Discouragement vs Faith

For an excellent, down-to-earth "lecture" on discouragement vs faith, visit B's blog here. I especially loved the poem, which I will reiterate here:

A mighty wind blew night and day.
It stole the oak tree's leaves away,
Then snapped its boughs and pulled its bark.
Until the oak was tired and stark.

But still the oak tree held its ground
While other trees fell all around.
The weary wind gave up and spoke,
"How can you still be standing Oak?"

The Oak tree said,"I know that you
Can break each branch of mine in two,
Carry every leaf away,

But I have roots, stretched in the earth,
Growing stronger since my birth.
You'll never touch them, for you see,
They are the deepest part of me.

Until today, I wasn't sure
Of just how much I could endure.
But now I've found with thanks to you,
I'm stronger than I ever knew."

It reminds me of a story that is somewhat similar.

There was an oak tree within a fenced yard. It was well-watered and tended
and thus a very attractive tree.

There was another oak tree outside this fence. It survived as most trees
do: watered by rain. It would often have to reach its roots deeper into the
earth to find ground water.

The wild oak would often look at the domestic oak and wish
it could have such an easy and full life.

One evening, a tremendous storm knocked over the fenced oak. Its short,
well-watered roots did not have the strength to hold it upright against the
battering wind.

The wild oak, of course, withstood the buffeting winds due to its
deep-seated roots.

It learned that there can be benefits to deprivation and suffering...