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To read the purpose and rationale for this blog, please read the first post here.

Katy's Last Entry

I have no wish to choose. But I have come to the last page of my journal and, living or dying, shall write in this volume no more. It closes upon a life of much childishness and great sinfulness, whose record makes me blush with shame; but I no longer need to relieve my heart with seeking sympathy in its unconscious pages, nor do I believe it well to go on analyzing it as I have done. I have had large experience of both joy and sorrow; I have seen the nakedness and the emptiness, and I have seen the beauty and sweetness of life. What I have to say now, let me say to Jesus. What time and strength I used to spend in writing here, let me now spend in prayer for all men, for all sufferers, for all who are out of the way, for all whom I love. And their name is Legion, for I love everybody.

Yes, I love everybody! That crowning joy has come to me at last. Christ is in my soul; He is mine; I am as conscious of it as that my husband and children are mine; and His Spirit flows forth from mine in the calm peace of a river whose banks are green with grass and glad with flowers. If I die, it will be to leave a wearied and worn body and a sinful soul to go joyfully to be with Christ, to weary and to sin no more. If I live, I shall find much blessed work to do for Him. So living or dying, I shall be the Lord's.

~ Stepping Heavenward - Excerpt from Katy's final journal entry, dated June 30, 1860.

Thoughts on Heaven

Not just Annie, but each of us needs to contemplate these truths more in our daily lives. ~ mr

A Good Testimony

"This is the testimony of all the good books, sermons, hymns, and memoirs I read--that God's ways are infinitely perfect; that we are to love Him for what He is and therefore equally as much when He afflicts as when He prospers us; that there is no real happiness but in doing and suffering His will; and that this life is but a scene of probation through which we pass to the real life above." ~ May 26, 1846 entry, Stepping Heavenward

The New Song

(Photo by Andrew Neufeld) 

 

There is a song I want to sing--

Or want to learn to sing;

It is a song of praise to Thee,

Jesus, my Lord and King.

Oh teach me all its varied notes,

Its hidden melody,

Till I have learned to sing by heart,

This song of praise to Thee.

I want to sing, while yet on earth, 

The tender, thankful strain

Of saints, who gladly near Thy throne,

Make Thee their song's refrain.

For though I am not yet a saint,

And though my praises ring

From an encumbered earthly soul,

I love the strains to sing. 

And well I love, I know I love,

Though truly not as they,

Thee, blessed Jesus whom I praise

Feebly on earth to--day;

While there's a song I want to sing--

Or want to learn to sing;

A blessed song of love to Thee,

Jesus, my Lord and King.

~ from Golden Hours: Heart-Hymns 

   of the Christian Life

Four Steps to Peace

I have just been to see Mrs. Campbell. In answer to my routine lamentations, she took up a book and read me what was called, as nearly as I can remember, "Four steps that lead to peace."
 
"Be desirous of doing the will of another, rather than thine own."
 
"Choose always to have less, rather than more."

"Seek always the lowest place, and to be inferior to every one."

"Wish always, and pray, that the will of God may be wholly fulfilled in thee."

[Stepping Heavenward, June 15, 1838 entry.]

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.