I hope you are able to live by these words, Dale. The seem to be of utmost importance to you. However I hope you will trust my testimony that others go through differently and legitimately.
In my family’s experience going through I couldn’t think and barely function. Obedience was a meaningless category to apply. God the Father was utterly terrifying in the face of his unstaid destructive power, and Jesus seemed not to be mediating. Prayer was out of the question.
I have no comprehension why I still have faith or any interest in it. God seems not to be done with me or my family. I get no points for victory or obedience or anything else. Dogged plodding through those days was all I accomplished and that through the power of other people pushing and pulling me along.
When someone tells you of their “dark night” and how they found themselves at the end of themselves, it’s best not to interpret for them. You simply cannot know until you’ve been crushed yourself. Having been somewhere near, and not nearly so deep, Austin’s experience rings true to me.