The apostle Paul went through incredible hardships, from shipwrecks to imprisonment, yet he never gave up. In fact, these words of hope are especially meaningful, because they were written after a particularly brutal time in his life:

"We’ve been surrounded and battered by troubles, but we’re not demoralized; we’re not sure what to do, but we know that God knows what to do; we’ve been spiritually terrorized, but God hasn’t left our side; we’ve been thrown down, but we haven’t broken...So we’re not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace. These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times..."  2 Corinthians 4:1-18, The Message