I recently picked up an old favorite, "Stepping Heavenward" by Mrs. E. Prentiss. This book never ceases to challenge me in new ways to walk closer to the Lord and live out practically the faith He has given me. It's not necessarily a quick read. It was written in 1880 and full of language that can take time to digest, but I think that the foreward says it best:"One book in particular that appears to be having the greatest impact among Christian women is Stepping Heavenward. According to Elisabeth Elliot, Kay Arthur, and Joni Earekson Tada, Stepping Heavenward will encourage, inspire, and challenge your walk with Jesus Christ in a dimension that few have entered.... I have heard that some have lost interest in the book before reaching the half-way mark. And equally I have heard that it was after the half-way mark that their lives were forever changed."
This weekend I was pondering this quote from the book as I was wading through the mess here at home, trying to create order and dealing with the various needs of the children.
"Suppose then you content yourself for the present with doing in a faithful, quite, persistent way all the little, homely tasks that return with each returning day, each one as unto God, and perhaps by and by you will thus have gained strength for a more heroic life."
My most hated task by the end became rewarding as I considered how I could do it in such a way as to be a blessing to the Lord and to my family.
9 comments:
I love that book too! I read it for the first time this past summer when I was sick and it was so challenging and encouraging! I need to keep it handy to re-read it sometime.
Wow, Monica, great job...I am so glad you are done and a little jealous;0)
Monica... it looks amazing! I think I may need to read that book to get a new attitude about cleaning! I feel like it is never ending sometimes!
Very good reminder. I'm thinking I need to pull out my copy for a good dose of perspective. Thanks.
I have never read the book but will need to add it to my list. Sounds like an amazing challenge and dose of perspective. A great reminder of who we are serving.
You want to come over and do my house next? Pretty please?
I'll even leave the rice krispies Hunter spilled tonight in the crevices of the pantry. *sigh*
you have a special talent for organizing!
Great organizing! :)
I'd love to talk with you about Stepping Heavenward sometime. I think I am the only person I know who really hated that book. But it's been about ten years since I read it, so maybe I should give it another chance. Or maybe it's just that I'm not a very godly woman.
I try to read that book once a year. I'm almost finished with it now.
Very sweet, Monica. What meeting was it that you went to and talked to Beth? I live in fear that I am going to forget something I'm supposed to do. That is SOOO me. (I hate it!) It's good your girls verbalize things to you. When I ask Will how it went, he shrugs his shoulders and says, "Boring." I asked him about what he did, etc, did he have any problems, etc, and he said, "Reading comprehesion. I didn't have time to finish all the problems." (Although I saw him playing tic-tac-toe with Aaron after the test every day. Or he would say, "We did math." I would ask for more info, but none was forthcoming. Knowing him, he rushed through everything in order to be the first one done, then lamented to me that he didn't have enough time. Sigh.
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