"Yes, the more you pamper the flesh as to bodily comfort, the more it will demand of you, until you become its servant, and your physical needs shall be a tyrant unto you in your house....Do you desire to truly follow Me? Look for the bloodstained prints of My feet. Go, as it were, to the cold, unyielding rock in the Garden of Gethsemane, where self is put aside, and the cup of suffering is accepted. Die to your own treacherous and deceitful heart. Rise with determination to go on unflinchingly, not hoping to spare yourself. Save your life and you will surely lose it. Offer it up to Me, this very day, in renewed consecration to sacrificial living, and I will accept you and you shall know joy as new wine."  -From Come Away, My Beloved

"Then He said, 'If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.'" Luke 9:23 NKJV

I am stubborn and selfish. What can I say? This is human nature. I am learning slowly, day after day, again and again, that I need to stop being so selfish and stop worrying about my petty problems. Jesus commanded that we crucify the flesh, that we deny ourselves and follow Him. It's hard to do, but it must be done daily. Only then will we truly know the joy of the Lord.