How brightly the gift of trust (I call it a gift rather than a virtue) shone in her can be demonstrated by excellent evidence. Her soul was always in such a state of serene confidence that neither tribulations, nor loss, nor hindrances of any kind (cf. Rom. 8:35–39), nor even her own faults, could cloud or shake this firm confidence in the infinite loving mercy of God. If it happened that God deprived her of the consolation to which she was accustomed, she was undismayed, because to enjoy grace or to be deprived of the enjoyment of grace was all the same to her; except that sometimes, in times of trial, this hope even increased her strength, for she was convinced that everything, exterior or interior, would work together for good (Rom. 8:28). As one waits hopefully for the messenger who brings long-desired news, so she awaited gladly a richer flood of divine consolation, for which she knew she had been made more apt by the preceding adversity. The sight of her own faults could not depress or discourage her for long, because at once she was borne up again and sustained by divine grace, ready to receive whatever gifts God was to restore to her. If she saw herself as dark as a dead cinder, she strove to raise herself to the Lord, by at once cooperating with God’s grace. So she began to breathe again and was ready to receive the likeness of God in herself once more. Like a man who steps from the shadows into the sunlight and finds himself suddenly inundated with light, she felt herself to be illuminated by the splendor of the divine presence and to be adorned with every ornament, clothed in the embroidered golden robe, as befits the queen who is to appear before the eternal, immortal King (Ps 44:9, 14-15; 1 Tim 1:17), made ready and chosen for divine union and companionship –St Gertrude chapter 1 “The Herald of Divine Love”