Affliction, a help to Piety - Charles Spurgeon

I HAVE seen a little plant beneath an oak tree sheltered from the storm, and wind, and rain, and it felt pleased and happy to be so screened; but I have seen the woodman come with his axe and fell the oak; and the little plant has trembled with fear because its protection was removed. “Alas! for me,” it said, “the hot sun will scorch me, the driving rain will drown me, and the fierce wind will tear me up by the roots.” But instead of these dreadful results, the shelter being removed, the plant has breathed freer air, drank more of the dews of Heaven, received more of the light of the sun, and it has sprung up and borne flowers which else had never bloomed, and seeds that never else had sown themselves in the soil. Be glad when God thus visits you, when he takes away these overshadowing but dwarfing comforts, to make you have a clear way between you and Heaven, so that heavenly gifts might come more plentifully to you.