for me reading up islaamic quotes helps so much... here check the following:
Al Hasan ibn Arafah narrated, "I visited Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal after he was whipped and tortured. I said to him, "O Abu Abdillaaah, you have reached the station of the Prophets!" He said, "Keep quiet. Verily, I saw nothing more than people selling their Deen. And I saw scholars that were with me sell their Faith. So I said to myself, 'Who am I, what am I. What am I going to say to Allah tomorrow when I stand in front of Him and He ask me, "Did you sell your Deen like the others did?" So I looked at the whip and the sword and chose them. And I said, "If I die I shall return to Allah and say: 'I was told to say that one of Your Characteristics was something created but I did not.' After that, it will be upto Him - either to punish me of be Merciful on me."
Al-Hasan ibn Arafah then asked, "Did you feel pain when they whipped you?" He said "Yes, I felt the pain up to 20 lashes then I lost all feeling (They whipped him over eighty times). After it was over I felt no pain and that day I prayed Dhurhr standing."
Al-Hasan ibn Arafah started weeping when he heard what had happened. Imam Ahmad questioned him, "Why are you crying? I did not lose my Eeman. After that why should I care if I loose my life." They were better than us but this was how they were tested.
sometimes Allah has decreed a person will go to paradise, yet their deeds may not be enough, so Allah may test them and they may go through trials and tribulations so that Allah rewards them for that and enters them into Jannah
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Truly in the heart there is a void that cannot be removed except with the company of Allah. And in it there is a sadness that cannot be removed except with the happiness of knowing Allah and being true to Him.
And in it there is an emptiness that cannot be filled except with love for Him and by turning to Him and always remembering Him. And if a person were given all of the world and what is in it, it would not fill this emptiness.
-Ibn al-Qayyim al Jawziyya:
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“It was reported that Umar ibnul-Khattab asked Ubayy ibn Ka`b about Taqwa. Ubayy said, "Have you ever walked on a path that had thorns on it'' 'Umar said, "Yes." Ubayy said, "What did you do then" He said, "I rolled up my sleeves and struggled." Ubayy said, "That is Taqwa.”
Assalamu Alaikum wa Rahmatullaahi wa Barakatuhu