Hanging on a wall on the Cancer Ward of Forsyth Hospital, in Winston‑Salem, North Carolina:

If my days were untroubled and my heart was light,
Would I seek that fair land where there is no night?
If I never grew weary with the weight of my load
Would I seek God’s peace at the end of the road?

If I never knew sickness and never felt pain
Would I reach for the hand that helps and sustains?
If I walked without sorrow and lived without loss
Would my soul seek sweet solace at the foot of the cross?

If all that I desired were mine day by day
Would I kneel before God and earnestly pray?
I ask myself this and the answer is plain
If my life was all pleasure and not any pain

I’d ask God less often and need Him much less;
For God is sought most often in times of distress.
For no one knows God or sees Him as plain
As those who have met Him on the pathway of pain.