Friday, January 23, 2009

Losing One's Will

I recently began re-reading Elizabeth's Prentiss biography "More Love To Thee" by Sharon James. Early on in the book her father, Edward Payson passes away and on his death bed says these words:

" O what a blessed thing it is to lose one's will. Since I have lost my will I have found happiness. There can be no such things as disappointment to me, for I have no desires but that God's will might be accomplished. Christians might avoid much trouble if they would only believe what they profess, that God is able to make them happy without anything but Himself. They imagine that if such a dear friend were to die, or such and such a blessing removed, they should be miserable, whereas God can make them a thousand times happier without them. To mention my own case, God has been depriving me of one blessing after another, but as every one was removed He has come in and filled up it's place, and now, when I am cripple and unable to move, I am happier than ever I was in my life before or expected to be, and if I had believed this twenty year ago I might have been spared much anxiety."

Oh how far away I am from this man! I do desire to have this kind of faith & satisfaction found in Christ alone. How much trouble indeed would I spare myself from if I were to live this out.

2 comments:

Brandy said...

Okay, convicted much? It's amazing how God keeps speaking to me through so many different people and mediums that I need to just leave it all to Him and allow his peace to surround me and comfort me. Thanks Tara!

Sarah said...

This was very timely. I honestly wanted to cry when reading it because it is so encouraging to what I'm going through.