Alas, and Did My Saviour Bleed?

God is For Me

"When I cry unto Thee then shall mine enemies turn back: 

This I know: for God is for me." -- Psalm 56:9

Turn back, mine enemy, unmoved

Thy wiles, thy snares I see;

Turn back, for when I cry to God

I know He is for me.

Thy day is over; I no more

Thy willing slave can be,

For I have learned to cry to God;

I know He is for me.

Hence with thy strong delusions, hence,

I parley not with thee,

But mid thy temptings cry to God,

I know He is for me.

Ah, if thou knewest as I know

The God to whom I flee,

Thou wouldst not think to gain mine ear;

I know He is for me!

~ From Golden Hours: Heart-Hymns of the Christian Life

Katy's Summer With Mother

"I have had a charming summer with dear Mother; and now I have the great joy, so long deferred, of having her in my own home. Ernest has been very cordial about it, and James has settled up all her worldly affairs so that she has nothing to do now but to love us and let us love her. It is a pleasant picture to see her with my little darlings about her, telling the old sweet story she told me so often and making God and Heaven and Christ such blissful realities. As I listen, I realize that it is to her I owe that early, deep-seated longing to please the Lord Jesus, which I never remember as having a beginning or an ending, though it did have its fluctuations." An excerpt from Katy's journal entry of October 1, 1843, Stepping Heavenward.

[What a beautiful testimony of a mother. Katy's mother often puts us to shame. ~ mr]

Make Me Smaller and Smaller

 

 

"I have just finished a short story called 'Gentleman Jim,"' she tells a correspondent under date of January 20, 1878. Then after mentioning a letter-- "the most discriminating I ever received -- about Greylock " -- she gives us the key to the singular equanimity with which she sustained the praises of her writings. " After the first rush of pleasure, the Evil One troubled me off and on for two or three hours, but at last I reminded him that I long ago chose to cast in my lot with the people of God, and so be off the line of human notice or applause." 

In her answer to the appreciative reader (Mr. J. Cleaveland Cady, the popular architect) she strikes the same chord more strongly. "I am not sorry that I chose the path in life I did choose. A woman should not live for, or even desire fame. . . . If I had not steadily suppressed all such ambition I might have become a sour, disappointed woman, seeing my best work unrecognized. . . . God has only taken me at my word. I have asked Him a thousand times to make me smaller and smaller, and crowd the self out of me by taking up all the room Himself." 

[A little insight as to what was in the heart of this woman and why her writings had and have the impact that they do. ~ mr]

Katy the Young Bride

I posted a  meditation on the young married days of Stepping Heavenward's Katy at Scraps of Glory. It seemed fitting to put it there today. I want a wide variety of godly influence there, and Mrs. Prentiss is always an integral part of that. Hope you enjoy.

~ mr

Go and Tell Jesus

Oh, aching heart, oh, restless brain,
Go and tell Jesus of thy pain;
He knows thee, loves thee, and His eye
Beams with divinest sympathy.

Go and tell Jesus; human ear
Thy mournful story may not hear;
Keep nothing back, for thee He cares,
His patient heart thy burden bears.

Go and tell Jesus; well He knows
The human heart; its pangs, its throes;
He will not fail thee, He will be
Friend, Comforter, and Peace to thee.

 
Go and tell Jesus; never yet
Did He a breaking heart forget;
Press closely to His bleeding side,
There, there thou shalt be satisfied.

~From Golden Hours: Heart-Hymns of the Christian Life