if you want to come to the Land of Everlasting Joy, you have to take this path all the way to the end. There is a secret for not giving up part way, which is what I want to tell you....

What is the secret? When does the song begin? What is it that gives to the believer in God this quenchless joy? In the record of the opening of the temple by Hezekiah we find a sentence which suggests the answer.

Of all the things that He might have said, perhaps no more beautiful, blessed, needful, and significant speech could have been made by Him to His sorrowing disciples—and, beyond them, to the struggling, battling Church in all ages, and even to the sinful world itself.