My grace is sufficient for you.2 Corinthians 12:9 CHS

If none of God’s saints were poor and tried,
we should not know half so well the consolations of divine grace.
When we find the wanderer who has not where to lay his head, who yet can say,
“Still will I trust in the Lord;”
when we see the pauper starving on bread and water,
who still glories in Jesus;
when we see the bereaved widow overwhelmed in affliction,
and yet having faith in Christ,
oh! what honour it reflects on the gospel.

God’s grace is illustrated and magnified in the poverty and trials of believers. Saints bear up under every discouragement, believing that all things work together for their good, and that out of apparent evils a real blessing shall ultimately spring—that their God will either work a deliverance for them speedily, or most assuredly support them in the trouble, as long as he is pleased to keep them in it.

This patience of the saints proves the power of divine grace. There is a lighthouse out at sea: it is a calm night—I cannot tell whether the edifice is firm; the tempest must rage about it, and then I shall know whether it will stand. So with the Spirit’s work: if it were not on many occasions surrounded with tempestuous waters, we should not know that it was true and strong; if the winds did not blow upon it, we should not know how firm and secure it was.




The master-works of God are those men and women who stand in the midst of difficulties, steadfast, unmoveable,—

“Calm mid the bewildering cry,

Confident of victory.”

They who would glorify their God must set their account upon meeting with many trials. No person can be illustrious before the Lord unless their conflicts be many. If then, yours be a much-tried path, rejoice in it, because you will the better show forth the all-sufficient grace of God. As for his failing you, never dream of it—hate the thought. The God who has been sufficient until now, should be trusted to the end.
CHS

In heavenly love abiding,
no change my heart shall fear.
and safe in such confiding,
for nothing changes here.
the storm may roar without me,
my heart may low be laid,
but God is round about me,
and can I be dismayed?


Wherever he may guide me,
no want shall turn me back.
my Shepherd is beside me,
and nothing can I lack.
his wisdom ever waking,
his sight is never dim.
He knows the way He's taking,
and I will walk with Him


Green pastures are before me,
which yet I have not seen.
Bright skies will soon be over me,
where darkest clouds have been.
My hope I cannot measure,
my path to life is free.
My Savior has my treasure,
and he will walk with me.





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Words: Anna Laetitia Waring, 1850