Trusting God

Christians might avoid much trouble and inconvenience, if they would only believe what they profess, that God is able to make them happy without anything eke. They imagine that if such a dear friend were to die, or such and such blessing were removed, they would be miserable, whereas God can make them a thousand times happier without them. To mention my own case, God has been depriving me of one mercy after another, but as one is removed, he has come in and filled up its place. Now I am a cripple and not able to move, I am happier than ever I was in my life before, or ever expected to be; and if I had believed this twenty years ago, I might have been spared much anxiety. If God had told me some time ago, that he was about to make me as happy as I could be in this world, and then had told me that he should begin by crippling me in all my limbs, and removing me from my usual sources of enjoyment, I should have thought it a very strange mode of accomplishing his purpose. And yet, how is his wisdom manifested in this. —Payson