Pathway Of Pain

Pathway Of Pain

If my days were untroubled and my heart always light,
would I seek that fair land where there is no night?

If I never grew weary with the weigh of my load,
would I search for God's peace at the end of the road?

If I never knew sickness and never felt pain,
would I search for a hand to help and sustain?

If I walked without sorrow and lived without loss,
would my soul seek solace at the foot of the cross?

If all I desired was mine day by day,
would I kneel before God and earnestly pray?

If God sent no winter to freeze me with fear,
would I yearn for the warmth of spring every year?

I ask myself these and the answer is plain,
if my life were pleasure and I never knew pain-

I'd seek God less often and need Him much less,
for God is sought more often in times of distress.

And no one knows God or sees Him as plain-
as those who have met Him on the "Pathway of Pain."

/"And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal
glory in Christ,
after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you
and make you strong, firm and steadfast." 1 Peter 5:10/

[ Author and original source unknown. ]