Owner: A Sweet Fragrance URL:www.xanga.com/A_Sweet_Fragrance Join Date: Wed, 05 Dec 2007 16:18:08 -0600 Rating:0 Site Description: This blog is a compilation of my own thoughts interspersed with the writings of Godly men and women of the past. I often find myself mulling over old Christian books, questioning modern-day notions, and desiring to learn more about the life lived by Chris Site statistics:Click here
Not by sight 2007-12-08 06:54:23 A story for those of us who feel our work for the Lord has come to nothing: When one reads story after story of help coming just at the right moment, and of things happening exactly as one would wish that they should, life may easily appear to be a walk almost by sight; for where is the need of faith if such things are continually happening? But it would be a mistake to think like that. The last of our boy-babies was saved by an Indian friend who wrote asking us to send for him. It meant over 1000 miles of travel and was too difficult a journey for an Accal; so Kathleen Grant went. She left home early on Monday morning, travelled by bus, train and bullock-cart, changing twelve times before she was home again at noon on Thursday. It was a tiring journey, for Indian third-class travelling can hardly be called comfortable even without a baby in one's arms. And this little one was so fragile that Kathleen had to carry him on a pillow.
The least aspiration toward Him 2007-12-06 07:45:29 Walk life's dark pathWith love's divine foreknowing,That where man sees the withered leaves,God sees the flowers growing. But God's sight is not limited to material flowers. He sees even the least
aspiration toward Him and service for Christ's sake, and all such aspirations are to the Lord spiritual flowers, the forerunners, as it were, of the after "fruits of the spirit, love, joy, peace, gentleness, goodness, faith."-From Life's Everydayness: Papers for Women by Rose Porter, copyright 1893.
How transcendantly good He is! 2007-12-05 16:16:15 This is another letter by Elizabeth Prentiss to a suffering friend. I pray you may understand the deep insights in this letter.To Mrs. Frederick Field, New York, Jan. 8, 1871.'If I need make any apology for writing you so often, it must be this--I can not help it. Having dwelt long in an obscure, oftentimes dark valley, and then passed out into a bright plane of life, I am full of tender yearnings over other souls, and would gladly spend my whole time and strength for them. I long, especially, to see your feet established on an immovable Rock. It seems to me that God is preparing you for great usefulness by the fiery trial of your faith. "They learn in suffering what they teach in song." Oh how true this is! Who is so fitted to sing praises to Christ as he who has learned Him in hours of bereavement, disappointment and despair?What you want is to let your intellect go overboard, if need be, and to take what God gives just as a little child takes it, without money and without price. Fa
Called, and Chosen, and Faithful 2007-12-04 11:15:17 A sentence from one of Godfrey's letters shows it in another figure: "As I followed that path along the cliffs, I saw several gannets flying over the sea. The white of their wings in the sunlight is about the purest white on earth, I think. Afterwards as I walked over the hillside two little prayers formed themselves in my mind:Lord, make my heartPure as the gannet's wing,That has no partIn aught defiling.And make my loveDeep as the blue, blue sky,Steadfast aboveThe small clouds floating by.""May God in His mercy deal with us who are already on the field, that by the working of His Spirit we may be what we desire our recruits to be; and may He preserve us from the temperamentally unstable, the spiritually mediocre, and from all who put their hands to the plough and look back." This is the prayer of a comrade in China. It is our prayer too. The other day as I read the words, "Many are called, but few are chosen," which follow the parable of the mar Read more:Faithful
More about Arulai 2007-12-02 07:56:48 I posted the story of Arulai's life and death over the past couple of weeks and I hope that you will take the time at your leisure to read the whole story in sequence. If you recall, Arulai was someone Amy Carmichael had hoped would eventually replace her as leader of the girls' rescue work. Arulai's death dashed that hope, and Amy was once again left without the support she needed - except for Christ. I have gone through this recently as I have watched someone who used to be a dear friend fall away from the Lord and His ways and reject pretty much everything I believe in. And this has happened to so many other people I know. As I look around I see very few of my generation following the Lord in any meaningful way. I understand very intimately what Amy experienced as she looked for someone to take over her work as her own illness demanded she retire. When I had to leave my work in Russia due to circumstances beyond my control, no one completely took over the work
The Story of Arulai 2007-12-01 07:31:38 Read the whole story in sequence:Arulai Part 1Arulai Part 2Arulai Part 3Arulai Part 4Arulai Part 5Arulai Part 6Arulai Part 7Arulai Part 8Arulai Part 9Arulai Part 10Arulai Part 11Arulai Part 12Arulai Part 13
Arulai Part 13 2007-12-01 07:14:10 For the Fellowship meeting on April 5, Arulai sent this message, and the chorus to be sung afterwards began with the words, "Do Thou for me."As for God, His way is perfect.I come to do Thy will.A body hast Thou prepared for me - to do Thy will.I delight to do Thy will.Teach me to do the thing that pleaseth Thee.Teach me to do Thy will. Her last pencil-note puts her life's purpose in a line: "My God, early will I sing to Thee, I will sing to my King a Love-song. From you ever, ever own child." She had early sung to Him. In the days of the Call of the Spring, she had flown like bird to her home. All her life was a Song of Love. For some days she slept a great deal, and "If he sleep, he shall do well," kept on coming to our hearts; what if-? What if even now? But perhaps it was that she was Otherwhere. On her last Sunday morning one of her dearest bent over her, "God is the Strength of my heart, and my Portion for ever," she said sof
Arulai Part 12 2007-11-29 04:57:23 She whom Thou lovest, blessed Lord, is ill,With Thee is Counsel, give Thy servants skill.O great Physician, touch her, and restore,As Thou hast done before. After that we were silent in our love. We had not the heart to press our Father to give to us what we knew He knew we so much desired. A child who trusts does not press; but the child is free to take its longing to the Father:We would not press Thee, for Thou knowest wellOur need of her that word could never tell;We would not press Thee, as if all unproved,Thy love for Thy beloved. But as in eventide in GalileeThey brought their sick, we bring her unto Thee;And from the depths we pray, do Thou fulfilFor us, for her, Thy will.That evening Arulai wrote, "There is not any such God as the God of the beloved. I do not want to go from the fight. I shall try my best to help those who pray for me. There is perfect joy in His will and peace. The God of the beloved will keep me under the shield of His peace and joy." B
Arulai Part 11 2007-11-28 03:44:27 Godfrey had a few notes. A Coming-day note: "I wish you a very, very happy Coming-day. God is going to fill this year full of Himself and with His own joy. He will be satisfied by bringing many souls to Himself. I am so glad you are going to take the meeting (a special meeting on the following day). I needn't say how much I shall be thinking of you. "Now, Annachie, this verse Nesa Sittie once wrote for my Coming-day in Greek; ever since it has often helped me" (and she wrote the verse in Greek, 2 Cor. 4:7). "With all the blessed thoughts of God, may God crown you in this new year." After a holiday-time which he had spent with the boys: "I want to say how I thanked God for your staying with the boys. All these days I thanked God. I know what holidays mean with our children. Perhaps you have tasted that wonderful joy and peace in God through them." (Then in Tamil) "To the strong and to the weak He is mighty to give help. God is the strength of your he
Arulai Part 10 2007-11-27 07:56:50 Good. Acceptable. Perfect. Her last January begins with "Praise His holy name, the heart that seeks His pleasure shall rejoice" -another of her LXX treasures; and then, "Thou hast loosed my bonds." Just before her long illness began, Arulai had gone with Frances Beath to her childhood's home and to the towns nearby. It had been a memorable time, and she kept on recalling little incidents of our life together in the old bungalow which she then saw once again. Everything she saw recalled something dear and heart-moving; even the bathroom, the only room whose door we could shut; it was the room where she had first heard, slowly read to her, the story of Gethsemane and Calvary; even the thorny patch of ground outside the house: "I thought of how you carried me over the thorns. The great Heart of our God will carry our Rukma and us." (Rukma was facing a difficult work from which she shrank.) "I think of all the love poured out on me then, and on till now
There would I tread 2007-12-19 16:13:55 My God, who hast committed to my careThy ransomed one;Lest I be scattered, busy here and there,And he be gone,Give me to hold me firmly to my trust,Let all that would distract me be as dust. "Thy life for his" - O solemn urgent word - Lest I forget,My sense of values waver, or be blurred,Or oversetBy other things, take me and purge and bendEach power and purpose to one single end. Teach me to do the thing that pleaseth Thee,O Lord, my God.Give clearness, lest some by-way tangle me.Where Christ hath trod,There would I tread, nor ever turn aside,Lest he be missing for whom Christ hath died. -From "Though the Mountains Shake" by Amy Carmichael
A heart absolutely holy 2007-12-18 16:03:31 Elizabeth Prentiss on leaving a much-loved home:I have had many letters to write to-day, for to-day our fate is sealed, and we are to go. But I must say a few words to you before going to bed, for I want to tell you how very glad I am that you have been enabled to take a step which will, I am sure, lead the way to other steps, increase your holiness, your usefulness, and your happiness. May God bless you in this attempt to honor Him, and open out before you new fields wherein to glorify and please Him. This has not been a sorrowful day to me. I hope I am offering to a "patient God a patient heart." I do not want to make the worst of the sacrifice He requires, or to fancy I am only to be happy on my own conditions. He has been most of the time for years "the spring of all my joys, the life of my delights." Where He is, I want to be; where He bids me go, I want to go, and to go in courage and faith. Anything is better than too strong cleaving to this world. As I was situated in New
Self-denial 2007-12-17 15:09:09 Who is sufficient for the spiritual training of children? Such work asks for all we have, for a giving without withdrawal even unto the end, for a pouring forth of the wine of life without the withholding of a single drop. Nothing less is of eternal profit. There is pure happiness in this kind of giving. The R. V. of I Chron. 29:3 shows it. "I have a treasure of mine own of gold and silver, I give it unto the house of my God, over and above all that I have prepared for the holy house." For Love refuses to be satisfied with the usual. Love always gives "over and above." All that is a treasure of her own, far beyond what is expected of her, that treasure she gives and delights to give. God forbid that because of some secret surrender to self, we become content with less than this, and fail the child who trusts us. God hold us steady to the purpose that He wrought in us when first He showed us what our vocation truly meant. "We look d
To sit at Thy dear feet 2007-12-15 07:22:43 Once more at home, once more at home--For what, dear Lord, I pray?To seek enjoyment, please myself,Make life a summer's day?I shrink, I shudder at the thought;For what is home to me,When sin and self enchain my heart,And keep it far from Thee?There is but one abiding joy,Nor place that joy can give;It is Thy presence that makes home,That makes it "life to live."That presence I invoke; naught elseI venture to entreat;I long to see Thee, hear Thy voice,To sit at Thy dear feet.-Elizabeth Prentiss
A Thousand small opportunities 2007-12-12 03:59:18 Nowadays we do not die on the wheel or by fire or sword, but in the thousand small opportunities of giving up our own opinions, our own inclinations and desires, opportunities which, by the goodness of God, are offered to us daily . . . . Those whose mission it was to lead towards Jesus Christ must see to it that no thought of the guide shadowed the vision of the Goal; that the strength imparted must be that strength of God which gives independence of support from man. - Angelique of Port Royal, 1591-1661, E. K. Sanders.-Quoted in "Though the Mountains Shake" by Amy Carmichael. Read more:Thousand
God sweetens whatever He does to us 2007-12-10 12:49:17 Elizabeth Prentiss on God's dealings with her:I have seen the time when the sense of being a pilgrim and a stranger was very sweet; and God can sweeten whatever
He does to us. So though perplexed we are not in despair, and if we feel that we are this summer living in a tent that may soon blow down, it is just what you are doing, and in this point we shall have fellowship. I am sure it is good for us to have God take up the rod, even if He lays it down again without inflicting a blow. I know we are going to pray till light comes. I feel very differently about it from what I did last summer. The mental conflicts of the past winter have created a good deal of indifference to everything. Without conscious union and nearness to my Saviour I can't be happy anywhere; for years He has been the meaning of everything, and when He only seems gone (I know it is only seeming) I don't much care where I am. I am just trying to be patient till He makes Satan let go of me.
Book review: Aunt Jane's Hero by Elizabeth Prentiss 2007-12-09 10:17:56 They were living to themselves: self, with its hopes, and promises, and dreams, still had hold of them; but the Lord began to fulfill their prayers. They had asked for contrition, and He sent them sorrow; they had asked for purity, and He sent them thrilling anguish; they had asked to be meek, and He had broken their hearts; they had asked to be dead to the world, and he slew all their living hopes; they had asked to be made like unto Him, and He placed them in the furnace, sitting by "as a refiner of silver," till they should reflect His image; they had asked to lay hold of His cross, and when He had reached it to them, it lacerated their hands. They had asked they knew not what, nor how; but He had taken them at their word, and granted them all their petitions. They were hardly willing to follow on so far, or to draw so nigh to Him. They had upon them an awe and fear, as Jacob at Bethel, or Eliphaz in the night visions, or as the apostles when they thought they had Read more:Elizabeth
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Book review: Vanya: A True Story 2007-12-24 07:23:15 Today is Christmas Eve. Perhaps some of you remember Christmas Eve, 1970. I was not born yet. But some who read this were. What do you remember about that day?Christmas Eve, 1970. Soviet Russia. A young Moldovan Christian, recently drafted into the Russian army, was also alive on that day. Barely. That evening, as dark approached, he was again pushed out into the snow, in summer uniform and bare feet, to spend the night standing out in the cold. Why? Because he was a Christian. Yet he did not die from the cold. For two weeks he spent every night standing in the snow, and God kept him warm. This book is the story of Vanya, a soldier in the Red army who was tortured to death for his faith in Christ. The story of his faith and the miraculous works God performed in and through him swept through Russia after his martyrdom. Yet who was this man? What made him so hated by the athiest Soviets? Vanya was a man, barely out Read more:review
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God of the Heights 2007-12-23 06:01:50 God of the Heights
, austere, inspiring,Thy word hath come to me.O let no selfish aims, conspiring,Distract my soul from Thee.Loosen me from Things of Time;Strengthen me for steadfast climb. The Temporal would bind my spirit;Father, be Thou my Stay.Show me what flesh cannot inherit,Stored for another day.Be transparent, Things of Time;Looking through you, I would climb. Now by Thy grace my spirit choosethTreasure that shall abide.The great Unseen, I know, endureth,My footsteps shall not slide.Not for me the Things of Time;God of mountains, I will climb.-From "Though the Mountains Shake" by Amy Carmichael.
Does it run in our blood? 2007-12-21 07:57:03 Elizabeth Prentiss on entangling affections:My heart is as young and fresh as any girl's, and I am almost as prone to make idols out of those I love, as I ever was; and this is inconsistent with the devotion owed to God. I do not mean that I really love anybody better than I do Him, but that human friendships tempt me. This easily-besetting sin of mine has cost me more anguish than tongue can tell, and I deeply feel the need of more love to Christ because of my earthly tendencies. I know I would sacrifice every friend to Christ, but I am not always disentangled. How strange this is, how passing strange!... In a religious way I find myself much better off here than at Dorset. But there is yet something apparently "far off, unattained and dim" that I once thought I had caught by the wing, and enjoyed for a season, but which has flown away. I am afraid I am one who has got to be a religious enthusiast, or else dissatisfied and restless. When I give way to an impulse to the first, I
Contentment 2007-12-20 04:43:59 But enough, the remedy for discontent is found in remembering all your circumstances, even the most minute are in the Hands of God, and if they are environed by a "yoke" He will make His yoke easy and His burden light, if it be borne in His name and for His sake. Seek this spirit then in your intercourse with others, and with the world, and in charity, love and gentleness, adorn the human side of existence with the beauty of holiness and the grace of loving self-sacrifice, and thus reveal the Christ life in God, with its halo, "godliness with contentment," and remember:"True life grows from small to great,Each year each day its increase lends;Nor is it the blind force of fateThat earthly sorrow oft-time blendsWith the pure work of grace the more to consecrate,The love with ever in its sacred yearningheavenward tends."-From "Life's Everydayness" by Rose Porter.
The sound of the noise of rain 2008-03-09 09:14:03 If I cannot catch "the sound of noise of rain"long before the rain falls,and, going to some hilltop of the spirit,as near to my God as I can,have not faith to wait there withmy face between my knees,though six times or sixty times Iam told "there is nothing,"till at last "there arises a littlecloud out of the sea,"then I know nothing of Calvary love.-From "If" by Amy Carmichael
We are in a battle . . . 2008-03-08 07:49:10 More than half beaten, but fearless,Facing the storm and the night,Reeling and breathless, but fearless,Here in the lull of the fight,I who bow not but before Thee,God of the fighting clan,Lifting my fists I implore Thee,Give me the heart of a man!What though I stand with the winners,Or perish with those that fall?Only the cowards are sinners,Fighting the fight, is all.Strong is my foe who advances,Snapped is my blade, O Lord;See their proud banners and lances,But spare me the stub of a sword.Found in Ragland, Pioneer by Amy Carmichael
O Broken Life, Take Heart 2008-03-07 07:41:20 From Rose from Brier by Amy Carmichael:Once, being of a flute in need,The Heavenly Shepherd soughtUntil He found a bruised reed;It was as if He thoughtIt precious; for aloud said He,"This broken reed will do for Me."It heard the kind word wonderingly,Being a thing of naught.And then that Lover of sweet sound,No single note to lose,Himself repaired the reed He found,Well skilled such things to use.This done, a happy melodyHe whistled through it; "Now," said He,"This flute of Mine shall stay by Me."Thus He His flute did choose.He said, "I play My country airsThe which do some displease;But others, listening, find their caresTo pass, and sweet heartseaseBegin to blossom; and ," said HeUnto His flute, "Thou, dear, with Me,Wilt, making gentle minstrelsy,Be comforter to these.""Be comforter Read more:Broken
, Heart
Calvary love 2008-03-06 03:33:02 If in dealing with one who does not respond,I weary of the strain, and slipfrom under the burden,then I know nothing of Calvary
love.-From If by Amy Carmichael
Lord of love 2008-03-05 03:36:25 Just some thoughts for today:O Lord of Love and Lord of Pain,Who by the bitter CrossDost teach us how to measure gain,And how to measure loss,Whom, seeing not, our hearts adore,We bring our love to Thee;And where Thou art, Lord, evermoreWould we Thy servants be.-From Rose from Brier by Amy Carmichael
The Highest Good 2008-03-04 17:08:23 Do I accept the possibility that I may miss the highest good? There is a sentimental notion that makes us make ourselves out worse than we think we are, because we have a lurking suspicion that if we make ourselves out amazingly bad, someone will say, 'Oh no, you are not as bad as that'; but Jesus says we are worse. Our Lord never trusted any man, "for He knew what was in man"; but He was not a cynic for He had the profoundest confidence in what He could do for every man, consequently He was never in a moral or intellectual panic, as we are, because we will put our confidence in man and in the things that Jesus put no confidence in. Paul says, 'Don't glory in men; don't say, I am of Paul, or I am of Apollos, and don't think of yourself more highly than you ought to think
Jesus' point of view 2008-03-02 12:57:58 We have, as Christian disciples, to continually recognize that much of what is called Christianity today is not the Christianity of the New Testament; it is distinctly different in generation and manifestation. Jesus
is not the fountainhead of modern Christianity; He is scarcely thought about. Christian preachers, Sunday School teachers, religious books, all without any apology patronize Jesus Christ and put Him on one side. We have to learn that to stand true to Jesus Christ's point
of view means ostracism, the ostracism that was brought on Him; most of us know nothing whatever about it. The modern view looks upon human nature as pathetic: men and women are poor ignorant babes in the wood who have lost themselves. Jesus Christ's view is totally different, He does not lo
You are anointed to that battle 2008-03-01 05:44:28 If you or I are really out in the testimony, not to Jesus as Saviour only, but to Jesus as Lord, as Sovereign Head, we are out in the fiercest conflict. You may meet some conflict when you are out in the matter of soul-winning, and you do, because the enemy sees quite clearly what that may lead to; for, in God's purpose, it is never intended to stay there. If men and women are saved from hell and sin, it represents, in the first place, a translation from his kingdom into another, and he knows what that portends. Satan always takes full account of the significance of any step, but when you go on right to the full end and bring the full end in view immediately into the situation - the Lordship of Jesus Christ - then you are in the fight, then it is warfare indeed. You are
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