Forgive me for not posting in a while. We went camping to a beautiful lake! Since then, I have been struggling with the mountain of laundry that camping inevitably makes! I will share pictures soon but until then these was incredibly encouraging:
"Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the
age!" Matthew 28:20
What an exalted and endearing truth, is
Christ's sleepless vigilance over His
people! Imagine yourself threading your way
along a most difficult and perilous path, every step of which
is attended with pain and hazard, and is taken with hesitancy
and doubt. Unknown to you and unseen--there is One hovering
around you each moment . . .
checking each false step,
guiding each doubtful one,
soothing each sorrow,
and supplying each need.
All is calm and silent. Not a
sound is heard, not a movement is seen; and yet, to your
amazement, just at the critical moment--the needed support
comes--you know not from where, you know not from whom! This
is no picture of imagination--but a divine reality.
Are you a child of God on your pilgrimage
to paradise, by an intricate and a perilous way? Jesus
is near to you at each moment, unseen and often unknown! You
have at times stood speechless with awe at the strange
interposition on your behalf, of providence and of grace--when
no visible sign indicated the source of your help.
There was no echo of footfall at your side, no flitting of
shadow athwart your path. No law of nature was altered nor
suspended--the sun did not stand still, nor did the heavens
open. And yet deliverance--strange and effectual deliverance--came at a moment most unexpected, yet most needed.
It was Jesus--your Redeemer, your
Brother, your Shepherd, and your Guide!
He it was who, hovering around you, unknown and
unobserved--kept you as the apple of His eye, and sheltered
you in the hollow of His hand. It was He who armed you with
bravery for the fight--who poured strength into your
spirit--and grace into your heart, when the full weight of
calamity pressed upon them. Thus has He always been, to His
children.
The eye which neither slumbers nor
sleeps--was upon you! He knew in what furnace you
were placed--and was there to temper the flame when it
seemed the severest. He saw your frail vessel
struggling through the tempest--and He came to your
rescue at the height of the storm!
How has He proved this in seasons of
difficulty and doubt! How often, at a crisis the most critical
of your history--the Lord has appeared for you!
Your lack has been supplied,
your
doubt has been solved, and
your perplexity has been guided.
He has delivered . . .
your soul from death,
your
eyes from tears, and
your feet from falling!
You are never for an instant . . .
out of His
heart,
out of His thoughts,
out of His
hands,
or out of His eye!
Go then, and lay your weariness on
Christ!
Take your bereaved, stricken and bleeding
heart to Him!What is your sorrow?
Has the hand of death smitten?
Is the beloved one removed?
Has the desire of your eyes been taken away with a stroke?
Who has done it?
Jesus has done it! Death was only
His messenger. Your Jesus has done it! The Lord has given--and
the Lord has taken away. And what has He removed?
Your wife? Ah, Jesus has all the
tenderness that your wife ever had. Her love was only a drop
from the ocean of love which is in His heart.
Is it your husband? Jesus is better to you
than ten husbands.
Is it your parent, your child, your
friend, your all of earthly bliss?
Is the cistern broken?
Is the earthen vessel dashed to pieces?
Are all your streams
dry?
Jesus is still enough! He has not taken Himself from
you--and never, never will.
Take your bereaved, stricken and
bleeding heart to Him--and rest it upon His heart, which
was once bereaved, stricken and bleeding, too! He knows how to
. . .
bind up the broken heart,
heal the wounded spirit,
and
comfort those who mourn.
What is your sorrow?
Has health failed you?
Has property forsaken you?
Have friends turned against you?
Are you tried in your circumstances?
Are you perplexed
in your path?
Are providences thickening and darkening around you?
Are you anticipating seasons of approaching
trial?
Are you walking in darkness, having no light?
Simply go to Jesus! He is an ever
open door!
He is a tender, loving, faithful Friend, ever near.
He is
a Brother born for your adversity.
His grace and sympathy are
sufficient for you.
Go to Him in every trial. Cast yourself upon Him every
burden.
Take the infirmity, the corruption, the
cross
as it arises.
Simply and immediately to Jesus!
Go to Him at all
times and under all circumstances!"
~ Octavius Winslow
It seems so simple and straight forward and yet it is so difficult to do year after year when you can't see any evidence of God working in your life.
ReplyDeleteHi Sarah,
DeleteOh I definitely have been there! But I think that we are in good company as David, Job, and others in the Bible seemed to go through those desert times as well. I will be praying for you so much and the Lord would bless you and show you mighty evidences of His working in your life.