Suffer Strong Quotes

“God’s works are powerfully evident in His healing of our hurts, but perhaps even more profoundly in the not-yet healing. That’s why how we suffer matters. Suffering strong offers a unique testimony to all who witness it, unveiling an “in the midst of” God who is too big and too good not to be worshiped, whether or not our longed-for outcome materializes.”
― Katherine Wolf, Suffer Strong: How to Survive Anything by Redefining Everything

“It’s a despairing place to be when we feel like no human can fully understand our unique pain—and the God who can understand seems to be part of the problem.”
― Katherine Wolf, Suffer Strong: How to Survive Anything by Redefining Everything

“I’m not wheelchair-bound; I’m wheelchair-free. The wheelchair is the tool that helps me to be in the world again, to go farther distances than my own two legs can take me. And it’s a visual reminder to myself and others who see me that I couldn’t do life on my own if I wanted to, but the good thing is, I don’t have to. In the kingdom of God, this seat is my seat of honor. And your invisible wheelchair is your seat of honor too.”
― Katherine Wolf, Suffer Strong: How to Survive Anything by Redefining Everything

“we are all disabled. None of us have unlimited access to whatever we want or whatever we planned for our lives to look like. We are constrained by our marriages or our singleness, by our children or our childlessness, by our obligations or our debts, by obstacles real or imagined. No one enters life or leaves it without feeling bound by something. Some of us have physical wheelchairs, but we all have invisible wheelchairs inside us. None of us can do life all by ourselves. We need God, and we need each other.”
― Katherine Wolf, Suffer Strong: How to Survive Anything by Redefining Everything

“Everyone is defined by a unique combination of things. When we come into this world, our identity is defined by things we didn’t choose and can’t alter—our families, our genetics, our personalities. We are further defined by our fears, wounds, and longings as we travel our individual paths. All of these components begin to form the unique parameters of who we are, the shape of our hearts, and the route to our future. But as we live in the world, as we suffer and grow, we experience things that bump against the boundaries of what has defined us thus far, that chip away at and redefine our borders, and that sometimes shatter the life we’ve known. The real work, the hardest work, is to pick up the pieces and decide how to put them back together again. The new thing that emerges may not work the way it used to, but it can bend and stretch and change us in ways we come to treasure even more. As much as we recoil from suffering, it has the potential to show us who we are and who God is in ways that dramatically alter the way we live our lives. We can gain precious wisdom and deeper appreciation for the lives we’ve been given as we learn to suffer well—not as victims, but as overcomers.”
― Katherine Wolf, Suffer Strong: How to Survive Anything by Redefining Everything

“Maybe we should all get T-shirts printed that read, “Please treat me with care. I’ve been through a lot.”
― Katherine Wolf, Suffer Strong: How to Survive Anything by Redefining Everything

“The real work, the hardest work, is to pick up the pieces and decide how to put them back together again. The new thing that emerges may not work the way it used to, but it can bend and stretch and change us in ways we come to treasure even more.”
― Katherine Wolf, Suffer Strong: How to Survive Anything by Redefining Everything

“Life defines us, but suffering redefines us. Ultimately, hope refines us, transforming us from within in ways we never could have imagined.”
― Katherine Wolf, Suffer Strong: How to Survive Anything by Redefining Everything

“Our humanity places each of us on this spectrum of pains, and the great irony is that we often isolate ourselves by saying, “My pain is so big, no one understands,” or conversely, “My pain is so insignificant, no one would care.”
― Katherine Wolf, Suffer Strong: How to Survive Anything by Redefining Everything

“Human suffering takes so many forms, and it can be tempting to rank what’s worthy of being deemed “real” suffering. But aren’t we all struggling to live with realities we would not choose? Suffering in its simplest form comes in the space between what we thought would be and what is.”
― Katherine Wolf, Suffer Strong: How to Survive Anything by Redefining Everything

“Don’t quote some Bible verse out of context, just because you don’t know what else to say. Don’t slap a Jesus sticker on someone’s devastated life; they’ll need more of Jesus than just a sticker. Instead, lead with a ministry of tears before offering a ministry of truth.”
― Katherine Wolf, Suffer Strong: How to Survive Anything by Redefining Everything

“truest story about our identity: “You are worthy not because you achieved or put on the worthiest performance, but because you are worth everything to Me.”
― Katherine Wolf, Suffer Strong: How to Survive Anything by Redefining Everything

“fact, when we open our hands, God, like the most perfect parent who’s read all the books and done all the deep breathing exercises ever known, whispers to us gently, “But there is MORE.”
― Katherine Wolf, Suffer Strong: How to Survive Anything by Redefining Everything

“The space between what you want and what”
― Katherine Wolf, Suffer Strong: How to Survive Anything by Redefining Everything

“Scripture”
― Katherine Wolf, Suffer Strong: How to Survive Anything by Redefining Everything

“we are all disabled. None of us have unlimited access to whatever we want or whatever we planned for our lives to look like.”
― Katherine Wolf, Suffer Strong: How to Survive Anything by Redefining Everything

“We believe that God intentionally puts people in our paths who will cause an immediate and tangible impact, shifting the trajectories of our lives forever.”
― Katherine Wolf, Suffer Strong: How to Survive Anything by Redefining Everything