I’m reading Augustine’s Confessions right now and was stuck by the following words, from when he is recounting the dissolute lifestyle of his youth.
“Thou wast always by me, mercifully angry and flavoring all my unlawful pleasures with bitter discontent, in order that I might seek pleasures free from discontent. But where could I find such pleasure save in thee, O Lord — save in thee, who dost teach us by sorrow, who woundest us to heal us, and dost kill us that we may not die apart from thee.”