Ever have one of those weeks in which you feel like you could really use a special touch from the Lord? This week so far seems to be one of those ... a week of hardships in the battle.

But something kind of cool happened today that not only was helpful and encouraging to me, but also helped to take my focus off me and think more instead of how I can minister to and serve others.

And I was listening to some of a Piper sermon that is really good ... I would highly recommend it!

Here's a great quote from it ...

"I have never heard anybody say, “The deepest, rarest, choicest, most satisfying pleasures in life have come to me in extended seasons of ease and earthly comfort.” It’s always the opposite, like Samuel Rutherford who said, “I accept being put into the cellars of suffering, because the great King keeps His wine there.” Or like Charles Spurgeon who said, “Those who dive in the seas of affliction bring up the rarest pearls.” You do not try to maximize your earthly comforts if your life is going to have the deepest, rarest, most lasting pleasures. It's the cellars of suffering for righteousness and walking with God through the dark paths of faithfulness that in the end and often along the way bring the sweetest, deepest discoveries of who He is." - John Piper

Praise God! I think I may have gotten the touch I needed. ;-D