I’ve started reading a new Elisabeth Elliot book lately, it’s called Keep a Quiet Heart. The book is a collection of experts from her newsletters over the years that have been compiled into this one book, with a central theme: quietness. What I really want to do is just copy every single word she says down for you, because everything is so good haha. BUT instead I will recommend the book, and then just pick only a few words to copy down.
The excerpt I read a couple a days ago was called “A Small Section of the Visible Course”. Elisabeth had been talking about her past, and how her past is now a part of the story God has for her life.
Wow, “…never a hindrance to the task He has designed for us…” that is an amazing truth to me. I haven’t had a terrible past. I was raised in a Christian home with both of my parents, and we were at the church anytime the doors were open. We never went without food, and I always had way too many Christmas presents. I certainly have nothing that would be considered a “rocky past”. But I have had hurts in my life, but those hurts then, and the hurts that I go through now, are all “preparation” for the task that God has planned for me. This is a good comfort.
My favorite part of her excerpt is in this paragraph:
Does the Shepherd overlook anything that the sheep need? No. He knows everything I need in my life, and I never should feel jipped, or lacking in what He has given me. This is something I want to linger on in this season of singleness. The Shepherd has not overlooked my desire for a husband, but He knows better than I do. I am not lacking in anything just because He hasn’t given me a husband yet. Do I not have all things in Christ?
It’s so hard to remember this at times. I can get so wrapped up in the things I want and don’t have, that I miss what promises God has always provided for me.
William Kay wrote a note about these few verses, and I haven’t been able to get it out my head since reading it.
This is completely my heart at times… intent only on a small section of the visible course of things… I see what I want to see, not the goodness and promises that God has given me. I don’t look up from the ground that is visible to me long enough to see that God is the one who my provision has been in the whole time. Oh that God would work in my heart more to be sensible to His presence! This is what I’m asking for!
Going green,
Miss.
The excerpt I read a couple a days ago was called “A Small Section of the Visible Course”. Elisabeth had been talking about her past, and how her past is now a part of the story God has for her life.
“All of the past, I believe, is a part of God’s story of each child of His—a mystery of love and sovereignty, written before the foundation of the world, never a hindrance to the task He has designed for us, but rather the very preparation suited to our particular personality’s need.”
Wow, “…never a hindrance to the task He has designed for us…” that is an amazing truth to me. I haven’t had a terrible past. I was raised in a Christian home with both of my parents, and we were at the church anytime the doors were open. We never went without food, and I always had way too many Christmas presents. I certainly have nothing that would be considered a “rocky past”. But I have had hurts in my life, but those hurts then, and the hurts that I go through now, are all “preparation” for the task that God has planned for me. This is a good comfort.
My favorite part of her excerpt is in this paragraph:
“‘It is the glory of God to conceal a matter’ (Proverbs 25:2, NIV). God conceals much that we do not need to know, yet we do know that He calls His own sheep by name and leads them out. When does that begin? Does the Shepherd overlook anything that the sheep need?”
Does the Shepherd overlook anything that the sheep need? No. He knows everything I need in my life, and I never should feel jipped, or lacking in what He has given me. This is something I want to linger on in this season of singleness. The Shepherd has not overlooked my desire for a husband, but He knows better than I do. I am not lacking in anything just because He hasn’t given me a husband yet. Do I not have all things in Christ?
It’s so hard to remember this at times. I can get so wrapped up in the things I want and don’t have, that I miss what promises God has always provided for me.
“When my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered, I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before you. Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory.” – Psalm 73:21-24.
William Kay wrote a note about these few verses, and I haven’t been able to get it out my head since reading it.
“Though I was supported by Thee and living ‘with Thee’ as thy guest, yet I was insensible to Thy presence;--intent only on a small section of the visible course of things;--like the irrational animals that are ever looking down at the ground they are grazing.”
This is completely my heart at times… intent only on a small section of the visible course of things… I see what I want to see, not the goodness and promises that God has given me. I don’t look up from the ground that is visible to me long enough to see that God is the one who my provision has been in the whole time. Oh that God would work in my heart more to be sensible to His presence! This is what I’m asking for!
Going green,
Miss.
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