Monday, November 4, 2013

When the Road Runs Through Rough Places


              'Often... the road of life runs through rough places,
              and trials fall crushingly upon us,
              our path becomes steep,
              and the music that was in our hearts is quite hushed.
              It is then that the tendency is strong to sink slowly back into
              the abandoned valley of half-hearted service,
              or at least to stand and make no effort to cling to Him
              and love Him more and more.
              Let us then pause upon the roadside of our daily lives
              to gain new strength and vigour from Him Who has weighed each load.
              Let us take our hearts, ragged and torn and bleeding,
              and place them close to His, that they may be transformed,
              that their every beat may be an act of adoration and of love.'

                   (from Fervorinos From Galilee's Hills, compiled by a Religious, Pelligrini, Australia, 1936, p. 252)

Painting:  Johan Edvard Bergh, Skogslandskap, 1853

10 comments:

  1. Wow! That's so beautiful..so touching. Whoever "our" Religious was is still doing so much good almost a century later, as you share his/her wisdom. I hope they are in Heaven praising God that their long ago words are now going around the world. Hmm, when Jesus said that the gospel would be preached to the ends of the earth, could He have meant the Internet, global television and radio, etc.... Thanks for sharing, Nancy,

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    1. Interesting insight, Patricia, about the media. Certainly that is happening, even in the midst of the more unsavory things circulating there.

      I would love to know who "A Religious" was... yet I have a feeling that he/she would just shake his/her head at me gently and say "IT DOES NOT MATTER." :) Maybe even that it would take our attention off God and onto the person..... hmmmm...

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  2. I cannot imagine how hard life's struggles would be without my faith to fall back on. My heart aches for all those non believers or those who have abandoned God.

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  3. Thank you, Nancy - you posted that especially for me!

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  4. My road is running through rough places. Thanks for posting this today.

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    1. Thank you, Patty and Renee and Christina Therese! It was posted for for me as well, I think; and today my own road has been running through busy places :)... God is meeting all of us just where and as we are, it seems.

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  5. I like Patricia's comment about how words of our Lord are circulating around the globe in cyberspace and other media. That these wonderful insights of a "Religious" resound so deeply with so many people is wonderful and miraculous! Thanks for posting Nancy--I needed this reminder to cling to the Lord through the rough places. God Bless...

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  6. "Let us take our hearts, ragged and torn and bleeding, and place them close to His, that they may be transformed, that their every beat may be an act of adoration and of love."

    Thanks for this wonderful quote, Nancy.
    I know that in my life there are times when I'm going through such 'rough places' that all I CAN do is to offer Him my heartbeats.
    It's something I began to do years ago when my son was suicidally depressed. I was so exhausted with worry and the need to vigilantly watch over him that many nights I had no strength left for 'normal' prayer.
    I learned to give the pulsing of my own life as intercession for my child...that his would continue to be preserved and protected.
    And yes..as an act of adoration too!

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