Above is a pic of my youngest daughter and me.
My Husband, My brother in Christ
A Blissful Thought
This post is about chapter 6 in the Girl Talk book study. First click over to their post.
Here are my thoughts on this chapter...
I can't tell you enough how reading this book has been such a beautiful, rich time... a time of deep reflection on my own life and responses in trial, a time of both conviction and encouragement.
Girl Talk wrote:
When Elizabeth Prentiss was unable to visit her dear friend Carrie, who like her, lost two children, she extended the following words of comfort:
"I long to fly to you and weep with you; it seems as if I must say or do something to comfort you. But God only can help you now and how thankful I am for the throne of grace and power where I can commend you, again and again, to Him who doeth all things well. ...Dear Carrie, I trust that in this hour of sorrow you have with you that Presence, before which alone sorrow and sighing flee away. God is left; Christ is left; sickness, accident, death cannot touch you here. Is that not a blissful thought? May sorrow bring us both nearer to Christ!”
I have a dear friend that I so long to "fly to and weep with"... but I cannot. What beautiful words Elizabeth says to her friend. As I read them, I think of my dear friend and pray she knows that I love her and that above all our Lord is truly her Shepherd, her Comforter, her Protector.
I would like to share a few more things from this chapter that really ministered to me:
Many of Elizabeth's poems pick up on the theme of only wanting God's will and also her conviction that times of suffering are times when Christians are driven closer to God. In regards to the mundane nature of the domestic duties during the early years of motherhood, Elizabeth wrote a book called The Flower of the Family that throws an interesting light on this topic that displays her conviction that times of frustration are 'Christ's school' in which humility and grace are taught.
Included in this chapter, Sharon James, the author of this excellent book, shares an excerpt from a letter to Elizabeth from her husband. He wrote, ...I do love you as profoundly as I fancy it is right to love a mortal. And yet the best part of our love, I trust, is as immortal as ourselves. Is it not so?
I do believe those words describe my husband and I's love for each other. A love that seems to grow daily that I know, if it were not for our mutual love for the Lord, would not be so resilient.
In a journal entry by Elizabeth she speaks of her abhorrence of her own sin and tendency to give way to pride and irritation. She penned my heart when I have been frustrated by my own sin when she wrote, Oh, I do believe it is the sin I dread and not the suffering life-- but I know not; I may be deluded. My love to my Master seems to me very shallow and contemptible. I am astonished that I love anything else. Oh that He would this moment come down into this room and tell me I never, never shall grieve Him again!
As I read those words, I also realized that even in those times of necessary conviction and repentance, my Lord is so good to also reveal to me that I am clothed in HIS righteousness!!! His mercies truly are new every morning. For if this were not true (and it is but only by HIS grace alone), I would have no hope.
Elizabeth also wrote, Satan and self keep up a continual struggle to get the victory. But God is stronger than either. He must and will prevail...
Another thing written about Elizabeth at the close of this chapter is: ...she could not regret her calling to be a mother. Yes it had cost her the bitterest of anguish, but it had also brought her the deepest joy.
I LOVE BEING A WIFE AND MOTHER. My husband is often more kind to me than I deserve. My children... may they grow to love the Lord deeply and live for Him for HIS glory in spite of my shortcomings.
My oldest 2 boys are growing up so fast and I am excited to see them follow in the footsteps of their dad. They are HUGE helpers to me and I am so thankful for them and their earnest desire to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord. Our precious twin boys, whom the Lord especially uses to mold me like clay in the hands of the Potter (ouch), have come SO FAR since their adoption over 2 years ago. I love them so much. Though I know, as my heart sinks at this thought, that I can never replace the void their biological mother left, for only Christ can... I entrust them (as I do all of my children) to their Heavenly Father pleading for their lives before the throne of grace. And my 2 daughters... I never could comprehend what a joy it would be to have daughters. Truthfully, the thought kinda scared me. But there is something about 'em... it is a bit indescribable at the moment.
Press on in HIS truth and HIS love for HIS glory,
Lisa
