“I trust you not to misunderstand Me”

Sr. Dorcee, belovedLeave a comment

Sr. Dorcee, beloved's avatarWitnesses to Hope

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted anything from my old friend, Amy Carmichael.  I hope you find encouragement here:

Ps 37.31 None of his steps shall slide.

Ps 18.36 Thou hast enlarged my steps under me, that my ankles did not slip.

Luke 21.16-18  You shall be betrayed . . . and some of you shall they cause to be put to death . . . . But there shall not a hair of your head perish.

These words of our God are most gloriously trustful.  Our Lord was speaking to some who were to die by martyrdom and He said in effect: “I trust you not to misunderstand when your ankles do slip and every hair of your head does perish.  I trust you never to be offended in Me.”

There is a delightful “though” in Psalm 37.24 which goes to the core of the matter.  Though…

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Tenderly

Sr. Dorcee, beloved2 Comments

“Tenderly.

“‘I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her there’ (Hos 2.14 NLT).  These are God’s words about His wayward people, spoken to the prophet Hosea, who had a wayward wife named Gomer.  God’s plan required a desert–an arid, dusty, inhospitable climate.  Today, our desert equivalent could be our corners of hiddenness.  Our anonymous cubicles.  Our support roles.  Our 3:00 a.m. baby feedings.  Our fifteenth sojourn in the doctor’s waiting room with an ill child, condition still undiagnosed.  Our 136th day in the carpool line.  Our crowded church sanctuaries.  Our Friday nights alone.  Our monotonous shifts in the grocery store that barely pay the bills.

“It is there, in whatever this desert is, that He promises to speak tenderly.”

(Sara Hagerty, Unseen, the Gift of Being Hidden in a World that Loves to be Noticed)

Small begets big.

Sr. Dorcee, belovedLeave a comment

Love this:

“We’ve fallen into the conventional thinking that a big mission demands big tactics, but we forget that in the economy of God’s kingdom, big does not beget big.  It’s precisely the opposite.  The overwhelming message of Jesus’ life and teaching is that small begets big.  Consider, God’s plan to redeem creation (big) is achieved through his incarnation as an impoverished baby (small).  Jesus feeds thousands on a hillside (big) with just a few fish and loaves (small).  Christ seeks to make disciples of all nations (big) and he starts with a handful of fishermen (small).  Even Goliath (big) is defeated by David with a few stones (small).

“This pattern is also repeated in Jesus’ parables about the nature of his kingdom.  He said, ‘The kingdom of heaven is like  grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field.  It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown, it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.

“All of this confirms the counter-intuitive nature of God’s kingdom.”  (Skye Jethani)

Lead, kindly light

Sr. Dorcee, belovedLeave a comment

A Sunday poem worth repeating.

Sr. Dorcee, beloved's avatarWitnesses to Hope

Lead, kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom,
Lead thou me on!
The night is dark, and I am far from home,–
Lead thou me on!
Keep thou my feet; I do not ask to see
The distant scene,–one step enough for me.

I was not ever thus, nor prayed that thou
Shouldst lead me on:
I loved to choose and see my path, but now
Lead thou me on!
I loved the garish days, and, spite of fears,
Pride ruled my will: remember not past years.

So long thy power hath blessed me, sure it still
Will lead me on;
O’er moor and fen, o’er crag and torrent, till
The night is gone;
And with the morn those angel faces smile
Which I have loved long since, and lost awhile.

John Henry Newman
Here is a lovely adaptation by Audrey Assad:

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