Stepping Heavenward

Dear Reader,

A good Monday morning to you! As we celebrate the last week of the Savior's life this week, may we make the most of each passing day.

I have been reading Elizabeth Prentiss' "Stepping Heavenward" for the third time, weeping over passages that speak deeply to my heart, and resolving to live, as the main character in the book, entirely for the Lord. I highly recommend this book to anyone who desires to lead a more Christ-like life. It is not a book to be merely read, but to be savored, passage by passage. My copy has almost more underlined words than not! It is told from the unusual perspective of being a private journal of the innermost thoughts and feelings of Katherine Mortimer Elliott, as she grows and matures in her Christian walk. It was first published in 1869, and has enjoyed many numerous translations and editions ever since. At the height of its popularity, ladies were said to buy two copies, one for themselves (kept next to the Bible), and one to lend to others.


May I recommend it to you, if you do not already own it? There are many copies floating around the internet, for as little as $3 on Ebay. I am sure you would not be disappointed in it, at any price. It especially speaks to anyone who has lost a child or parent through death, and who suffers through poverty and privations.


Here are some of my favorite lines from this wonderful book:

"This is the testimony of all the good books, sermons, hymns, and memoirs I read--that God's ways are infinitely perfect; that we are to love Him for what He is and therefore equally as much when He afflicts as when He prospers us; that there is no real happiness but in doing and suffering His will; and that this life is but a scene of probation through which we pass to the real life above."

"After all, one must take life as it comes; its homely details are so mixed up with its sweet charities and loves and friendships that one is forced to believe that God has joined them together and does not will that they should be put asunder."

"Let us look on the bright side of life and believe that God means us to be always ascending, always getting nearer to Himself, always learning something new about Him, always loving Him better and better."

"You forget the good one may gain by living with uncongenial, tempting persons. First such people do good by the very self-denial and self-control their mere presence demands. Then, their making one's home less homelike and perfect than it would be in their absence may help to render our real home in heaven more attractive."

May our prayers echo that of Elizabeth Prentiss, offering "More Love to Thee, O Christ; More Love to Thee!"

Love,

Marqueta