Sorrow and Joy Contended Together

"Sorrow and joy contended together in the two hearts where Aunt Jane's memory was enshrined. Their wondrous delight in their child needed to be tempered and subdued, and God gave the long-delayed gift at a moment when joy tempered grief. So he was cradled in the sanctity of days of mourning, yet welcomed with smiles that chased away tears." ~ from Aunt Jane's Hero

[For me, this is one of the most beautifully written paragraph in this wonderful book and if you've read it and know the circumstances, you understand it's beauty all the more.]

And speaking of sorrow and joy, yesterday's homegoing of a suffering saint brought similar emotions, happy indeed to see his suffering over, but sorrow at our loss.

Also, the news of the ordered execution of Christians in North Korea brought many tears, much sorrow, but surely there will be joy in heaven at their arrival. Read about that here if you wish.

Safe on the Rock

I am not sure that it is best for us, once safe and secure on the Rock
of Ages, to ask ourselves too closely, what this and that experience may
signify. Is it not better to be thinking of the Rock, not of the feet that stand
upon it? It seems to me that we ought to be unconscious of ourselves, and
that the nearer we get to Christ the more we shall be taken up with Him.
We shall be like a sick man who, after he gets well, forgets all the
symptoms he used to think so much of, and stops feeling his pulse, and
just enjoys his health, only pointing out his physician to all who are
diseased. E.P.

[Not sure where and when this was written, but the thoughts are so lovely. ~ mr]

Example on Suffering

(Painting by Joseph DeCamp)

"January 15. I have come to another birthday. I am seventeen. Mother has celebrated it just as usual, though I know all these anniversaries which used to be so pleasant must be sad days to her now that my dear father has gone. She has been cheerful and loving, and entered into all my pleasures exactly as if nothing had happened." ~  Katy's journal entry January 15, 1832, Stepping Heavenward

Another example from Katy's mom. More on this at the Scraps of Glory blog.

Baptized With Suffering

It is just as much as I can do to keep my head above water . . . .Sometimes I think that the dreadful experience I have been passing through is God's way of baptizing me; some have to be baptized with suffering. Certainly He has been sitting as the Refiner, bringing down my pride, emptying me of this and that, and not leaving me a foot to stand on. If it all ends in sanctification I don't care what I suffer. Though cast down, I am not in despair. ~ From a letter to Mrs. Condict, February 3, 1873.

[ Oh my. Could I say that? "If it all ends in sanctification I don't care what I suffer." - mr]