a cup brimful of sweet water cannot spill even one drop of bitter water, however suddenly jolted Amy Carmichael

persuasion

"For the mountains may depart, and the hills be removed; yet my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed, says the Lord, who has compassion on you." Isaiah 54:9-10

I'm enjoying a wonderful, beautiful time in San Diego as I attend a Nephrology conference. On the flight in- the landscape was absolutely beautiful....bright blue sky.... boulders.. mountains.. ocean.... gorgeous. I looked at the mountains and thought on how permanent they seem- and how short the average human lifespan is in comparison. They've been there much longer than I've been around, and will remain long after I am gone.

The Lord brought this verse to mind (plug for Scripture memory) and I was and still am so humbled at how sweet the Lord is to give me such astounding confirmation of his love for me. The implication is that the Lord knew/knows that you and I would struggle with living in the confidence of being fully known and fully loved. That the mountains could depart (think Narnia and the trees walking to join in battle) or the hills be removed, but His love, His covenant remains. Is there anything else to desire than to know more of this great love?!

Be persuaded, timid soul, He has loved you too much to cease loving you.
Fenelon

biddings

This is one of my favorite conversations from Perelandra by CS Lewis. It really captures the heart of my favorite Puritan prayer: "Lord, whatever you give I will receive, and whatever you take, I will let go." Stinking hard words to say and even harder words to live......

Lady: One goes into the forest to pick food and already the thought of one fruit rather than another has grown up in one’s mind. Then, it may be, one finds a different fruit and not the fruit one thought of. One joy was expected and another is given. But this I had never noticed before—that the very moment of the finding there is in the mind a kind of thrusting back, or setting aside. The picture of the fruit you have not found is still, for a moment, before you. And if you wished—if it were possible to wish—you could keep it there. You could send your soul after the good you had expected, instead of turning it to the good you had got. You could refuse the real good; you could make the real fruit taste insipid by thinking of the other.

Ransom: “And have you no fear,” said Ransom, “that it will ever be hard to turn your heart from the thing you wanted to the thing Maleldil (the Lord) sends?”

Lady: “But how can one wish any of those waves not to reach us which Maleldil is rolling toward us?......who thought of its being hard? The beasts would not think it hard if I told them to walk on their heads. It would become their delight to walk on their heads. I am His beast, and all His biddings are joys.

it is the Lord

"Let us shut our eyes to that which God hides from us in the hidden depths of His wisdom. Let us worship without seeing; let us be silent and sit still.......

What are we that we should ask Him, Why doest Thou thus? It is the Lord, and that is enough; it is the Lord, let Him do as seems Him good. Let Him lift up or cast down, let Him wound or heal, let Him smite or soothe, let Him give life or death, He is always Lord; we are but His work. What matter, so long as He is glorified, and His will is fulfilled in us? Let us throw self aside, and then God's will, unfolding hour by hour, will content us as to all He does in or around us. "

*Francois Fenelon

“Will you carry it off the train, Corrie?” he said. I stood up and tugged at it. It was crammed with the watches and spare parts he had purchased that morning. “It’s too heavy,” I said. “Yes,” he said. “and it would be a pretty poor father who would ask his little girl to carry such a load. It’s the same way, Corrie, with knowledge. Some knowledge is too heavy for children. When you are older and stronger you can bear it. For now you must trust me to carry it for you.” And I was satisfied. More than satisfied—wonderfully at peace. There were answers to this and all my hard questions—for now I was content to leave them in my father’s keeping.

The Hiding Place