If there is bitterness in the heart

"If there is bitterness in the heart,
sugar in the mouth won't make life sweeter.
But God’s love makes the heart sweet,
And the mouth full of praise."
- Yiddish Proverb

"I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall.
I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me.
Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:
Because it is of Jehovah’s loving kindnesses that we are not consumed,
because his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness."
Lamentations 3:19-23

“Now therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God,
who keeps covenant and mercy,
let not all the trouble seem little before you,
that has come upon us, on our kings, on our princes,
and on our priests, and on our prophets, and on our fathers, and on all your people,
since the time of the kings of Assyria unto this day.”
Nehemia 9:32

Dutch version / Nederlandse versie > Als er bitterheid in het hart is

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2013 update:

 

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A great man does not lose his self-possession when he is afflicted

"A great man does not lose his self-possession when he is afflicted."
- Unknown

"Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days. Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, for as many years as we have seen trouble. He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty."
Psalm 90:14,15; 91:1

Lord God, our Father,
give that I can resist the problems.

Dutch version / Nederlandse versie > Een groot man verliest zijn zelf-bezit niet wanneer hij is getroffen

English: Photo of David Elm afflicted by Dutch elm disease taken at Great Fontley, UK. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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2013 update: 

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• Psalm 10:14 - But you, God, see the trouble of the afflicted;
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The blessing of a broken leg

Mr. McConkey told of a lady summering in Switzerland who went for a stroll and came to a shepherd’s fold. She looked in at the door. There sat the shepherd and nearby on a pile of straw lay a single sheep seemingly in suffering. Asking what was the trouble, she was told that the lamb’s leg was broken. The shepherd said that he himself had broken it. It was a most wayward animal and would not follow, not obey and misled the others. He had had experience with sheep of this kind, so he broke one of its legs. The first day when he took it food, it tried to bite him. He let it lie for a couple of days then went back to it. It not only took the food but licked his hand, showing every sign of submission and affection. He said when it was well, it would be the model sheep of the flock. It had learned obedience through suffering. Many times out of our very agony of heart, the God of love seeks to bring into our lives the supremest blessing that can enrich and glorify our lives -- the blessing of a human will yielded to the will of God. Scripture assures God’s children that afflictions are for their profit ‘that we might be partakers of his holiness’ and that we might ‘yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness.’

Quiet Hour Stories with Scripture Readings -- Keith L. Brooks, page 51