“We must sit at His feet, and believe that He does all things well. What we don’t know now, we shall know hereafter. The Judge of all the earth must do right.”

“Letters of Mary Winslow” 1774-1854

My heart feels for you, my dear friend, in your deep, deep trial. This present world is a world of sadness; but when we think of that glorious world which is to come, into which sorrow never enters, and how soon we may be there–we may well “rejoice in tribulation.” Our “light affliction, which is but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory!”

In all your sorrows, pour out your heart to the Man of sorrows. He will bow down His ear and listen to all that you say. He will either remove or moderate your trial, or give you strength to bear it. Even this bitter draught He has given you to drink shall result both in your good and His glory.

May He lift up upon you the light of His countenance, drawing you nearer to Himself, that you may see what a tender, loving heart He has for you, and how deeply and tenderly and considerately He cares for you–as if there were not another poor sorrowful one to care for on the face of the whole earth!

The Lord has tried you of late, and I do feel anxious to speak a word of comfort to you in this affliction. Those whom He loves He invariably tries. The graces of the Spirit are thus brought into holy exercise. Jesus is thereby honored, and our souls ascend a higher round in that ladder that reaches from earth to heaven. We must sit at His feet, and believe that He does all things well. What we don’t know now, we shall know hereafter. The Judge of all the earth must do right. Soon we pass away to our heavenly inheritance, and then we shall see all the way He led us through the wilderness was the right way, and that not one trial or cross could have been dispensed with. Oh, let us cling closer and closer to Him than ever. Let us make Him our all in all. May the constraining love of Christ, the eternal love of the Father, and the sanctifying love of the Holy Spirit, rest upon you, guide, and bless you!

Walk in the fear of God, and you need fear nothing else.

Mary Winslow

Dear friend, this is our season for the trial of faith, and every fresh trial, under the loving eye of Jesus, and sanctified by the indwelling Spirit, is like a fresh gale wafting us nearer and nearer to our port; to the place He has gone to prepare for us. All these things work together for our prosperity of soul. We will never think, when we get heaven, that we had one trial too many. We shall see that we could not have done without one of them, for all were so many needful lessons to instruct us in a journey through a wilderness full of temptation. Infinite wisdom has chosen them for us. I know your trials are often great, but the loving eye of Jesus is upon you, and your name is deeply engraved upon His heart. Whom He loves He loves unto death.

One of the delightful employments of heaven will be to trace back the way the Lord led us safely, in spite of ourselves, through the wilderness world. And then shall we see how needful was every cross, and trial, and pain, and dispensation, with which our precious Jesus saw fit to exercise us.

The Lord has taken His suffering child out of all her troubles, to her happy, happy home! Long had she been refining in the furnace, and preparing for that place Jesus had gone to take possession of for her. Not one pain did she suffer, or sorrow did she feel, but had in it the tenderest love of Jesus. All was needful. He was preparing her for the full enjoyment of His presence. Shall not the Judge all the earth do right? She has made her escape from a world of sin and trouble, and from a body, not only of sin and death, but of suffering, and long a clog to her soul. She has broken loose from her cage, and is with Jesus! Oh, the happiness to look upon Him; to behold Him in all His unveiled beauties; to see Him face to face! I rejoice that she is at last released! I covet her joy.

There is nothing that can take place towards a child of God but what our heavenly Father designs, in infinite love, for our spiritual advancement, and His own glory. We are to submit to His holy will, and believe that there was a ‘needs be’ for it. The Lord loves His children too well to lay upon them the weight of a feather, without an absolute necessity, and without some wise and loving purpose. God deals wisely and graciously with us in all His varying dispensations. If tears could be shed in heaven, we would weep that we ever mistrusted His goodness in His dealings towards us. Let us, in this world of trial, cling close to Him, and lean more upon Him as little helpless children. Keep a constant communion with Him. Tell Him all you feel, or wish, or need.

Walk in the fear of God, and you need fear nothing else.

-From WALKING WITH JESUS by Mary Winslow