As melted iron is poured into a mould, so the truth of God is a mould and the Spirit comes and melts us and we are poured into the mould to take the shape and the form of the mould of God’s glorious truth and we are new men and women. God be thanked! It is the Spirit who does it through the word.-Martyn Lloyd-Jones (Love so Amazing)

[The counsellor] is not doing something outside himself. He is giving something of himself and his experience, and there is an exchange taking place between the patient and himself. Hence the most important thing of all in counselling is the character and personality of the counsellor. What is the greatest essential in a counsellor? I would say that it is a quiet mind, and that he is at rest in himself. You will remember how our Lord put this on one occasion — ‘Can the blind lead the blind? If the blind lead the blind they will both fall in the ditch.’ In other words, if a man is in trouble within himself, and is restless, he is really in need of counselling himself. How can he give useful counsel to another? The first requisite, therefore, in a counsellor is that he himself is possessed of a quiet mind, a mind that is restful. It is at that point, of course, that the importance of the Christian faith comes in. I am prepared to defend the proposition that no man ultimately can have a quiet mind, a heart at rest, and at leisure from itself unless he is a Christian. He needs to know a true peace within — the peace of God which is able to keep both mind and heart. The patient comes in to see him in an agitated troubled condition, and can detect if there are similar manifestations in the counsellor.- Martyn Lloyd-Jones, to a group of doctors

‎When a person forgives another, he is promising to do three things about the intended wrongdoing: not to use it against the wrongdoer in the future; not to talk about it to others; and not to dwell on it himself. ~Jay Adams‎

Brenda walked straight up to my bed, paused at
the chart, and looked right at me. Showing not the
slightest tremor of horror or shock, she bent down
and kissed me on what was left of my face. Then she
looked me in my good eye, smiled, and said, "Welcome
home, Davey. I love you." [...]

All I could say was, "I want you to know I'm really sorry."

She said "Why are you sorry?"

"Because I always wanted to look good for you.
Now I can never look good for you again."

She grinned and said, "Oh Davey, you never were
good-looking anyway." [...]

How could that woman love me so much? How could
she look at a creature composed of inflammation and
charred bone and yet look as though I were the man
of her dreams come home? Only God could put it in a
woman to love a man the way she did. Through His
mercy, He placed the knowledge of my true self, the
person made in God's image, deep within her heart.

To paraphrase an old hymn, His grace befriended her
outward sight, and made her inner vision clear.

--Dave Roever (1946- )
(Describing his wife's initial visit to the Brooke
Army Medical Center burn unit where he was recovering
from severe burn injuries sustained when a phosphorous
grenade he was about to toss exploded next to his
during a patrol in Vietnam, July 26, 1969.)
_Welcome Home, Davey_ [1986], Chapter 12