And all the time it was God near her that was making her unhappy. For as the Son of Man came not to send peace on earth but a sword, so the first visit of God to the human soul is generally in a cloud of fear and doubt, rising from the soul itself at His approach.
The sun is the cloud dispeller, yet often he must look through a fog if he would visit the earth at all.
- George MacDonald, "365 Readings of George MacDonald" by CS Lewis