Liah

“The Weaver”

“My life is but a weaving
Between my God and me.
I cannot choose the colors
He weaveth steadily.

Oft’ times He weaveth sorrow;
And I in foolish pride
Forget He sees the upper
And I the underside.

Not ’til the loom is silent
And the shuttles cease to fly
Will God unroll the canvas
And reveal the reason why.

The dark threads are as needful
In the weaver’s skillful hand
As the threads of gold and silver
In the pattern He has planned

He knows, He loves, He cares;
Nothing this truth can dim.
He gives the very best to those
Who leave the choice to Him.”
― Grant Colfax Tullar

“Realizing that we become recipients in the process of serving may explain why we are never really comfortable being called a "good Samaritan." In reaching out to help others, we are nourished and strengthened in return. Selfless service successfully rendered manifest in the servant both a giving and an accepting heart. A Christlike servant knows that she never does all the giving; if she will allow it, the one she serves gives her much in return. A true servant also graciously receives.”
― Camille Fronk Olson, Mary, Martha, And Me: Seeking the One Thing That Is Needful

“The Lord's Atonement and Mercy 1. We are each of us sinners, entitled to nothing but hell and therefore utterly and equally dependent upon the mercies of the Lord. (Jonah) 2. I can receive of the Lord's mercy—and the happiness, healing, and peace that attend it—only to the extent I extend the same to others. (Jonah) 3. The Lord mercifully removes any justification for failing to extend mercy to others. (Abigail) a. For the Lord has taken the sins of others upon his own head and personally atoned for them. (Abigail) b. What possible justification could there be for demanding more for others' sins than the Lord has given? (Abigail) 4. I can recover mercy by remembering (a) Abigail's offering, (b) the Lord's question to Jonah, and (c) my own sins, the memory of which brings me to the Lord and invites me to rediscover his mercy and peace. 5. If I repent of failing to extend mercy, the Lord will supply me with everything I need and more—he will grant me his love, his companionship, his understanding, his support. He will make my burdens light. (Abigail)”
― James L. Ferrell, The Peacegiver: How Christ Offers to Heal Our Hearts and Homes

“It was at a church service in Munich that I saw him, a former S.S. man who had stood guard at the shower room door in the processing center at Ravensbruck. He was the first of our actual jailers that I had seen since that time. And suddenly it was all there – the roomful of mocking men, the heaps of clothing, Betsie's pain-blanched face.

He came up to me as the church was emptying, beaming and bowing. “How grateful I am for your message, Fraulein.” He said. “To think that, as you say, He has washed my sins away!” His hand was thrust out to shake mine. And I, who had preached so often to the people in Bloemendaal the need to forgive, kept my hand at my side.

Even as the angry, vengeful thoughts boiled through me, I saw the sin of them. Jesus Christ had died for this man; was I going to ask for more? Lord Jesus, I prayed, forgive me and help me to forgive him. I tried to smile, I struggles to raise my hand. I could not. I felt nothing, not the slightest spark of warmth or charity. And so again I breathed a silent prayer. Jesus, I prayed, I cannot forgive him. Give me Your forgiveness.

As I took his hand the most incredible thing happened. From my shoulder along my arm and through my hand a current seemed to pass from me to him, while into my heart sprang a love for this stranger that almost overwhelmed me. And so I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness any more than on our goodness that the world's healing hinges, but on His. When He tells us to love our enemies, He gives, along with the command, the love itself.”
― Corrie ten Boom