It is astonishing what progress a soul sometimes makes in a time of sorrow. It has been much more with God; for, indeed, that alone helps us to make progress. There is much more confidence, quietness, absence of the moving of the will; much more walking with and dependence on Him, more intimacy with Him, and independence of circumstances - a great deal less between us and Him - and then all the blessedness that is in Him comes to act upon the soul and reflect in it; and, oh, how sweet that is! What a difference it does make in the Christian, who, perhaps, was blameless in his walk in general previously! J. N. Darby.